After randomly deciding to rely what number of articles I had written 1.5 years into my time at Buffer, I spotted I used to be about to hit 100 articles written for the Buffer weblog.
It’s an superior milestone, and I needed to share the sensation of accomplishment. So I tweeted and posted on LinkedIn about it and obtained many congratulations and compliments about my writing.
Then I additionally bought a number of questions on my writing course of and motivation. The latter is fairly straightforward to reply – that is my job. I’m (and I say this with full genuineness) fairly chill, due to my want for constant inside motivation to do something that requires important effort. Fortunately, Buffer’s the sort of place the place that effort feels prefer it’s price it and is all the time rewarded.
Nevertheless, there’s the primary half – my course of. I didn’t need to repeat myself to everybody who requested – so I wrote a entire article with each reply. I’ve documented some background about my time at Buffer, my writing course of (which took longer than anticipated for one thing that’s a part of my day by day routine), and a few of my recommendation for present and aspiring content material writers.
Background of my time at Buffer
Brief model: I’ve been at Buffer for 18 months and have grown considerably in my position and as a creator since I joined.
I utilized for the Content material Author position in October 2021 and began in February 2022. In between was stuffed with pleasure, anxiousness, and anticipation as a result of
- It’s BUFFER
- The job description was actually good for me
- I hoped to maneuver in-house, away from the hustle and bustle of company life, to pursue writing for one firm in a single business.
Nonetheless, I used to be in disbelief after I bought the provide. Sure, I bought by way of the interview course of, and naturally, I belief Hailley, the Head of Content material, and Joel, the CEO at Buffer in addition to all the parents who had a hand within the choice. I belief that out of all of the candidates, I truthfully was match. Nevertheless it’s onerous to shake self-doubt, which I cope with fairly often.
Nevertheless, I’m nonetheless right here, 18 months and greater than 100 articles later, so I have to be doing one thing proper. My position’s additionally shifted fairly a bit. Right here’s the unique posting:
In comparison with now, my position has modified fairly a bit. I now:
- Assist outline content material technique,
- Write the weekly publication,
- Observe content material efficiency by way of our analytics,
- Run a visitor posting program,
- Collaborate on team-wide advertising and marketing tasks.
A take a look at my writing course of
Publishing over 100 long-form articles in 18 months (roughly 5 a month) isn’t any small feat, and I bought a couple of questions in regards to the writing course of that helped me obtain it. Particularly, Kuba Rogalski and Anfernee Chansamooth requested straight about my writing course of.
So, right here’s how I take an article from concept to publishing and past.
Analysis and ideation
I fill out the content material calendar with a mixture of concepts pulled from analysis about key phrases we have to goal, present traits within the social media business, questions from our viewers, and instinctive information of our content material gaps.
After I began, I might get content material concepts from Hailley primarily based on what made essentially the most sense for me to cowl. Over time, as I grew snug with the social media house, I began to grasp what would greatest transfer the needle for our core metric: web page views.
Now that I perceive each the Buffer model and the social media business/creator economic system, I function just about independently on concept technology. I’ll usually place my concepts within the content material calendar as they arrive and run them by the workforce as wanted.
Outlining and drafting articles and emails
Whereas hiring for the position I’d ultimately fill, the Content material workforce was primarily simply Hailley, supported by an company, so after I joined, we needed to develop a brand new system for collaboration.
We’ve refined it properly sufficient that the precise writing of articles is a science masquerading as artwork that goes like this:
- Outlining: I define articles utilizing the 30 p.c define format. Whereas I rely much less on this than I used to, it’s a useful body that’ll get you from concept to remaining product as rapidly as attainable.
- Title/H1: I’ll usually provide you with a number of choices for potential titles earlier than or after drafting. Typically I can solely inform one of the best title for an article earlier than I begin writing it; different instances, it’s apparent from the beginning.
- Key phrase (if the article is Search engine marketing-driven): The key phrase will decide the ultimate URL we publish an article underneath, so it’s useful for our social media supervisor Mitra, to have it earlier than the weblog goes stay
- Introduction: I’ll usually begin with one hook paragraph to seize a reader’s consideration, then end up with one thesis paragraph that’ll let you know what to anticipate from the article
- Headings and accompanying content material: I’ll break up the article into H2s, 3s, and 4s for straightforward skimming and the on-page Search engine marketing advantages. I view headings as a “inform them what to anticipate” then ship by way of the sections all the way in which to the conclusion.
I additionally write the weekly Social Media publication, which is extra “fill-in-the-blanks” than something. Essentially the most hands-on work there may be optimizing the publication by A/B testing headlines, experimenting with new sections, and incorporating viewers suggestions about our design or present content material codecs.
Modifying suggestions and revisions
After I first joined, Hailley would assessment my work, and I might assessment to make modifications; she’d look once more after which give me the go-ahead to publish. Over time, I’ve gotten higher at writing basically and for Buffer particularly, so we solely do one spherical of revisions earlier than publishing.
I proofread utilizing Grammarly as I’m writing, so modifying is normally targeted on making structural modifications or fixing the general tone and elegance of an article. As soon as finished, I schedule the article in Ghost, our content material administration system.
Zero-click repurposing
I lately began sharing older articles to my private social media to contribute to distribution. That is nonetheless a brand new a part of my course of and is a drop within the ocean in the meanwhile. Nevertheless it helps drive visitors to the weblog and provides me one thing to schedule after I’m out of recent concepts.
I work with a lot of instruments day by day, however right here’s the stack I work with daily:
- Analysis & ideation: Key phrase analysis in Ahrefs; an array of newsletters; content material gaps; analytics, previous efficiency
- Content material administration: Notion
- Outlining & drafting: Google Docs, Clearscope
- Article optimization (graphics, modifying & proofreading): Grammarly, Unsplash, Canva
- Article publishing: Ghost
- E-newsletter publishing: Buyer.io
- Zero-click repurposing: ChatGPT, scheduling in Buffer
- Admin: Calendly, Slack, Otter.ai, Zoom, Spotify, Issues 3, Arc browser
After all, this doesn’t totally take into account that I additionally write the publication, conduct interviews, maintain monitor of analytics, and handle our visitor posting program.
Some challenges I face as a content material author
Whereas my writing and advertising and marketing expertise appear to be they’re actually nice, I wrestle with plenty of issues, largely as a result of I used to be a “gifted child.” I may learn very early, and for so long as I’ve understood find out how to put pen to paper, writing has come naturally to me. Nevertheless, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that writing’s about the one factor I discover straightforward. And I’ve discovered myself in a profession that’s solely 5 p.c expertise.
As I shared within the introduction, I want inside motivation to work at one thing, particularly issues that frustrate me. And I’m not superb at sticking to a process if I don’t perceive it, so I don’t do properly with these irritating issues. Nevertheless, that wouldn’t have given me the wanted development, so I needed to study or be left behind.
So, since I bought my first writing job, I’ve approached the whole lot with a newbie’s mindset. Analytics, coding fundamentals, and constructing Notion databases have all turn into a part of my job, however I didn’t know them initially.
It usually took me plenty of trial and error to grasp how a bit of content material or a venture or process I took on would match into the broader scheme of a model (whether or not private or enterprise). I positively didn’t acquire that instinctive understanding at Buffer till about six months in, and I’m nonetheless figuring it out for my private model.
I additionally nonetheless wrestle with overestimating (after which overextending) myself by pondering I can tackle greater than I can. I wrestle with procrastination on account of perfectionism (these are outdated nemeses). I wrestle as a result of my setting isn’t all the time superb, and my sense of creativity is delicate to the slightest change.
So it doesn’t matter what it seems to be like on the surface, I’m removed from good and nonetheless have plenty of rising to do. Fortunately, I’ve the assist of the Buffer workforce and the community of pros that cheer me on daily.
Answering some FAQs about my writing course of
What I’ve realized alongside the way in which
Michaela Mendes requested what I’ve realized alongside the way in which. It took me a little bit of pondering, however I can pinpoint three most important classes from after I began at Buffer until now;
- When rising a weblog, you’re on the mercy of the major search engines however solely as much as a sure level – comply with the principles as mandatory, however don’t let that overcome the writing and its function.
- There’s no such factor as “too apparent” when breaking down info. Each most important matter has sub-topics that even have sub-topics. You have not run out of concepts till you get to the final atom of an concept.
- Give your readers what they need to one of the best of your potential. On-line writing (as in writing from a model, enterprise, or in any other case) is to affect another person. Typically that affect is for info or information sharing (“Belief me, I’m an professional at [topic]”); different instances, it’s transactional (“That is your problem, that is how my product solves it, purchase it from me.”)
I’ve additionally realized that I solely have one expertise (writing), and I’m lucky it’s so versatile.
How knowledge informs Buffer’s content material
Danny Groner requested, “Are you able to share a few the metrics you take note of after you’ve got revealed that determines the cadence and which subjects, too, will comply with swimsuit?”
We primarily monitor pageviews and signups. Particularly, we deal with pageviews over 7, 28, and 84 days and wider pageviews damaged up by weblog, timeframe, and many others. That is in order that we are able to get an image of how items carry out individually and the way our weblog visitors goes.
Nevertheless, as detailed as our monitoring is, we’ve solely been analyzing at a excessive stage, which we’re working to vary. We used to work with a mix of month-to-month analyses of content material efficiency, a yearly overview, and an instinctive understanding of what content material performs greatest to find out find out how to transfer ahead however found we weren’t pondering high-level sufficient.
Now, Hailley and I are engaged on a venture to research the previous eighteen months of content material efficiency throughout our most important metrics. We’ve positioned all of the content material we’ve ever tracked into related classes and plan to research the information to search out prime performers and their widespread threads (like our readers’ jobs-to-be-done or content material format) and incorporate all our findings into future content material.
Our thesis is that understanding and specializing in what content material performs greatest will assist the weblog develop and inform us what our viewers gravitates in the direction of most, and assist us assist them.
What has helped me construct out my workflow and write sooner
Alice Lemee requested what helped me construct my workflow and write sooner.
Nothing has helped me greater than immersing myself in every factor I have to sort out. There have been issues I already knew earlier than becoming a member of Buffer. I knew find out how to write an honest Search engine marketing-optimized article, I knew find out how to use many on-line instruments to allow my writing. However I’ve realized a lot it makes my prior progress appear like going from crawling to operating a half-marathon.
- To get concepts for articles, I began following all of the thought leaders, even remotely linked to social media after which, later, the creator economic system.
- To find out about Buffer customers’ almost definitely frustrations and get hands-on expertise with their challenges, I began posting to social media extra ceaselessly utilizing Buffer.
- To study extra about e mail writing and automation, I began a publication.
- To enhance my advertising and marketing expertise, I took Amanda Natividad’s Content material Advertising and marketing 201, and I’m at the moment taking CXL’s Technical Content material Advertising and marketing course.
- To grasp Notion higher, I constructed a database of assets.
Mixed, all this effort has made writing for Buffer’s viewers – excuse the drama – a part of my existence. I stay and breathe being a creator now, so I primarily write for myself.
What lies forward
A structured writing course of, coupled with steady studying and adaptation, can result in prolific content material output that resonates along with your viewers. I don’t take into account myself an professional, but when I needed to give any recommendation on changing into a greater author, it’d be:
- Suppose past ways and construction. When you’ve realized the fundamentals of writing on-line, you’ll have to additional perceive advertising and marketing, branding, and market analysis. Immerse your self in your business to generate impactful concepts and create significant work.
- When unsure, use a template. With a structured define (just like the 30 p.c format), you possibly can keep away from many of the fear about whether or not an article is optimized and deal with delivering high quality writing to your reader.
Reflecting on my journey, from the primary month at Buffer until now, it is clear that development is a continuing effort. I plan on being at Buffer for some time – I can’t wait to see how a lot I’ve grown in one other 100 articles.
