Get your annual social media health & optimization checklist

Hey folks👋🏽

There are some things that, if you want or need them done, you need to take action without thinking.

Social media growth isn’t one of them.

If you’re subscribed to this newsletter, chances are you’re always seeking advice and inspiration for how to grow your social media for itself or as a pipeline to your business or creative work.

It means you’re intentional about your growth; part of intentionality is reflecting on the past to find lessons for the future.

We’re well into the new year — did you reflect on the previous one? It’s a new month — have you done your reflections in January?

Taking the time to do this is a healthy habit to incorporate to ensure you’re not repeating past mistakes or missing anything vital about what might be the key to your growth.

So, after you read today’s newsletter of course, take a few minutes to practice reflection. Who knows what gems you might uncover? ✨

Let’s get into it!

💌 In today’s email:

• ☑️ Check, check, or the 2024 social media health & optimization checklist 
• 🤖 Use this AI Assistant prompt to repurpose your content better
• 📱Mitra shares a cute new trend
• 📣 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. #Bufferchat is Back! We’ll be hosting it over on Threads on Tuesdays at 12pm PT/ 3pm ET/8pm UTC. Give us a follow and hit the bell to get notified 🔔

🖊️ Deep dive: The 2024 social media health & optimization checklist

In the spirit of reflection, I’ve created a checklist for you to do just that — but for your social.

I’ve tried to make it as general as possible so you can use it for any platform. Regular check-ups and updates like these are the backbone of a healthy social media presence. Here's to your social media success🍾

Profile Basics Check

• Profile Picture: Is your profile picture professional and reflective of your brand's personality? Does it stand out even in thumbnail size?
• Bio/About Section: Does your bio effectively communicate who you are, what you offer, and why people should care? Have you included relevant keywords for searchability?
• Contact Information: Is all your contact information accurate and easily accessible for potential connections or customers?
• Links: Is the link in your bio leading to a current, relevant landing page such as your latest content, offer, or website homepage?

Content Strategy Refresh

• Content Audit: Which types of content (images, videos, articles) received the most engagement in the past year? Are there noticeable trends in the topics that resonated with your audience?
• Content Plan: Based on your audit, what balance of content types and topics will you aim for? Have you considered experimenting with new content formats?
• Posting Schedule: Have you identified the best times and days to post based on when your audience is most active? Are you leveraging scheduling tools to maintain consistency?

Engagement Analysis

• Response Rate: How quickly are you responding to comments and direct messages? Are you acknowledging and engaging with user-generated content that mentions your brand?
• Audience Interests: Have you conducted surveys or polls to gather insights on your audience's current interests or challenges?
• Collaborations: Have you listed potential brands, influencers, or thought leaders for collaboration? How will these partnerships provide value to your audience?

Visual Consistency Check

• Aesthetic Review: Do your recent posts maintain a consistent color scheme, style, and quality that aligns with your brand’s visual identity?
• Profile Theme: For visually-driven platforms, does your profile present a cohesive and appealing theme when viewed as a whole?

Brand Messaging Alignment

• Voice & Tone: Are you consistently using a voice and tone that reflects your brand's personality across all captions, comments, and direct communications?
• Value Proposition: Does your content clearly showcase your unique benefits, and is it aligned with your target audience's needs and desires?

Platform-Specific Features Usage

• Features Update: Are you up to date with the latest platform features, and are you using them in a way that enhances your content (e.g., long-form, live videos, carousels)?
• Algorithm Check: Have you adapted your content and engagement strategy in response to recent changes in the platform's algorithm?

Community and Network Building

• Community Engagement: Are you actively engaging in conversations within your niche? Are you contributing to relevant groups or forums?
• Networking Efforts: How often are you reaching out to new profiles, and are you effectively using hashtags to discover and engage with new content?

Security and Privacy Review

• Privacy Settings: Have you reviewed your privacy settings to ensure they match your current needs for public visibility and interaction?
• Password Update: When did you last update your passwords, and are you using a secure method to manage them?

Goals and Metrics Review

• Analytics Review: Are you regularly reviewing your analytics to understand content performance, follower growth, and engagement trends?
• Goal Setting: Based on your review, what specific, measurable goals have you set for the next period, and what strategies will you employ to achieve them?

Accessibility Check

• Inclusivity: Have you made your content accessible to a broader audience, including using image descriptions and video captions?
• Diverse Content: Does your content reflect a commitment to diversity and inclusion, both in the imagery used and the topics covered?

If you want to make this a habit, click the link below and bookmark the article to return to every month or year.

🚀 Three entrepreneurs skyrocketing 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.

• Jayak at redpigeonmedia: “Over the past 3 months we've managed to grow one of our client's social media accounts by 400% from 6k to over 23k followers!”
• Press 1 for Nick on YouTube: “My following has grown 10% consistently since I started using Buffer”
• Jon Buckley: “Over the last 90 days, I've seen a 24.5% increase in accounts reached, a 53.2% increase in engagement, and a 9.3% increase in followers.”

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

👇🏽 The latest from the blog

• How to Get More Subscribers on YouTube in 2024: Tried and tested tactics to help you reach a wider audience on YouTube — and convert them to subscribers.
• How I Turned $75 Per Day in Ad Spend Into 1 Million Views on My Instagram Reel With Only 1,000 Followers: Learn the process Samantha Abrahamson followed to find a Reel format that would get the maximum ROI for her social media advertising budget.

• 15+ Newsletters You’ll Want in Your Inbox in 2024: With the newsletters on this list, you'll be able to stay on top of all developments in social media and learn from amazing experts

   

• All of Bluesky’s Features (So Far) and How to Use Them: I documented all the features on Bluesky, plus how to use them.

   

• Introducing our Open Salary System: The one where CEO and co-founder of Buffer, Joel Gascoigne, reflects on a decade of transparent salaries at Buffer and outlines the future.

🤖 A tip for Buffer's AI Assistant

If you’re familiar with content repurposing, you know it’s one of the best ways to keep your content calendar filled and get your. However, some posts don’t need as much effort as others — that’s where this prompt comes in.

Use this prompt in Buffer’s AI Assistant to turn your LinkedIn posts into tweets (and vice versa).

Rewrite the following social post on the specified platform for a more engaging style. Please consider the target audience and adhere to the platform's best practices.

• Original Post: [add the social media post]
• Target Platform: [LinkedIn/Twitter]
• Post Format: [Tweet, Twitter thread, LinkedIn post]
• Target Format: [Tweet, Twitter thread, LinkedIn post]
• Target Audience: [specify the audience, e.g., professionals, entrepreneurs, general public]

Note: Do not include hashtags or emojis in the final rewrite.

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

“My dinner after spending all my money on…” 💸

This is a cute and funny trend going around on Reels right now, and it gives you a chance to show off your product! People are pretending to be “cooking” whatever their product is and claiming it’s their dinner “after spending all their money” on the product.

This Reel should only take you a couple minutes to film, edit, and post! Check out this example from @shop.vermeil where they used the trend to show off some of their waterproof jewelry.

🤳 What's happening in social?

There are now an estimated 160 million Threads users; LinkedIn confirms it has reached 1 billion members; YouTube announces four new studio features for creators; X is looking to expand its ‘Amplify’ video monetization program to creators and previews coming video option for Spaces broadcasts; vertical video pioneer TikTok wants more horizontal videos like YouTube and clashes with UMG leading to many songs being taken off the platform.

Get these updates and more here!

Thanks for reading! 💟

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