The sixth and final post in the Developing a Social Media Strategy series focuses on pushing the button; on setting forth on your social media journey.

In this post we explore content development and planning for social media and how it affects your social media strategy development.

In this post, the fourth in the Developing a Social Media Strategy series, I will be exploring the idea of deciding which platforms you should engage on.We’ve discussed looking at your industry, your competitors, customers and key industry players and determining who are your industry’s who’s who in terms of social media. We’ve spoken about listening to what they’re saying and have an understanding of what content people want and how they want to receive it on social media. We’ve discussed determining your objectives and now it’s time to figure out what platforms will serve you best.

The third post in the Developing a Social Media Strategy series explores how to go about identifying your destination — the goals and objectives you hope to achieve through your social media campaign or presence.

In my last post, Developing a Social Media Strategy: Look Both Ways, we discussed the importance of determining, firstly, who your social media audience will be and, secondly, where they “hang out” on social media. Once you have this information you can begin listening to what they’re saying.

Don’t just listen to what they’re saying about your brand or organisation, but listen to what they’re saying about (and to) your competitors, your suppliers, each other and themselves. This can give you invaluable insights into what your audience expects from you on social media and how you can add value to their experience and thereby differentiate yourself from your competitors. You will ultimately be able to engage with your audience on a more personal level because of the human insights you have gained through listening — and the … Read More »

Influentials are often journalists or bloggers and they are seen to have a certain degree of authority (deserved or undeserved) on a certain topic or subject matter. A local, South African example of an influential in the financial industry would be Bruce Whitfield, his opinion is widely respected by people in the financial community, he is outspoken and publicly visible (or audible) with his opinions, he generates conversation and is seen as a knowledgeable source in terms of financial news and information.

Unfortunately, due to the unscrupulous dealings of a certain South African “shock-jock” who shall remain nameless, the credibility of influentials was somewhat damaged during the course of early-2011 when his social media rate card was featured on a number of industry blogs. According to the rate card a Facebook status update would set you back … Read More »

Developing a social media strategy is by no means a simple task, but it needn’t be over complicated either. In this and the upcoming posts I will take you through the steps in developing a social media strategy that works with your overall marketing strategy.

When Facebook began rolling out Timeline for profiles in mid-December last year, it was obvious that it was only a matter of time before the revised Timeline layout was rolled out to Pages. At the end of February this year the announcement was made; Timeline for Pages was officially rolling out. Early adopters have been able to preview their Timelines and make the necessary adjustments to optimise their Pages before taking them live, but Timeline will officially be rolled out across the board on 30 March 2012.

After reading about 40 different blog posts on Timeline for Pages, Implementing Timeline on Your Brand Page, Best Practice for Timeline for Pages and so on, here is the highlights package on what to expect from Timeline for Pages and what’s required of you to optimise (within the rules) the design of … Read More »

When approached in January with the news that I would be attending (my first ever) Design Indaba in Cape Town, I was (to say the least) one very excited kid. Considering that my official designation in the company is strategist one might argue that the Design Indaba was the last place I should be going, but if you’ve ever been to a Design Indaba you would know that it’s not just about pretty pictures, it’s about changing the creative process, about changing the way we perceive the world and what we do as a result of our perceptions.

The first thing that must be said about Design Indaba is that it’s something like a year of varsity, in three days. If you could visually map the sheer volume of thought-provocation that goes on in the (often times) … Read More »

An appraisal of our fearless leader, Shaun McEwan’s Rock Star article that appeared in Jeremy Maggs’ famed industry directory, The Annual. Shaun’s article is a frank discussion around the ever-changing marketing and advertising landscape in light of the social media boom. See our opinions of Shaun’s opinions here.

Jeremy Maggs McEwan Advertising Shaun McEwan Social Media Marketing The Annual