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Tag: social-media

  • The politics of platform – should your brand even go viral?

    The politics of platform – should your brand even go viral?

    Should brands trend on popular social media platforms? Should their campaigns even need to go viral to achieve brand objectives? It’s time to look at brand strategy and brand values.

    Like a mosquito buzzing around society’s collective ear, special interest groups are at it on the socials again. In the latest buzz, a firm named ‘Targeted Victory’ has implicated Meta (Facebook) in allegedly trying to undermine rival TikTok. The grievance is a series of articles and content claiming that TikTok is dangerous to children, originating from our beloved platform for the aged, Facebook.

    The only thing we know for sure is that Targeted Victory has indeed lobbied nation-wide media (US) to undermine the ByteDance owned platform and depict it as a danger to kids. There have been several innocuous trends like the #peeyourpantschallenge (self-explanatory) which have only served as an illustration of how boring lockdown can be. However, lunacy and idiocy prevail. When brands say, “let’s trend on TikTok”, I’m a little sceptical. Do you really want to trend alongside things like #poopchallenge (self-explanatory)?
    Let’s come back to brand KPIs

    I’m going to loop back to these things, but in order to do so, I’ll need my soapbox. While I’m fetching it backstage, please take the time to think about what your brand’s KPI’s are. Back. Firstly, ‘make it trend’ is the new ‘make it viral’. Agencies hear this all the time and while the phrase has changed a little, the sentiment stays the same. The sentiment being, I want a lot of people to see me, but I don’t want to pay for it. It’s a dream. Let go of it.

    Trending alongside ‘peeing your pants’ is not a strategy – creating an effective marketing-based intervention is. If you want something to trend, if you absolutely need something to trend, consider the strategic imperative here. There are ecosystems on each platform and if it makes sense to trend within these ecosystems, then do it. Otherwise, stop and make compelling communication instead. Agencies, stop promising the trend on TikTok. Brands, stop asking for the trend on TikTok.
    Take first-party data seriously

    Secondly – and this is where I climb on my soapbox – take first-party data seriously. We have put the fabric of society, our culture, our intellectualism, into the hands of tech giants. Every time you pay for an ad campaign you’re funding them. Every time you click ‘like’, you’re making them more powerful. I don’t want to come across as a heretical, social-media is-trash type person, but seriously, look at the politics. And actually, I do want to come across as that person, somebody needs to. There’s millions at stake here and they’re employing every nasty trick in the book to control their commodity. Their commodity is you, their commodity is your customer. First-party data is your liberator. When you get it, your customer has bought into you, you’ve got a direct line of communication. Sure, you’ve still got to use some of these platforms to get them there, but once they’re there, they’re there. All you need is a compelling reason for people to buy into your brand. A value exchange, something that will matter to them. Sometimes it’s just your product or service, sometimes it’s something a little more like a bit of useful content. Whatever that ‘thing’ is (and I don’t care, as long as you do), get that first-party data!

    Alright, I’m stepping off my soapbox. I’ll finish with a plea, please stop empowering the bad guys.

  • Digital Marketers don’t forget to look up

    Digital Marketers don’t forget to look up

    In 2021 we released our very first Township CX Report. It went well. It wasn’t a spectacular success, but it was good enough to motivate us to do it again in 2022. This time around, we wanted it to be bigger and better.

    An injection of authenticity

    We decided that part of the bigger and better was an injection of authenticity. It’s one thing to see some data on a spreadsheet, but it’s quite another to go to where the people are. To sit with them, to talk about their experiences, to connect. We chose three townships, Alexandra, Soweto, and Katlehong, and we planned our expedition.

    I call it an expedition because, for me, it was. If you can’t tell by my profile picture, I’m white. I’m suburban in every sense of the word. A trip to a township is not an everyday occurrence for me. It’s a thing. It’s an expedition. It’s new and alien and daunting. What is every day for most of South Africa, is not every day for me. In many ways, I’m a tourist in my own country. And that’s not okay.

    2021 was not a great year for South Africa. Covid-19, the riots, and a bunch of other things led me to believe that this country was in dire straits. I didn’t hold much hope. I expected our township visits to be depressing. I expected to see economic hardship, strife, and suffering. Sure, some of that was there. But there was also something else.

    A masterclass in entrepreneurship
    In Soweto we saw spaza shops and restaurants rebranding to their own unique look-and-feel. A shift away from the branded cold-drink signs we’ve seen so often. No, they had their own brand identities. We saw entrepreneurs coming up with new and innovative ideas, from bespoke food delivery services to unheard of financial services.

    If you want to attend a master class in entrepreneurship, downtown Alex is where it’s at. In Katlehong we met a man that has managed to connect spaza shops together through his distribution network, all while inventing a cold drink that’s just as healthy as it is delicious.

    In a way, 2021 was a blazing inferno, burning through the lives of South Africans, leaving ruin in its wake. But entrepreneurship and innovation were birthed in that fire, and they rose like the proverbial phoenix, carrying the township economy upward with it.

  • #NEXT2022: Will it be a festive season?

    #NEXT2022: Will it be a festive season?

    I am certain that many of you are experiencing the end of the year ‘throw in the towel’ blues at the moment. It’s been a long one, full of ups and downs. The struggle has been real. But there’s one more hurdle to overcome from a consumer point of view: the big festive season shop. The question is, what will it look like this year and how can we make sure we benefit?

    During the Covid Christmas period in 2020, South Africa was in the middle of a retail downturn and the Christmas sales reflected that. On average there was a 12.5% decrease in sales compared to 2019. If history repeats itself, retailers are in for a very bleak festive season. However, Black Friday’s performance has been better than previous years, but it isn’t the brick-and-mortar stores that will benefit from these changes. The upswing in sales came mostly from the online space.

    New behaviour is here to stay

    There has been a split opinion about post-lockdown behaviour. During the worst of lockdown, many were forced into the online space to make not only their big-ticket purchases, but also their grocery purchases. For some consumers, this behaviour became solidified as retailers rose to the occasion by sharpening up their customer experiences. Others believed that people would revert back to their old ways, but the reality is quite different. The behaviour has stuck.

    Get on ecommerce now

    There is an obvious takeaway – if you’re not selling your goods on ecommerce, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity. There is a not so obvious takeaway. Internationally, consumers are looking for consolidated shopping experiences. The reason for the popularity of platforms like Amazon, is that there is an exceptionally broad range of products. Consumers can visit a single website and have access to a vast number of product categories. Coupled with Amazon’s Alexa, repeat purchases are a breeze. Consumers are locked into repeat buying, and they don’t mind because it frees up time and is almost the definition of convenience.

    We’re experiencing a very similar trend rising here with our very own Takealot. You don’t need to build your own ecommerce enabled site, and even if you have, it’ll serve you well to make sure that your products are available on the big product aggregator sites.

    Social shopping – a viable alternative

    Social shopping is also seeing rapid growth. There are a few reasons for this:

    1. The social aggregator. As I mentioned earlier, the consumer is moving more and more to single space shopping platforms. There is no better single space shopping platform than social media.

    2. The recommendation factor. Consumers have lost all trust in brand messaging (and I don’t say that lightly); and are now looking to friends and family for product recommendations. Social media is primed for these kinds of recommendations, and these social shopping integrations bring social marketing and retail one step closer together.

    3. Attribution. One of the big conundrums with social advertising has been the conversion conversation. For marketers, social media is seen as a set of awareness platforms. Social shopping makes clear attribution reporting possible on platforms like Facebook.

    Bottom-line, behaviours have changed. We need to change with them. While you may not be ready for this festive season, make sure 2022 doesn’t have you relying solely on your physical store.

  • The ‘rules’ of great creative execution

    The ‘rules’ of great creative execution

    I’ve spent the last few months working on several NGO marketing strategies. It’s been absolutely fascinating, mostly because media budgets in that space are incredibly small so compelling creative becomes exceedingly essential. We all know that creative plays a pivotal role in any marketing effort. Still, the insights that I’ve come across in the NGO space illustrate that our creative concepts and structures in other areas are still in their infancy. In this ‘new normal’ world, it is even more important to put resonant creative in front of the consumer.

    There is a fascinating whitepaper that you can read here, but if 52 pages of research is too much, I’ve summarised the findings and adapted them for the retail space, specifically focusing on digital channels.

    Creative matters more than you know

    Correctly framing your marketing messages can lead to a 300% increase in conversion rates. I found this insight to be gobsmacking. Setting up audiences are critical, and human insights should drive big ideas, but what this insight alludes to is the fact that creative structure (how creative actually leads the eye and plays in the space of colour theory), can make or break your conversion rate.

    People need to see themselves

    The research shows that if the consumer sees ads featuring relatable models, conversion rates can increase by 50%. Firstly, this means that you need to understand your target audience in the most fundamental way. You may be selling toothpaste, but if your ad models are dressed in the latest designer fashions, you’re going to lose your audience. It also casts doubt on the effectiveness of ads featuring overly attractive individuals. Secondly, and more technically speaking, we need to make sure that we’re actually targeting the right individuals. In other words, our marketing personas and our digital media audiences need to overlap.

    Don’t overwhelm

    Let’s say you’re running a promotion across a category of items. The temptation is to try and do a mass burst of various products or worse still, cram as many of the products as possible onto a single banner. Despite all its cleverness, the human brain tends towards single subject processing. It means that you’re really only able to focus on (and comprehend properly), one thing at a time. Advertise with your flagship product only, and you’re bound to see improvements in conversion.

    A picture is worth a thousand words

    It’s a throwaway saying that we use to describe the immediate impact of a visual over the comparatively more laborious task of reading a bunch of copy. I think there’s a powerful insight in that saying though. How is the audience’s eye being led through the imagery? Top-to-bottom? Left-to-right? How are you positioning your elements, your copy? Are you unpacking your message in the form of a narrative, or are you simply bombarding the consumer’s eye, giving them the equivalent of a creative smack?

    I was sitting with our creative director the other day looking at how we construct a key visual to deliver maximum impact. We decided that our image would convey a story, albeit with no context, and the final piece of copy on the page would create the context. It would be a eureka moment, a surprise to the viewer, and make a far stronger emotional connection.

    There you have it. Creating good marketing collateral is more than just slapping some pretty copy on to brand CI; it is a strategic endeavour which has far-reaching consequences if not done properly. Good creative teams have a feel for it, but for the rest of us, these are the guidelines we can follow.

  • Relook at marketing strat going forward

    Relook at marketing strat going forward

    If you’re predicting trends, I say good luck to you. I don’t want to play. I wish you well, I hope you enjoy yourself. I’m going to take the financial investors approach to predictions this year… “there’s just not enough data”.

    With trends articles usually, we tend to see the same things repeated over and over again, year in and year out. Things like mobile and user-generated content will continue to rise, and so on. It’s all very predictable, it’s all quite boring. I’m not against looking back though, and after the year we’ve just had, I think it’s important to interrogate and re-evaluate marketing efforts.

    Do you know your audience?

    Honestly, if all you know about your audience is their age, gender, and monthly income, you don’t know your audience. But, if you have some psychographic data generated by some good conversations with them, then good for you, you know your audience a little bit better. No matter where you sit with your audience knowledge, I have some bad news; you may have to go back to the drawing board.

    During 2020, the sale of luxury goods dipped dramatically while consumer electronics shot through the roof. People have become far more focused on simplifying their everyday lives than they are with wearing trendy fashion items. The luxury brands that are weathering this storm are the ones that actually did focus on sustainability as opposed to paying lip-service to it. If your brand doesn’t make everyday life easier or makes some kind of positive and tangible difference to the world, you might be in trouble.

    Community has also become a prioritised topic. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and isolation has definitely highlighted that community is essential to wellbeing. Brands that are focused on the single individual, using terms such as  ‘individuality’ as part of their brand promise will find that they no longer resonate with their audiences like they used to. So, relook at your audience. They might be different people.

    Social channels

    A couple of things have happened here that are noteworthy. Firstly, social has become a very solid sales channel. It’s something that Facebook has been trying to push for a while now and many brands are starting to see very tangible results from Facebook. Tools like Facebook marketplace have come into their own, but another factor is all-round better content and targeting from brands.

    The biggest external contributor to sales across multiple social channels is lockdown. As I mentioned earlier, people have become isolated and they’ve turned to social media to fill those emotional gaps.

    But, and here’s the thing, maybe you don’t need ALL those social channels.

    I know, I know, you’ve been told you need a presence… but really? Do you? Is it a solid strategy to just exist on a platform without getting tangible results? The trend is moving towards optimisation, culling the under-performing channels and focusing on creating better content for the platforms that remain. It’s a big step to take and it requires a shift from a reach/engagement mindset to a conversion mindset. As I said, I don’t want to be the trends guy, but it’s worth considering.

    Mindset

    While looking at trend reports does have some uses, and can sometimes be quite inspiring and insightful, remember that each brand ecosystem is different. The thing is, you need to keep your ear close to the ground and an eye on the value your marketing efforts generate. This is a rule of thumb. If you only remember one thing from this article, let it be this: throw away your checklists because you’re not in Kansas anymore. I am certain that 2021 will be a harsh master and if you’re not paying attention, it will decimate you.

  • The pitfalls of targeting digital audiences

    The pitfalls of targeting digital audiences

    I was looking at some data from a client’s ecommerce platform, and I noticed something rather shocking. The segment that all of their budget and creative was aimed at (the millennial) was only responsible for 50% of sales. The other 50% came from a range of age groups who seemed to be returning to the platform simply because they liked the product. A sample of one is hardly compelling, but it did take me on a journey of seriously considering how we set up our target audiences, especially when it comes to using these broad labels like ‘millennial’ or ‘Gen Z’.

    I’ve sat in countless agency presentations where the word millennial is taken out and paraded around like it has some kind of meaning. As I delved deeper into the topic, I realised that any sort of generational classification is actually quite meaningless. My starting point was looking at how people’s attitudes shift as they move through different stages of their lives. While most of my research centred around the physiology of the human brain and how it ages, I will spare you the science and get to the point. As we age, our brain changes. As our brain changes, our priorities change, our abilities change, and how we make decisions changes.

    Younger people will be more open-minded. Older people will be more set in their ways. It has nothing to do with your generational label and more to do with how old your brain is. As you get older, you’ll move from being like a millennial to being like a Gen X’er to being more like a baby boomer. The labels and descriptions should change as you do, but they don’t. If you’ve been labelled a millennial, you’ll be one until the day you die. All the descriptions that go with it will be yours forever. And I think it’s plain wrong.

    The labels are wrong, but what has that got to do with my ecommerce example? It goes beyond labels. Not only is your generational label irrelevant, so is the year you were born. Looking at adoption rates for new technology, it takes older people as little as four years to catch up and use the technology adopted by younger people. While you could say that younger people are technology-centric, we’re almost on a level playing field, all things considered. If you are using age-based targeting, you need to very carefully examine whether you’re not losing out on a much broader audience. If your sales are coming from other age groups despite your marketing efforts to a single group, you might be sitting on a goldmine. A shift to more inclusive audience targeting should be on the cards.

    In the ideal world, you’d want to leave all this third-party audience nonsense behind you. Third-party data (like Facebook and Google) should only really be used to generate first-party data (stuff that you own). Constantly using other platforms to drive your sales means that you’ll always be at the mercy of the tech giants. Once you have your dataset, you can break free of their rules, regulations, and generally poor quality of the data provided to you. You can move into a world where you can grow and segment your data where and when you please.

    Back to the ecommerce data I first mentioned, 15% of the sales came from owned data. That dataset is not a priority, and yet it is generating sales for a far smaller budget than the social budget. Social generated just 1% of the sales. Leave generational and age targeting behind. Build your own audience database. Get rich.