With any new media there is always concern and uneasiness regarding its use, but the growth of digital has now surpassed this child-like stage, where more brands are now choosing to allocate a larger percentage of their budgets towards the use of digital media over the use of traditional media than ever before. According to the Digital Media and Marketing Association “The outlook for the South African digital publishing industry is positive with excellent results being recorded in the first quarter of 2010.”

It can therefore no longer be said that digital is an ‘add on’ to a brand strategy due to its rapid growth over the last few years. Digital should be seen as a viable platform; just like that of television and newspapers and just like with any other platform the selection for a brand will ultimately depend on the overall objectives determined within the strategy. A brand should thus always utilise a media neutral approach.

If digital does however work for the brand there are various advantages of its use. Digital can be updated and changed whenever necessary, unlike that of traditional media, so if there is an issue with a website for example, it can be fixed almost immediately. Secondly, the concept of instant links back to the world of digital and directly correlates with the ideals of the new consumer who ultimately thrives on instant gratification.  Digital media is also much more measurable in terms of reporting, as information is more freely available and through Google analytics for example information is collected and organised almost immediately.

There are many other digital tools for tracking and measuring data and many can be utilised free of charge, making it a lower cost medium in terms of measuring. Lastly, digital is more focused on Return on Investment (ROI), however it is vital to ensure what the set criteria is in order to achieve that success. According to Ahmed and Tunnah, who are both involved in large corporate digital endeavours “If you don’t have clear criteria for success and a way to measure your progress against them, there’s no way you can be deemed to succeed.”

Conclusion

Digital should no longer be seen as an ‘add on’ to a strategy, because it has gone through a rapid growth over the last few years.  It should however be viewed as a platform, whereby it is selected so as to achieve specific objectives. A brand should never just push digital to fit into a specific message, as this will simply result in wasted time and limited results. Digital offers many advantages over the use of traditional media and therefore if it is determined that digital media is relevant in achieving the objectives, the desired goals must be identified so as to measure the brands overall success.                                                                   

  How does your brand operate?

Have you used digital as an ‘add on’?

Are you operating in a media neutral way?

How it works:

1. You post a status update to share information which could be anything from announcements, product releases, promotions, or just news articles straight from your Company Overview page.
2. Your status update is then posted directly to each of your followers’ homepages where they can comment, like or share your update with their entire network. (Companies will need to be very active and provide interesting and relevant updates to their followers to really reap the full benefits of this feature.)
3. You can also monitor engagement metrics of your posts to see what type of posts best work for your business goals and through this analysis you could optimize your conversations.

This feature could generate lucrative leads to companies that use it smartly and also acquire a loyal clientele.

You can learn more on how to set up your company page effectively to best benefit from this feature by studying the How-To Guide, for all the do’s and don’ts.

Interesting mobile facts for South Africa:

• 57 percent of South Africa only access the web through their mobile phone
• In South Africa cell phone banking is used by 28 percent of the total population whilst only 16 percent of the population utilise Internet banking
• In South Africa 65 percent of all smartphone owners use apps to improve their lives
• On average a user spends 9% more time using mobile apps over the use of the Internet
• Games and social networking apps combined are equal to 79 percent of consumers overall app usage time

The Mobile App
The trendy word in mobile today is the App. As consumers move into the notion of the super consumer, many feel the need to be in control of everything they see, view and interact with. Applications have thus gained a greater importance with apps for almost everything from fun apps (which may have no real use, like the infamous broken screen app) to business related apps which improve overall mobile operations speed and performance.

Mobile apps are creating more possibilities for the mobile phone, and brands like for example; LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have taken advantage of this trend, by creating their own personalized apps. Mobile apps assist in brand integration and allow the consumer to stay connected whether it is off-line, online or though mobile and many brands will start developing apps as a way of communicating with consumers.

What is hAPPening in South Africa?
Vodacom has recently decided to create the brands own app store with over 140000 applications.  ”We think that this will drive the growth and innovation within an already thriving local South African mobile ecosystem,  ” they said.

MTN seems to have picked up on this new development and has announced that their own app store is “currently in the works,” with an apparent launch in less than six months time.

This trend has not only risen within mobile networks, as 5FM has created an app for BlackBerry which allows users to listen and stay connected to 5FM where ever they go, and FNB have launched both FNBConnect (used to locate ATM’s and has some of the VASP functionality) and the first South African integrated mobile banking application.

Conclusion
The growth of apps in South Africa and worldwide, continues to be on the increase and why not take advantage of it? Smartphones and browser-enhanced cell phones keep consumers connected 24/7 and it seems only obvious that to stay connected with the consumer is to talk to them where they already are.

Apps allow for greater consumer-brand interaction and consumers like to download different apps that make their lives easier. Apps may assist brands to break through endless ad clutter and to connect directly with their target markets. Who would have thought that smartphones and browser-enhanced cell phones would surpass the capabilities of the computer, but it seems that targeting of consumers on smartphone apps is the smart choice for brands today.

First of all let’s look at your newsfeed.

This has been made more efficient by removing both Top Stories (which showed the most popular topics) and Most Recent (which placed news in chronological order). The newsfeed now puts up one stream of all the stories relevant to the time they were posted, and according to Facebook “News Feed will act more like your own personal newspaper. You won’t have to worry about missing important stuff.”

Facebook has increased the character limit for status update s from 420 to an impressive 5,000 meaning that brands now have the chance to say more than ever before. There are also bigger pictures in your newsfeed and you can mark stories as top stories meaning that Facebook will automatically put similar stories at the top of your newsfeed.

What is the ‘Ticker?’

Ticker allows the user to link up with friends in real-time whereby you can see immediate updates and join in conversations at any time as the news feed seems to lag in terms of immediacy. The ticker has now created the ability for you to ‘listen in’ on conversations that were meant to be private with people you may not even know (i.e. friends of friends).

What are Smart Lists?

Smart Lists allow the user to create lists based on certain aspects of an individual’s profile for example your family, school, university and so on. Once an individual in the list updates their profile or posts a comment, the list will indicate the total number of new posts by that group of people.

What about my privacy?

It is important to note that through the addition of the ticker, it is now easier for people  to view pretty much everything you post, like or add. You can limit this by changing your privacy settings to “friends only” or “custom” lists. These settings can be accessed either through the privacy setting in the top right corner of your post or at the top right corner of your page. Remember that with the new Facebook, everything you do will be shared immediately to your newsfeed so be careful when authorising various apps, and make sure you understand and are aware of your privacy settings.

According to an article by Alexandra Reid “If you’re friends with a prospect on Facebook, what you’re watching, reading and listening to, and even what locations you check into, can impact their perception of you professionally and damage business relationships.”

An important aspect you should however take note of is secure browsing. According to Carl “By default, Facebook sends your access credentials in the clear, with no encryption whatsoever. Switching to HTTPS is important because a browser extension called Firesheep has made it especially easy for anyone sharing your open wireless network—at cafe or conference, for example—to sniff your credentials and freely access your account.”

In order to change this, it is important to go to your account settings, select the security setting and enable the secure browsing option.

What should brands be aware of?

With Facebook’s new social plugin it is now possible to drive additional traffic to your site. The social plugin is installed on the businesses website and must then be permitted access by a Facebook member. Each time a user visits the businesses website a notification (stating that the page has been read) can be returned back to Facebook whereby a post will be shared on the users’ wall, and newsfeed. This facility is available to developers via Open Graph

A new button referred to as the ‘Subscribe Button’ could also assist in benefitting brands and their engagement with consumers (followers). The subscribe button allows the individual to subscribe to updates by public figures of the brand, who can share posts for the individuals who have subscribed. Additionally the brand can subscribe to regular influential visitors assisting in mutual relations. The subscribe button shares similar resemblance to the follow button on Twitter and works in a similar way.

The Ticker can be used to a brands adavntage as long as a brand has a cohesive strategy whereby updates are placed thoughtfully and interaction with consumers is relevant. Brands need to create relevant, consistent and interesting stories so as to keep the user interested and willing to engage regularly with the brand.

Conclusion

According to SodaHead a public opinion forum, 86% of users are against the Facebook changes with many saying that Facebook is overloading the user with too much information from both the Newsfeed and Ticker, being compared to a kind of Twitter feed, but it’s important to remember that “We are its product, not its customers,” says Andrew Brown editor of Cif belief, with its customers actually being the advertisers.

So are we over-emphasising the need for social media? Herman Degener from Habari Group believes that if your brand is not on social media, you are missing out. “Your consumers are already there – you can talk to them, but do it in a strategic manner.” But where do we start?

1. Listen:

Before you set up your social media platforms, listen and research in order to find out where the best place is to set these up. Know where your consumers are; do they spend most of their day on Facebook or do they quickly check their Twitter feed at the red traffic light? Your social media strategy should start with an understanding of where consumers are talking about your brand. This may be difficult to determine with privacy policies in place, but on certain platforms, like Twitter, it is easy to search for your brand and to read what is being said about your brand.

Remember, consumers are not on social media to interact with brands, they want to interact with their friends, and this is who they will be speaking to about your brand. These consumers use your brand on a daily basis and interact with in at various touch points, meaning that they probably know your brand better than you do. Use this information to your advantage. Use feedback form consumers to improve business processes and customer service, to create new products and to improve the aspects of your brand that they deal with every day. So in short, there is no value in listening if you are not going to use the insights you gained from listening and push it back into your business with the goal of building a stronger brand.

2. Link your Social Media to other platforms:

What most brands are promising online is not translating to what they are delivering offline. It’s important that social media tie in with the rest of your business. Because people are spending lots of time on social media, it’s important to build a bridge between social and traditional media. How you interact on line will determine what you do in your traditional and offline media. It is no longer sufficient to say “follow us”. You should tell consumers, or even better, show them why they should follow you. Use traditional media to give consumers a reason to find and follow you on social media. People have their own impressions about a brand, whether the communication is online or offline, but if a brand is honest offline, it will work better online.

3. Engage

Carla Jones, form saidWot gives simple rules when it comes to engagement:  “Being on social media depends on your business goals. If you have nothing to say, don’t go on. If you have value to add and quality content, go for it.” Angus Robinson from Native added that social media is also not only about the platform – it’s also about networking and building communities of interest. People are passionate about the brand and will therefore follow it on specific social media platforms. This provides the opportunity to engage with them on a more personal level and in return reinforce their passion for the brand. Honesty is again mentioned as an important factor – Social media should not be used to try and fix bad products or services, it should be used to improve and interact. Brands should be honest about what they offer and not try and promote a wonderful product when in fact the consumers think the opposite.

4. Get them talking

It’s one thing to be on social media, and another to manage it correctly – it is important to always communicate in a manner that generates feedback. One way to do this is to follow the example of Woolworths who draws attention by using well-shot, professional images on their social media.

Social media should be used to get consumers talking about your brand. Herman Degener confirmed this: “positive or negative. If they can’t even talk about your brand, how are they going to buy it?” The problem here is that you cannot create a viral campaign – it can only become viral if the content is interesting and engaging. Suzanne Stokes, from MWEB explains this – social media is a form of word of mouth and brands should create content that is authentic and engaging in order to generate feedback from consumers to push back into the business. This creates trusts and loyalty as it leads to consumers becoming influencers. This is important as people listen to other people, rather than to brands.

So, is there a magic formula? Not exactly, but the best way to seed a conversation can be summarised as follows:

Value + Relevance + Engagement.

“Creativity is key to making a success out of any campaign”

– Xolisa Dyeshana -

These were the words that sparked the conversation at the Journal of Marketing breakfast debate on 30 July 2011, which lead to some interesting views on how Direct Marketing should be used. Direct marketing today is no longer about a junk pamphlet in your post box, it is about finding clever and attention grabbing ways to get the message across to a very specific group of people. According to Lynn Madley, CEO at Euro RSCG and one of the panellists at the debate, the shotgun approach does work in some cases, but targeted communication works much better. She also adds that brands should speak to consumers in a way that they want to be spoken to and Social Media plays a large role in this.

Today, traditional media is used in Direct Marketing to drive the audience to other platforms, like social media. Brands are warned to not be on social media for the sake of being on social media, but rather to have a well thought out strategy to work from. Because social media gives consumers the power to voice all their opinions, it’s better to just watch and respond if really necessary if your brand does not have the ability to provide quality content on a regular basis. On the other hand it is also important to remember that in this age, due to social networks, reputations are fragile. You need to know what is going on with your brand online and few brands can get away with not having a social media presence – brands need to engage on a personal level.

From a direct marketing point of view, what can be more personal and more direct than engaging on social media platforms? It provides the brand with the opportunity to become more than a brand – to become the consumers’ ‘buddy’. This will of course be strongly regulated by the new Consumer Protection Act (CPA), which defines direct marketing as a personal approach to directly or indirectly promote goods or services.

So, engaging directly and becoming the consumers’ buddy is important as we are no longer in the business of marketing, but in the business of engagement. And this again is important as the success of any direct marketing campaign can be measured by the interaction received from the audience.

That leaves one final question: Do consumers today, in this multi-tasking era, have the attention needed to participate in prolonged campaigns?

*A note of thanks to the panellists, whose wise comments contributed to this article.

Lynn Madley (CEO: Euro RSCG), Andrew Ambrogioni (CEO: Action Ambro’s) Danie Strachan (Senior Associate: Adams & Adams) Brian Mdluli (CEO: Direct Marketing Association of South Africa) and Xolisa Dyeshana (Creative Director and Partner: Joe Public)

In case you have missed out on some of this important data, i have taken the liberty of compiling our very own collection of the top 5 infographs that you may find interesting and will play a major part in online trends for the year.

Sidenote: If information graphs or “infographs” (as they are also referred to as) are not one of the best graphic visual forms of understanding online data or information; then i don’t know what is.

The History of Social Media
“A visually organised look at the past 30 years or so of social media history”.

The Rise of Social Networking
This infographic analyses the rise and the total Social Networking ad spend over the years.

The Biggest Shift
This infographic indicates (to-date) how influential the biggest social networking sites really are.

The New Marketing Trifecta
Mobile Devices, Email & Social Media: How social networks or tools are integrated into the new marketing mediums.

The Conversation
The Art of Listening, Learning and Sharing.

Resources:
65 Terrific Social Media Infographics

We have summarized the trends that we feel will play a major role in online marketing and advertising this year.

Facebook
Facebook will pass 1 billion users. Facebook has 550 million members and is said to be adding 700,000 per day. That would put it over 800 million in 2011 at its current pace. But with the potential of China letting Facebook into the market, this may surpass a billion users and continue to command more web traffic than Google.

Localised Search
We expect Google to pick up its local search an ad efforts by acquiring a local deals provider such as LivingSocial or Buywithme after missing the Groupon deal. Google would also blend its contextual discovery search into this. This may also be integrated into Google Maps results, Google Places and Profiles data with the ability to pitch user results based on their personal preferences.

In addition location based social media services will continue to play a major role due to their potential brand exposure for online marketers and we may see a number of South African agencies using this in their campaigns.

Twitter
International analysts forecast a dull 2011 for Twitter (due to lack of solid business model) and therefore predict that Google may buy Twitter this year. However this may differ in the South African online sphere as Twitter gained popularity in 2010.

Twitters became popular in South Africa with top brands and celebrities unlocking its power and influence to reach their followers and we expect this trend to continue in growth (especially in South Africa).
And Twitter should say yes because, despite its protestations to the contrary, there is there. But Google will figure out a way to make money off Twitter’s huge user base.

Social Media Marketing
While search engine marketing business will continue to grow and increase revenue, 2011 is the year social media marketing is included in businesses’ online marketing strategies. We predict that businesses will be allocating budgets for social media marketing as they start to understand this is the space where their target market spends most of their time.

Resources:
mashable.com
ppchero.com

Clients were:
Dept of arts and culture – artist interest.
City of JHB – Callabash interest.
FIFA

Click here to view advert 3

• The grass was taken extremely seriously by FIFA, so the grass had to be taken into extreme regard in strategy execution.
• Rehearsals were only allowed twice
• Legacy of the work: 30 students from Educational institutions, 400 people crew, 130 from SARU, 60% of the spend with BEE level 3 and beyond, and only 10% were spent on international partners.

The story:
• Raise the curtain on the biggest, most watched final in the world.
• Find a way to represent the contemporary and progressive side of SA
• Don’t forget the heart and soul of Africa.

Questions answered:
• Jack Morten produced the Athens games, and assisted in all dimensions of the production, in terms of charting and mapping the project.

• Innovation in terms of picture projection made it all stand out. 18 of the world’s biggest projectors around the stadium. Projectors were positioned on the ring of the Calabash, to create 1 unified image on the floor. Mapping was used to project images around objects that aren’t necessarily flat.
• The message to the diverse audience, to glue it all together, is when “we come together, we can do it”. Also they Africa can compete on global level.
• Most panicked point: Contract was only signed on 5 March, with not a lot of time or budget to get it done, up until 5 March. Strikes threatened the ceremonies twice.
• How was it sold to client: presentations were done to boards. To all three mentioned above. DVD packaging was used, to distribute to the different board. Wrapping an emotional context around the message.
• Back up plan if the projectors didn’t work: There was NO room to fail. There was no back-up plan.

Advert 4:
TV Campaign for Chicken Licken
Rob Mclennan from Network BBDO

Click here to view Advert 4

• Only 4 ads every year
• Objective: Based on, “if you havn’t tried it, where have you been?” – from the principle that it has become a huge cultish poduct in the black markets.
• Humour was the differentiator, with the typically South African proposition of the 1994.

Questions and comments answered:
• Brand is very unique, and the brand colour stand out a lot.
• Ad had to have a very broad appeal, in terms of audience and reach.
• Was told to appeal to everybody.
• Idea was very creative. But how does it communicate Chicken Licken above the other brands? It’s about the craving, the hangover cure, and the it thing to have on a night out. This ad worked mainly on one segment, and mainly the higher LSM markets.
• The shift from Chicken Licken target market from black markets, to more white markets. It feels a lot younger audience driven – is the brand trying to go younger? Yes, a shift is seen to student markets. Trying to play on societal leadership.
• Shift in consumption profiles can be seen where franchise membership has been granted.
• The brand has grown from a small franchise operation, to something a lot bigger, and going through all the growing presence.

Loerie ads are judged according to 5 categories:

• Innovation – creativity in terms of being distinctively different
• Quality – how well is the idea executed
• Relevance to the brand,
• Relevance to target audience,
• And relevance to the  chosen medium

On the menu today to talk and question about winning ads are:

Andy Rice, Chairman, Yellowwood Brand Architects
Oresti Patricios, CEO at Ornico Group (Pty)Ltd
Steve Miller, CEO at BF Strategy
Lou Boxall-Davies, Chief Strategist at Morris Jones
Geoff Whyte, Managing Director at Snackworks

Advert 1:

The Vodacom Music Station, done by Draft FCB, directed by Neo Mashingo.

Goal: To promote that Vodacom provides the listener to have radio at their fingertips, their own choice of music.
Creative angle: The DJ Keeps talking over the music, that the listener really wants to listen to. Where as they have their own choice of music via Vodacom.
Delivery: Pointers were given for the voice artist to talk about, and then were elaborated on in studio.

• The voiceover artist did a fantastic job at depicting the DJ.
• The ad explains that it is music without a DJ, any category any music. Like listening to a radio station, on your cellphone.
• Was flighted on vernacular ALS radio stations.
• The Vodacom brand doesn’t come out strong, but appears as a spot read by the DJ.
• Sales increased in terms of data markets. A lot of teaching still needs to happen. The campaign was driven to teach people on ALS stations to use their phones for other functions, like data, and not just voice.
• In terms of building the brand, they wanted the brand to be viewed as a friend, with a comedic thread.

Advert 2

Yuppiechef vs Woolies
Agency: Hello World
Danni Vos, CEO

The sign, which had the incorrect URL on, which Yuppiechef held ransom.

Yuppiechef.co.za hijacked Woolies’s misspelt URL, registered it, and held it ransom.  Challenging them to donate money

• They had less than 14 days before Valentine’s day.
• Social media driven, but mainly driven by the PR.
• How do Yupppiechef now continue to engage? They are an online company, so they continue with online and social media.
• It’s about finding the right social idea, and backing it up with the right brand.
• If it were to be done again, would it be done differently: Because of time constraints, strategy couldn’t be planned.  A bigger base could’ve been achieved, and the Yuppiechhef current bas could’ve been utilized.
• Great opportunistic campaign, and a great PR exercise – what was the PR strat: was totally focused on radio and online media. Power of online has turned a corner, to use Online PR more – to engage online bloggers more.
• Built their social media database immensely.

…./2