It has been a thrilling ride for us to have been in the heart of the rapidly evolving social media landscape over the last 2 years or so. In this time we have had the privilege of meeting hundreds of business owners and senior executives from companies all over South Africa during workshops that we have run.
It was an enriching experience. Having been able to work with, among others, teams from Unilever, the Embassy of The Netherlands, Cannon, HIV & AIDS by Marina Coleman and currently Rennies Ship Agency (as they gear up internally) we have been able to witness South African businesses evolve their businesses into using real-time communication technology to communicate internally and with their clients and stake holders.
During 2011 we were privileged to work on a large project to assist The Success Academy Properties as well as Willow Feather Farm become “social businesses.” During this time we were able to gain insights into both companies and their teams so it was a natural progression for us to accept the offer from TSA Properties to head up their Social Media division as part of their Sales and Marketing team.
- Community management moving in-house
This is already happening in developed markets. In South Africa, it will apply to day-to-day updates, while agencies will continue to provide content planning and campaign-specific support. However, many medium-sized companies will still entrust their online brand management to an agency.
- Big agencies go social
Until now, it has been nimble specialist agencies that have pioneered local community management. But as this moves in-house, large clients will expect their traditional agencies to provide greater strategic input and support. In addition, more big agencies will develop and expand their social media offering.
We agree 100% with this forecast and in 2012 more and more businesses will bring social media expertise in house mainly through talent acquisitions (as in our case) and through traditional hires.
We look forward to reaming part of this rapidly evolving industry inside an organization that we have developed a great respect for.
Remember you will be able to stay in touch with us here:
Google+
Peter: http://peterdutoit.com
Lisa: http://plus.google.com/117849358833288734142
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Peter: http://facebook.com/peterdutoit
Lisa: http://facebook.com/lisabreedt
LinkedIn
Peter: http://za.linkedin.com/in/peterdutoit
Lisa: http://za.linkedin.com/in/lisabreedt
Twitter
Peter: http://twitter.com/perterdtoit
Lisa: http://twitter.com/lisabreedt
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