Tools for Marketing and Content Creation

GIFs are awesome. And they’re everywhere. We use them at Buffer in our posts, threads, emails, and our Slack channels. Anywhere there’s a message, there’s the chance for a GIF. ‌‌ What is a GIF, you ask? For the uninitiated, GIFs are really just animated image files. GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. While plenty of people have very strong feelings about how to pronounce the word — ”giff” vs. “jiff” — the original creator of GIFs, Steve Wilhite, once said: “The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations. They are wrong. It is a soft ‘G,’ pronounced ‘jif.’ End of story.” Want to know how to create a GIF and when and where to share them? We’ve collected…

What if you could read your audience’s mind? You could create the products your customers need, improve your profits, and save many hours. You’d become the creator or brand that just “gets it.” Ding, ding, ding! Your wish is granted. 🧞 There is a way to keep your pulse on the market and proactively anticipate what your audience wants — through social listening. What is social listening?Social listening is observing what your audience is saying about your brand and industry online to understand their needs. Let’s say you’re a skincare company. You want to launch a new product but have no idea what your audience is struggling with. Along with interviewing your current custo…

LinkedIn’s algorithm has always been a bit of a mystery — until now. The LinkedIn team has been pulling back the curtain on the algorithm in interviews with Entrepreneur, talking about how it works and why going viral isn't the goal. We've looked at two: On the website, with Editor-in-Chief and VP of Content Development, Dan Roth, and Alice Xiong, Director of Product Management.On the podcast, with Senior Director and Executive Editor at LinkedIn News Laura Lorenzetti.In this article, we’ll highlight the key points from the team’s interviews about the LinkedIn algorithm and share practical tips for applying this knowledge to your content. Jump to a section: …

“How often should I post on social media?” is a question that has plagued marketers and creators since the invention of social media marketing. So, what’s the right number? In this guide, I’ll share data-backed tips on how often you should post on the most popular social media platforms. Jump to a section: At a glance: How often you should post on every social media platform How often should you post on Facebook? How often should you post on Instagram? How often should you post on TikTok? How often should you post on X (formerly Twitter)? How often should you post on Linked…

I used to treat comments like notifications I needed to just… clear. See comment > reply if I had time > move on. But when I crossed 10,000 followers on LinkedIn — a platform where genuine community building can have benefits way beyond engagement metrics — I knew I was not doing my audience (and myself) justice. Many of my creator teammates were running into similar issues, especially if they were active on multiple platforms. Replying to comments can be pretty time-consuming. You're jumping between apps, missing notifications, and losing track of conversations. Plus, you’re missing out on the powerful engagement boost that comes with actively responding to comme…

Threads has over 150 million daily active users. Great for reaching new audiences. Also, a discovery problem. How do you get seen when millions of conversations are happening at once? Enter: Trending Topics for Threads, right in Buffer. It brings real-time trending conversations directly into Buffer's composer. Built in partnership with the Threads team, Trending Topics surfaces what's trending on Threads to anyone, no matter your location, through Buffer's API access. The discovery challenge on ThreadsThe Threads algorithm rewards genuine conversation and authentic engagement. Success comes from joining discussions people actually care about, at the moment they care abou…

I used to be a chronic overthinker, and it fueled my anxiety. Whenever I had to attend social gatherings, give a presentation, or even record a talking head video, my mind would spiral. I’d analyze every tiny detail until I was paralyzed, putting off the thing I intended to do. That started to change when I joined the global 100-Day Project this year — and chose posting on TikTok as my challenge. I took it on specifically to push back against the anxiety of showing up online. The more I showed up, the less I worried about being judged or coming off as “cringe.” Over time, I noticed a shift — I felt less anxious and stopped overthinking every move. Each post became a sma…

If you’ve ever gotten lost in the rabbit hole of swiping through Instagram Stories, you know how compelling (and dare I say addictive) they can be. I’ve broken down their main benefits below: Increased engagementSimple setup and quick sharingFlexible creative toolsThe good news is that stories are incredibly easy to use. The challenge: that same ease-of-use means that you need to grab the attention of your viewer quickly because, as easy as it is to reach people, it’s just as easy to lose them. Thanks to Instagram Story Highlights (which are at the top of every profile), you can turn your temporary stories into evergreen content. Here are some genius story ideas (with ex…

I joined LinkedIn in 2020 as an eager freelance writer, but I didn’t get the hype. Everyone looked so polished, and I felt like I had nothing valuable to add. So I left, convinced the platform wasn’t for me. When I later niched down into SaaS writing, something shifted. My ideal clients — marketers, founders, content leads — were all active on LinkedIn. If I wanted to reach them, I had to show up here. At first, I wasn’t sure what to post or how to stay consistent. But five years after that first attempt, I’ve: Done a 90-day posting streak from January 1 to March 31, 2025Posted every weekday since thenRecently landed a freelance writing gig with Userpilot, through a refe…

TikTok LIVE is a blank canvas that creators and brands have adopted in different ways. Some creators stream games as they would on Twitch. Others perform or create content in real-time on the platform. Going live on TikTok can help you increase your engagement, reach new audiences, and grow your following. It’s also a great way to start monetizing your TikTok presence through TikTok Gifts. If you're curious about how to go live on TikTok, you'll need to meet some requirements for TikTok LIVE access: Have 1,000 followers, andBe older than 16 (18 if you want to monetize)Once you're there, you’re ready to start streaming! In this article, I’ll explain how to go live on TikT…

I don’t need to harp on how amazing Instagram can be for your business. Of its 2 billion monthly active users ( 🤯), 44% purchase products on the platform weekly. That’s a lot of potential for brand awareness and revenue. The problem is that using Instagram for business can be a tad overwhelming — especially if you’re starting today. With its plenty of (very useful and interesting) features and rapid updates, you have to juggle many moving parts to be successful on this social media platform. That’s why you need this comprehensive guide on how to use Instagram for business. We’ll cover: How to set up your Instagram business account (skip if you’ve got one already)How to op…

You open Instagram to grab a trending audio for a reel. Just one quick thing. Two hours later, you're still scrolling. You haven't created anything. You haven't even saved the audio you meant to find. And now it's 10 p.m., and you're mentally exhausted — and a little sad, tbh — from consuming content instead of making it. (Seriously, why is Instagram's search function on the Explore page?) Oh, wait, that was me. Hi. 👋 High up on the list of Things I Do Not Have Time For (along with low-carb diets, marathons, and the new season of Stranger Things) is doomscrolling. I'm a mom with a full-time job, and I'm an active creator. I also have ADHD. For what it's worth, I actually …

Buffer is a social media productivity tool for creators, small businesses, freelancers, and agencies. A place to schedule posts, manage comments, and track performance across Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube, Mastodon, and Google Business Profiles without getting sucked into the feed. Most social media tools are built for brands with big budgets and dedicated teams. We build for everyone else: the creator just starting out, the small business owner doing everything themselves, the freelancer building a personal brand between client work, and the agency managing multiple clients without the enterprise price tag. In 2025, we shipped a lot.…

🚀Bluesky scheduling is here! With Buffer's Bluesky integration, you can cross-post to other platforms, analyze your content performance, store all your ideas in a single hub, and so much more – even with a custom server. Buffer for Bluesky is available on all plans, including free →Bluesky is a decentralized social media platform that’s part of a wave of new social media platforms that aim to give users more control of their content and audiences. It’s rapidly gaining fame thanks to its in-depth user customization and control and if you’ve recently joined, welcome! Having spent over 6 months testing it out — and even longer as a user, I can say that Bluesky stands out as …

A few weeks ago, we completed our seventh profit share at Buffer, distributing $377,005 to 75 teammates. This represents more than a dollar amount. It reflects a real turnaround in our growth and in where we are headed. Just a few years ago, we were not in a position to do this at all. We went through two years of net losses, made hard decisions, and focused deeply on rebuilding a healthy, sustainable business. There were moments when profitability and profit sharing felt far away. So returning to this practice in 2025, with an average share of $5,095 per teammate, feels especially meaningful. It reflects the resilience of our team, the care people have put into their wor…

Tried and tested strategies for growing your following on Threads, with insider tips from the Threads team. There's no doubt about it: Threads is here to stay. After a record-breaking start, Threads is fast proving that it was no fly-by-night fad but a force to be reckoned with among the other social media giants. Threads by Instagram now has 400 million monthly active users and counting. To put that into perspective, that's a little over a third of X's (formerly Twitter) monthly active users of 550 million — and X has a good 16 years on Threads. If you’re a creator, marketer, or business owner, growing an audience on the platform is well worth it. Especially if you’re in…

These days, it feels like Threads is dropping new features every week. Whether it's small quality-of-life improvements or game-changing updates (we see you, Trending Topics), the Threads team has been busy since their rocketship launch in 2023. The only potential downside to all that fun new stuff for its 400 million monthly active users to play with? It's not easy to keep track! Which is where this guide comes in. Here, I’ll unpack some of the top new features on Threads by Instagram — plus how to use them to grow your following. Let's make sure you're getting the most out of Threads, shall we? Jump to a section: 1. Topics, not hashtags 2. Trending Topic…

Paid advertising on social media can be incredibly powerful if you're battling to reach the right audience — especially when you need to tap into very specific demographics. Which is where Facebook really shines. With over 3 billion monthly active users, it's no surprise that Facebook is the go-to social media platform for running ads. The Facebook algorithm can be tricky to figure out, especially when you're just starting out as a small business owner, creator, or social media manager. That's where Facebook advertising comes in — it helps you reach your audience more reliably. That's why, when it comes to social media strategy, understanding how to advertise on Facebook…

At the start of the year, we asked 11 experts to share their social media predictions for 2025. They pointed to big shifts — world-building, private communities, AI in everything and everywhere, LinkedIn’s rise, and a creator economy moving toward more sustainable businesses. Now that the year is behind us, it’s a good moment to pause and check the tape. Some predictions held up almost perfectly. Others played out more slowly or looked different than expected. That gap between prediction and reality is where the most useful lessons live. In this article, we’re revisiting seven themes from our original piece, from what actually happened, to where expectations missed the ma…

Every year brings a fresh wave of headlines and bold predictions about what social media is about to become. A new platform. A new format. A new rulebook we’re all meant to learn overnight. But when you zoom out, the underlying dynamics don’t actually change all that much. ✅ Creators want more ownership. ✅ Audiences are more precious about what they give their trust and attention. ✅ Platforms are making updates and changes. I’ve been working in and around the creator economy long enough to recognize these patterns when they keep showing up. I see them as a consumer, through my work at Buffer, and as a creator who’s increasingly embedded in the space myself. That’s why thi…

With more than 40 million registered users, Bluesky is fast becoming a decentralized force to be reckoned with — and with good reason. Among the new wave of fediverse platforms and decentralized networks, Bluesky is possibly the easiest to get to grips with, thanks to its clean interface and ever-increasing community of all sorts of creators. From science to K-pop, there’s a space for everyone on the network. If you’re new to Bluesky and the world of decentralized social media, here’s a quick summary: Bluesky was created by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and is a decentralized social network built on an open-source protocol called AT Protocol. With the protocol, Bluesk…

Hootsuite is a pretty powerful social media management tool. But its $99 per month starting price puts it out of reach for a lot of creators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses — and that's before you even get to the plan most people actually need. Hootsuite's free plan was discontinued on March 31, 2023 — so there's no way to get Hootsuite for free beyond the 30-day trial. When the free plan was axed (RIP), existing users were nudged toward the $199 per month Standard plan — billed annually, which means a lump sum of $2,388 upfront. Some customers chose to upgrade to keep their access to the social media scheduling tool. But for a lot of creators and small teams, $199 a…

Scheduling is what Buffer is known for, and fair enough. But there's way more going on under the hood! Buffer has grown into a pretty comprehensive toolkit over the past few years, and some of the newer features (some of my personal favorites) are super useful in ways that go well beyond the queue. Here's what else it can do. Reply to comments across platforms, from one placeIf you've ever posted something, disappeared, and come back three days later to a pile of unanswered comments, this one's for you. Community is Buffer's unified comment inbox. It pulls in comments from Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, and X, so you can see and reply to everything wit…

Most social media tools — including Buffer, historically — operate on a pretty simple model: you give us your content, we publish it, we show you some charts. If you want to improve, that's on you. Go look at the analytics. Figure out what's working. Adjust your strategy. Come back and use the tool again. The problem is the gap between the data and what you're supposed to do with it. It’s where most people get stuck. Take posting times as an example. It's one of the most common questions we hear: "When should I post?" And the honest answer has always been: "It depends. Look at your analytics. Test different times. See what works for your audience." Which is technically co…

I have three kids under five — and getting them out of the house regularly is essential. I'm always scouring Google Reviews for new and interesting kid-friendly things to do in our neighbourhood. I look for great reviews, of course, but you know what stands out even more? Reviews with responses from the business. There's a "kids' cafe" not far from us that responds to every review. That tells us they care about their customers — and we go there often. I know I'm not alone in this, either. BrightLocal's research found that 88 percent of consumers would use a business that responds to all of its reviews, both positive and negative. Here's the data on why you should be repl…