[2014 trends] Wake up and smell the networks

But it's unfair to compare South Africa to the first world and new economies. We lack their champagne budgets, their gigantic, wealthy markets and their countries' near total internet and smartphone saturation.

But social marketing isn't dormant in SA. Far from it. In many ways, it's as exciting. It's just different.

Fact#1: Three quarters of SA's connected public are on Facebook.
Fact #2: SA is one of the top ten countries with the highest Facebook mobile penetration, since a colossal 84% of our Facebook users log in using a mobile device.

These two statistics reflect two points. The first is that, as soon as they are able to, South Africans flock to social media. And the second is that, to reach the masses, you need to think mobile.

So what does that mean to us marketers? We've digested the stats of the 2013 SA Social Media Landscape Report. What's this year's going to say?

Here are my predictions for 2014:

Wake up! Your social marketing alarm clock is ringing

South Africans are just as gregarious as any other nationality in the world. We want to engage with our friends, our families and, yes, our favourite brands. SA brands treated their social media presence in 2013 as a luxury, but that will change. It will increasingly become a necessity. What's more, because results are measurable (in comparison to traditional above-the-line), in the coming year, we'll see the take-up snowball.

I said, "Get up now! No snooze button!"

South African brands take an average of 4.5 hours to reply to a tweet. That's over half a working day - and it's not acceptable. Imagine how frustrated you would feel if you were put on hold for 4.5 hours. You'd have smashed your telephone - and moved to their competitor. In comparison, international brands respond in an average of three minutes. 2014 should see this 4.5 hour response time drop dramatically.

"But our company's too busy to get out of bed!"

2014 will be the year in which switched-on companies outsource their social marketing to social media specialists. This makes perfect sense. Why keep it in-house? Your company may be experts in making tractor tyres but does it really know how to handle ever-demanding social networkers? The rise of outsourcing will result in better run social marketing plans - and increased leads for brands.

Social media will only become more and more urgent

Social media is not going away. It's only going to get bigger and bigger. All South African universities will have free Wi-Fi by 2015. Data costs will come down. Smartphone penetration will continue to increase, as the middle class grows and the young get older. All this means more potential customers are out there, ready to engage. South African companies are waking up to this fact.

It's a social media orgy out there

Facebook is king! Twitter challenges for the throne! Linked-In means business. And now we are seeing the rise of image-centric social networking sites, like Instagram and Pinterest. Brands may know where most of their customers are but why exclude growing numbers of them. 2014 will see companies diversify their social media strategy to include the newer, hipper platforms.

More substance, thanks

Unless you're peddling Chappies (which ironically have always plied us with interesting facts), the customer wants decent content. According to Social Media B2B, companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who don't. The move to outsourced social media companies will increase the quality of content that South Africans are exposed to.

Videos will get shorter

The most popular video length in South Africa, measured by views, is less than 2min30 secs. We can thank exorbitant data costs for that. But, really, if you can't sell your product in two and a half minutes, you can't sell it. We'll see companies responding to this trend, cutting down their messages to their core. Even better, now with the rise of social sites like Vine, with its 6-seconds video capabilities, and Instagram, with its 15-second videos complete with Facebook integration, there is no excuse not to.

We're married to our phones

As mentioned, mobile is massive in South Africa. Location-based marketing technology already exists - but its use will become more and more prevalent. Want to target affluent females in Cape Town, students in Jozi or farmers in Bloem? You can. GPS technology makes that possible. You can even target geographically closer customers via Bluetooth. And though old-gen phones still predominate, brands will come up with increasingly creative SMS strategies.

In conclusion, 2014 will see South Africa focus on its social marketing strong points: the nation's propensity for social media and its reliance on mobile technology. And while we may not catch up with the rest of the mainstream world, we will continue to get better at the ones we're good at.

For more:

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