Buffer

I'm trying to hit 5,000 Instagram followers by the end of Q2 2026, and Instagram DM automation is one of the biggest reasons I'm even remotely close to that goal. If you’ve been on Instagram recently, you've almost certainly seen it in action. A creator posts a reel and says, "comment GUIDE and I'll send it to your DMs." You comment, and seconds later, the thing lands in your inbox. That's DM automation, and it’s a big part of what has helped me build my following.

I collect vintage Pokémon cards, and they're quite hard to get a hold of. Often, the card I needed was only available in a bulk lot someone was selling. So, through trying to source cards for my own collection from old box sets and starter packs, I ended up with a lot of "spare" cards. Selling the spares started as a side hobby, but I soon built up an inventory of over 1,000 cards and realized I needed a better process to keep the logistics smooth and manageable.

Sameer Ali is the kind of developer who, when faced with a repetitive task, builds an app to fix it. He's also a creator, publishing coding content on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under the name coding.kitty — and his build-an-app approach was exactly how he removed almost all the admin from his social presence.

I use Buffer to post on LinkedIn about the tools and tech updates that power my work as a full-stack engineer. The scheduling, the queue, the publishing — all of that works great for me. But there was always this one moment in the workflow where I'd get stuck. I'd open Buffer, navigate to the Create Space, and just...stare at a blank screen. It's not that I had nothing to say. But sitting there trying to figure out what to actually post (what's trending right now?

Buffer's API is here, which means you can now connect Buffer to the tools you already use to build new, more powerful workflows. Our new public API lets you publish, schedule, and manage your social presence from wherever you already work, whether that's a no-code automation tool, your own environment, or an AI agent acting on your behalf. The API features an MCP and a CLI and ultimately opens the door to more members from our community building tools and apps on top of Buffer.

Orel Zilberman built WriteStack for the kind of creator who's all-in on Substack. Substack handles the writing and publishing beautifully. WriteStack handles the other stuff — scheduling Notes, surfacing analytics, and planning a content pipeline. His vision was a single creator operating system for the platform. Orel came to the problem with nine years of software development experience, including time at two startups.

Shivani Shah runs her freelance business the way she runs her Mac: keyboard-first and automated wherever possible. Hazel, a Mac folder-automation tool, sorts her invoices into the right folders the moment they hit Downloads. Alfred, her keyboard-driven launcher, pulls up any file by keyword so she never has to open Finder.

Ben Campbell is a marketer, but he's built two Buffer-powered apps designed around real social media workflows — from scratch. Aside from the marketing, he's a self-described "advanced vibe-coder" who spent two years working at a coding school, picked up enough to understand file structures and API calls, and figured out how to use AI tools to move faster while he handled the strategy, workflow, testing, and product direction. PostIQ was the first thing he built.

Marin Nedelev isn't a developer, and he'd be the first to tell you that. But when you oversee marketing across 77 social media channels, 30 users, and ten different languages, you learn to build what you need. Marin coordinates marketing at Atena, a caregiver staffing agency that connects caregivers from Central and Eastern Europe with families across the continent.

Facebook wasn't really on my radar as a place to make money. Instagram, sure. TikTok, absolutely. But Facebook felt like the platform I used to keep up with my high school friends, rather than the one I'd turn to for creator income. But things are changing! Facebook has been making a lot of effort to lure over creators from other platforms — especially when it comes to monetization. As a nano creator, I’ve been keeping a close eye on this for several months now.