By David Jenkin

Selahle delved straight into a topic that may raise some eyebrows among industry veterans: the death of the press release. He began by saying he had noticed that nine times out of ten, when producers at the radio station he had worked at were looking over press releases, they scanned them for the four ‘w’s – who, what, where and when – rather than reading the entire thing.  He believes that now, information can be packaged even more succinctly.

Turning his attention to social media, he said that it has enabled everyone to become a broadcaster in their own right. “Depending on how many followers you have, you have a sphere of influence around you, making you a notable broadcaster just by reaching for your phone.”

He explained that as he has a background in television broadcasting, he would structure his presentation around videos and encourage debate from the audience. The first clip was a compilation of stats around the growth of the digital environment, and he asked what this trend means for those in the communication business.

One voice from the floor raised the concern of having to compete with added clutter, while another spoke about the increase in direct engagement. Someone else said that the press release still has a place in society, it’s only the pace of communication which has increased. That point was echoed by someone who said that there is a huge danger of PR professionals being defined by their tools – the press releases is a tool, as is social media. The broader objective is to drive conversation and whichever tool is most appropriate for the intended message is the one that should be used – points that Selahle agreed with.

Looking at Snapchat, Selahle asked, with regards to it being as popular as it is with millennials, how can content be packaged for such a platform? A voice from the floor said that each platform, whether traditional or digital, needs to be evaluated in terms of whether it works from the brand’s perspective. Does it allow for the right kind of engagement and does it drive conversion? The audience member felt that Snapchat still had a long way to go as an advertising platform.

Selahle raised the point that there are two objectives for messaging. “Communications is to make the soil fertile for when the marketing comes. It’s not just about just putting things out there to get conversions, but creating a space and then asking how do we turn this into a sale.”   

JumpStart chairperson, Thabiso Makhubela, offered his view: “I think there’s an opportunity here to start looking at all these social media platforms differently. I think what most brands go out there and try to do is sell stuff to people on these platforms.”

He continued, “Whereas these are such incredible platforms for us to build brands, for us to build connections with our consumers and the people that are exposed to our brand messages. So the brand message isn’t always about trying to get a product across … it’s about integrating our brands and our products into the lifestyle and the life space of our consumers that live on these social media platforms. So, as Tshegofatso was saying, when you do sell to them, and you’ve got a TV campaign running, they’ve already been exposed to so much of your brand messaging in their lifestyle spaces, they’ll be far more familiar with your brand.”

Selahle moved onto the topic of experiential messaging, which he said is all about creating fertile soil rather than directly pushing for a sale, often involving philanthropic work as a way to impart the brand’s values.

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