Buffer - Do your next LinkedIn carousel in style

Hey folks👋🏽

It’s the end of the [work] year for me — today’s my last day before vacation!

In a surprising, non-cheeky turn, I appreciate each one of you who opens these emails and reads them every (and every other) week.

Writing this newsletter is always a bright spot, and I genuinely look forward to putting it together. It’s been fun experimenting with you this year!

This isn’t the last newsletter of the year — next week, you’ll get Kirsti in your inbox one last time this year, then I’ll be back in your first thing next year.

I hope you all get some much-needed rest and come back pumped. I look forward to all the great content we will have for you in 2024!

Let’s get into it!

💌 In today’s email:

• 🎠 We shared 11 ideas for your next LinkedIn carousel
• 🤖 Use this AI Assistant prompt to kickstart ideas for engagement on your social media
• 📱Mitra shares a trending audio for your next Instagram Reel or TikTok
• 📣 The latest social news, features, and bonus reads
• And as always, all the latest and greatest content from the Buffer blog.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next Friday!

Warmly, 

Tami & the Buffer team

P.S. Dive into our free tools — especially our AI-powered social media post creator

☑️ The poll of the week...isn't a poll

We’re taking over this section to promote our Social Media Predictions 2024 survey. We’d love to get your predictions about social media and the creator economy in 2024.

🖊️ Deep dive: 11 ideas for your next Linkedin carousel

LinkedIn carousels are a great content format for many reasons. They also tend to perform quite well – according to our internal data, they have the third-highest engagement rate after video and photo posts at 4.2 percent.

Here are 11 ideas for your next carousel and some best practices to make this engaging format easier than ever to produce.

1. Share news related to your industry — Keeping your audience informed about the latest industry news positions you as a knowledgeable source and provides value to your followers.
2. Share company culture and employee highlights — Showcase your company's culture, values, and team members through a carousel.=
3. Give step-by-step instructions and advice — Use carousels to provide step-by-step instructions or guides. =
4. Share interesting information and facts — Sharing interesting trivia or insights related to your industry or niche can position you as a thought leader and engage your audience.
5. Turn complex data and ideas — Transforming complex data or information into visually appealing slides is an excellent way to make your content more accessible and engaging.
6. Showcase your products or services — Use carousels to showcase your products or services in a visually appealing way. By highlighting different features, benefits, or use cases with each slide, you can demonstrate how your product solves a specific problem for your target audience.
7. Create zero-click content from your existing media — Zero-click content offers valuable, standalone insights or engaging material without users needing to click a link. While clicking might provide additional information, users do not need to gain value from the content.
8. Share collaborative content — Elevate your content by embracing the power of collaboration. Collaborative content not only provides a fresh perspective to your audience but also expands your reach by tapping into the networks of your collaborators.
9. Sharing thought leadership or how-to content — Share your expertise and knowledge through carousels that provide valuable insights, tips, or advice. This can help establish you as an authority in your field and attract new followers.
10. Highlight members of your audience or community — Showing members of your audience or community is a powerful strategy to foster engagement and build a sense of belonging.
11. Share micro interviews — Micro interviews are a concise and engaging way to share insights from industry experts or thought leaders.

🏎️ Four creators speeding up their growth with Buffer

We pride ourselves on being an excellent tool for entrepreneurs and business owners to grow on social media — and our users were more than happy to back us up.

• Erik Berglund on Linkedin: “I've been able to consistently post for the last 5 months. I've never posted this frequently, and I've saved a ton of time while doing it. I likely save 4+ hours a month by using Buffer”
• Onlinemarketinges: “On TikTok we went from 110k to 310k with Buffer!”
• Reid on Twitter: “Doubled follower count and engagement has gone up 4x”
• Marian on Instagram: “I've saved weeks of time and have increased my engagement at 50%”

Want to skyrocket your growth? Click the link below to get started with Buffer today!

👇🏽 The latest from the blog

• I Got Meta Verified on Instagram — Here’s My Honest Review: Kirsti put Meta Verified — and the coveted blue check — under the microscope for two weeks. The results were definitely not what I expected.

• 7 Creators On The Systems That Support Their Content Creation: Dive into the intricate systems behind seven successful content creators as they share how they blend their creativity with strategy and technology.
• How to Create and Schedule LinkedIn Carousel Posts to Maximize Engagement + Reach: In this article, Kirsti walks you through the benefits of using LinkedIn documents, plus shares a step-by-step guide to creating a carousel post on LinkedIn and schedule it for the best time to post on LinkedIn. 
  
• How to Add a Link to Your TikTok Bio (+ What to Do If You Can't): Adding a website link to your TikTok bio isn't as straightforward. Here, I'll explain the requirements you need to meet, how to add your link and offer solutions if the link in bio feature isn't working for you.

🤖 A prompt for Buffer's AI Assistant

Use this prompt to get ideas to improve the engagement on your social media.

The Prompt

I manage the [Platform] social media account for [Type of Business/Brand, e.g., fitness brand, fashion label, tech startup]. Our main focus is [Key Themes or Topics, e.g., home workouts, sustainable fashion, innovative tech solutions]. We're targeting [Target Audience, e.g., busy professionals, eco-conscious consumers, tech enthusiasts] and looking to increase engagement. Please suggest [Number] unique and creative post ideas that:

• Are tailored to [Key Themes or Topics].
• Encourage audience interaction (e.g., challenges, polls, Q&As).
• Reflect current trends suitable for our audience [Target Audience].
• Include a mix of content types (e.g., videos, images, infographics).

📱Social tip of the week from Mitra, Buffer’s Social Media Manager 

“We’re [small business owners/creators/entrepreneurs], of course we’re going to….”

This is a really fun trend happening on TikTok right now, where people are poking fun at themselves a little bit. It started out with people saying things like “We’re girls, we’re gonna get a tummy ache,” and people have taken the trend and talked about anything, so this would be a fun trend to hop on saying something like “We’re small business owners” or “We’re creators” and go into some funny things you do.

Here’s a really great example from small business Rainbow Certified where they say, “We’re small business owners” on TikTok. They start out with, “We’re small business owners, we quit our 9-5 jobs so we could work 24/7" 😂

📣 What's happening in social?

Meta’s Threads launches in Europe — and the decentralized network testing has begun; Instagram adds 2-second video to its Notes feature; YouTube will enable channels to give away 10 free subscriptions each month; LinkedIn rolls out profile verification for UK users; X previews a new search option for your bookmarks; Pinterest is having a moment with Gen Z.

Get these updates and more in our news Notion page!

Thanks for reading! 💟

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