Can Facebook ever make (real) money?

[Thomas Oosthuizen] Growth is hardly the challenge Facebook faces. The challenge for the monetarisation of Facebook is not how many people it reaches - it is a huge medium by any standards - but how it extracts revenue from its core business: connecting people in an objective, friendly, social, non-threatening and non-commercial environment. 7 Feb 2012 10:40

[2012 trends] Getting found in 2012

[Lana Hindmarch] In 2012, businesses will take a more aggressive approach to transforming their marketing efforts and reducing their cost per lead, by focusing more on permission-based, inbound marketing programmes that allow customers to find them. 27 Jan 2012 13:01

[2012 trends] Brand purpose to take lead in brand strategy

[Travis Spence] A critical juncture in brand marketing has arrived. It is led by the internet and the technology changes this brings, along with consumers - who, as we all know, have changed forever. The brand now needs not only to represent its product but the people behind the product and why they do what they do for that product's success. 24 Jan 2012 12:26

[2012 trends] Whoosh! The year in which nothing happens

[Walter Pike] In 2012, things will stay the same. Everyone still believes that marketing has not changed and that social is a channel. Yes they are starting to understand how important channel is but they have not and will not grasp just how much. 20 Jan 2012 14:18

[2012 trends] Re-evaluating the way we work, communicate

[Lisa Dawson Biggs] 2012 will be a year in which we will be forced to re-evaluate the way we work and the way we convey our clients' messages to the market. Here are my tips and predictions for the months ahead. 19 Jan 2012 14:39

[2012 trends] Anthropological trends in the digital space

[Marcela Ospina] When putting these trends together, I focused on socio-cultural changes that will transform our interaction with digital technologies, using the concepts of nature and culture to explain the role that we, and technology itself, play in closing the gap between these concepts. Here are 12 trends that describe how our relationship with the environment, politics and one another will shape the future use of digital devices and technologies. 13 Jan 2012 14:07

[2012 trends] Getting published in 2012

[Allison Cooper] While 2012 will bring another hard year for some brands and their consumers, there are others which will continue to perform really well. In 2012, marketers must seek out trends that not only enable a brand to engage with consumers, but also ensure that they are constantly breaking through the media's gatekeeping role to ensure newsworthy publicity opportunities. 10 Jan 2012 15:15

[2012 trends] Social media marketing and the youth

[Bradley Maseko] The following is a breakdown of 12 social media marketing trends for 2012 with regards to how businesses will target the youth market. The emphasis for businesses/brands in 2012 will be to avoid becoming subject to the "Social Media Burnout Effect". 10 Jan 2012 14:23

How mobile marketing failed in 2011

[Vanessa Clark] Mobile marketing failures in 2011 were arguably less about campaigns going horribly wrong, and more about missed opportunity, too little integration of mobile into overall marketing tactics, and the need to be much more strategic about using mobile marketing. 10 Jan 2012 14:11

[2012 trends] With apologies to Cindy Lauper: boys and girls just wanna have fun

[Mike Abel] It's been a trying time aboard the good ship GFC (Global Financial Crisis). But like all sailors on the sea of life, if rough becomes the new normal, the seasickness begins to ebb and we can start moving away from being "bent-double" over the side of the boat and assume steadier footing through these turbulent waters. 10 Jan 2012 13:27

The hard and fast rules of mobile engagement

[Staff Reporter] Are smartphones the most capable, and powerful engagement tools in existence? Mobile marketers should consider integrating their applications with the mobile web in order to gather real-time information based on a per user-level. 21 Dec 2011 11:49

Multichannel strategy shows major operational benefits

[John Ginsberg] Most companies run their marketing functions in a fragmented manner that is completely out of step with the reality of a multichannel world. They need to treat integration of marketing functions and data across channels as an urgent priority if they are to drive the maximum benefit from their marketing investments. 13 Dec 2011 09:51

How challenger-brand thinking can be used for entrepreneurship

[Abey Mokgwatsane] Recently I had the honour of speaking at Cape Town Entrepreneurship Week on how challenger-brand thinking can be used as a framework for entrepreneurship and some other thoughts. As per my usual style of presentation, it was made up of images that I spoke to, rather than words on slides. So since distributing my presentation won't help, I wrote this summary to share what I spoke about. 28 Nov 2011 14:22

Winners of AfricaCom Awards 2011

Winners of the AfricaCom Awards 2011, which acknowledges the growth and importance of the telecoms and digital sectors across the African continent, were announced on Wednesday 9 November 2011 at an awards ceremony which took place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in South Africa. 10 Nov 2011 11:10