Ash Read
A collection of posts by Ash Read
A collection of 115 posts by Ash Read - Page 5
Instagram has now released one of its most requested features. The ever-popular photo sharing app announced that following the release of version 7.15 for iOS and Android users will have the ability to switch between multiple accounts. This news is sure to make power users and social media managers jump with joy as managing multiple accounts for brands (or your pets) has been a time-consuming task up until now. Here’s a super-quick guide on how to add and manage multiple accounts on Instagram
Facebook carousel ads are extremely engaging and fun way to promote your business. According to data collected by Kinetic Social, these ads can also drive up to 10 times more traffic to advertisers’ websites than static sponsored posts on Facebook. And LOVOO found that they got a 72%higher click-through rate versus single image mobile app ads. It feels clear these ads can be extremely effective, but how can you maximize their potential? In this post, we’ll walk through not just how to create a
“Could you pop into a quick morning standup, Ash?” “I’ll be there in a minute,” I’d reply. “I’m just finishing up a Facebook post.” As a community manager, most of my mornings would start along these lines. One of the toughest, and most time-consuming, tasks in community and social media management is finding a stream of high-quality, engaging content to share with your audience every day. A social media calendar is an excellent way to keep on top of this. But staring at a blank calendar can
The Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year for 2015 was in fact not a word. It was the ‘Face with Tears of Joy’ emoji. This one ? You’ll no doubt recognise it – here’s how it looks across different platforms: This feels like a significant acknowledgement that the way a large number of us communicate is shifting. It’s no longer just teenagers or younger people who are using emoji’s, hashtags and neologisms – they’ve reached the mainstream. In this post, we dig a bit deeper into how ou
Every so often a new app will suddenly appear on App Store and get everyone talking. The latest app to do this is Peach – a new social networking app from Dom Hofmann, co-founder of video-based social network Vine. Peach is “a fun, simple way to keep up with friends and be yourself,” and has exploded onto the scene – breaking into the top #10 Social Networking apps in the App Store already (there’s currently no Android version). We decided to drive below the surface and investigate how Peach
The Internet is becoming increasingly cluttered. In 2005, we were reportedly exposed to over 3,500 brand messages per day. Nowadays, that figure is closer to 10,000 (if not already higher). 5.3 trillion display ads are shown online each year, 400 million Tweets sent daily, and 4.75 billion pieces of content shared on Facebook every day. This relentless stream of content makes it harder than ever for your message to cut through the noise and get attention. And while there’s no secret formula
Life is a mashup of passions, purposes, and pursuits. The role we play at work is only a small part of who we are. Yet often, it’s the only part employers care about. Traditionally, when we arrive at work, we leave something at the office door—and the same applies to getting home. We almost separate into two different personas. In fact, a fascinating study by Deloitte found that more than half of us cover up some part of our identity at work to try to fit in—underrepresented groups feeling th
For years, there have been rumours flying around that Twitter would one day remove their 140 character limit. It appears that day could be close, as on Tuesday (January 5th, 2016), Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey gave the biggest hint yet that this may become a reality. In his post Dorsey explains: “We’ve spent a lot of time observing what people are doing on Twitter, and we see them taking screenshots of text and tweeting it.” (Dorsey’s post was shared in the form of a screenshot of some text). “In
Are you looking for a free, high-quality social media icon set to bring your website, content or maybe even business cards to life? Every individual and business has their own style and finding the perfect icon set to match can be tough – not to mention, very time-consuming. In this post, we’ve collected 50+ social media icons sets to help save you some time and find the perfect set of icons – no matter what your style! Let’s get right into it. 1. Iconmonstr Iconmonstr has become one of my f
Social networks are always making updates and tweaks to their platforms. And in a recent update, Twitter removed share counts from their Tweet buttons, affecting many bloggers and publishers. As some data has started to emerge on how the has change affected content sharing on Twitter, we wanted to dive below the surface of this update and see how this change could affect marketers. Let’s get started. Meet Twitter’s new share buttons Like other recent Twitter changes, this one appears mostl
Whether you want to learn more about A/B testing, conversion rate optimization, content marketing or paid ads, there’s a wealth of marketing knowledge being shared online every day. Today I’m excited to share 43 of the best websites to learn something new about marketing. These websites will teach you practically anything you’d like to learn. Ready to dive in and pick up something new? Let’s go! Company Blogs Unbounce The Unbounce blog offers expert advice on landing page and conversion opti
It’s easy to feel like you can grow a loyal audience in no time using the latest growth hacks or Twitter and Facebook tricks. But the truth is, it’s not that simple. Growing an audience is hard. You have to have talent. You have to put in a lot of work. And there’s no 1–2–3 solution. In this post, I’m happy to share some of our experiences from building an audience at Buffer alongside six key ingredients to successfully building an audience. Let’s get started! Why it’s difficult to build
If you search for information on how Facebook’s Newsfeed algorithm treats posts from 3rd party publishing apps, you’ll find plenty of content suggesting that reach and engagement will be lower through 3rd party posting. As a subject very close to our hearts here at Buffer, we wanted to dive in and share our own thoughts and experiences in this area. The TL;DR version, is that posts from 3rd tools are not penalized and will perform just as well as posts shared natively to Facebook. If you’d li
This is how most companies tackle Twitter: start an account, follow a bunch of people, send a few Tweets about their business and hope for the best. And in some ways there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. These steps are necessary to get up and running and learn the ropes on Twitter. But, the biggest mistake we’re all making is not using two extremely simple Twitter features to their full potential. Replies and mentions. Replies and mentions are two of Twitter’s most powerful features. T
Whenever I get asked what my favorite book is, I always reply The Pirates Dilemma. The book tells the story of punk, disco, hip-hop, graffiti, and how modern technology has made the ideas and innovations of youth culture increasingly intimate and increasingly global at the same time. It’s truly fascinating. And when you look back, you can see the origins of the current social media revolution can be traced as far back as the 70’s (if not even further). Back in the 70’s punk was the start of
What sets winning businesses apart from the competition? Automation is one edge. The Lenskold Group found that 63% of companies that are outgrowing their competitors use marketing automation. What is an underrated way to drive more conversions? Again, automation. Companies that use marketing automation also see 53% higher conversion rates than non-users, according to the Aberdeen Group. All of which raises the question: What kind of marketing automation are these winning businesses doing? An
On social media—whether you’re a business, a brand, or an individual—you’ll likely come across plenty of different conversations — each presenting a unique challenge. For instance: How do you appease an angry commenter? How do you handle a technical question? What to do with a troll? It can feel overwhelming. If you take a step back and examine the emotions and psychology in play during each conversation, things can become a lot clearer and you can start to formulate your replies in a more
Have you ever wondered what percentage of people actually see your Tweets or Facebook posts? The data shows it can be as low as 2%. This is in line with our findings at Buffer — on average our 10 most recent Facebook posts have reached around 2.4% of our fans with our highest reaching post being seen by 5.25%. When you work hard to produce and share great content, it’d be great if people could see it! I’m excited to share some things we’ve found that can help your content break through and re
I try to read as much as I can, and every morning I put aside 30 minutes to check out the latest posts from my favorite blogs and writers. In 30 minutes, you can only take in so much. Some posts I read thoroughly, others I open and close again within a matter of seconds. My favorite ones, I load into Buffer and share. Often, my decision to read a post and then subsequently share it relies a lot on the formatting: Is it easy to read? Can I scan through? In this post, I’m excited to share with