When you’ve been seeing Buffer teammates pop up in your social feeds much more recently, it’s not a coincidence. It’s by design! We’ve been deliberately investing in constructing a group of Buffer creators as a company-wide initiative.
On the core of this work is an easy perception: being creators ourselves will proceed to set Buffer up for long-term success. By dwelling the identical creator journey as our prospects, we are able to make higher product choices and join extra meaningfully with the folks we serve.
Changing into a group of creators is a signature model wager that we have kicked off in 2025; it’s our means of constructing Buffer from the within out.
On this submit, I’ll take you behind the scenes of how we’re making it occur. From the methods and workshops we’ve designed to assist our teammates, to the early alerts of affect we’re already seeing.
The evolution from dogfooding to Staff of Creators
Buffer’s story with creation began lengthy earlier than we known as it “Team of Creators.”
Again in November 2010, our CEO Founder Joel Gascoigne constructed the first version of Buffer throughout a Startup Dash to resolve an issue he was experiencing: he needed a approach to area out when his tweets have been despatched.
Within the early days, we have been small, the product was private, and plenty of teammates have been building in public — tweeting usually and utilizing Buffer simply as our prospects did. Creation was woven into the day-to-day in a pure means, however there was no formal construction and no shared expectation.
As Buffer grew, our method turned extra intentional by way of dogfooding — utilizing Buffer internally to publish our personal content material, check new options, and catch bugs earlier than they reached prospects. Dogfooding stored us near the product and gave us helpful suggestions loops, but it surely had its limits. We have been utilizing the product, however not essentially dwelling the shopper journey.
The shift to constructing a group of creators
Staff of Creators is a deliberate shift from dogfooding, and a defensible long-term technique that may very well be an enormous differentiator for Buffer.
We’re not simply testing our product internally; we’re creating content material in public collectively. Meaning experiencing the identical hesitations, artistic blocks, and cold-start challenges our prospects face; and studying tips on how to transfer by way of them. Within the course of, we’re constructing our personal voices and consistency; and gaining a deeper understanding of what it takes to develop as creators which in the end helps us create a greater product expertise.
Staff of Creators is about encouraging each Bufferoo to share their voice in a means that feels pure to them; on social platforms they’re most comfy with, and in areas they genuinely care about. Which may imply a designer sharing their process on Instagram, a marketer offering industry tips on LinkedIn, or a teammate posting their hiking adventures on Threads. It’s not about solely posting about Buffer, it’s about constructing the behavior of making and connecting persistently.
Joel talked about this shift from dogfooding throughout our June 2025 All Arms, reflecting on how Staff of Creators marks a pure evolution in our tradition: one which strikes past transparency into visibility, and invitations each teammate to be a storyteller in their very own means.
Setting expectations at Buffer
This shift has been intentional, and is a change we’re making company-wide. We have had sure groups up to now that naturally labored on turning into creators, however this modification is company-wide — each function, each group.
To really make the imaginative and prescient for our group of creators be a actuality, Joel, set a transparent expectation that everybody on the Buffer group participates and begins their creator journey; with managers supporting this work alongside the way in which.
We’re not simply empowering the whole Buffer group to develop their voices on social, construct public credibility, and share actual tales from behind the scenes. We’re setting a excessive commonplace of excellence.
This shift strengthens our tradition, builds a stronger bridge to our group, and creates a type of model differentiation that’s arduous to duplicate. As Michael Porter writes in What’s Technique?:
“A company can outperform rivals only if it can establish a difference that it can preserve.”
Staff of Creators is how we protect that distinction; by maintaining our folks on the middle, and studying by doing.
As soon as we’d made the choice to turn into a real group of creators, the true work started.
How we constructed the Staff of Creators ecosystem
It’s one factor to set an expectation, it’s one other to construct a program that folks wish to be a part of, week after week, for the lengthy haul.
Even nice concepts can lose steam as soon as the preliminary pleasure fades. For Staff of Creators to ship on its promise, we couldn’t simply depend on preliminary enthusiasm; we wanted to construct one thing that might make it simple, energizing, and rewarding for teammates to participate over the long run. That meant creating a robust spine: clear construction, accessible sources, and methods for teammates to assist and encourage each other.
With that finish objective in thoughts, we got down to create a framework that would stand by itself, adapt over time, and really assist Bufferoos construct a sustainable behavior loop. That additionally meant making intentional selections about what to prioritize first, and organising methods we might scale as momentum grew.
Organising assist methods for Buffer creators
The 1st step was ensuring each teammate had sensible assist, clear pathways, and a spot to attach with others doing the identical. That basis got here collectively in a number of interlocking components, beginning with a devoted Slack channel.
The Slack channel: #buffer-creators
Slack was the natural choice for this first step since it’s where we already collaborate daily, and we needed this area to reflect the community spirit we’ve constructed externally, however inside Buffer.
From the very starting, we stored the comms tempo intentional and set the channel up as an lively, working area to swap concepts, share wins, ask for suggestions, and cheer one another on.
One key piece of the technique was to maintain concentrate on a human and values-led method, quite than kicking off any system-based automations or zaps in Slack on day one. Some days that meant asking what content material folks have been planning for the week; different days it was recognizing a teammate’s submit within the wild; grabbing a screenshot, and sharing it with the hyperlink so others might enhance it. And all the time, there have been taco emojis — our Slack custom for celebrating wins, dwelling our values, and marking milestones!
We additionally made it a degree to highlight teammates who have been simply beginning out as creators or have been barely extra introverted. The intention was twofold: encouragement and visibility. Established Buffer creators — these with present audiences and extra creator expertise — usually joined in, providing platform-specific ideas, sharing AI workflows, or breaking down viral post frameworks.
Over time, a set of pure champions emerged: individuals who persistently provided encouragement, ideas, and fast help for anyone navigating the creator journey.
This deliberate early nurturing actually paid off.
Immediately, #buffer-creators is a buzzing nook of experiments, candid conversations, and mutual assist. Teammates brazenly share submit drafts, ask for suggestions, and have a good time Buffer Streaks from our leaderboard. Many posts have gone from draft to printed in a matter of minutes, given the collaborative overview course of. It’s additionally turn into an opportunity to be taught from one another, as teammates watch how completely different folks form their concepts and produce content material to life.
Because the area developed a bit extra, we added one light-touch automation — a Monday check-in — to maintain the momentum going.
It’s a mild accountability mechanism that additionally sparks thought sharing and units the tone for the week. However the heartbeat of the channel stays the identical:
Actual folks supporting one another, as they develop as creators.
Staff of Creators Assets HQ (Notion)
The subsequent huge step was level-setting creator information with wealthy and easy-to-follow sources.
We didn’t wish to assume folks knew the place to start out. We needed to create one thing that felt like a light-weight, choose-your-own-path onboarding: simple to dip into, substantial sufficient to degree up.
That turned the Staff of Creators Assets HQ in Notion; a working library for kickstarting or up-leveling a creator journey.
Inside, teammates might discover:
- Clear context for why the initiative exists, why it issues, and easy first steps to get going.
- Actionable steerage on identifying a niche, choosing a major platform, and setting achievable content material objectives.
- Sensible methods for content batching and scheduling content material with Buffer.
- Workouts and techniques for reframing widespread creator mindset hurdles.
- Platform-by-platform greatest practices, plus notes on how algorithms are inclined to behave.
- Repurposing playbooks to assist content material journey additional.
- Instruments for packaging content material nicely, aligned to personal brand objectives.
Since teammates are balancing this journey with day-to-day work, in a 4-day work week; we have been cautious to keep away from data overload. All through the hub, the tone stays heat and exact; pages are brief and interactive. We baked in prompts like “Identify your why with these questions” so folks might outline their function at their very own tempo. We additionally layered in ideas and information share posts from teammates sourced immediately from the #buffer-creators Slack threads, which created a pleasant continuity between the place concepts begin and the place they’re documented.
A favourite part within the hub is the Wall of Wins: a curated, daily-updated gallery of actual posts from Bufferoos throughout platforms. It offers fast, visible inspiration and underscores an necessary fact: exhibiting up counts, whether or not you might be sharing Buffer-related work or one thing private you care about.
The Staff of Creators Assets HQ utilization knowledge tells us that teammates are utilizing it!
Our newest Notion analytics snapshot reveals 773 complete views since launch, unfold broadly throughout the corporate; proof that individuals are returning to the hub as an lively working device, and never a one-time launch doc. Hurrah!
Creator Café workshops
After launching the Slack channel and sources hub, we needed one thing that might convey teammates collectively frequently, and in actual time. An area the place Buffer creators might join, be taught, and ask questions with out having to carve out that area themselves.
That’s how Creator Café workshops got here to life!
These classes are designed as relaxed, beginner-friendly digital meetups for teammates to enter and maintain their creator journeys with extra confidence. They’re completely elective, as we’re a fully remote team, however each workshop is recorded and content material shared afterwards so nobody misses out.
We’re nonetheless early on this journey, and have mapped out three waves for the months forward:
- Wave 1 (foundational): Sensible classes to construct early creator habits, overcome mindset limitations, and provide hands-on steerage
- Wave 2 (needs-based): Focused workshops responding to particular challenges, methods, or alternatives that floor over time
- Wave 3 (collective themes): Periods targeted on team-wide developments, showcasing profitable approaches, and spotlighting artistic experiments from teammates
Our first Creator Café was held on July twenty first, and it set the tone for what’s to come back!
We kicked issues off with a tour of the brand new sources HQ and shared some shocking early outcomes (yay) from our collective posting momentum that acquired everybody excited. Subsequent, the guts of the workshop was an interactive Figma train, full with “hero’s journey” soundtrack, that invited everybody to map out the hurdles maintaining them from posting:
The primary board, on the left — a Creator Empathy Map — had 4 quadrants: Imposter Syndrome, Perfectionism, Not Figuring out The place to Begin, and Lack of Time/Power, plus an area for “something else.” Teammates crammed it shortly:
- Imposter Syndrome: “I worry my content isn’t original enough.”
- Perfectionism: “I feel like I need to have everything figured out before I share anything.”
- Not Figuring out The place to Begin: “I have too many ideas and can’t decide which to focus on.”
- Lack of Time/Power: “By the time I finish my workday, I’m drained and can’t think about creating.”
The second board, on the appropriate — additionally a Creator Empathy Map — flipped the dialog. For each problem listed, teammates provided concepts for overcoming it: the whole lot from small mindset shifts to utilizing templates, batching content material, or finding an accountability buddy. It was knowledge-sharing at its most natural, with worth flowing between creators at each stage of their journey.
We closed the train loop with a myth-busting phase on content material creation and easing widespread worries. The session wrapped with an open jam and Q&A, which sparked concepts we’ll carry into the following workshop.
For any workshop we host, the objective is to maintain it gentle and memorable all through. For this primary one, we framed the workshop round a pasta metaphor: content material, like pasta, is available in many shapes and kinds, with countless “seasonings” (AI instruments, private methods, artistic twists) to fit your style. The suggestions was clear; the workshop left teammates extra assured, impressed, and able to experiment.
Immediately, our method stays incremental, supportive, and grounded in assembly teammates the place they’re; with every session constructing on the final. Extra to come back!
Turning Buffer’s social channels into shared areas
As extra teammates discovered their rhythm with posting, the following step was to increase that momentum past particular person accounts.
We needed to convey extra of that creativity, persona, and lived expertise into Buffer’s owned social channels; turning them into shared areas that mirrored the folks behind the product.
This was a shift in how we noticed our brand presence: from being centrally managed by just a few faces to being a dwelling, collaborative stream of tales. We started that includes teammate-generated content material entrance and middle; the whole lot from trade observations and sensible creator tricks to behind-the-scenes glimpses of Buffer tradition and private milestones.
For teammates, this turned a mild and accessible approach to ease into public content material creation. Sharing on the Buffer account meant they may experiment, construct confidence, and join with a wider viewers — all whereas understanding their voice nonetheless gave the impression of them.
For our viewers, it meant extra genuine, different storytelling that would by no means be replicated by a single perspective. It gave our channels a gradual circulate of contemporary content material, extra faces from throughout the corporate, and richer illustration of the folks and work that make Buffer what it’s.
We’ve since expanded that very same precept to our weblog, inviting anybody at Buffer to contribute. This opens the door for a broader vary of voices and experiences to form our content material — from engineers sharing product choices to designers unpacking artistic processes. It’s diversifying the views we share and including extra depth to the conversations we begin.
To maintain this momentum going, we actively repost and syndicate teammates’ content material, spotlight their work in ask-me-anything (AMA) type threads, and encourage community-driven dialogue. The result’s a suggestions loop the place our group and our group encourage one another, reinforcing the concept that Buffer’s model is constructed by the folks in it, and shared by everybody.
Measuring success with knowledge and qualitative affect alerts
From the start, we knew that measuring the success of Staff of Creators couldn’t simply be a numbers train.
We’re not chasing advert ROI or making an attempt to justify media financial savings, which is why we intentionally skipped metrics like Earned Media Value (EMV). The story we wish to inform is of collective momentum, participation, and constructing empathy for the folks we serve. It’s in regards to the ripple impact that occurs when dozens of Bufferoos begin exhibiting up persistently, in their very own voices.
In a group of 70, you may sense the change nearly instantly with out ever opening a dashboard. It’s within the rhythm of our feeds, within the conversations we’re having with our group, and within the regular stream of posts we reshare from teammates on Buffer’s model channels.
We see it in our Wall of Wins, too. It’s up to date each day and is a dwelling gallery the place anybody at Buffer can see what others are creating. Some posts are Buffer-related; others are deeply personal or rooted in industry expertise. That blend is intentional and we’ve by no means set the bar at “you must post about Buffer.” The objective has all the time been to assist folks create in ways in which really feel pure, self-led, and sustainable.
Constructing a dashboard
Whereas the cultural alerts have been clear, we additionally needed a approach to anchor our progress in one thing extra tangible.
Earlier than launch, we set a baseline by pulling knowledge from teammate social accounts related to Buffer, ensuring to solely embrace accounts they posted to themselves (not these managed for freelance or different aspect tasks). This gave us a real image of the place to begin and ensured we have been capturing the appropriate quantity for the appropriate story.
From there, we constructed the Staff of Creators dashboard; our dwelling for monitoring just a few key alerts:
- Lively group members: to measure adoption charge, and see how many individuals are taking part in a given week or month.
- Whole group posts: to measure quantity and spot spikes tied to launches, occasions, or cultural moments.
- Median posts per member: to grasp posting habits throughout the group, not simply essentially the most prolific voices.
- Whole group attain, impressions, and views: to indicate the collective affect of our content material within the wild.
The numbers alone aren’t the entire story, however they provide us a strong lens on what’s taking place.
Extra importantly, the trajectory is upward; participation and attain are each climbing as extra folks discover their rhythm. Subsequent, we’re exploring methods to observe attain per teammate and observe the share of weekly posting objectives met in Buffer. This can add much more depth to how we measure and share this story.
Leaderboard for encouragement
Whereas monitoring numbers is helpful, we additionally needed a approach to have a good time the folks behind them, with out turning Staff of Creators right into a high-stakes competitors.
That’s the place the month-to-month leaderboard got here in!
It’s designed to acknowledge participation and consistency, not simply the largest attain or the best engagement. The first rating issue is posting streaks, as a result of consistency is a extra equitable measure than uncooked impressions and attain; particularly when social following sizes fluctuate broadly throughout the Buffer group.
Alongside streaks, the leaderboard highlights every particular person’s complete posts, likes, reposts, feedback and replies, attain, impressions, and views. The intent is to offer teammates a fuller image of their very own momentum, whereas maintaining the spirit collaborative.
Subsequent up, we’re constructing a group leaderboard to see which groups are main the pack on posting consistency! It’s meant to spark some pleasant competitors, whereas maintaining the spirit collaborative.
Creator Confidence as a hit metric
Consistency issues, however so does the way it modifications the way in which you see your self.
To measure that change, we created a Creator Confidence survey that we’ll run each six months. It asks teammates to charge — on a scale of 0–10 — how assured they really feel creating and sharing as a Buffer Creator, how comfy they’re expressing themselves authentically, and the way their confidence compares earlier than the assist methods existed versus now.
In true Buffer style, we’ve made the outcomes absolutely seen! The survey isn’t nameless, and each response is shared proper contained in the Staff of Creators Assets HQ. That transparency means we are able to all see what’s serving to, the place extra assist is required, and what’s potential after we make area for one another’s voices.
Since launching the sources hub, the typical teammate confidence rating has risen by two full factors in comparison with earlier than the initiative! This can be a regular, measurable shift that displays each the consistency of participation and the consolation individuals are discovering in sharing their very own voices.
The outcomes we’re seeing to date
The early alerts are encouraging! Participation is excessive, and folks outdoors Buffer have began to note “Buffer everywhere” of their feeds.
Bufferoos from throughout groups are sharing the whole lot from private reflections to behind-the-scenes looks at their work. Some are constructing entirely new content niches; others, who as soon as felt extra self-conscious about posting, have hit their stride.
There have been many breakthrough moments; posts that took off and led to regular follower development; and smaller compounding wins that created behavior loops, making it simpler for teammates to maintain exhibiting up.
Since launch, we’ve seen:
- 90% of the group actively taking part
- 4132 complete posts
- 2,529,156 complete attain
- 3,705,897 impressions
- 1,852,648 complete views
- 43, median posts per teammate
We’ve additionally seen an enormous shift in how our group engages with us! Increasingly individuals are leaning in to assist us create buzz round launches and key milestones.
For example, for the launch of LinkedIn Profile Analytics, Buffer creators and group members posted coordinated teasers forward of launch. It turned the product launch into an organization and group extensive occasion, filling feeds with curiosity and enthusiasm. On account of this, there has additionally been an uptick in product questions and options directed to particular teammates, signaling that the circle of connection is widening.
The mix of clear expectations, accessible sources, and shared momentum is why this system is holding so robust, long gone the preliminary pleasure. The act of making is not one thing we do “on the side.” It’s embedded in how we construct, join, and present up for the folks we serve.
Retaining momentum alive and what’s subsequent
With the methods and buildings in place, Staff of Creators continues to be in its early chapters. It’s a long-term technique, and we’re deliberate about maintaining the power excessive and the participation regular.
A part of that’s celebration. At our month-to-month All Arms, we highlight teammates from the leaderboard — moments that all the time spark smiles and applause. The identical spirit lives in our #buffer-creators Slack channel, the place encouragement flows each day, and sometimes within the type of taco emojis!
We’re equally intentional about listening. The initiative retains evolving in response to what creators ask for — whether or not it’s new sources, one-on-one assist, or Creator Café workshops that dig into particular, actionable matters. Quickly we’ll be experimenting with lighthearted inside challenges; providing enjoyable, low-pressure prompts to maintain artistic muscle tissues lively.
When you’ve been following alongside and questioning how one thing like this may work in your individual group; otherwise you’re inquisitive about what we’ll strive subsequent, pull up a chair. We’re all the time completely happy to share how we’re constructing, what we’re studying, and the place we’re headed subsequent. You may also direct message me on LinkedIn with any questions!
