Let's Talk Cabling!

Maximizing Social Media Impact for Low Voltage Installers: Tips, Strategies, and Professional Insights

Chuck Bowser, RCDD, TECH

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Ever wondered how to supercharge your social media presence as a low voltage installer? This episode promises to provide you with essential strategies, tips, and insights to elevate your online game. From decoding the importance of obtaining client permissions before sharing project photos to leveraging social media for lead generation, we've got you covered.

We start with a fun "What are you drinking?" segment before diving into the nitty-gritty of Internet Protocols and giving props to our amazing artist friend who designed our logos and stickers. We'll tease some exciting upcoming episodes featuring resume tips and apprenticeship programs, but the main course is all about mastering social media. Learn why it's crucial to avoid sharing sensitive information, how to harness the power of customer testimonials, and stay informed about trends like the potential move towards licensing for low voltage installers.

Negative feedback on social media can be daunting, but fear not—we've got strategies to help you let it slide off your back. Discover the importance of not engaging with trolls and how your loyal audience can boost your engagement through the algorithm. We'll also explore the pitfalls of clickbait and the value of quality over quantity in your posts. Plus, hear personal anecdotes and practical advice on using LinkedIn to build a professional brand and network. This episode is packed with valuable insights to make your social media efforts more impactful and professional.

Support the show

Knowledge is power! Make sure to stop by the webpage to buy me a cup of coffee or support the show at https://linktr.ee/letstalkcabling . Also if you would like to be a guest on the show or have a topic for discussion send me an email at chuck@letstalkcabling.com

Chuck Bowser RCDD TECH
#CBRCDD #RCDD

Speaker 1:

Wednesday night, 6 pm, eastern Standard Time, where you get to ask your favorite RCDD and you know that's me questions on installation, design, certification, estimation, project management, even career path questions. We always start off every Wednesday night with what are you drinking? So of course I'm drinking Zevia, as always, zevia soda, yep. Technically, put in the comments what are you drinking. Technically, it's half Zevia, half water, because I always mix my sodas. I'm weird, that way, weird. That way. I tell you Before we get too much further along.

Speaker 1:

I got a question in the TikTok stream I want to answer. Somebody asked who did the design on your own logos and stickers. So my wife went to Art Institute in Tampa and we became really good friends with one of her instructors after she graduated. So he designed the let's Talk Cabling logo. It is the let's talk game logo, the knowledge is power logo and the wire monkey logo um, really great artist, really great artist. So if you want something like that done, give me a holler, I will hook you up, send you his address and, uh, he's not gonna do it for free, but he'll give you some good quality work and he's really, really good for as far as helping people. So we also then also start the next thing off after we did the.

Speaker 1:

What are you drinking? We know we got to do the acronym challenge for tonight. Tonight's acronym we have to define is IP. I bet you, the beard of knowledge, knows this one. What is IP? I'll give you a few seconds to answer that. What does IP mean? It has something to do with tonight's show. Tonight's show IP. What does IP mean? Daryl the RCDD is in the house and he beat the beard of knowledge. Even George Humphrey got that one. He said, chuck, that means internet protocol, and that's exactly right, exactly right. So it's a internet protocol is used for helping our network communicate to each other. I'm not a, I'm not an IT person, but I bet your beard of knowledge knows how to explain that it's, it's, it's the that important protocol for networking. Exactly, exactly so. There's the acronym challenge for tonight. You know I also want to talk about, before we get into our questions, I'm going to talk about oh, come on, turn off that design, chuck. There we go.

Speaker 1:

Got lots of great shows coming up and I was thinking about all the shows I have and I wrote them down. So, just so you guys, this is an exclusive just to you people who are watching me in a live stream, all the other listeners. They're going to only hear about it when it actually comes out. You're going to know it ahead of time. Here's the shows One, how to set up your resume to get past the recruiter Recorded. I just got to edit it and put it up.

Speaker 1:

Another episode going Back to School I talked to IUC Chesapeake talking about apprenticeship programs and why you should be a learner. Antistatic Flooring is another episode already recorded. I just got to estimate it. Pinball Doctor said he just got his TDM 15, nice, nice. So doing a show on anti-static flooring got an anti-static floor expert. Come on, we're going to talk about what is it? I'm got, I've got some anti-static flooring coming for the podcast studio and I'm going to be making a video out of that. So that's actually another episode too.

Speaker 1:

And then I'm working on another episode called going beyond 100 meters. Going beyond 100 meters, meters, going beyond a hundred meters. We're going to talk about your options. We're talking about your copper option, the game changer cable. We're talking about how to test that cable. And then we're gonna talk about the hybrid fiber options as well. I'm staying away from the electronic portions idea, cause I know there are either an extended stuff, like I'm again, this is less talk cabling, not less less talk equipment. So because I know there are Ethernet extenders and stuff, again, this is let's Talk Cabling, not let's Talk Equipment. So I'm going to stick with just the Copper Solutions. And then I got another show already recorded, just got to edit it Codes and Standards, how Codes and Standards are made are created, and that's a discussion I had with Bixie. That's recorded.

Speaker 1:

And then the last one, a tour of the big c training labs. Wire for exits. Knows exactly what that looks like? Yes, he does, because I that's how I met met him in person because I did a live meetup in tampa down there and he was taking a class in big c. So I, chris hobbs and I, we walk around the big c. He gives me the tour, shows me where people eat their lunch, shows me their um, their data center, their anti-static flooring, which kind of prompted me to do the show on anti-static tiles. That's actually going to be a two-part episode, like I mentioned. And then he actually walked me through the classroom. He even walked us through. When you sign up for a Bixie class, like the remote class, and they ship you the stuff, what actually comes in those boxes? Pretty, pretty cool stuff, pretty cool stuff. So it's going to be a great show. It's going to be a great great, lots of great shows coming up in the future. So make sure you stay tuned.

Speaker 1:

So tonight's show, tonight's show, is about social media. Social media For some reason I've gotten a plethora there's a big fancy word for you of questions on Chuck blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What kind of social media? What platform should I be on? What should I post? And I've been saving up those questions and I'm going to answer them. So I kind of generalized all the questions into groups answer them. So I kind of generalized all the questions into groups.

Speaker 1:

So the first group is why should low voltage installers be active on social media? And I'm going to give you four reasons. Number one increased visibility. Increased visibility. And that means if you're a small business owner and there's several of them out there, several of them out there, they're on like all green lights and a few others, they're all over social media you can reach potential clients who might not find you through traditional, traditional methods. You know there's a, you know the internet is really. I mean the social media platforms and even tiktok. I know people shy away from tiktok because, uh, uh, because, um, because tiktok's that dancing platform. But I'm telling you there's a lot of business professionals doing content on TikTok a lot of them. So you might have a customer who might be in TikTok. You might be in IT, like the Beard of Knowledge is, and flipping through and all of a sudden, boom, your video might come up. He might see you doing work and say, hey, I noticed you in my area. You might get a customer that way.

Speaker 1:

Another good reason why you should be active on social media it helps you build your brand. I tell those people all the time, especially when I'm talking about resumes and trying to get a point you are your own brand. You are your own brand period. So being on social media helps you build that brand identity. And I've got a brand identity. I mean I've had people actually walk up to me at Bixie conferences.

Speaker 1:

Knowledge is power, knowledge is power. It's a brand. It's a brand. They recognize me right. Another one too. Another one, too, is it's going to increase your engagement with clients, because the clients are going to find you on there and then they're going to start asking you questions. Just make sure that you answer their questions in real time, unlike Chuck. Sometimes Chuck gets it gets overwhelmed with questions sometimes, but probably, I think, the best reason why you should be on social media and again this goes to whether you are an apprentice, an installer, technician, project foreman, project manager, designer, estimator, rcd, whatever you all should be on social media. It's going to help you connect with other professionals in this industry and expand your network. Now, because of me being on social media, I've met some really great people, like the Beard of Knowledge and the old tech guy Wired for Excellence, sean Repp, all Green Lights and some of those I've actually met in person. Met in person, and that helped me out, because there's been several times where I said I would reach out to somebody and say, hey, I need some information on this because I can't be an expert in everything, so that's going to help you do that.

Speaker 1:

Now let's talk about the types of content that you should be putting on social media. Again, there's going to be four types of content you really should be putting on there. Number one project showcases, share before and after photos of work that you did. A lot of technicians, a lot of IT people like looking at that stuff. Here's what this network closet looked like before, where you couldn't even see the ports on the switch because it was done, the patch course. Just put it on haphazardly yeah, haphazardly, and then show the after.

Speaker 1:

Just be super careful to only share pictures of projects that you're allowed to share on the internet. Okay, be super careful If you're allowed to share on the internet. Okay, be super careful If you're filming on a customer site. If you're filming on a customer site or taking pictures on a customer site, get their permission first. Get their permission first and let them see the stuff as well. And then be careful of the pictures that you take. I have seen people post pictures of before and after and when. Be careful of the pictures that you take. I have seen people post pictures of before and after and when you zoom in, you can. I'm not talking about you, caitlin. I've seen pictures of stuff on the internet before where you can zoom in and read the IP address for the switch. Not a good thing. Yeah, watch out for serial numbers, says Wired for Excellence. So make sure you get permission and be super careful what you take pictures of.

Speaker 1:

Another thing that you can do is do how-to guides, post tips and tricks and brief tutorials on common problems that a cable person might have in the field, problems that a cable person might have in the field or, better yet, if you're trying to, if you're getting on social media to attract clients, it people find out what are their hot buttons and then make videos about that you can also get this is the third one customer testimonials. Again, if you're asking a customer ahead of time about taking videos and pictures of their network, sensitive network equipment, and if they say yes, they're open to it, and then maybe get them to do a video with them together, have them talk about or they'll give you some feedback on the work that you did for them. We'll make sure that you know what they're going to say. Make sure they're going to say good stuff about you, right? That's a great way. Word of mouth is a great way to increase business and you can also keep your audience informed about the latest trends and technologies.

Speaker 1:

God, heart injuries. There's so much stuff coming out, like DAS systems and power over ethernet. Here's one I bet most people haven't heard of. I bet most people haven't heard this the 2026 code book and the potential issues that's going to impact the low voltage industry. I was looking at some documentation just the other night. They are heading towards the path of licensing, are heading towards the path of licensing, heading towards the path of licensing. So if you're a low voltage installer and you're not licensed and I don't mean like a business license, I mean like a licensed electrician unless something changes, they're heading towards that path where you're not going to be able to do that work anymore. So that's like a story that you can break out and talk about. I haven't talked about it on a podcast yet because I'm still kind of going through all that information and if you've ever read the code book, you know how fun that's going to be.

Speaker 1:

The third thing that you can do is how can social media help with lead generation for low voltage installers, low voltage installers? How can you do lead generation? So if you're, if you're on the internet, you're on social media instagram, tiktok, whatever the platform may be, linkedin, don't forget linkedin. Linkedin is the wild wild west right now. Right now, I'm getting about 10 000 views a week on linkedin. 10 000 views a week. Now. That 10,000 views a week, now. That's not as good as my TikTok feed. No, wait, hold on, is it? No, it's not. Tiktok is better. I think the last 29 days I hit 70,000 views on TikTok, I think, give or take. So make sure that you yes, first thing, we just kind of do ads targeted ads, you know, again, using the platforms again, like LinkedIn, facebook, instagram and you can target the type of customers that you want, so that way it shows up in their feeds.

Speaker 1:

Now there are some benefits for search engine optimization as well, because by using SEO, you can improve the visibility of your content and be consistent to enhance search engine rankings. So when I first started my whole social media journey, if you typed in RCDD, you didn't really see my content. But because I've been putting in every single piece of content, hashtag RCDD, hashtag CBRCDD, hashtag, cbrcd is kind of my tag. If you go on to Google right now and you type in RCDD, you will see my stuff pop up on there because I've been doing it for so long and I'm starting to get that. I'm starting to get that and the thing is then they see it and I've gotten a lot of potential customers for the study groups, the RCD study groups, because of the way that I do those hashtags.

Speaker 1:

Another lead generation is referral traffic. It's going to encourage satisfy clients to share your content and refer others to your services Because they're going to say you know the IT people. They walk in the same communities that we do. I guarantee you you could probably name three or four or five or ten low voltage people that you know, who you don't necessarily work with. Same thing with customers. They know people and when they start seeing your work, when they talk and say, man, I need to do some cabling, hey, you might want to try that wired for excellence, you might want to try that. All green lights right and that'll help you.

Speaker 1:

Now there are some risks. Some risks to sharing your stuff on social media. Number one privacy concerns. Privacy concerns. Be mindful of the information that you share to avoid compromising the client confidentiality. We already talked about serial numbers and IP addresses and stuff like that. But if you're doing work on a federal government facility, whether it's any one of the government buildings or one of the Department of Defense buildings huge, huge data centers Data centers are extremely concerned about privacy, extremely concerned about privacy, so make sure that you address that, make sure that you're mindful of that. So, again, that all comes back to asking that permission you are going to get. Here's another risk and I bet you, I bet you. Uh, um, wire knows this and so does the Beard of Knowledge.

Speaker 1:

Negative feedback, negative feedback. Right, daryl Darcy says he would lose his job. Exactly, If you're on social media and you start putting yourself out there, you will get people negative towards you and the key is be like a duck. Let that water just slide right off your back. Sometimes they will be right.

Speaker 1:

There have been times when I put out content and somebody's come at me negatively and I realized that they were right. Now they could have came at me better, you know, in a more encouraging fashion. But you know what? I was wrong, but you will get people out there. You will get the haters out there. That hates you. Oh, you're an rcdd, why do you really need to have that? Yeah, now you just gotta you. Just you're not better than anybody else. Matter of fact, most rcds don't know anything. You will get that negative feedback. Just don't let it get to you. Do not delete that negative feedback. Do not feed into that negative feedback, because if not feed into that negative feedback, because if you feed it, if you respond back, that's just going to spur that person to keep going and going and going, ignore it. Ignore the negative stuff.

Speaker 1:

As Caitlin says, there's lots of Karens out there and there is Absolutely. There is the beautiful thing about negative feedback once you start to build an audience, you start to build an audience, your audience will take care of the negative feedback and and that they'll they'll respond to that negative person instead of you. And then that now you're, the algorithm sees there's more posts and I don't know if you noticed about my content. I deliberately stay away from doing what do they call that, when they'll put up a thumbnail to make you to go to it, but it doesn't really, doesn't really talk about that. There's a name for that I can't remember. Off the top of my head, I put out as close to accurate information as I can all the time, all the time.

Speaker 1:

Another risk of doing social media is clickbait. That's it. Thank you. Bearded Knowledge Clickbait. I don't do. Clickbait, don it. Thank you. Beard of knowledge clickbait, I don't do. Clickbait, don't do it.

Speaker 1:

So another negative thing for social media is it. It will be time consuming, and I learned this a long time ago. The let's talk cabling podcast is not the first podcast that I've done. I still have another youtube channel called the basel journal that we, that we do on our homestead. I haven't put any content there for like two years, but I realized pretty quickly that if I would film something like, let's say, I'm doing something for the duck pond, it'd take me twice as long to do that because I'm filming it and doing it. So keep that in mind. Keep that in mind.

Speaker 1:

If you're going to start doing social media, you've you got to think about the angles and set it up. You might have to reshoot it. It's very time consuming and if you are a technician being paid by a company to do work, they're going to start asking you why is it taking you so long? Why is it taking you so long to get that job done? It's also probably you know, if you're working for another company, you're not working for yourself and you're doing this whole social media stuff. You might want to get your, your boss's permission too. And I can think of, off the top of my head. There's one guy I don't want to call him out who does a lot of social media content. Everybody knows his name, his company knows that he's doing that and they they're okay with it because it brings them business. So they're okay with that.

Speaker 1:

How often should you post on social media? The key is not necessarily the number, it's consistency, consistency, always be consistent. So if you've been following me for more than a few months, you know the podcast comes out on Monday nights, the live stream comes out on Wednesday nights, and then I do at least one piece of content a day on all the other platforms, sometimes even more On LinkedIn. I've got a regular set schedule. I've got the acronym challenge, which comes out every weekday morning at 810. I've got Monday's Project Management Monday, it comes out at 210. Tdmm, tuesday, comes out at 210. Name this tool. It's on Thursday, pro Tip Friday, and every week those posts come out at the exact same time, every single time. And it's not like I'm sitting at the computer like, okay, 809, 809, 30 seconds, 809, 40. Ding, no, I put it in a schedule on Sunday nights. It posted out there, it posted out there. And so now, people, you know if something happens where I don't put out posts, I've actually had people reach out to me. Chuck, are you okay? Are you okay? I haven't seen any posts there.

Speaker 1:

You go and choose quality over quantity. Don't just, you know, put a bunch of you know punch out there just because you want to get the numbers out, because you'll hear some content creators say you know three posts a day per platform. I, okay, I'm one of those that sometimes I do three posts a day. I don't always do three posts a day, but I do at least one post a day. One post a day. But make sure that whatever you do, it's quality, quality.

Speaker 1:

I saw one today come from Colonel Dump. I saw it today. I don't know if he actually put it out today. He did this really cute video where you have to watch it. I'm not going to explain because it takes longer to explain and it wouldn't be funny if I explained it. But focus on quality. Don't put stuff out there just to watch it. I'm not going to explain because it takes longer to explain and it wouldn't be funny if I explained it. But you know, focus on quality. Don't put stuff out there just to do it and then monitor your engagement.

Speaker 1:

Get on there If you see people you know posting responses to your stuff, like again, one of the things I like to do is name this tool Right. If people start guessing, get in there and say yes, you're right, no, you're not Right there. And say yes, you're right, no, you're not. Engagement, engagement. What are some effective strategies when engaging your audience? Again, prompt responses. This one drives my wife crazy. Prompt responses because I'm always on my phone, always, and I'm on there because when the thing comes up bing, I go and I respond to it. If I don't respond for something in like a day or so, it means probably my phone died and I can't find the charging cord for it, because that happens sometimes. So make sure you respond and make sure you respond promptly. Those are going to be key. Those are going to be key.

Speaker 1:

Maybe do interactive content, again, like name this tool and then I do the, the TDM, on Tuesday it's some Thursday where I put up the, the, the question people answer, and then on Saturdays I put out the answers to that. And then another way, another effective strategy, is live Q and A's, just like we're doing right now live Q and A's. So you get on here and people ask you questions and you talk about this stuff and again you build that brand. And here's another, here's another pro tip. It's not, it's not really in order here, but eye contact, eye contact. Now it's kind of hard to do eye contact here because I got TikTok here and my other camera there. So I'm kind of going back and forth between the two, kind of getting sick there. You know blah, blah, blah. But whatever Eye contact, make sure you have eye contact. Take care, kaylin.

Speaker 1:

Now what should installers avoid when doing social media? Over-promotion, over-promotion. I'm good with this. I mean, if you look at my stuff, how often have you heard me say hey, subscribe to my channel, buy my products. Put this in the chat box. Did you even know that I sell products? Let me know in the chat box. Do you even know that I sell products? I've got the RSC study group that people buy into. I've got shirts that you can buy. I don't. Maybe I need to be better at that. The podcast is not making a bunch of money. It's actually hurting for money. Right now I had to turn down a speaking engagement because the podcast couldn't afford to send me.

Speaker 1:

Another thing you should avoid is ignoring your analytics. Okay, guiltyilty. For a while there, I was really good about posting my analytics. In fact, I post them out there on LinkedIn and stuff and say, look, blah, blah, blah. And then I got away for a few months. Now I'm getting back into it and I'm glad I did because it's actually helps motivate you. Because when I got back into it this month and I did my numbers, I realized that I had almost, almost doubled my views and impressions since the last time I did it. So you know, make sure cause number one if you don't try, if you're not tracking your performance, you're not gonna know what's working, what's not working. And it helps spur your creative cycles. Spur your creative cycles and also make sure that you avoid neglecting professionalism. Always be professional, always have a professional tone.

Speaker 1:

Avoid controversial topics. I know that's going to say people say but Joe, controversial topics is what gets you's going to say people say but y'all controversial topics what gets you the views? Yeah, so so are you doing? Are you in it to be famous? Are you in it to change the industry? I'm in it to change the industry and you know I don't care less if I get famous or not, I'm in it. So you the technician who's watching this, you the technician who's watching this, you the project manager who's watching this, if something I can do helps you make your job a little bit easier, helps you learn something, be more efficient job, I win. I'm not doing it for fame, I am doing it because I want you to learn from my mistakes so you don't have to repeat them to avoid being negative or or not being professional. Now here's another one I get quite often. Mike Larius is in the house. Here's another one I get from you. But, chuck, I'm just a technician.

Speaker 1:

Should I really be on LinkedIn? Yes, yes, absolutely, and I'm going to get more of this conversation when we have that. Remember, I told you about the shows coming up when I get into that show and how to get your resume past a recruiter. We're going to talk about this. But, yes, absolutely. Linkedin is a powerful platform. It's like the wild, wild west and it's geared, geared towards professionals, geared to professionals and even clients, maybe even future employers. It also helps you build a network so you can find opportunities to do collaborations. Dude, I do it all the time.

Speaker 1:

People post stuff on LinkedIn and I'll send them a message and say, hey look, can we talk about that on the podcast? And most of the time they say yes. I've only had one person ever turn me down when I've asked them to come on the podcast and I think it's because they were nervous about coming on the podcast and I get it. Some people think. Well, jack, I'm not good at public speaking. If I invite you to come on my podcast, very rarely is it live. Most of the time I record it and then I edit it. If you've ever done a Zoom call, you can come on my podcast. It's the same thing. Same thing, absolutely the same thing.

Speaker 1:

So, by being on LinkedIn, it's going to increase your professional networking. It's also going to give you an opportunity to showcase your skills. I see lots of posts on LinkedIn about people posing pictures of their closets and stuff and then clients see that it's like a digital resume of your work, a digital resume. I like that. I like that. It's. Also being on LinkedIn is going to help you with industry insights. There's a lot of people who follow me because of my acronym challenge, because they want to learn the acronyms. They want to learn they might be studying for the RCDD On my 10 am Tuesday. It comes out andI put up those little quirks and I work my way through the book and I put out stuff. They learn from that. It helps remind them. It helps remind them. It's going to give you industry insights and it could potentially help you grow your career. Grow your career.

Speaker 1:

Here's another one too. It gives you professional credibility. Professional credibility because people see you and then people think I've seen them. Man, I know this guy and it helps you establish credible and being a knowledgeable expert in our industry. Now here's something you need to do.

Speaker 1:

Number one complete your profile on linkedin. Put up a picture you know and fill out your, your, your, the slots in it and tell you who the jobs were and all that stuff. But make sure that you include a headline, maybe a summary, maybe a light discussion on your work experience and your skills and your education, because a complete profile is better than no profile. Highlight your key skill sets that you've done, that you're good with. Detail your experience and make sure you do a professional video, professional photo. Do not take that picture that someone took of you and your spouse on a vacation and then zoom in so it just shows you right, Right, yeah, exactly Beach Dolphins in the house. He says it's sad and hard out there. Now it surely is. In the past years I've seen job postings over fiber splicers in 20, splicers over 20 in busy Chicago. Now there's two. Yeah, it's, chicago is one of those weird kind of areas. There is a shortage of low voltage people right now, including fiber splicers. Maybe not in your market, but there's a huge, huge shortage right now of low-voltage people and make sure that you know.

Speaker 1:

Don't be afraid to ask for recommendations and endorsements. Hey, if you're on LinkedIn or if you're not on LinkedIn, get on LinkedIn. Get on LinkedIn and then look me up and then send me a friend request, okay, and then when you do that, endorse me, say, hey, chuck, you're really Chuck's really good at whatever. Right, and I'll do the same for you if I see that as well. Just be mindful of your privacy.

Speaker 1:

Don't give out detailed information that you might. You don't want to share sensitive stuff with people. Don't Give out detailed information that you might. You know you don't want to share sensitive stuff with people you know. Don't tell them you know what kind of car you drive or something like that, and do regular updates. Again, it doesn't have to be three posts a day, like I talked about all that other stuff. It could be one post a day, one post a week.

Speaker 1:

I'm kind of real heavily into LinkedIn. I just love LinkedIn. But if you get like a certification post on there, hey, I love LinkedIn. But if you get like a certification post on there, hey, I got my RCDD, I got my Big C technician. You know, if you got an accomplishment, you just finished a large project or you just finished a class, get on there and say, hey, I just finished this class and that's going to engage your professional growth. So the true answer is yes, you need to be on social media. You do, but you also need to be mindful of the things that you post on social media. I know tonight's show was kind of a little weird offshoot kind of thing, but you know what, like I said, I got a lot of questions about social media and low voltage. So there you are. Until next time, remember knowledge is power.

Speaker 2:

That's it for this episode of today's podcast. Until next time, be safe.

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