Utilising Social Media in a South African business context

Social Media

I wrote a post in August entitled ‘The Growing Influence of Social Media in South Africa’ and I wanted to expand a bit more on these thoughts about the adoption of social media in South Africa.

The first thought is of large corporations that are starting to heavily adopt social media as an augmentation of their current marketing strategies.  Augmentation is critical as it is still too early in the life cycle of social media to fully commit to using this medium alone.  Research from the Nielsen institute in the US shows that although social is growing, it is necessary to still utilise the channels of mass media such as billboard, televisions and print media to holistically develop the message you are wishing to promote.

Large corporations have an advantage of being able to analyse what is currently being done in early adoption markets overseas such as Europe and the US.  Whether it is airlines, mobile or motor vehicle companies – the majority of forward thinking organisations can pick and choose from tried and tested strategies overseas before molding them to a South African context.

Two current examples of South African companies who are pioneering the way forward for social media in South Africa are First National Bank (FNB) and Vodacom.  FNB is using social media in the 5 following ways:

• Community building
• Product research
• Customer service
• Marketing and promotion
• Transparency

Vodacom has taken it one step further and developed an entirely new application for cellphones and smart phones alike.  ‘The Grid’ is a location based social network which allows Vodacom users to connect with each other as well as brands involved through their mobile devices.  It is fairly similar to the hugely popular Foursquare in the US and if it is properly applied to the challenges of a South African market it has remarkable potential in the future.

The second thought is that of smaller organisations and brands.  Niche markets are coming through strongly as specific communities continue to have the freedom to develop.  Small businesses have a greater ease of entry to the game in terms of establishing awareness of their brand.  Not only can social media marketing be done cost effectively but it has caught on enough for customers to be consistently found online.  Social media allows these smaller niche brands a platform to communicate personally and individually to their customer base.  Furthermore, by encouraging a community centered conversation, they can stimulate open, honest dialogue to develop their products, get customer feedback and converse directly in the sale of new products.

I think that a great starting point for businesses looking to embrace social media as part of their marketing mix first need to realise that social media is all about community and conversation.  For those businesses, small and large alike, wanting to build meaningful relationships with customers/consumers I would recommend taking the following steps:

Utilise the channels that are simple and that you are already familiar with:

• Facebook is an easy start as well as being a fantastic tool.  Not only has it cemented its place in the market as more than just a passing fad, but with over 300 million registered users, it offers a wealth of people to connect to.  Facebook has also made itself extremely simple to use and understand.  For anybody trying to build their brand and a community, creating a fan page allows for a free and instant platform with which to jump into the social world.

• A company blog can also work effectively.  The danger is in thinking that your message is the most important.  Blogs work well when the content is good and adds value to consumer’s lives.  If you fail to do this then you will fast become just another one of the 120 000 blogs starting daily whose message gets lost in mass of information already on the internet.  Decide on the point and purpose of the blog and on the social media strategy before diving in.

Social media is evolving overseas as much as it is in South Africa.  It is not a quick fix solution to current marketing, nor is it easy to build an audience through which you can direct and dictate.  It takes time, consistency, transparency and adding value to the conversation.  For those wondering how to start, the answer is to try, test and be willing to evolve and develop.