blog

Here you will find the genius, insightful, sometimes random musings of the Cerebra crew. Everyone who works here blogs so the topics are often varied but they’re always worth reading. We also take requests so send in your topics or share your thoughts in the comments.

#CerebraTakeover

Submitted by Anna-Belle Mulder on Fri, 2014-01-10 15:29

Being told you are going on a family holiday when you’re not part of the family can be a pretty daunting thing.

I’ve been at Cerebra for just under three months now, long enough to be in on the jokes…most of them at least. Long enough to greet people by their nicknames, or even make new ones up. Long enough to feel comfortable enough to burst into song at any given moment, knowing that most people wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow or openly ridicule me.

THE 5 PR BRICKS – What they are and how they relate to social

Submitted by Simone Carter on Thu, 2013-12-05 14:28

Over the past few years, press conferences have become Twitter chats, reporters have become bloggers, news clips have become news links, press kits have become content, and user feedback has become a social media conversation. However, no matter how much technology changes (and will continue to change) the way that we communicate, the basic principles of media communication remain the same.

Developed by Cerebra’s Managing Director, the 5 PR bricks are the fundamental pillars for becoming the ultimate PR consultant and knowing where to add value so that clients keep coming back for more. Of course, it’s not as easy as just knowing what they are; it’s up to you to follow through with each one of them.

WPP acquires a majority stake in Cerebra

Submitted by Cerebra on Wed, 2013-11-27 09:03

Cerebra is proud to announce the sale of a majority stake in the business to leading global communications services company, WPP. The deal positions Cerebra perfectly to take advantage of the growing social media and social business opportunity within South Africa and across the continent.

Founded in 2006 headquartered in Johannesburg, and employing around 35 people, Cerebra
Is best known for building, engaging and activating brand communities for clients including Vodacom, Nedbank, Hollard, Absa, and Autopage.

Same same but different – the importance of tracking your competitors on Social Media

Submitted by Keenan Harduth on Tue, 2013-11-19 23:26

As the digital space evolves and more and more businesses are competing for limited space on Social Media platforms, tracking your competitors is more important than ever. Not only can competitor analysis in the digital realm help form benchmarks to better your own digital strategy but it will also offer insights that traditional market analysis can’t.

Many businesses feel that it is important to make their own mark in their fields of expertise regardless of what competitors are doing. The general sentiment amongst brands seems to be that that looking to other brands to help form best practices or benchmarks is counterintuitive; Social Media does however propose a unique case.

The story behind the Brand Convection Model

Submitted by Reece Jacobsen on Thu, 2013-11-07 19:29

That awkward moment when you ask your boss what your job actually is.

That’s actually how it all started, a conversation between and myself about what my job entails, after nearly four years as a Community Manager. When he asked what I meant, I simply stated, “Is my job to make the community care about the brand, or to make the brand care about the community?”

It was a tough question; we hadn’t considered that it could be both.

Tapping Into Your Brand’s Information Mainline - The Enterprise Technology Show 2013

Submitted by Keenan Harduth on Sun, 2013-11-03 23:23

Cerebra was fortunate enough to be involved in last year’s Internet Show as an exhibitor and with a speaking spot. This year, I returned on behalf of Cerebra to what has evolved into The Enterprise Technology Show. Made up of the Internet Show, Loyalty World, The Marketing Technology Show, Big Data World Africa and The Mobile Show Africa 2014, the two-day show, exhibition and conference comprised of a completely free conference and an all-new VIP event, which included keynote speakers and focused, breakaway roundtable discussions.

Developing personality and tone on social is vital: here’s how to do it

Submitted by Cerebra on Sun, 2013-10-20 01:50

Social media has brought along with it a chance for brands as a whole to interact with their customers in a way they were never able to. The main difference is that we’re now behind digital code, which for the most part, doesn’t hold personality as well as the corporate communications spokesperson or CEO.

Not only are brands grappling to define and refine their online personality, they also have to ensure consistency across all channels. Accurately defining your ‘social personality’ is incredibly important.

Africa shows its social side

Submitted by Cerebra on Tue, 2013-10-01 14:54

Africa is the final economic frontier. Marketers are actively looking to market their brands on the continent, yet very few are investing time and effort into the continent to really understand it; even less into its social media habits. Mike Stopforth, CEO and founder, Cerebra, maintains that over the last five to six years of business, social media has forced companies, globally, to acknowledge the humanity of their brand and their staff.

"It is not about Facebook or the actual channels, but about people connecting and communicating differently than before. A company that says we want to be social and assumes that if they have a Twitter account and videos on YouTube they are... that's just wrong.