Many farmers have enquired about micro-tracking devices for use in livestock. Here are two SA-based websites that specialise in animal tracking devices: www.xtremetrackers.co.za and www.animaltracking.co.za. The battery life of a tracking device is often a trade-off between the frequency of GPS updates – the more often the updates, the shorter the lifespan of the battery. With technology, collars have greatly reduced in size. Navcom, for example, has produced a tracking device collar 46mm x 27mm x 12mm and weighing just 20g.
Buyer beware
While researching the availability of micro-tracking devices on the internet, I came across a website belonging to a supposedly reputable company in the US offering various tracking devices for sale. However, I did some checking and found a few other websites stating that this was a hoax. As a final check, I phoned the company itself – and was told that the product was not available for sale. Visit www.bit.ly/BeWare to see the device I’m referring to. The lesson? Don’t be too trusting of what you read on the internet. There’s a lot of nonsense out there.
Self-Promotion
My experience, as I said, involved a ‘reputable’ company. I’m pretty certain that it posted that link advertising a bogus tracking device in order to get people to visit their website. This is a process called ‘viral marketing’. The theory behind it is that someone who sees the ad will email 10 friends about the product, and so on. The people receiving the email will thus grow exponentially. It’s a form of word-of-mouth marketing.
There is nothing inherently wrong with viral marketing – provided you advertise a genuine product or service, of course! It’s a cheap way of marketing your website and can in some cases increase sales considerably.Placing a humorous video on YouTube is a good example of viral marketing. If it’s noticed, people will tell others about it. Just make sure your contact details are clearly visible!
Contact Greg Miles at [email protected] with ‘Online Farmer’ in the subject line.
