Wednesday, 31 May 2017

What should businesses tweet? Not this.

Social media. Some use it, some abuse it. Most people, however, just waste it. We are used to individuals using Twitter as an outlet for thoughts that would normally be filtered before they were ever published. But individuals are not governed by KPI's or ROI metrics.

Businesses, however, are different. They've heard about Twitter and know they should be on it. But when they are, they don't have a clue what to do. So they panic. Their attitude seems to be a 21st-century version of the Cartesian maxim: "I tweet, therefore I am."

But we should be issuing Anti-Social Media Behaviour Orders to some people responsible for their business accounts or those using personal accounts for business purposes. They need to understand that social media has to add value to their brand or be used to engage with customers in a meaningful way.

This phenomenon is at its worst, ironically, when these people gather at conferences designed to train them how to use social media effectively. Every week there seems to be one of these events going on somewhere. They each have their own #, of course. The tweets seem to fall into one of the following categories.

The I'm on my way!


You've all seen these. Safely tucked into their window seat on their suburban train, the sales & marketing middle manager of an SME captures the bucolic scene outside as they hurtle toward the metropolis, full of anticipation at their day ahead at the overpriced junket their CEO was sweet-talked into buying a place at six months ago by a nice young lady.

Oh dear.

The group selfie


Where three of four suits (never hipsters, of course) gurn in awkward poses with strangers under the illusion of 'networking'; the more social or digital the event, the more selfies clog up the timeline. Seriously, are these people really having the time of their lives?

 

The 'keynote'


The serial offender as far as I am concerned, where delegates accompany a blurred, poorly lit image of that session's speaker with an excitable tweet summarising the text of the current slide in the presentation, something like "Engagement is Key" or "A click is a gateway to a customer's soul". All these are basically saying are: I am here, watching this. I have justified my day out of the office. They are of no interest to anyone. Particularly when the presentation is concerned with the application of social media itself.
Recently I've noticed a variant on this. Where someone takes a picture of people doing the above - eyes down, so not actually looking at the presentation. This is either very meta or very rude! Perhaps it is just the modern equivalent of note-taking. But to me it is like watching a concert via your smartphone, even though you are there in the flesh.

 

The Don't stand so close to me


This kind of tweet I can understand. If you are exhibiting at a trade show you have to advertise your stand. Twitter is a free advertising platform so it pays to use it when you have a captive audience following a particular # and attending the event. But put some thought into how your tweet will present your brand and distinguish you from the competition. Why would anyone make a stampede to this floor space?

Feel free to issue your own ASMBO's. I would love to add to the Hall of Shame.
Posted by at No comments :

Tuesday, 23 May 2017

Classic clips that have passed the test of time

You say alligator, I say crocodile.

Whatever you call it, the ubiquitous electrical clip has become one of the most essential and well known parts in the electrical industry. Just think of soldering helping hands or jump leads. It was invented in 1908 by Ralph Mueller, an electrical engineering graduate. Few inventions have ever come at a better time. At first the main applications for the alligator clip were voltmeter leads and telephone linemen's clips for test sets.

Within a few years the development of the motor car would provide a natural application for the alligator or crocodile clip. In 1912 Robert Kettering developed the automobile electrical starter. Jump-starting dead batteries and cranking starter engines, the temporary electrical connection provided by the alligator clip would make Ralph Mueller a rich man. It also ensured the rapid growth of the company he would establish to sell his invention.

Then came the radio broadcasting industry, and soon there was scarcely a branch of electronics which did not have a use for alligator clips. The clips even went with Richard E. Byrd on his famous expeditions to Antarctica in the 1930s. 

Ralph Mueller told a reporter in 1962 that since its inception his company had made 500 million clips and insulators. At its peak it was producing 100,000 clips and 33,000 insulators every day. Mueller Electric was one of only three companies in the US in 1950 making the steel and copper battery-charging and test clips.

While the Mueller company itself has undergone some turbulence since then, it is still producing the classic copper and steel clips with which it has always been associated. Rapid is delighted to be introducing a wide range of Mueller clips, from the BU-60 to the fully insulated BU-65 and the BU-75K Kelvin clip with isolated contacts.


It does not really matter what you call them. With the product's serrated jaws and spring action head, and with alligators native to the US, Mueller's choice was both logical and inspired. The fact that we live in the croc-infested waters of the UK, and our famous sense of humour, explains our preference for the more alliterative name. Whatever you call them, these are clips that have stood the test of time.

View Rapid's complete range of Mueller crocodile/alligator clips


Posted by at No comments :
Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )