IAB South Africa Digital Content Marketing Committee announcement

“The IAB continues to lead the industry in all areas of digital marketing and communications, necessary to evolve with the landscape. The IAB SA Digital Content Marketing Committee builds an additional bridge to our digital customer and shines the spotlight on content marketing as an independent discipline with a unique skill set within digital marketing. We look forward to better understanding the business impact of this highly relevant and meaningful connection point with customers,” comments Paula Hulley, IAB SA CEO.

The newly formed committee will encourage and develop content marketing in South Africa as a unique, independent discipline and an effective tool for brands to communicate with their audiences. An increasingly critical marketing strategy to build authentic, long-lasting relationships with customers for brands, content marketing has lacked distinct representation in the digital marketing landscape of South Africa – this committee hopes to transform this.

“There’s never been a more important time for people to feel connected. Nothing makes humans feel more connected than a story. But, in an era of cynicism, fake news and content clutter consumers are looking for trusted, curated, and relevant content that adds value to their lives outside of a brand message or a product push. Brands that get this right – brands that harness the power of content marketing – have the opportunity to grow meaningful communities built on more than just their service or product offering,” says Sarah Browning-De Villiers, Chief Content Officer at Machine_.

“To quote Hootsuite’s 2020 Global State of Digital Report, we know that audiences are continually willing to invest their time in narratives they deem to have higher value, and that this isn’t about a shift back to traditional media,” adds Sarah. “It’s about a shift towards content marketing, making the timing of this committee and its relevance to our digital marketing landscape critical.”

We are incredibly excited to announce that the following industry experts have been selected as part of the committee:

• Shine the spotlight on content marketing as an independent discipline with a unique skill set, within digital advertising and marketing.
  
• Promote content marketing as an effective practice for digital brand communication.
  
• Showcase the channels content marketing is served across.
  
• Inspire creativity, promote excellence and best practice, and elevate content in South Africa.
  
• Use the Committee’s experience and expertise to grow industry knowledge around the category.
  
• Develop and recognise a community of digital content marketing experts in South Africa, in order to encourage best practice and innovation amongst the practice.
  
• Show how digital content marketing can have a direct impact on brands’ sales, customer retention, positioning and ability to communicate with consumers, thereby delivering clear, measurable ROI.

The process to nominate industry leaders, across the various stakeholder sets, relevant to this marketing specialty, commenced in August 2020 with an invite to the IAB SA member and subscriber base alongside social media notifications. To join the IAB SA communication list to hear more about other industry committees, events and reports, please subscribe here. If you would like to find out more about IAB SA Member benefits and fees, email ten.asbai@eibbeD.