7 ways to market your business using social media free report by WayneDiamond

7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media Domains.co.za

7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media Contents 1.

WHY SOCIAL MEDIA MATTERS................................................................................................................ 2

STARTING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN ........................................................................................... 3

GOOGLE+ AS A MARKETING TOOL .......................................................................................................... 4 STATISTICS AND DEMOGRAPHICS ............................................................................................................................... 4 PROS & CONS ........................................................................................................................................................ 5 SETTING UP ........................................................................................................................................................... 5

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING - FACEBOOK ................................................................................................ 5 STATISTICS & DEMOGRAPHICS................................................................................................................................... 5 PROS & CONS ........................................................................................................................................................ 6 SUGGESTED STRATEGY ............................................................................................................................................. 6

USING ARTICLE MARKETING TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS .................................................................. 7 IDENTIFY YOUR MARKET’S INTEREST: .......................................................................................................................... 7 ARTICLE TITLES MUST BE CLEAR:................................................................................................................................. 7 LENGTH IS IMPORTANT: ............................................................................................................................................ 7 SHARE ON SOCIAL SITES ............................................................................................................................................ 7 DUPLICATING CONTENT ............................................................................................................................................ 7

USING YOUTUBE AS PART OF YOUR MARKETING CAMPAIGN................................................................. 8 STATISTICS & DEMOGRAPHICS................................................................................................................................... 8 PROS & CONS ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 SUGGESTED STRATEGY ............................................................................................................................................. 9 VERY IMPORTANT .............................................................................................................................................. 9

USING TWITTER FOR MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS ................................................................................ 9 STATISTICS & DEMOGRAPHICS................................................................................................................................. 10 PROS & CONS ...................................................................................................................................................... 10 SUGGESTED STRATEGY ........................................................................................................................................... 10

MARKETING WITH LINKEDIN ................................................................................................................ 11 STATISTICS & DEMOGRAPHICS................................................................................................................................. 11 PROS & CONS ...................................................................................................................................................... 11 SUGGESTED STRATEGY ........................................................................................................................................... 12

MARKETING WITH PINTEREST .............................................................................................................. 12 STATISTICS AND DEMOGRAPHICS ............................................................................................................................. 12 PROS & CONS ...................................................................................................................................................... 12 SUGGESTED STRATEGY ........................................................................................................................................... 13

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ABOUT DOMAINS.CO.ZA ...................................................................................................................... 13

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HOW CAN WE HELP YOU? ..................................................................................................................... 13

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7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media 1. Why Social Media Matters It’s a harsh truth, but if you are not using Social Media to promote your locally-based business then you may be losing quite a few sales to your competitors. The simple fact is that the majority of your customers are now shopping or PriceCheck-ing online. Statistic Brain’s recent study revealed the main reasons why US consumers shopped online, as: Massive time savings (73%) Greater variety of products (67%) Easier to compare prices (59%) No crowds and queuing (58%) Searching for lowest prices (55%) Saving on travelling expenses (40%) Per the US Census’s Latest Annual Retail Trade Report the total online sales* have risen as follows; 2009 over $121 billion, 2012 almost $192 billion, 2013 to over $215 billion, and the unadjusted figures for the first 3 quarters of 2014 are already totalling over $224 billion. The 2014 stats still exclude the massive annual shopping days; Thanksgiving, Black Friday and the December festive season, unfortunately the exact final figures will only be released around the end of January 2015. In a report released by Accenture they estimated that over 65% of all shoppers (in the USA) would browse online during December 2013 before heading off to buy in-store. They identified that over 50% of these consumers would purchase directly from the 'Net without ever physically visiting the store or business. Although these stats are US-based, they provide an excellent indication of the online shopping trends. SA consumers initially approached online buying with a little caution, however, there are now effective, secure, local, online payment systems that make it more comfortable. PayFast is a secure, wholly SA, payment gateway that offers not only credit card, but also real-time EFT transactions from SA's four major banks: ABSA, FNB, Nedbank and Standard. This means that if your business was not visible on the Internet during the biggest buying month of the year, it could have missed out on quite a few additional sales. Customers are also using the Internet to validate their buying decisions, and more and more are looking for 'social' confirmation of a company's services or products. Social Media channels are dominating customers' buying decisions and it is critical for a business to implement a Social Media strategy. It will not only increase your online footprint, but assist potential customers in getting to know you through people they trust i.e. your existing client base. People are looking for positive peer reviews and recommendations on products and services, as well as customer service excellence, especially from a company that they have not yet had any dealings with. Although Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not the topic of this article, it must be noted that having multiple Social Media strategies in place for your business does provide additional SEO support. This support in turn can assist in ranking your business higher in search results, particularly from Google’s perspective. * Figures include Mail Order purchases as well

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7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media 2. Starting your Social Media Campaign Before you rush off and join Facebook et al, it is critical to examine your business's objectives and goals. To be in a better position to identify the appropriate social media channels to focus your efforts on, we have drawn up some questions that may assist you in determining your course of action. What are you trying to achieve from a business perspective? Do you want to increase your exposure and build your business brand online? What products and / or services do you offer? What specific consumer problem does your product or service solve, if any? Have you identified your ideal customer in detail i.e. demographics, income level, occupation, education level etc.? Can your customers buy your products and/or services online from you? If not, what is the best way to provide them with enough online information to facilitate a buying decision? Are your contact details clearly visible on your website? (This may seem like an odd question but you will be amazed at how few local businesses get this right. Make sure you have ALL your contact details clearly available so that it is easy to contact you either via email, Skype or telephone.) Unless you can answer these questions clearly, any social media marketing efforts you put into place will be a complete waste of time and money. Example: If your business caters for fashion conscious teenagers then using LinkedIn as your primary Social Media Platform is redundant. LinkedIn is a network of professional business people and generally speaking they will have no interest in the latest shoe fashions and celebrity gossip. Facebook would seem to be the obvious choice, but according to the latest research reports, preteens and teenagers are leaving Facebook in their droves each day. According to iStrategyLabs over 11 million teenagers have left Facebook since 2010. Most due to the fact that their parents are on it too. Teenagers much prefer using other social media sites such as: Tumblr, Twitter and Snapchat to escape that parental beady eye. The cost of implementing a multi-layered social media program and the maintenance thereof also needs to be factored in. Although promoting your business on these various platforms is for the most part free, the cost involved is ensuring either yourself, an employee, or a consultant, can maintain it and have the skill set to communicate effectively with your client base. It requires time, commitment and a planned content strategy to implement an effective social media marketing campaign. Resources need to really be considered in terms of practical time lines, competent employees, external writers and measurement tools. If resources are limited, analyse what would be the most cost effective ways to implement and maintain this yourself. Create a realistic strategy that provides you with at least two months on your initial social media platform of choice. This will give you a fair idea of how much time and content effort, as well as customer and fan responses you need to cater for. Once you feel you have managed it relatively well, only then look at utilising another platform if you so desire.

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7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media The secret to a successful social media campaign is informative and relevant content that is posted on a regular and consistent basis. Content that encourages interaction and engagement from your customers as well as yourself.

3. Google+ as a Marketing Tool Google+ (Google Plus) was launched in July 2011 and gained remarkable support from the SME business sector, rather than the general public. As of Dec 2014 it had over 359 million active monthly users, with more than 1 billion registered accounts. Google’s Senior Social VP - Vic Gundotra explains it as "At its simplest level, Google+ is a social layer across all of Google's services." These services are used every day and include Google Search, Gmail, Calendars, Communities, Google Maps, YouTube, etc. To join Google+ you need a Google account, once logged in you will find Updates, Conversations and Shared Content that is similar to Facebook’s news feed or Twitter’s stream. Any content that is shared by people in your circles will be visible in your stream. All Comments you make can be +1 (plus one-ed), similar to FB’s Like button. Google+ Pageswas launched in late 2011 and is managed via the Google My Business dashboard. This has been specifically aimed at groups, organisations and

companies encouraging them to create Google+ pages for their business interests. One of the most important aspects, however, is that Google will immediately index all +1 posts, which may result in a higher ranking than your actual website in search results. Google+ Post Ads is a very clever concept combining Google Ads with Google+ and

takes Social Advertising to a whole new level. Added to this, Google+ Local assists you in reviewing products or businesses in your area via comments and posts from within your circles. The latest functionality added to Google+ is called Hangouts, a video conferencing tool via webcam that allows you to communicate with anyone in your circles. It can also be utilised in conjunction with YouTube, which is now rated the 2nd largest search engine in the world with over 1 billion monthly active users! Picasa has become Google Photos, so uploading photos and images to your Google+ posts is easy. As Google continues to integrate Google+ into all of its services, it is important that businesses start to develop their presence on this social network. When one realises that current Internet estimates state that more than 72% of users are on social media, it then becomes an absolute necessity. Statistics and Demographics It is predicted that Google+ will surpass the number of Facebook users by 2016; currently it has already far-outstripped Twitter’s 284 million and LinkedIn’s 332 million monthly users. The majority of Google+ users are men, with a staggering 70% of total users.

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7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media Pros & Cons Creating various Circles within your Google+ account allows you to share information with specific people, e.g. clients or suppliers. Circles are private and only you know which one you have allocated someone to, so be certain you allocate correctly! Your Google Account is used for all Googleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s services which includes YouTube, Gmail etc. Consider creating a new Google Account specifically to manage your business interests through and keep a record of the details on hand to avoid confusion. Should you want to create videos for your business, we would also recommend that this be separate from your personal YouTube account. Setting Up Ensure that you complete all the relevant information required, specifically; add a profile, cover photo, all your contact information and business description. Link your website to your business page. Ensure that you have linked business to Google Maps as this increases the number of links to your website. Post relevant information on your business page; content,external links, photos, etc. The key element is to get people to follow your page. Start sharing the URL of your Google+ business page in your emails, website and company letterheads. Place Google+ Badges on your website and all electronic communications, to easily allow visitors and customers to follow your page by clicking on it. Google offers a comprehensive Help Section as well as a Get Started with Google+ section for new users.

4. Social Media Marketing - Facebook Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, is deemed to be the obvious place to begin social interacting; as it has the largest number of daily users compared to other social networks. That being said however, it must be relevant to your target market. Should your specific advertising target be aimed at companies and businesses, then LinkedIn could very well be the preferred option. Statistics & Demographics 1.3 billion registered users and available in 70 languages 48% log in every single day & 75% live outside USA 690 million only access via their mobile devices More than 54 million FB pages i.e. entrepreneur, business, services and product etc. www.domains.co.za

7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media Approx. 7 million apps & websites are currently integrated with FB There are no specific demographic stats available, however, the general consensus maintains that the average age of Facebook users is getting older. iStrategy Labs showed that 3.3 million teenagers from the ages of 13 to 17 had left Facebook since 2011 as well as another 3.4 million people who were in the age group 18 to 24. On the plus side however, the same report indicated that Facebook experienced a 41.4% increase in the 35-54 demographic. A growth spurt of 80.4%, during the same time period, was from adults over the age of 55 - equating to an incredible 12.4 million new users. Pros & Cons With such a large user-base, across such diversified demographics (global and agerelated), most businesses should have no problem finding their target market segmented in Facebook. Facebook Paid Ads has the ability to drill right down to any target market using

demographic criteria, provided the users have completed adequate personal information. Classification according to age, location, education levels, relationship status, language spoken and specific interests provide immense marketing influence. Compared to other social media platforms, Facebook has the highest userengagement levels. Recently implemented news feed algorithm changes have affected the way content is posted in their news feed; this is taking awhile for users to adjust to. Previously, the majority of content posted to your Facebook Business Page would be seen by most of your fans i.e. people who have 'Liked' your page. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case, as posted content that is original, as well as containing photos and videos, will generate far more interaction than plain text content with links. Even if your content meets the above requirements, currently, the percentage of users that are able to view that content is definitely lower than it was in the past. So how do you overcome that? Suggested Strategy You can increase the exposure of your posts by using Facebookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Promoted Post functionality. This is 'paid for' functionality and requires VERY careful monitoring to avoid unexpected cost escalation. Promoted Post allows you to let 'Fans and Friends of your Fans' see your post in their news feed. Instead of using the much touted Business Page creation in Facebook rather Create a Group. The advantage of Groups is that all posts made in that Group can be seen by

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7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media each member in their news feed. Members of the Group can turn off the news feed portion if they choose, however your content still has a far higher chance of being seen by all the Group's members.

5. Using Article Marketing to Promote your Business Article marketing is a process by which companies and businesses write knowledgeable and expert articles relative to their business, or products and services that they have to offer. These are then utilised as part of their online marketing strategy. They can post these articles to their blogs, or to related information websites. There are even sites that specialise as Article Directories such as Ezine. Writing these articles is an important and valuable skill that enhances the business's image on the Internet. Points to consider when writing articles of this nature, are: Identify your Market’s Interest: Establish what your clients are looking for regarding information, queries, etc. that they may have with yourself or your competitors. Write well written content that answers or gives them the relevant information, while subtly showcasing your business. Article Titles must be clear: Your title must be applicable to the topic, as your main aim is to gain readership. Identifying and using one or two keywords in the title from the point above will go a long way to increasing traffic from search results. Length is important: Do not waffle just for something to say. Keep both your articles and sentences short, to the point and easily understandable. Use jargon and industry-speak that is appropriate only if it adds value to your article. Add images only if necessary and ensure they are labelled correctly. Share on social sites Don’t just rely on people stumbling onto your blog or article in an article directory website, or via a search result. Be certain to utilise your social media platforms to advise your clients and customers about the article. They will benefit from its information and relevancy, they can then ‘Like’ it to others and generate more viewers. Duplicating content DO NOT USE DUPLICATE CONTENT. It is a steadfast rule with Google and heavily penalised. If you want to post the same article on more than site, then re-write the content using similar words. Do not just change one or two words that won’t be enough, and never copy anyone else’s content, unless you are quoting and crediting said quote to its source. www.domains.co.za

7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media Article Marketing is not a quick and easy way to boost your search rankings, or to gain visitors to your website. However, over time it builds a solid foundation of not only searchable information, but knowledge, respectability, trust, reliability, loyalty and brand recognition. All of which will pay off in the long run, just be patient.

6. Using YouTube as part of your Marketing Campaign YouTube is a video sharing and viewing platform owned by Google. They use Adobe

Flash Video and HTML5 technology to display the huge variety of user-generated video content. In order to use YouTube you need a Google Account. You are then assigned a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;channelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for your account which is for personal use; then create an additional channel exclusively for your business. Google will automatically create a Google+ Business page for this channel. Statistics & Demographics Every minute, 100 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube, with an estimated 8.33 million hours of videos viewed online every hour. This translates into over 6 billion hours of videos that are watched every month! YouTube is now in 61 countries in that country's language of choice and the USA only generates 20% of the total global YouTube traffic. The YouTube subscriber base more than trebled last year. YouTube stats show that they have more than 1 billion unique monthly viewing visitors. The majority are using keywords to find the topics they are interested in.

The most viewed video of all time is Psy's Gangnam Style with an incredible 2.230 billion views and uploaded just 2 years ago. Pros & Cons YouTube videos rank high in various Search Engine results, which make it far easier for people to find your website via a video. Used correctly, YouTube can create exposure for your business. You can use it as a tool to share and engage with your potential customers. When people can view demonstrations of products, or technical information, etc. they are more inclined to purchase immediately. Build your online reputation through videos displaying your, or your business's, expertise. Potential customers are more inclined to 'trust' a business if they can relate to a real person visually and audially. Everyone wants to see themselves on the screen and they want to let everyone else know about it as well. Take advantage of this human trait and leverage promotions,

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7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media conferences, events or company do's by videoing them and uploading to YouTube. Link the video in your Facebook, newsletter, or blog and gain traffic from those involved. Creating top quality videos does take planning, time and effort. Suggested Strategy Create a YouTube channel that is specifically geared towards your business. Strategise with your staff and look to the support staff for input from clients. Create videos that solve customer’s problems for them by providing a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Use videos to demonstrate tips and tricks on screen, or show customers how to use your products. Consider the general themes you wish to take and stick to them. Do not just haphazardly allow videos to be uploaded that do not reflect the company's ethos, as this can have an adverse effect and severely hamper your marketing campaigns. Provide well written and spoken content with decent visuals and always remember to promote them on your other social platforms. Perhaps consider recording an interview with an expert in your field or industry, or ask someone to interview you. Ensure you have a script to work from and watch it BEFORE uploading. Ask a couple of people to have a look at it prior to deciding to upload and only then upload it on YouTube. If you are using Google Hangouts, you can also record a Hangout and load it directly onto YouTube when complete. VERY IMPORTANT When you upload a video, remember to create a link to your website in the first line of the description. When a Search Engine displays results, the link to your website will be displayed in the first line of text under the video link; and again, when viewing the actual video, it will be easier for people to click through directly to your website.

7. Using Twitter for Marketing your Business Twitter is an online social networking and micro-blogging platform that allows users to

send ‘tweets’ using 140 characters or less. Tweets are text-based information snippets that can link through to articles, blogs, websites etc. The application, termed the 'sms of the internet', was launched in 2006 and is currently one of the ten most visited websites in the world. These text messages include the use of hashtags(#), which facilitate searching on specific topics. Twitter messages can also contain images. Twitter is a useful 'trending tool' which allows you to see what topics are consider 'hot' at any time of the day and can be based globally or focussed on specific countries. www.domains.co.za

7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media Statistics & Demographics Twitter has 288 million active monthly users with over 500 million Tweets being sent every day. Twitter is available in over 35 different languages and only 23% of Twitter users are based in the USA. 80% of the 'Twitterers' use their mobile devices to Tweet. Generally speaking approx. 35% of global internet users are on Twitter. The predominant age group being between 18 and 29 years and accounting for over 30% of total users, with the 30-49 and 50-64 age group coming in at 17% and 13% respectively. Pros & Cons Businesses can promote products and events and can promote their Twitter account by using a widget to imbed their Twitter profile on their website. If people are following you and like your Tweets, by re-Tweeting to their followers, it can help increase your online exposure exponentially. Tweets can be made private - although this does defeat the purpose of aiming to get exposure for your brand. Each Tweet is limited to 140 characters of text – adding a hyperlink can be vastly reduced by using the services of a URL shortening website, e.g. ow.ly. There is a maximum limit of 1000 Tweets per day, and direct Tweets are limited to 250 per day. A direct Tweet is only for sending to a single user, as in direct one-on-one communication. Suggested Strategy Open your business Twitter account, ensuring that you complete ALL the relevant details required in the profile and load images and photos that best represent your business. Link your Twitter account on your website and all email correspondence, as this will ensure that people visiting your website can follow you on Twitter should they wish to. Do a keyword search and then start following key players in your industry or ones that are either associated with it, or offer complimentary products and services.      

Your customers Your business partners, suppliers, contractors and vendors Your competitors or peers Relevant trade organizations Businesses in your area Your own professional network

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7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media Start Tweeting by sharing information about your business, specials, new products, etc. When mentioning people in your Tweets, use the @ sign before their Twitter ID, as this will attract their attention and they will more often than not re-Tweet it. Focus on how your products and services benefit your customers. Use Tweets to drive traffic to your website, blog (if you have one) and any other social media platforms you are using.

8. Marketing with LinkedIn LinkedIn is a business networking site for professional people and is available globally

in 20 languages. It was launched in 2005 by Reid Hoffman and several other partners and currently CEO is Jeff Weiner formerly from Yahoo. Individuals register a personal account (there are both Free and Paid options available) and then can create their company pages that reflect business contact details. Groups can be created that have a specific focus and others can join and interact within the group. Statistics & Demographics LinkedIn has a user base of over 300 million registered users on LinkedIn, 80% of them are over the age of 30 and 84% have Free accounts. The average income of a LinkedIn user is above $50 000 per year and males make up 65% of the demographic. 41% of users currently have over 500 contacts and 35% of the members have joined at least one LinkedIn group. The majority of registered members use LinkedIn to research about people and companies. Pros & Cons It is a great way to stay up to date with information and news about an industry or profession. It also gives a business a unique opportunity to expose the critical elements of their company. These can include; mission statement, background, team members, products and services offered. LinkedIn also offers a way for professionals to demonstrate their expertise in a particular field or industry and positions them as the expert. This ties in well with other related marketing platforms, e.g. Facebook, Blogs, etc. It does take time in setting up the account and connect with the people you want to, as you have to send each person an individual request. It is not easy to connect with people that you do not know and they may reject requests o that bias. It is fast becoming an HR Resource both for the company and the employee. Many members use the site as an advertising platform so newsfeeds can become cluttered with useless information.

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7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media There is a facility to hide your connections and keep them secure. This is important when linking with competitors and doing competitive research. Suggested Strategy There are two options here, you can either create a Company Page which reflects all your details, service offerings, contact details and office hours etc. It is a good idea to start with this one as it can assist in building credibility and trust for your company. Use the platform to distribute content that is useful and informative for your potential clients again focusing on solving their problems. The second option is to either create a group of your own, or search for groups within your industry - maximum 50 groups allowed. Creating a group does take effort, however if the discussion focus is relevant and adds value it should be relatively easy to build it up in a shorter space of time. Join other groups that have similar interests. Never send inappropriate or spamming information to your groups. Assist everyone who asks for help, information or resolution to queries, the availability of the internet can detract from your business as much as build it, especially with a disgruntled client. Again the most important aspect is to establish trust and creditability. It is suggested that LinkedIn not be your prime marketing social platform, but used in conjunction with others of your choice.

9. Marketing with Pinterest Pinterest was founded in 2010 and is an online photo-sharing 'pinboard' site that allows

users to create themed collections. These collections can be anything from archaeology and current events to DIY hobbies and crafts. Users can follow each other and re-pin photos to their own boards. Statistics and Demographics All data on Pinterest is acquired via third-party vendors, as they do not disclose membership stats. Generally it is assumed that there are over 70 million global users reported by The Social Media Hat, unfortunately they are not hard numbers. In February 2013 the site actually did report that they had 48.7 million users of which 68% are female within the 24-35 age group and 50% have children. Pros & Cons      

Visual inspiration at a glance. Boards and Pins are user-friendly and easy to organize. It is a great way to promote websites and blogs that are visual in nature. Visually appealing products have a better chance of being shared on Pinterest. Traffic is increasing exponentially. Site visits tend to be at least an hour in duration.

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7 Ways to Market Your Business using Social Media    

Broken links negatively affect traffic to the site. Copy images without correct credit can result in copyright infringement. Blatant self-promotion is not allowed, marketing has to be subtle. Pinterest is not a standalone platform and requires other social media sites to market on.

Suggested Strategy Products that are visually appealing and are targeted to woman in the demographic age group discussed above can use Pinterest as part of their marketing strategy. It is a very useful platform to implement as part of your social media marketing campaign. Post images that invoke interest in your product and provide a link back to your website to encourage further research. Consider running contests by choosing a random follower for the week and presenting them with a prize. It can be a free product, or something that inspires a ‘wow’ from them. This will generate interest and your board pages will be followed very quickly.

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