The Science of Social Media

What metrics really matter to social media marketers and marketing leaders? We’re really excited to share our new podcast format with you all today . Every week, the Buffer team (and occasional special guests) will be answering your biggest social media marketing questions. This week, we speak with Buffer’s VP of marketing Kevan Lee, to discuss the metrics that really matter for social media marke...

These are times of fast-changing news around COVID-19. It’s clear that what we are facing — not just as marketers, as friends, and parents and colleagues — is unprecedented. And we’re all in it together. So what does social media management look like over the coming weeks and months? We’re still figuring it out. We hope that the thoughts in this episode can act as a starting point to work from as...

(Right now we’re working on creating a brand new, refreshed version of The Science of Social Media. We can’t wait to share it with you next week. We think you’ll love it. In the meantime, we're revisiting one of our top from the past year. Thank you for being along for the ride and for making The Science of Social Media part of your podcast routine. We're very grateful to have you.)...

(Right now we’re working on creating a brand new, refreshed version of  The Science of Social Media. We can’t wait to share it with you in just a few weeks. We think you’ll love it. In the meantime, we're revisiting  one of our top episodes of 2019. Thank you for being along for the ride  and for making The Science of Social Media  part of your podcast  routine. We're very...

(Right now we’re working on creating a brand new, refreshed version of The Science of Social Media. We can’t wait to share it with you in just a few weeks. We think you’ll love it. In the meantime, we're revisiting one of our top episodes of 2019. Thank you for being along for the ride and for making The Science of Social Media  part of your podcast routine. We're very grateful to have you.)...

Does the timing of your social media posts still matter? Here at Buffer, we think so! And in today's episode we'll be guiding you through our processes for finding the best times to post on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Here are the show notes: https://buffer.com/library/best-time-to-post-on-social-media - Dave & Bonnie About the Show: The Science of Social Media is...

Over the years, we’ve shared plenty of tips and tactics to help you with social media marketing but one thing we haven’t really done well is to explain how to run social media marketing experiments… Today you’ll learn the six simple steps we use to run social media experiments, and we’ll also share some experiment ideas that you can get started with right away. Here are the show notes: https://buf...

Do you have a burning question about the Instagram algorithm? If you do, chances are it may have been answered recently. Instagram recently held a Q&A where it shared the ins and outs of the algorithm and publicly addressed some myths and rumours about how it works.  In this episode, we’ll give you a run through of the main questions Instagram answered during this Q&A and we’ll dive d...

Instagram Stories has over 500 million daily active users, meaning half of Instagram’s overall user base create or view stories every single day. This means you have the potential to connect with your Instagram audience in two different places on the app — the feed and stories — and you don’t want to waste that opportunity with dull Stories and visuals. To help you captivate your audience in your...

Did you know: Pinterest is such a key part of the buying journey for its users that over 90 percent of weekly active Pinners use Pinterest to make purchasing decisions. Talk about buying power! Pinterest is no longer simply a place to save ideas and build dream boards. Instead, Pinterest has turned into the world’s largest visual discovery platform. Thankfully there are some really simple ways tha...

(This week, we're re-airing our top episode of the year. Thank you for being along for the ride and for making The Science of Social Media part of your podcast routine. We're very grateful to have you. Wishing you a great 2020!) A decade ago, the role of a social media manager might not have even existed. Today, however, almost every company is involved in social media one way or another. But what...

(This week, we're revisiting one of our top episodes of 2019. Thank you for being along for the ride and for making The Science of Social Media part of your podcast routine. We're very grateful to have you. Happy new year!) It can be hard to stay on top of the latest news for everything that’s coming to social media. We'd love to help you. This episode of The Science of Social Media takes a dive i...

Today, we have a special episode for you — something a bit different than usual. We’d love to share the first episode of our new podcast series, Breaking Brand, which follows the story of a world-class branding agency closing up shop in order to start a totally new business from scratch. If you enjoy this episode, the full season is available to listen to now, wherever you get your podcasts. Just...

Instagram Stories was one of the most dynamic social media channels in 2019. So much happened with Stories — from new developments with the product to strong returns on Stories ads and organic reach.  Over 500 million people use Instagram Stories every day. So when it comes to picking some of the best Stories campaigns of 2019, we really have a lot of options.  We’ll run through a list o...

What will the future hold for social media?  We have a pretty good guess that social commerce will play a large role. From Instagram Checkout to Pinterest Shop the Look - and everything else in between - the social networks have commerce on their roadmaps. Expect to see a lot more of it in 2020, and get your brand and business prepared today with our episode all about social commerce. Find ou...

Marketing personas are the foundation that holds your strategy and messaging together.  This week's episode will give you some insight into the persona process that will hopefully kick start your social media strategies for 2020.  If you’re not in planning mode yet, then hopefully this gives you some inspiration on where to start. Marketing personas can do a tremendous job of aligning al...

We live in a world of infinite supply… The secret to standing out is to have a brand that your customers connect with and care about deeply. In today’s world, brand is often the only differentiator between your business and your competitors. So in today’s episode, we'll show you how to build a brand! Hear the best tips and strategies from the people behind some of the biggest brands out there -- S...

The biggest retail dates of the year are just around the corner. Do you have your social media marketing ready? In this episode, we'll share some of the trendiest marketing ideas for Black Friday + Cyber Monday, including flash sales, messenger marketing, and UGC. We’ll cover a host of new ideas, tips, and tactics that can help you boost your already-planned campaigns or give you some inspiration...

When you want to get your message in front of the right people on social media, where do you turn?  More and more, brands and businesses are turning to social ads and custom audiences. You can do a lot of awesome, targeted messaging by focusing on the right audiences with your ads -- whether you're talking to a group of customers, a bunch of website visitors, or a list of subscribers In this...

On this special episode of The Science of Social Media, we’re introducing you to a new podcast series from Buffer. It’s called 'Breaking Brand' and it charts the journey of Pattern Brands, a family of brands designed to help you enjoy daily life, from idea to launch. Over the past decade the Pattern Brands founding team has helped to launch over 50 businesses — creating over $15 billion in market...

The thing we love most at Buffer is to help you succeed at social media. And a key part of social media success is knowing which goals and targets to set for your team. Without goals, it’s hard to know exactly how well your social media strategy is performing and where you need to iterate to continue moving forwards. Today we’d love to share with you a bunch of super-actionable social media g...

Social media engagement seems like a slam dunk strategy. Everyone should be doing it, right? But it certainly comes with its blind spots and questions. Should you be replying to everyone? How can you make sure you capture all your mentions? What are the best ways to respond quickly? In this post, we’ll run through some of the reasons why investing in engagement makes business sense, and we’ll touc...

As always, a ton is happening in the world of social media , and it can be hard to catch every story. So we want to highlight some of the biggest news items from recent weeks that might impact your social media marketing . We’ll touch on Facebook’s most recent product changes and strategic plans, how Pinterest continues making splashes with its business and shopping features, and the latest data o...

Where can you practice storytelling in front of an audience of 500 million? Instagram Stories, of course. Instagram Stories are empowering marketers to tell better and deeper stories about our brands. There are some fantastic examples of great Stories out there. We've collected some favorites for you! In this episode, hear about 10 Instagram brands and influencers who have been doing rad things wi...

Small-but-powerful. Front-and-center. Instagram bios are well worth the time and investment to write well and test often. They're one of the most visible descriptions of who you are and what you're about! We’ll sort out all the best practices, design tips, and strategies that the top brands and profiles are using today. Should you go highly descriptive of what you do, or keep it loose and aspirati...