creative-imagineering-featuredThe recent release of the SA Social Media Landscape 2018 report revealed some valuable insights for 2018 (and a few surprises). The annual research on 116 of South Africa’s biggest business is conducted annually by World Wide Worx and Ornico. Creative Imagineering brings you the key take-outs.  We also question how its possible that some brands still question the need for a digital footprint. 

Facebook is used by 97% of big business with 14million users in S.A.
YouTube is in 2nd place with 8.74million users and huge potential for brands
Twitter is slower in growth with a rise to 7.7million users in S.A.
Instagram usage is up from 62% to 71.6%
LinkedIn usage is up from 63% to 71.6% with 5.5million users
Corporate blogs grew from 24% to 36%

What are the surprises?

creative-imagineering-SEO-online-marketingThe report indicates that out of South Africa’s 116 biggest brands surveyed, two of them don’t use social media at all. Out of those that did, 12% said they didn’t have a social media strategy. This is very surprising.  It begs the question whether social media may just be a ‘tick-box’ exercise for these brands, as opposed to being used as a strategic tool.  Following on from this finding, only 47% of business use their social media primarily for lead generation. Surely in most businesses the level of investment in social media should yield the requisite return on investment? And let’s face it returns are still measured in bottom-line profits, equating to conversion of customers.

Where are the digital skills?

Of the businesses researched 50% of them admitted to having less than optimal in-house digital media skills. This is being remedied by investing in up-skilling their own people (60%), using specialist social media agencies (16%) and a further 10% use a social media consultant. However, the remaining 27% who didn’t appear to have any plans to improve their social media skills, are likely to remain behind the curve. The decision whether to up-skill in-house staff or to outsource to a specialist agency, remains a burning question.

Digital cuts traditional costs

Social and digital media have become indispensable tools as evidenced by the report. Most companies using four social platforms.  However, there are still those who are dipping their big toe in the water. There are so many advantages to immersing your brand into the social media landscape.  Social media is especially useful for start-ups who need to breakthrough into a ‘noisy’ marketplace. And the good news is – it isn’t as expensive as it traditionally was to launch and entrench your brand. If you work with a fully integrated digital agency, they can be you one-stop shop and ensure brand continuity. It’s also less daunting to have a specialist partner on your side.

Why do you need a digital footprint?

1) Window-shopping
Remember that millennials have grown up with technology. They are your future customers. Your current customers maybe the Generation X and the baby-boomers – but trust us – most of them have had to adapt to going digital. These potential customers research a product and service and they do this by ‘window shopping’ online. This makes having a website vital. Research indicates that over 70% of all US households use the internet to find a product or service locally. In addition, 88% of people who searched a business on the internet would visit that business within 24 hours and 70% of searches ended in action within only one hour.

2) Put up a sign 

In the ‘pre-digital’ era once your doors were open, you needed to put up a sign and get listed in the telephone directory for people to find you. Now you need to get sociable. The most important reason is because your customers are digitally active. That’s if you want to tap into the 14million Facebook users in South Africa. Your brand needs to engage with your customer.  It also needs to build a like-minded, relevant consumer community. Social media channels offer this 1:1 conversation. Brands can no longer ‘SHOUT’ from lofty Television ads. they need to engage more directly. Another compelling statistic is that over 92% of South African adults own mobile phones, of that, 69% are smartphones. The average user of a smartphone spends over three hours a day on the internet.  They spend a further two hours plus on social media. If your customers are spending this amount of time online – you are fishing in the right pond.

To in-house or to outsource digital?

The decision whether to upskill in-house or to outsource to a specialist agency, remains a burning question. The benefits of outsourcing to a specialised agency is that you can tap into team skills which range from web-development, graphic design, social media and content generation. This skill set is unlikely to be found in one person for the same investment. However, on the flip side if you build in-house skills across a range of people you could retain the skill in-house, that’s only if your staff are retained.

“The message is clear for anyone wanting to communicate with the public, consumers or large groups of stakeholders,” says Oresti Patricios, CEO of Ornico. “If you’re not using social media, you’re not reaching your audience. If you’re not on social media, your stakeholders are.”

The question as to whether or not your brand should have a digital presence is answered.  It is no longer an option, but a requirement to keep in the game.