Case Study: The Seattle Times achieves a 150% increase in page views from social media with Buffer

How the Largest Newspaper in the Pacific Northwest Shares to Social Media

The Seattle Times, one of the largest daily newspapers in the Western U.S., was publishing 160+ stories a day but struggled to decide which to share, attribute social referrals, onboard contributors quickly, and manage multiple networks and profiles without wasting resources. They needed a focused, measurable social strategy and a simple way for a distributed team to collaborate.

By consolidating and prioritizing accounts, using Buffer for scheduled publishing and UTM-based campaign tracking, and coordinating story selection via Slack and a committee of digital editors, the Times clarified owned vs. earned vs. paid traffic and streamlined day-to-day operations. The result: a 150% increase in page views from social, roughly 30,000 new Facebook followers in 90 days, and a repeatable workflow that scales across sections.

The Seattle Times

Andrew Macrae

Product Manager for Audience Development