Tag: <span>Technology</span>

Tag: Technology

How To Manage Your Social Media Marketing

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By Art Unlimited.

Did you know that for 45% of consumers, social media is one of the first channels they go to if they have questions or issues?

This fact alone makes it essential to have a strong social presence and digital marketing strategy (after all, they need to see you’re active and engaged). We’re here to help you through the first steps of launching a successful social presence.

Social Media & Your Website

If you’re starting your social media journey because you want it to drive tons of website traffic and conversions, be patient! Social media is, by definition, social. Badly presented sales content won’t make people like you, especially if they don’t know you yet. It’s wiser to start with a focus on brand awareness, customer relationships, and showing your values.

It’s true that connecting your social channels to your website (and vice-versa) will strengthen your website’s SEO and increase website visits, but a successful social media strategy takes time, effort, and consistent engagement to grow.

Get a Handle on It

When you’re ready to start, even if you’re launching only one social channel at a time, try to claim a good username (handle) on any social media platform you may later want to use. Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc., are all good places to have a presence. As your brand or business becomes more popular, people are more likely to snatch up the good names and leave you with a long, messy handle.

Why Social Media?

Social media is not only another way to ‘be found.’ According to PwC, “Social networks are the biggest source of inspiration for consumer purchases, with 37% of consumers finding purchase inspiration through the channel.”

If you’re marketing to a younger audience, it’s worth knowing that social is the most relevant advertising channel for 50% of Gen Z and 42% of millennials.

Channel

The channel, or platform, of social media you use greatly forms the outcome you will receive from your marketing tactics. Places like Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can allow you to send indirect messages to long-time customers as well as prospective clients.  The key is knowing what your message is! When you’re creating an account and planning out your content (whether for a week, a month, or a quarter), use this as your starting point:

[Social platform] is where {target audience} can find {what content}. 

A rural resort could fill it out this way:

{Instagram} is where {adventure-seeking 25-35-year-olds} can find out {about our fun vibes and local attractions/activities}

This can be the same for more than one channel, or it can be different for each one! As you watch your audience’s engagement rates, you may find the people you’re picturing aren’t the ones loving your content, and that’s okay too. In the world of social media, where a post rarely matters more than 24 hours, it’s vital to be flexible in your game plan.

If you don’t know which channel (or channels) to choose, start with this general guide:

  • Facebook –  97% of social advertisers chose Facebook as their most used and most useful social media platform in 2018, and Facebook is the second favorite platform for consuming videos after YouTube! Have a lot of video content and a slightly older demographic? Start here.
  • LinkedIn – Recognized as the top-rated social network for lead generation, LinkedIn is especially useful for B2B (business-to-business) companies. Why? It’s chock full of decision-makers.
  • Twitter – How many times have you heard Twitter is going out of style or that people don’t really like it? In truth, Twitter is still growing rapidly and becoming increasingly popular as a customer support channel! Twitter is more of a niche platform than some others, so it may be wiser not to favor this channel if you don’t have a schedule which allows you to engage with your followers in the moment.
  • Instagram – This platform is becoming increasingly popular for all ages, but over half their user base is people from ages 18-24! If you’ve got strong visual content (Instagram is all about photos) and a younger demographic, get started now! 80% of Instagram’s users follow at least one business account. Better brush up on your hashtags!
  • Pinterest – This visually pleasing, unique channel is usually the odd one out in a social media line-up, but 90% of weekly active users are utilizing Pinterest to make purchasing decisions. Also, it’s actually the 4th most popular social media platform in the US! They’re still growing, and they recently expanded their advertising options to make them more versatile for marketers. While your average tweet is relevant for about 18 minutes, content on Pinterest can often last 1-3 months!

Post

Your account is set up, you know your ideal audience, and you’re ready to roll! Except, what do you post? In your social media work, it’s important to strike a balance between fun, educational, and more business-oriented content.

Many social media professionals employ the 5.3.2 rule: for every ten posts you create, five should be interesting content from other sources, three should be educational, non-salesy, relevant information for your follower base, and the last two should be fun company-culture posts.

Unless you have a great deal to deliver to a warm audience, an outright sales call is almost never the way to go. Gain your followers’ trust, teach them how your product can solve their problems, and nudge them in the right direction so they’re free to seek you out when they’re ready.

Reach

The number of people who have seen your posts and updates is commonly called the reach of the post. Reach is tied closely to engagement; if people are engaging with your content, the social platform rewards it for being interesting by giving it better reach.

The more people see you on social media, the more people will be drawn back to your website. And even if they don’t convert off the first visit from social, or the second or the third, you’re in the front of their mind. They’re likely to Google your company by name and convert later!

Engagement

Engagement is when someone interacts with your social media account beyond looking and scrolling by. To engage, they click a link, like a post, retweet, swipe through photos, or comment on your posts. People are on social media to be entertained, so make sure your content appeals to them and encourages them to interact.

Schedule

You want to post when the most people are online, or just before they get there so your post is already nestled in the newsfeed. On most platforms, you’ll be able to find these activity metrics somewhere in the platforms own insights. While your social channel is new and hasn’t collected enough data to display these metrics, follow a guide, or in general, plan to post in the afternoon between 12 pm and 5 pm (stick to later times on the weekends).

To maximize the flow of traffic to your social media page, get in touch with Art Unlimited to help give you the right marketing techniques to get ahead of your competitors on the web (and on social media!).

Source: Art Unlimited

Robots might one day be driving your trucks

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By Karen L. Edwards.

There is a new robot in development that can turn any vehicle into a driverless one. IVObility, an Israeli startup is developing a robot that sits in the driver’s seat and literally drives the vehicle. It’s coming in the not-too-distant future with a 2020 launch planned for government and off-road commercial applications, with a consumer-market version in consideration.

This means that potentially in a few years, robots will become our drivers. The IVObility robot will work in any vehicle, it doesn’t have to be equipped with sensors or other self-driving technology. The company successfully develop an autonomous underwater vehicle that drives itself called the HydroCamel and is now turning its development efforts to cars and trucks that drive on land.

Whereas most autonomous vehicles remove the operations from the driver’s seat, this robot sits in it and ‘sees’ what a driver would see. It looks somewhat human, with a head containing sensors and arm and leg-like limbs to work the pedals and the steering wheel. By having the robot sitting in the seat driving, the vehicle doesn’t need to have LiDar, radar or other sensors mounted around the vehicle.

CEO Tzvika Goldner told Car and Driver that “IVObility aims to launch its driving robot by the middle of next year and intends to offer three versions: most will be fully autonomous, but some will offer more cost-effective semi-autonomous capability or remote-controlled operation.”

The company is initially focusing on off-road applications such as mining, agriculture, border patrol and security with a pilot being launch at an airport in Europe later this year. This plug-and-play style model might be the answer for cost effectively retrofitting existing vehicles into self-driving ones.

Some things to consider are if and when a consumer version is ready to hit the streets, how could that affect who we have driving trucks to jobsites and what impact would that have on insurance costs? While there is no mention of what a robot chauffeur would cost, there is potential for insurance or liability cost savings to offset or even pay for the robot.

Photo credit: IVObility

Solar installations in the U.S. hit 2 million mark

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By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

Solar in the U.S. is on the rise with installations expected to double again by 2023. A new report shows that there are now two million solar installations in the U.S. The two million number was reached only three years after the installations first reached 1 million, a number that took 40 years to reach.

The report and numbers were release by Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA). The number of installations in the U.S. is expected to double to four million in just four years, reaching that number by 2023. “We believe that the 2020s will be the decade that solar becomes the dominant new form of energy generation,” SEIA CEO Abigail Ross-Hopper said in the statement.

According to Reuters, solar has grown in popularity due to falling prices on the technology, state mandates that require energy companies to source larger amounts of renewable energy and federal tax credits that can be worth up to 30 percent of the cost of the system.

Solar installations in the U.S. can now produce enough electricity to power more than 12 million homes according to the SEIA statement. California was responsible for 51 percent of the first million installations and 43 percent of the second million. Other states that helped to drive the growth include Texas, Rhode Island, Florida, Utah and Maryland, which combined have grown from around 50,000 installations to more than 200,000.

The statement reports that “Looking ahead, Illinois will see cumulative installations increase from 4,000 today to nearly 100,000 by 2024. While California will continue to lead the nation in installations, the remaining top 10 state markets will see faster growth. Nearly 750,000 installations are expected in those markets over the next 5 years, compared to 500,000 installations over the last 5 years.”

“According to our latest forecasts, by 2024 there will be, on average, one solar installation per minute,” said Michelle Davis, senior solar analyst at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, in a May 9 statement. “That’s up from one installation every 10 minutes in 2010.”

Stay up-to-date with the latest roofing technology news when you sign up for the RT3 SmartBrief newsletter.

Photo credit: SEIA.

Source: RoofersCoffeeShop.

Construction company to use robotics to build renewable energy projects

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By Karen L. Edwards

Built Robotics, a company specializing in making robotic construction equipment, announced that it has partnered with construction firm Mortenson to use their earthmoving robotics on renewable projects like wind farms and solar. These types of projects then to be in remote areas that are far from traditional workforce centers, making labor an even bigger challenge than it already is.

According to Built Robotics, their “robotic equipment is able to shoulder some of the load by assisting with basic, repetitive tasks, freeing up human operators to focus on the more specific, complex and critical activities.”

Eric Sellman, Vice President and General Manager of the Civil Group at Mortenson, said in the announcement, “I see Built Robotics as the next generation of construction technology. Consistent with Mortenson’s history of ingenuity and innovation in construction, we are partnering with Built Robotics as they develop and deploy technology that enables autonomous heavy equipment operation. Mortenson and Built Robotics will work together with this technology on select renewable energy projects within our Wind and Solar groups. Our goal is to embrace the change that is happening in our industry to create value for our customers and opportunities for Mortenson and our team members.”

Sellman told Engineering News Record (ENR) that it’s a long-term agreement for the next few years to continue to expand the company’s deployment of autonomous equipment on renewable energy jobs. The company did its first project with Built Robotics in August of 2018, testing the equipment on wind farms in Kansas. Sellman said that the repetitive nature of some of the foundation work on these projects make them a good fit for autonomous equipment. ENR reported that the “machines us GPS tracking to remain within geo-fenced areas, and LIDAR provides collision avoidance and obstacle detection.”

Mortenson employees are excited to be implementing the technology. Molly Morgan, an equipment operator commented, “I’m excited about the potential for Built’s technology. Our top priority is safety — if the robot can work on steep slopes, or near unstable ground, or in challenging or risky situations, then we one-hundred percent should use it. And I’m excited to learn the new skills I’ll need to work with the technology.”

Stay up to date with the latest roofing technology news when you sign up for the RT3 SmartBrief e-newsletter.

Construction robotics market expected to reach $226 million by 2025

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By Karen L. Edwards.

Construction work has traditionally been a very labor-intensive job. Increasing speed and productivity meant adding additional workers. With the labor shortage, it’s not that simple anymore and the industry is being forced to look for alternative methods. One of those is robotics.

A new report released by market intelligence firm Tractica shows that a growing number of construction companies are incorporating robots to solve the challenges of increasing productivity, efficiency and profits without adding workers. The report forecasts that the growing interest in construction robotics will drive an increase in market revenue from $22.7 million in 2018 to $226 million by 2025.

It is forecast that more than 7,000 construction robots will be in use on sites to handle a variety of construction tasks and demolition work. The biggest use is estimated to be for robot assistants on construction sites, followed by infrastructure robots, structure robots and finishing robots.

Tractica Senior Analyst Glenn Sanders says, “At this early stage in the construction robotics industry, a few companies are offering products for sale or lease. The main categories that are currently available include robots for demolition, bricklaying, drilling, 3D printing, and rebar tying, plus a few exoskeletons and assistant robots for lifting loads.”
Sanders adds that midsize and major construction companies are beginning to adopt these robots to solve issues related to labor shortages, safety, speed, accuracy, and integration with building automation and building information modeling (BIM).

According to Construction Dive, in order to maintain high standards of craftsmanship, some companies are taking a ‘cobot’ approach where they use collaborative robots to work with crews instead of taking their place. The collaborative robots take on tasks that are simpler, redundant and repetitive, freeing up employees to focus on more skilled work.

Stay up-to-date with the latest roofing technology news when you sign up for the RT3 SmartBrief e-news. 

3D Scans of Notre Dame captured in 2015 could be key to reconstruction

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By Karen L. Edwards, RoofersCoffeeShop.

Construction technology could help architects, contractors and engineers answer questions and shorten the project timeline.

In 2015, the late Andrew Tallon, an art history professor at Vassar College in New York worked with colleagues to complete a 3D scan of Notre Dame Cathedral. The team used a Leica ScanStation C10 laser mounted on a tripod and spent five days mapping the building, recording more than one billion points of data. Tallon combined his scans with high-resolution panoramic photos to add color to the data.

John Russo, president and CEO of Architecural Reource Consultants and president of the U.S. Institute of Building Documentation told Engineering News-Record (ENR) that, “Having laser scans is critical in shortening the reconstruction time frame. If you don’t have that data, where do you go? You are going back to hand drawings that may not exist and those are going to be two-dimensional and not have as much information. As far as answering questions and shortcutting the timeline on doing the repair work, 3D scans are going to shave an incredible amount of time off.”

The 3D image of the cathedral contains all the dimensional information with very precise colors and measurements. Russo told ENR, “The scans are accurate enough to pick up the slight deviations in the structure, important from an engineering standpoint to understanding what the loads are doing through the structure.” According to Tallon, he once said that the scans were accurate to within five millimeters.

The Associated Press reported that French President Emmanuel Macron was calling for Notre Dame to be rebuilt within five years and in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Restoration experts have challenged that saying that it could take three times that long to complete.

While the 3D scan will prove invaluable to the reconstruction, it is still being debated if the restoration will be exactly as it was before the fire. BBC reported that French Prime Minister Edouard Phillipe called for “a new spire that is adapted to the techniques and challenges of our era.” An international design contest was launched for the design of a new spire.

Stay up to date with the latest industry news when you sign up for RT3 Smart Brief. 

Source: RoofersCoffeeShop.

Most contractors believe technology can help with risk management

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By NRCA.

A new report from Dodge Data & Analytics in partnership with Triax Technologies and the International Risk Management Institute shows about three-quarters of contractors believe technologies such as wearables and sensors can help them prevent occupational risks, including construction defects, general liability and property damage, according to www.constructiondive.com.

Among the 135 contractors surveyed, 80 were general contractors, construction managers or design-builders and 55 were specialty trade contractors.

The Using Technology to Improve Risk Management in Construction study found wearables—which include movement sensors, biometric monitoring devices and augmented reality headsets—were one of the top two emerging technology types that can add value regarding risk management.

One respondent said: “Going forward, it is going to be standard operating procedure that when you show up to work, you get issued your wearable, and go along as you’ve always done, but there’s data being collected that will be used to mitigate those risks.”

The second emerging technology was visual auditing, which involves pairing job-site photos or videos with artificial intelligence to detect deviations or risk sources—sometimes in real time—that a human worker may not notice.

Although nearly 60% of respondents are “highly engaged” with technology to conduct employee training, other areas of risk management lack wider technology adoption; technology use ranges from 44% to 47% for safety documentation, job hazard analysis and worker certifications.

Nearly all respondents said they want to be able to digitally collect and analyze safety and risk data, but more than one-third still do not. Resources appear to be the main barrier, and only 19% of respondents include data analytics as part of their budget.

The report found 90% of contractors do not specifically budget for innovation, which can lead to inconsistency in the way companies handle new technology expenses. Regarding technology, firms are most attracted to ease of use (79%), costs (73%) and the training or support that accompanies the product (51%).

Source: NRCA

Construction industry uses simulations to help recruit young workers

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As the construction industry works to build a younger workforce, it is trying to attract teenagers with realistic computer simulators of heavy machines such as bulldozers, cranes and excavators, according to www.sfgate.com.

As Baby Boomers retire, the construction industry continues to face a labor shortage as construction projects are booming. More than three-quarters of U.S. construction firms said they were having a hard time filling some of or all their positions, according to a survey released in January by the Associated General Contractors of America. Thirty percent said worker shortages were the biggest concern for their firms—by far the most pressing of 16 issues presented.

And the industry is facing another challenge as it tries to fill positions by recruiting younger workers—many are not interested. Many young people have been encouraged to consider college as the only option after high school, and others are wary after the industry was hit hard by the Great Recession. To appeal to the younger generation, some construction companies, unions and schools have turned to simulators that replicate jobs done by heavy equipment, such as pushing dirt or lifting steel.

Simulators are made to offer immersive experiences. Most have real controls in the proper locations to help users develop muscle memory, and the sounds are reproduced accurately.

Trey Henry, a 17-year-old senior at the Academy for Career Education trade school in Reno, Nev., attends a simulator program at the Nevada chapter of Associated General Contractors that serves as training for him and scouting for his instructors, who work for area construction companies. Rather than simply pushing a button, to start an excavator simulator, Henry must turn a key, increase the throttle speed, engage the hydraulic lock and buckle his seat belt.

“I was on the excavator and digging a trench, and I got stuck a little bit, and it jerks you like you’re stuck,” Henry says. “You actually feel the chair moving when you pull the dirt.”

The excavator has three screens and also can be used with a virtual reality headset that produces a 360-degree view. Two pedals operate the tracks, and joysticks move the boom and open the bucket.
Henry has spent about seven hours on the simulators and says his experience has persuaded him to pursue a career working with heavy machinery.

Several students at the Fulton Schools College and Career Academy outside Atlanta said they determined the construction industry was not for them after challenging experiences using a crane simulator, which required precision, depth perception and hand-eye coordination.

“You had to understand people’s lives were in danger,” says Christopher Sparks, 17. “I felt like every time you hit something, it would move in a certain way so you would have to restart every time. It was like a video game on hard.”

Source: NRCA.

Safety is top concern for construction workers regarding automation

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By NRCA.

A recent survey shows construction workers are more concerned about safety—rather than job security—regarding increased automation on job sites, according to www.forconstructionpros.com.

In a recent poll of construction workers conducted on behalf of Volvo Construction Equipment, 46% highlighted the increased risk to job-site safety compared with 31% who were concerned about job security. Other worries included loss of sociability (26%) and not knowing who to blame if something goes wrong (17%). However, experts say automation potentially can reduce job-site hazards.

More than half of respondents (54%) believe autonomous machines and artificial intelligence will help boost productivity, and 48% believe advanced technology will increase the speed of daily construction tasks.

Respondents between ages 25 and 44 are more likely to believe autonomous machinery could benefit areas such as productivity, speed, safety, quality and fuel efficiency compared with those age 44 and older.

Nearly half of respondents (48%) believe machine operators are most at risk of losing their jobs; three in five machine operators believe their job could become completely redundant following the rise in computer technology. Other job roles respondents believe would be at risk are engineers (21%), bricklayers (17%) and construction managers (16%). Only one in five construction workers believe no jobs will be affected at all.

From those who responded as part of the wider survey across all industries, 55% say they would rather lose their jobs to a human than a machine. AI could affect workers’ career choices, with 72% of U.S. respondents agreeing in some capacity they would consider choosing a job that will not be affected by autonomous machinery or AI compared with 45% of UK respondents.

Fifty-eight percent of construction workers are confident AI would not do a better job than them.

Source: NRCA