Door Industry Journal - Spring 2014

10 THE door industry journal spring 2014 industry news Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk IMPORTANT GAMES FOR GRANGE GARAGE DOORS Many of you will know Steve Parr as a former Chamberlain Doors employee and now Sales Director of Grange Garage Doors. Back in February, Steve along with his wife Gill, Grange Garage Doors MD, was amongst millions of people who tuned into this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia but not only as a viewer! They were cheering on their son Matt who was selected for Team GB to compete in his first Winter Olympic games. Matt a four time National Champion was the first British male skater to compete at the Olympics since 1998. Born in North Shields, Matt has trained in Dundee since leaving school. He flew out to Russia prior to the start of the Olympics to get ready for 17 days of competitions. His first team performance was on the 6th February. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER AND KEEP ABREAST OF THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS Follow us - and keep on top of the trends, hot topics and issues that shape the door, gate and hardware sectors. That is the message from the Door & Hardware Federation (DHF) which has launched its own Twitter social media service. Aimed at customers, specifiers, and contractors the DHF Twitter feed intends to deliver instant news on changes in legislation that impact on the choice of DHF member products and services. It will give the latest guidance on health & safety matters, technical standards, and maintenance issues. It will also promote DHF’s commitment to achieving best practice within the industry with its training programmes and adherence to quality assured standards. The Twitter conversation can be found on the website, www.dhfonline.org.uk and visitors are invited to join Twitter @DHFOnline and follow the DHF. It has been set up by Charlotte Harborne, the newly appointed DHF marketing co-ordinator. She said: “ As the largest trade federation representing key players within the building hardware and industrial, garage door, doorset and powered gates industry sectors, the DHF has decided to ‘join the conversation’. It’s increasingly recognised that involvement in social media sites delivers real commercial advantage to businesses and is a powerful way to quickly spread news to industry contacts and customers. “Twitter is by far the quickest way to discover what’s new in the world, and this is exactly why the DHF has taken this strategic decision as part of our commitment to looking after the interests of our members and their customers. “In today’s busy and competitive world every second counts in business. Twitter is one of the best platforms for us to engage and interact directly with customers and create awareness of issues such as changes in legislation, health & safety and training opportunities, quickly and efficiently. We can’t wait to develop the conversation with members and with specifiers!” Twitter is the fastest growing online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters, known as “tweets”. DHF also has an active presence on LinkedIn, the business-orientated social networking site which allows LinkedIn members to establish networks of people and organisations they know and trust professionally. Visitors are also invited to join the DHF on Google+ which is an excellent social media platform for promoting the latest news in search engines quickly.