It’s been interesting to see how far South African businesses have come with social media and how far they still need to go.

The two brands who impressed me today were Standard Bank and Cell C. Here is why. It’s clear that involvement in social media as brands is forcing each business to go from superficial involvement to an integrated use of social media in the organization. Both businesses are being forced to evolve as a result.

For social media to be used successfully it also needs to impact how the brand/business evolves its business and product. Crucial for the community surrounding the business to know that the feedback they are providing is being recognized and taken seriously.

Another fascinating discussion was entitled: mobile social media as a marketing tool.

It’s very evident that mobile in the African context is extremely important. As we have said here as well as on Facebook – ignore mobile at your peril i.e. how is the use of mobile devices going to impact the way people interact with my business.

Being a conference discussing technology and real-time communication, it was refreshing to hear Kemi Benjamin, Brand Manager at Nike say “Everything is not digital. Blend digital with physical.”

With that balance we’re looking forward to day 2!

The event has also been great for networking being able to meet people who you may only know virtually. Here Twitter is again in its own league. Being able to stay up-to-date not only with the speaker but also the conversation happening around the presentation creates a really rich experience. Run a search on Twitter or Google for #smwf and you will see what we mean. (remember on Google to click on “Realtime” on the left menu bar to see this in action)