Facebook

Facebook. Don't you just love it? Well, certainly the youngsters do, but it seems the older generation are a little slower to recognise what this phenomenon has to offer. A majority of the older generation say “I just can't see the point” or “It's just for kids”. Wrong! Facebook is a brilliant business aid if you know how to use it to your advantage. Look! Don't get me wrong, I'm not interested in seeing photographs of Jimmy's latest stool samples or reading about how Kate's husband nearly caught her lover climbing out of the bedroom window and shinning down the drainpipe, (By the way, anybody got a quick cure for friction burns?) no, if you use it to promote and grow a business, then it does this exceptionally well.

 

Big companies are increasingly using social media such as facebook to interact with their clientele and gain helpful insight at the same time. Surveys indicate that 60% of the world’s top retailers have an active presence on facebook. Surveys also show that a growing number of companies are increasingly advertising more on online interactive media than in traditional media.

In using social marketing media, companies report increased earnings at reduced marketing budgets.

Surveys conducted among business persons document that 81% of online marketers use social media such as facebook for increased exposure of their businesses. 62% of business persons credit facebook for increased traffic and sealed business deals. 85% of small business owners claim to reap direct benefit from use of social media.

A whopping 81% of business executives state that social media marketing boosts their bottom line results and enhances their brand and business relationships.

Clearly, the impact of online social media has been phenomenal, especially for business. Social interactive media is here to stay and businesses that tap into it can expect to record improved performance and better results.

So, it's clear that if you ignore Facebook or fail to recognise its potential for your business, then, I'm sorry, you are a dinosaur, and you know what happened to them. 

HOT, HOT, HOT

I’ve recently discovered the UK’s best kept secret. Curries through the post. Now in recent years we’ve had curries in a box from the supermarket, we’ve had microwave curries and even homemade curries. Personally, I never buy a readymade curry. What’s the point? These days I like to know what I’m eating. I need to know that the meat involved doesn’t come from the back end of a donkey which expired of old age in a sanctuary. I like to get up the following day without feeling that the world has fell out of my bottom and that I need to spend the next twenty four hours alternating bum and mouth over the toilet pan.

I love cooking. In fact with so many TV chefs giving their all on the telly, it’s hard not to. Be that as it may, it is relaxing and the feeling of accomplishment when your family tastes your food and no one dies is amazing. But I’ve found that a lot of people will not attempt their own curry because, a. their nervous about it will turn out and b. it’s quicker to have one delivered. Well, forget about that, there’s a new kid on the block.

Diane Prince will send you for a ridiculously small charge, a curry kit. You supply the meat (Stop looking at the donkey), the onions, peppers etc. After all, anyone can cut those up and throw them in a pan. The curry kit consists of all the correct spices, with instructions how much to add and when. Not only that, there is a full recipe to follow to make sure you get it absolutely right. This is a fantastic idea and so simple. Your curries will reach a new level and the donkeys will love you for it. Oh, and there healthy too!

You can contact Diane at allthingsspice@hotmail.com or visit her blog, healthykit-tastic.blogspot.com Give these kits a go and you won’t look back.

Frans LaRoc

Off Road

Off Road

So,the Government are still pushing for GPS speed limits in the UK. For those of you who haven’t heard about this, I’ll highlight the salient points.

All new vehicles in the future are to be equipped with technology that is linked to the GPS network. Briefly, this means that when you drive along any road, the GPS, in association with mapping software, knows exactly where you are and so automatically reduces your speed to within the speed limit. This is supposed to reduce accidents caused by speed. Nice to think that our Parliamentarians are looking after us in our twilight years, how thoughtful. What could be better, there you are waffling down the road in your Ford Escort Estate at a steady 50 mph, when all of a sudden you enter a 30 mph zone. The next thing you know you’re peeling yourself off your windscreen as the very same satellite that used to have its lasers pointing at Russia in the Cold war, sends a signal to your car, thereby applying the brakes. How very useful. All they need to do now is get the bloody car to steer itself and all us drivers become passengers. Even better, in there foresight, the Government have stated that there is a switch that will turn the system off so that you can make your own decisions. How good is that?

Accidents

Just what exactly is going on in these people’s brains? Is it just me, or will it cause more problems than it solves. If you are one of those people who have just had a frontal lobotomy and thinks this is practical thinking at its best, let me run a few things past you. For one thing, if you’re going to fit an override switch, how many people are going to switch it on? Imagine if you had a similar system on your latest AMD computer, if the switch is off, the PC runs at full speed, but to be safe, if you switch it on, the computer runs at half speed. Personally, mine would be welded and superglued (with full counter measures) in the off position as I suspect yours would. No, I know what you’re going to say, but think about it, at the precise time you need a bit of speed to avoid a dangerous situation; you have to go hunting for the bloody OFF switch. By the time you remember where it is, you’ve run over a family of ducks and parallel parked the car in the branches of an elderly oak tree. Road rage will escalate as some people use the system and some don’t, traffic will, more or less, come to a standstill due to sudden deceleration and farmers vehicles blocking the roads trying to encourage cars from oak trees.

Big Brother

I’m not joking; there will be more accidents than ever before. But there’s a more sinister reason for the Government promoting this cock-eyed proposal, Big Brother! Think about it, they will be able to log every journey you make, even when you’ve turned the machine off. Then they will charge you a toll based on your journey time and route, thus adding to their coffers. My God! This gets worse; this will then push all vehicles down rural roads resulting in the extinction of all wildlife and all villagers over the age of 60. Our villages will become rally cross stages with extra points for hitting someone in a wheelchair, nooooooooo.

I’m sorry , it’s not for me, I want to be able to decide what I want to hit and when I want to hit it. You’ll not find me driving alongside country fields; I’ll be driving across them in my dirty great 4 x 4. Anyway, speed doesn’t kill, suddenly becoming stationary, that’s the killer.