Facebook The Anti Social Network

Well you guessed it; today my rant is going to be about Facebook. People in this day and age are spending more time on their phones than ever with a whopping 1.72 hours per day spent on social networking sites and with that number set only to increase over the next several years. Facebook is one of the largest social networking sites with 1.25 Billion active monthly users.
Now I know what your thinking, Facebook is a great way to stay in touch with friend's overseas and interstate, technically you are correct but for me the positives of Facebook are heavily outweighed by the negatives. Now stop for a second and look up from what your reading and look around at everyone you can see and count how many of them are on their phones. Now my guess is if your in a room of around 5-10 people, the number of people on their phones is between 3-6, so that's between 30%-60% of the people in that one room on their phones. Now I don't contribute this all to Facebook, other social networking sites are to blame too and also the invention of smart phones has made it too easy to access these sites at the touch of a finger. But the amount of time people spend scrolling down there news-feeds pointlessly looking for something to entertain them for a few seconds of their life is creating a very antisocial generation. Just the other day at university I was trying to have a conversation with someone and the whole time they were busy staring at their phone on Facebook scrolling through their feed to find out what everyone had got up to over the weekend. Lets be honest here most people spend 5% posting new content, 15% sharing funny videos, 40% scrolling through the news feed and 40% stalking other Facebook users photos. If we could cut back the time we spend on our phones we would be more productive and also be a better in social situations, but if we keep on with the trend of increasing more time on our phones and social networking sites we will find in the future people wont have the people skills to cope in social situations. Now I don't know about you but thats not how I wish to live my life, so from now on I am aiming to spend less time on my phone and more time living my life outside of the anti "social network".

Well that's all for today hope to have a new post up again soon.
Yours truly,
Luke Henderson

Assignment over :? or not

Hi everyone, id like thank everyone who has read my blog over the past few months and helped give me valuable feedback and data on what starting and writing a blog is about. Id like to give a huge thank you to my friends and family that shared my blog and put up with me spamming their news feeds. Sadly my assignment is over but I will be  continuing to write, so make sure you watch this space closely :)

Your one and only,
Luke Henderson

Whats Trending?

Hey everyone today I'm going to decipher why videos and/or stories go viral and become trending on social media. When looking at the current trending stories on social media you notice all of them one thing in common, they are all relatable. Whether it be kids doing something funny or someone showing kindness that isn't seen everyday these are all relatable to everyone and this is a big part of why videos go viral. Unique content is another reason why videos can go viral and become trending on social media, but the question is what makes each video unique when so much has been there done that online in this day and age? Well there is no definitive answer when it comes down to it, it's just a lot trail and error, finding the right sites to publish onto like reddit or hacker news. When looking back at the recent videos or stories I have been reading lately I have found that I have been watching a lot of time-lapse videos like this video of a man proposing over a whole year. But these videos don't interest everyone so you have to find what works for you best and harness it. If your looking for some more info on how to make a video go viral sus out this link.

Your one and only,
Luke Henderson

When Should You Post On Social Media?

Welcome back everyone I hope my Mothers Day post didn't scare too many people away :) For those that are still here the show must go on.

Today I'm going to give you a rough guide to the optimal posting times and days of the major social media platforms. For futher information click Quicksprout.

Facebook
Time: 1-3pm
Day: Thursday and Friday

Twitter
Time: 12pm, 6pm and 5pm
Day: See graph on Quicksprout

Pinterest
Time: 8-11pm
Day: Saturday

Instagram
Time: Off work hours
Day: Monday

Google+
Time: 9-11am
Day: Monday to Friday

The infographic from Quicksprout is a great rough guide for anyone looking to increase views and shares I highly recomended having a look at it :)

Yours truely,
Luke Henderson

Mothers Day Facebook Updates Are They Attention Seeking Or Just Being Thoughtful??

Hey everyone, first off id like to thank everyone who has read any of my posts because last night we cracked 1000 views so thank you to everyone that has been a loyal reader :).

How Facebook Made Me Feel Mothers Day

Now onto today's main topic Mothers Day Facebook updates! If you haven't been on Facebook over the last 24 hours here's a quick run down for you, Nearly 75% of my Facebook "friends" have posted a status about their beautiful mothers with either a picture or heart felt message or in some cases both on their wall for everyone to see how much they care right? Well Id like to think that's the case but something just seems off when I scroll down my feed and I find myself reading nearly identical "heartfelt" messages. Then I look at the photos and see that over half are the exact same poses or a slightly better version of the previous photo up the feed. So I asked myself, could this be that this is a competition to see who can show their Facebook friends that they love their mother more? or do they genuinely care? Ill let you decide what you think but for me I'm just going to spend that little bit of extra time talking with my mum instead of spending it trying out do someone on Facebook!

Yours always,
Luke Henderson

To Netflix or Not?

This is the biggest question Australians face in front of new downloading laws and with other already available options like Presto and Stan already active in Aus what makes Netflix better?Netflix was the last of the streaming giants to come to the Aussie shores, coming with a depleted library that will make any users who have tasted the forbidden fruit of the US Netflix cringe at the site of it. With under a quarter less content than the US counter part the Australian Netflix leaves you with a sour taste in your mouth at first glance. One of the few things Netflix did right was to create the cheapest option out of the market with $8.99 starting price package including a single stream and standard definition, but if you want HD unfortunately you will need to the package up at $11.99. After my first sour taste of Netflix I decided to go back and have a better look over the content in hopes my first glance was wrong and to my surprise I admit I found it less terrible a second go around. With shows like House of Cards, Daredevil and Vikings, I have to admit I have enjoyed myself but when it comes to finding movie content I found it hard to find anything I would really enjoy. The "recommended for you" section came up short even after I had rated over a 100 titles, you would think it might pick something I could get into at the very least but sadly with such a limited content it just doesn't work. With new content coming out all the time this can be fixed but right now if you wanted a large list of movies than Netflix isn't right for you. The Netflix site is very well set up and very easy for everyone to use with a section that separates Kids content (a great idea to help parents find appropriate shows/movies for a younger audience).

If only you had more 

So if your looking for a site that will fix all your TV and movie needs unfortunately this is not it but it should keep you entertained for long enough until more content is released, but if you cant wait many Australian users are moving onto VPN's and Hola to gain access to the American content, while this is not 100% legal its in a bit of a grey area and surely has to be better than going back to downloading.

Hope this helped,
Luke Henderson

Instagrams New Update Comes With New Filters and a Side of Emoji's

Instagram's has added three new filters to its popular photo sharing app and with names such as Reyes, Lark and Juno, I feel like just by using them I will instantly become more "hip".  With each filter highlighting different colour tones to help maximize your photos you can get that perfect photo of the hipster cafe's you go to. For me though, the best part of the update was the new ability to hashtag emoji's because we all know that they just make everything cuter. The Instagram announcement says it a little more poetically then me with,

 "and just as we share photos and videos, we use emoji to communicate emotions and feelings in ways that anyone can understand, regardless of language or background". 

Now that we can use explore to search hashtag emoji it will be interesting to see how many crazy emoji combinations take off.
Instagram has also promised to bring out more filters at a regular rate to accommodate the filter junkies out there. So if you havn't already head out to your local McDonalds wifi hot spot and upgrade your instagram and give it a go :) #instagram #emoji #whyamihashtagging

Your one and only,
Luke Henderson

Find us on Facebook

Hi everyone, today I have a question for you. I'm wondering how effective do you think having the logo to my right on your menu's and business cards really is? comment below id love to see peoples opinions and thoughts

Yours always,
Luke Henderson

Social media surprises

Hi everyone,the other day I read an amazing story about Matt Stopera who had his iPhone stolen in 2014. The phone was never wiped and photos of a man kept appearing on his phone. He decided to post on Buzzfeed about these photo's appearing on his iPhone and came to the conclusion this man in the photo's was still logged into his icloud. The post gained major momentum trying to find out who the mystery man "Brother Orange" was, through Weibo (a Chinese version of twitter) he was found and then the story took a major turn. The two men started talking to each other and decided to meet up and it created an interesting "bromance". It is a truly heart warming story about two men who can barely speak to each other but still manage to become the best of friends. This  has shown that sometimes social media can come up with a surprising result and that you never know how far your reach is.
I highly recommend the article below if you have spare time in your day.

Yours truly,
Luke Henderson

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/i-followed-my-stolen-iphone-across-the-world-became-a-celebr#.tk40qG48z 

Social Listening

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't posted for a while, I managed to tear a ligament in my ankle at football practice right before the start of the season :/ Unfortunately this sidetracked me from all my wonderful blog followers, but now I'm back though so I hope your ready :)

Today I'm going to be giving my views on social listening and how it benefits you. Social listening is a key principle in social media marketing it allows us to create a dialogue with our customers to help create loyalty and trust. This loyalty and trust is key to our social business culture,  without it customers wouldn't be coming back to brands like Jordan and Apple. Social listening not only gives us the ability to hear what consumers are saying about your product but gives you data needed to improve on your product/business. Having this kind of culture online lets you cast a wider net and help create marketing that feeds itself.

Social Listening also helps you stop a crisis before it escalates too far like some Adelaide pubs kicking out customers, with or without food in front of them because of neck or face tattoo's. Customers posted their issue with the establishment on Facebook which snowballed into a much larger issue due to slow reply's. If they had replied sooner to this issue they could have minimalized the damage done to their public relations.

Next time your on your social media platforms make sure you listen to your consumers and take in their feed back because it will be highly beneficial to your business.

Well that it for today everyone hope you have enjoyed my first post back from hiatus, hopefully many more to come in the near future :)

Yours truly, 
Luke Henderson

Creating Goals

Happy Easter, 

I hope everyone is having an amazing long weekend either at home or travelling around the countryside :) Today I'm going to talk about how to go about setting your goals. When choosing a goal you need to be specific with what you have in mind, so ask yourself the five "w's"; what, why, who, where and which. Asking these simple questions will help make a clearer picture of your goal. Now you cant just be specific when choosing your goal you also need to make it measurable. You need to ask ask yourself questions like how much? how many? when do I know if I have accomplished it?

By having answers to these questions it will make it easier to see how your goal is moving forward. Your goal needs to be attainable and not just a dream, so you need to think about how can it be accomplished and whether it is realistic when put against your constraints. 

Now look at the goal and see if it is relevant, is it the right time, are you the right person for the job, does it seem worth it? If you can answer all these then your onto the last step which is to put a time constraint on it. Think about when are you going to implement it, how long are you going try for your goal and what can I do six month from now? If you can answer all these questions when creating a goal for your business your on the right track. That's all for today everyone enjoy your long weekend and I'll be back soon.
Yours truly,

Luke Henderson

Are Snapchat ads next?

Morning everyone today I'm going to have a look at Snapchat and talk about the introduction of ads being integrated into the popular app.
Snapchat started out as a simple photo sharing app where you could send anyone on your Snapchat contact list a ten second photo of you to capture the moment. Now they have integrated videos, photo filters, my stories, paint like drawing and text into their ever growing and popular app. So whats to say that ads aren't next?? Snapchat has captured the majority of today's youth  and what a better way for companies to get there product and message across than trying to get onto Snapchat and grab the attention of the next generation. We have already starting seeing major sporting events, fashion and more starting to come up in our story section, ads just seem to be the next step just like Facebook did to us  a few years ago. I believe it is only a matter of time for ads for Coca Cola or McDonald's to slowly slip in our story sections. So if your a company looking to have your ads on a platform that has the majority of people aged 15-25 keep your eye closely on Snapchat and when they finally decide to have paid for advertising.

Thank you for reading yours faithfully Luke Henderson

Interested in Marketing in Adelaide?

 If your interested in marketing in Adelaide look no further than Cullen Habel!! Find him at
 cullenofadelaid.blogspot.com.au/

Is replying to a consumers post's important??

Hi everyone I'm back again on what is a lovely muggy monday morning in Adelaide. To start this post off I thought Id mention how my Monday started, I was enjoying a lovely sleep in, the bed was warm and comfy, I had a bit of Taylor Swift playing on my phone just brighten up my day until suddenly my fiance comes rushing back through the door to tell me she needs my help her car has another flat battery :/ Needless to say i wasn't 100% keen to get up and help but I did it anyway, when I got to the car it started raining just to top it off :( So now I'm here drenched from the rain trying to jump start a car (not a smart move by the way)in the rain and nothing seems to be working so do you know what I did?? That's right I handed her a RAA card and said here love give this a crack and off to uni I headed with a big grin on my face :) If you have any Monday morning sleep in's that have been interrupted by your partner comment on this post, funniest story I'll give a shout out to your blog :)

Now to the important stuff replying to your customers comments or tweets is it really important??
I say YES!!!! a customer who receives a reply, feels like they are valued and that their opinions and views are important to your company. The best way to achieve this is to have a first responder someone who is constantly monitoring all the platforms your company is running on. The replies don't have to be essays but as long as your showing your presence monitoring these pages it will help your rapport with your consumers. Another option to help with common questions is to create FAQ page this will help not having to answer everyone with long responses but instead be able to redirect to your newly founded FAQ page. One final thing before I bid you farewell, try and be creative with your posts, use giveaways, personality and a bit of humor to engage your followers. Don't get stuck following the same routine as everyone else, be creative and think outside the box!
Well that's all for now folks I hope you enjoy the rest of your Monday.
Yours truly Luke Henderson ;)

Consumer Decision Making Process

Hi everyone hope your having a lovely Monday morning, sipping back on some nice warm coffee to help kick start you into another week :) To help you get through the first day of the week I'm going to talk about how social media affects our decision making process.

 Step 1. Need Recognition
Now lets keep this basic and say we are hungry and we need to be full.

Step 2. Information Search
Here we are searching for information to satisfy our need so we start looking through our fridge or start looking for a restaurant but if the decision is becoming difficult, society often turns to social media for help with a post such as "any good restaurants in the Unley area??".

Step 3. Evaluation
This is where we rank the options that we have come up with for example I might decide to cook 2 min noodles because I don't want to drive down the road to Pasta Go Go or your friend might have posted a bad review on the corner store down the street so you think that might not be the best option.

Step 4. Decision
Now for the time to make your choice of where to satisfy your need and this can be tough with many things getting in the way of you choosing brand X or Y because suddenly your friends have seen your post and want to go to X but you were thinking of Y and now your confused between the need to socialize and your initial need of hunger and Y has a two for one special, the list goes on. What ever you do finally decide though a large percentage of the choice was in most cases in this day and age partially because of the social media influence.

Step 5. Post Purchase Evaluation
This is where we decide if what we purchased satisfied our need or in some cases didn't and you guessed it we turn to social media to either praise or shame for our experience.

With more people online now then ever it is becoming easier to find what you need and someone who as been there and reviewed it to help us with our decision.  

Well I hope this has helped you in some way to get you through a dry Monday morning, enjoy your coffee and ill see you soon yours truly Luke Henderson ;)

The Beginning

First of all I'd like to thank you for choosing to spare the time to read my first post on a blogging site, I know it was a tough ;) Today I've decided to talk about how pictures are fast becoming the best way to grab young people's attention on social media. With social media becoming the main focus of socializing in today's youth they are spending hours scrolling down a page full of words with most just glancing over the majority of the content until they find something appealing. By putting a bizarre or interesting picture you are more likely to grab their attention than a long winded post and thus help getting your ad or promotion out there to the younger audience. Over the next coming weeks I will be blogging about the things I have noticed about social media and the way people market on it.

Well that's all for this post you've been swell, yours truly Luke Henderson