Can it be said that digital is simply an ‘add on’ to a strategy or are brands looking at digital in the completely wrong way?

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?

LinkedIn has introduced a new feature for companies to be able to engage directly with their followers and potential customers. Now this will encourage more interaction online from corporates and companies are able to update their status on their company page and share with their network.

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.

“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)

The Journal of Marketing session titled “Decoding the art of Public Relations (PR)” was held at the Michelangelo Hotel on the 10th March.

The panelists for this debate included:

• Chris Vick (advisor to Minister Tokyo Sexwale)
• Rich Mkhondo (MTN Corp. Affairs)
• Dr Sarah Britten – Author and has worked with Kulula & SARS
• Peter Mann (CEO of Meropa)
• Jacqui O’Sullivan (GM of Sasol)
• Peter Bruce (Editor of Business Day)

There is growing reliance of Public Relations (PR) in the broader marketing mix and this discussion aims to understand why PR is still important for brands today. Jeremy Maggs lead the discussion and here is an overview of all the questions and answers from the session:

Is PR about engagement?

• Rich Mkhondo – There is a divide between PR and what companies want to inform their clients. The objective of PR is to build a bridge between that divide. Public Relations Practitioners are used as sounding boards for brands and there is skepticism from clients.

What is good PR Spin?

• Jacqui O’Sullivian – Bad PR characteristics give good PR a bad name, and they are characterized by poor communication, no PR objectives but good PR understands transparency.

“Spin is not the enemy, ‘bad’ spin is” – Jacqui O’Sullivan (General Manager of Sasol).

• Chris Vick – Spin must look at ethics and values rather than just aim to paint the brand in good light, therefore ‘integrity’ is key.

• Rich Mkhondo – In terms bad PR campaigns, the onus  should rest with companies/brands to tell the PR companies the truth before ‘spinning’ the story

How is digital shaping PR?

• Sarah Britten – It is interesting how the digital space is changing the print media for example Twitter as an avenue of WebPR.
• Peter Mann – There is a risk once a PR campaign is sent out from the news room as it can no longer be controlled and people are able to use Twitter and Facebook to share news.
• Jacqui O’Sullivian – We need to leverage of social media and the rest of the digital space (there needs to be a social media strategy in your PR campaign).
• Sarah Bitten – PR Practitioners have to watch, learn and engage with social media when it comes to PR campaigns

When does PR go wrong?

• Peter Bruce – Most PR is wasted because it hits the wrong targeted market. PR campaigns must be well structured. We need to have a good understanding of role players in the brand marketing mix.
• Chris Vick – PR campaigns go bad when we do not understand the objectives of PR campaigns and neglect to build relationships with the journalists that help you run the PR campaigns.

How do you develop a good PR ‘spin campaign’?

Jacqui O’Sullivian (GM of Sasol) answered with the following key points:

• Sit with right people (advertisers, PR practioners, marketing department) – get the key players to understand one goal & one vision.
• Shape the right message in no more than 5 characteristics.
• Do not be too corporate (or too informal) in communicating and remember who you are talking to – target market.
• Respond early to avoid bad reputation.

How do you develop a good online PR strategy?

• A good PR strategy must cover both : ‘traditional media avenues (newspapers) and new media channels (digital)’.

How is new media such as Twitter changing PR?

• Peter Bruce – Twitter is a very powerful tool for PR management in that it adds value to brands and also provides more regular engagement with the market.

Why do brands need PR strategies over just advertising?

• Chris Vick – No one wants to invest in one strategy and in addition, no one needs a PR strategy only when they are in trouble but rather all the time. There should be continuous brand reputation management.

• Jacqui O’Sullivan – It’s all about continuous PR reputation management to manage your brand on and offline.

How can small businesses do PR?

• Dr Sarah Britten – Small businesses may use the digital space (e.g. Twitter; Facebook) to manage their company PR and be able to readily communicate with the market.

Will social media take over PR – (the need for PR practitioners)?

• Social media space might not take over and surpass traditional PR but the social media space needs to be managed well as PR Practitioners have no control over this space.

Where is the PR industry going?

• PR is still relevant and still plays an important role in brand reputation management.
• PR will be heavily influenced by social media marketing moving forward and therefore PR strategies must continue to engage with it. We must aim to work with the social media space in order to leverage off it for effective PR strategies.
• PR remains an integral part of brand communication and in needs to become more strategic (effective reputation management).

Only a few hours after Microsoft announced deals with Twitter and Facebook to integrate real time data into Bing’s search results, Google’s Marissa Mayer announces at the Web 2.0 Summit that Google Social Search will be launching in the coming weeks.

There has been so much said about this in the last 24 hours, and it is hard to keep up with all the blogs, news and article mentions. Let me try and summarize quickly…

Yesterday Microsoft announced sealed agreements to access real-time content from social networking sites Facebook and Twitter to boost search engine results in Bing. According to Microsoft executives at a presentation at a San Francisco Internet conference, Bing is hoping to take on current dominant search leader Google in the sphere of Social Search and will have access to Twitter’s entire store of public data in real time as well as content from social networking site Facebook. At the same conference, it was also announced that a standalone Twitter search service will be offered at Bing, with some ranking technology other than sort by date involved, and that shortened URLs will be expanded. And finally, there would be some integration within the regular Bing service itself.

Only a few hours later, Google’s Marissa Mayer announced Google Social Search will be launching in the coming weeks. This feature will allow you to see results for queries from people in your social network and will work only via your own Google Profile. In your profile, if you add add links to social networks you’re a member of, such as FriendFeed or Twitter, Google will scan who you are connected to and give your results from those people which will then be integrated in to regular results. Google emphasised their goal of creating the most comprehensive, relevant and fast search and believe that their search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, looking forward to having a product showcasing how tweets can make search better in the coming months.

There has been such talk for some time and even though Bing (MSFT) beat Google to it by first announcing the integration of real-time data into search results, it is clear that this move from both indicate what the future of Search holds for us. Social Integration. Real-time data in Search results! This indicates the importance of consumer perception and the value of comments made by the average consumer and the trust they have regarding brands and products.

This is somewhat confirmed by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg saying that The Future is Social, Not Search. While Google is by far Facebook’s biggest rival in terms of Paid Advertising, it was clear that no love is lost between Google and Sheryl Sandberg, an ex-Googler. Sandberg said that Facebook is leading the net from the information age to the social age, where people will be finding their important answers not through Google but through their friends. As for search, Sandberg said Google would still have a place in the future, even if it’s not very big.

The face of search is indeed going to change and the race to be there first is definately on. The next days, weeks and months will be very interesting.

How will consumer behaviour affect search and the ranking relevance of brands and products in the SERP’s?

My personal prediction is that this affect won’t be seen immediately, but that it will slowly take affect as both Search Engines integrate real time data over the coming months.

For me, the future of Search will neither be Search, nor Social. The future of Search will be “Social Search” – Integrated Real-Time Search, (hopefully) relevant, updated results, as it happens.

How Bing and Google will control what is included in the search results will be interesting to see, but this can only be a good thing for companies doing Online Reputation Management. Hopefully businesses and corporates will be forced to operate in the social spaces more to not only control the conversations, but also add to it, or respond.

Resources:

• Facebook and Twitter Now More Important to Search Rankings?
• Microsoft’s Bing seals Facebook, Twitter deals
• RT @google: Tweets and updates and search, oh my!
• Bing To Do Deal With Twitter, Launch Its Own Twitter Search
• Google Social Search Is Coming & More On Google-Twitter
• Microsoft, Google in deals with Twitter, Facebook
• Google’s New Social Search Is A Big Chess Move Against Facebook
• The Future is Social, Not Search, Facebook COO Says

Twitter

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows you to answer the question: “what are you doing?”, by sending short message 140 characters in length, called “tweets” to your friends or “followers”.

Why do people use twitter?

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Recently I had the pleasure of attending the second Monash Business Communication Forum hosted by Monash University and Stone. The forum focused on digital communication as an essential part of business communication.
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Earlier this week Facebook announced some significant changes to the way users can search on their site. Users are now able to search for comments that friends have made in the last 30 days. In addition you can also find out what any users with a public profile are saying about a particular topic or news events.
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So just before things get under way here let me just quickly clue you in about the last two members on the panel at this morning’s Journal of Marketing breakfast debate.

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Virtuosa is currently looking for an Online Marketing Manager to join our amazing team to help drive business and revenue strategy for our clients.

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