By Nikita Geldenhuys

The event, hosted by Knowledge Integration Web at the Monte Casino Conference Centre, wrapped up on Friday, 3 March, with a powerful line-up of social media specialists. Their insights can help local brands navigate the changing world of social media.

Here’s what these experts want you to know:

1. You need a new mindset when you tackle social media marketing

Nikk Smit, a content strategist at WSI, has seen many marketing and advertising campaigns on social media be nothing more than spamming machines. “Social media is different, because social media is opt-in. People choose to follow you. So [brands] need to understand what it is that they want to achieve and then build up an audience.”

He explained that many businesses still have a broadcasting mindset when it comes to social media marketing. He also noted that many companies don’t realise social media marketing only works if it’s integrated into a larger media strategy. “You cannot have a social media marketing strategy that is disconnected from the strategic goals of the company and the marketing your team has been doing.”

2. Your social media audience has expectations of your brand

“Online audiences have grown up. They’re now teenagers that talk back to you, slam the door, and say you don’t understand them,” Jeanette Grove, creative director of content and social at Grey Advertising, told conference attendees. This means brands can’t ignore their social media audience anymore, and, at the same time, they can’t spam these users.

Within this landscape, understanding the context of each social media network and social audience is important. Grove explained that, in a world where it is understood that ‘Content is king’, context should be considered ‘Queen’.

To understand their audience, brands can turn to social listening, explained Grove’s colleague, Shannon Gahagan, digital account director for Grey Advertising. Marketers can, for instance, post organically on social media and track their audience’s reaction to the content. The information they receive can improve future campaigns.

3. You can track social media users to your website

Justin Vicars, an audience strategist and the co-founder of Go To Market, highlighted the capabilities of Facebook Pixel in his presentation on “Measuring social media Return On Engagement”.

Facebook explains that the pixel is a piece of code that you can place on your website to report conversions, build audiences, and get insights about how people are using your site. The code is installed on each page on a website and lets marketers track actions that people take after viewing Facebook Adverts.

Marketers can see how their customers move between devices before they convert, and create relevant and timely ads on Facebook based on the products people have visited on that site. Marketers can also see which users converted as a result of a Facebook Advert.

4. The social customer is smarter than you are

Dirk Visser, head of social media at CBR Marketing Solutions, told attendees that consumers are now more educated about a brand’s marketing than the brand itself. These customers know when they’re being solicited with content they did not opt in to.

He also reminded attendees that social media users want to hear from the humans behind brands, and not from the brand’s corporate voice. “Most importantly, the social customer wants brands to listen, react, and engage quickly. Prompt responses are essential.”

“Social channels are also a chance for brands to show transparency. People want to see that brands are willing to show that they’ve made mistakes and they’re able to rectify them online for everyone to see.”

“The worst thing a brand can do is never respond [on social media], or never follow up with a consumer.”  

media update spoke to Visser about his journey to becoming an expert. Read more in our article, The secret to becoming a social media expert – Dirk Visser at CBR’s advice.

For more information on Knowledge Integration Web events, visit kiweb.co.za.