15 tips for increasing your brand on Google+

Posted on by atargroup

 

Some quick tips for getting more exposure for your web and blogs using Google.

For those new to the Google+ service, here are 15 tips you can put into practice right away, based on the advice from experts, to increase brand awareness.

1. Use your real name when you register – this creates an authentic presence on the service; investors can look you up by name, and customers want to know it’s really you. Later on, you can create a business page that’s less personal.

2. Create Google+ Circles in a logical fashion: business partners, employees, friends, investors. That way, as you start using the service, you can keep people organized. You can then choose only a select group to view a new post.

3. Engage with other business professionals in an authentic way – read what they post, make comments, and follow their links. When you follow links, comment on them so that everyone knows you read the article.

4. Post occasional coupons and specials – that way, you can see if people are engaging with your posts. Be careful about how often you post specials or you may raise the ire of the Google+ team, who discourages blatant promotion.

5. Send private messages to people who look interesting. You can just type the message, then remove the Public circle and just add one name.

6. Check your notifications on the upper right side of the screen – just look for the red notification alert. You can see who is following you, any new comments, and whether those you follow are following you back.

7. Don’t stop using Facebook. There is a lot of cross-pollination between the social networks. When you follow someone on Facebook or they follow you, check Google+ to see if they are using that service and follow them there.

8. Go ahead and think big. When Michael Dell makes a post, feel free to post a comment and see if he replies. You can even send direct post.

9. Don’t be afraid of negative attention. Posting a counter-argument, especially when it is something you feel strongly about, can generate some buzz. When you do, be ready to support your position with facts and well-developed opinions.

10. Make sure you have entered detailed information about yourself and add some humor. There’s a section in your profile for adding something unique about yourself. Include a recent photo that’s bright and colorful.

11. Use the Sparks feature to track trending topics. Just click Sparks and add a search term. Track these topics and re-post the most engaging stories.

12. Make use of the +1 feature that is now cropping up at many Web sites, including Inc.com. When you see a story you like, click +1 so that everyone knows you read the story and liked it. This increases engagement with like-minded users.

13. Try holding your own Hangout – a feature where you talk in a video chat about a specific topic. Pick a topic that is related to your business – if you run an ice cream shop, try holding a Hangout on the cost of supplies or retail trends.

14. Set aside Google+ time each day – make comments and post new entries, but also search for people to follow. When someone follows you, it’s polite to send a quick thank-you to acknowledge their interest.

15. Stay focused on the task at hand, which is to increase brand awareness. It takes time. You might not see engagement levels rise in just one day or a week, but track how many people comment on your posts over a month.

Immersing into the Army’s Maneuvers Center of Excellence

Posted on by atargroup

You are wondering how does continuous improvements, in search of excellence, technology leads the way and other industry buzzwords like that apply in the military.  The army has its own version of “In Search of Excellence” embodied in the Maneuvers Center of Excellence (MCoE) where there over 80 technology and material partners who provide the best and brightest in people, technology and services to help the US Army be all that it can be.  In a brief introduction to the organization, I was immensely impressed with the absolute focus on the pursuit of the best systems through accelerated development to ensure the US Army has overreach in all contested areas during any conflict.   For more information on the call for excellence see MCoE

 

Depending Against the RPG – How Tanks are defeating the Rocket

Posted on by atargroup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like the AK-47, the Soviet RPG-7 rocket propelled grenade has become one of the most widely-distributed infantry weapons on Earth, used by everyone from E8 nations to guerrilla insurgency groups in every major conflict since Vietnam. But their ubiquitousness nature has kicked off a global race focused on how to beat them.

First developed by the Soviet Union shortly after WWII, the original RPG-2 was Russia’s answer to the American bazooka and German Panzerfaust. Its successor, the RPG-7, retains much of the same functionality—a hand-held, unguided, rocket-propelled grenade launcher designed to kill or disable armored units (tanks, APCs, etc) and fortified positions. For a weapon measuring just over a yard long with a 40mm bore and weighing about 15 pounds, the RPG-7 packs one hell of a wallop.

Its rounds measure 40 – 105 mm in diameter and weigh 4 – 10 pounds, depending on the type of charge—HEAT for anti-armor, fragmentation for anti-personnel, or a tandem charge for defeating reactive armor. Using a gunpowder propellent, the round travels up to 295 m/s and is accurate to up to 500 m (max range 920 m) thanks to a set of air-deployed stabilizing fins.

Tandem charges—in which a weaker initial charge explodes first to create a channel for the secondary HEAT explosive to penetrate the target’s reactive armor—have proven exceptionally effective against armored units. They can burn through up to 500 mm of steel armor. And it’s these rounds that have set off an arms race between opposing armor and RPG technologies.

The first defensive advancement debuted at the tail end of WWII, when armored units began sporting wire mesh skirt armor (aka cage, slat, bar, or standoff armor). This densely-slatted secondary protection sits in front of the tank’s primary skin, trapping the RPG round between a pair of bars far enough away that the initial shaped charge cannot damage the armor, while short circuiting the piezoelectric precursor to either prevent the HEAT charge from detonating or at least denying the charge’s molten jet a route into the tank’s interior.

Essentially, since the tandem charge is only effective if it actually hits the target, cage armor is designed to catch the incoming RPG round before it does. Originally, this rigid slatted metal grid fitted around key sections of the vehicle was made from heavy steel or aluminum, weighing about 20-30 kg/sq.m. However modern day composite variants, such as Chobham armor—or BAE’s LROD system employed by the Buffalo MPV—offer superior protection compared to steel cages yet weigh less than aluminum.

That said, slat armor is far from foolproof. Instead it offers what’s known as statistical protection; that is, while the system doesn’t offer a complete defense against RPGs, it does lower the probability that a tandem-charge shot will be successful by 50 to 70 percent, depending on where and how the RPG connects. If a second shot happens to strike the same spot, you’re in trouble.

But even with cage armor’s shortcomings, the weight savings and improved defensive capabilities that it provides far outweigh its potential failure risks. As such, cage armor is extensively employed in armored divisions the world over, from the IDF’s Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer to the General Dynamics Stryker and M113 APC to Russian T-62 and American M1 Abrams tanks.

One new area evolving area involves the Israeli system known as the Trophy, originally developed in 2009, its new variants have been proven as a successful defense against RPG fire, as it propels a shot gun like blast to intercept and destroy the RPG rocket well outside of its lethal range.  Systems can cost as much as $300,000 USD, though, the lighter version is adaptable enough for helicopters, and other lightly armor vehicles.  With a combination of the Trophy repellent system and the cage armour, the race between the sword and shield continues its one ups manship.