Our Best Performing Social Media Content of 2023, And Why We Think It Worked

Hey folks 👋

Especially to everyone still checking their inbox! 

I see you. But after I turn on my OOO reply today, I’m going to do my best not to check my emails until 2024. (Be strong, fellow Type-A folks — turn off your notifications if you’re taking a break!)

It’s a real treat for me to have the chance to send out our final newsletter of 2023! It’s been an absolute cracker of a year, as my teammate Phill would say.

We shipped 26 news features, published 230+ new pieces of content, launched our guest post program, grew the Buffer community in Discord by over 1,000 members… the list goes on.

All that would have been impossible without the support of good folks like you — using Buffer, reading our content, engaging with our socials, opening these emails... Thank you. ❤️

Right, before I get choked up — here’s what we have for you in our last newsletter of the year.

💌 In today’s email:

• ⭐️ Our top-performing posts from each social platform
• 🤖 Use this AI Assistant prompt to get more from your best content
• 📱Mitra shares a social tip to help you take a break
• 📣 The latest social news, features, and bonus reads
• And as always, all the latest and greatest content from the Buffer blog.

Have a lovely festive season!

Warmly, 

Kirsti & the Buffer team

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

⭐️ Deep Dive: Our Top-Performing Posts from Each Social Platform

It’s becoming an annual tradition for Buffer’s Social Media Manager Mitra Mehvar to share the best of our social media content for the year. Here, she unpacks the most engaging posts of each platform and why she thinks they performed so well.

LinkedIn: An AMA request

This post was shared as a PDF carousel, which we know performs really well on LinkedIn. Our posts featuring the team and focusing on our culture have historically performed well, so it’s no surprise that this post asking people which Bufferoo they’d like to host an AMA was our top post.

X (Formerly known as Twitter): An open role at Buffer

I’m not surprised to see a hiring post on this list! At Buffer, we’re known for our unique culture, salary transparency, and amazing benefits, so people are always excited about the possibility of joining the team. The fact that we listed the salary right away probably caught a lot of people’s attention, too.

Instagram: A repurposed post on marketing metrics

I first shared this post last year and decided it was a great candidate for repurposing! I’ve noticed that posts that give practical advice perform well on Instagram. Our audience includes small business owners who may not be social media experts, so this kind of info is very helpful for them.

TikTok: A CapCut meme about remote work

I still can’t believe we got over two million views on this TikTok! I think it’s my favorite post of the whole year — it still makes me laugh when I watch it. I think this one did so well because of a combination of things: it used a trending meme format and was relatable, funny, and short. We’re a fully remote team at Buffer, so it was also poking a little fun at ourselves.

🏎️ 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

• 26 New Buffer Features We Launched This Year (+ What’s Coming in 2024): A look at how Buffer has changed this year and our roadmap for next.

• How One Viral TikTok Generated Over $25,000 in Sales for My Business in a Month: As a Gen X founder, Alice Kim didn’t think TikTok was for her — but she managed to see huge business growth from the platform.

• Social Media Ads Became More Expensive in 2023: How I’m Shifting My 2024 Marketing Approach: When Jen Street noticed her business’ online ads becoming less successful, she pivoted instead of panicked. Learn the approaches she’s using in the new year.

• 17 Pop Culture Moments That Blew Up on Social Media in 2023: From groundbreaking technological advancements to glitzy entertainment releases, this year had it all. But not every trend was a welcome one.

• The Best Time to Post on LinkedIn to Boost Your Following + Engagement in 2024: We analyzed over 1 million posts sent through Buffer to pinpoint the best time and day to post on LinkedIn for maximum reach.

🤖 A prompt for Buffer's AI Assistant

Use this prompt to repurpose your best social media posts into a new piece of content!

The Prompt

Read my 5 best-performing posts on [platform] and come up with a new post in a similar style: [add 5 social media posts]

• Platform: Your social channel of choice
• 5 social media posts: Copy and paste the actual content of (not the link to) your best posts on your chosen platform from 2023.

Tip: This works best for text-based posts or captions.

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

We’re getting further into the holiday season, which means you most likely want to have some time off soon!

One of the best things you can do is plan and schedule your posts for the next few weeks so that’s one less thing you have to worry about. Truly take this time to rest and recharge — and then you’ll be ready to kick things off strong in the new year!

📣 What's happening in social?

X (Twitter) had a weird outage on Thursday; CapCut adds new features for short-form video editing; Instagram is experimenting with its Notes feature; Google Chrome has made it easier to screenshot still frames from videos; and Threads may launch some fun celebratory features just in time for New Year’s Eve. 

Thanks for reading! 💟

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