Cerebra

Lately I’ve been involved in some pretty intense arguments about what exactly social media can offer. My generic response regarding the benefits of two-way engagement and making the effort to meet your customers on an open playing field is becoming less and less effective. So what now?

The problem is that we’re no longer the new kid on the block. People are becoming more social-savvy and as a result we’ve got to step up our game. As social business matures, our outlook has to change as well. We should forget about the ePeen-measuring contest of who has more fans, the wider reach, or even greater engagement. I think it’s time we shift our focus to how effective social channels are at driving change within businesses as a result of the online community’s conversation.

We all fall prey to this; we assume to know exactly who our consumers are, what they like doing, where they go, what they watch, and how they think. But do we really?

Let’s turn the tables; the chances are that you are a target demographic in someone’s marketing plan, so what would they say about you?

“Young professional, female, suburban, no children, reads magazines X, Y and Z, listens to radio stations A and B, watches these shows in these timeslots…”

Is this who I am? Can I be pigeonholed like this? I feel offended that my entire being has been determined by general metrics and observations. I don’t question the reasons why we have them, but rather arguing the fact that this mindset doesn’t necessarily apply to social.

I’ve spent the last several months taking advantage of every opportunity to jump on my soapbox and complain about the way people are using certain applications, namely Instagram. My thinking for this blog post is to turn my ranting and raving into something a tad more constructive, and explain what Instagram is and how it should and shouldn’t be used.

Welcome, Chef. I’m guessing the reason you are here, reading this piece is because you’re hungry for some cool, creative content.

Before we start, I’d like you to wash your hands… Yup, that’s right, wash your hands clean of all the generic brand bollocks. Get right in there, scrub under your fingernails and make sure you get all the ‘sales’ out from under there. That’s better.

Ingredients:
- Strategy
- Personality
- 3 to 5 hypothetical customers
- Content streams (with sources)
- Rich media
- Calls to action
- Time relevant content

Method:

The social web has fundamentally changed how ordinary people connect, communicate and collaborate with each other, both beyond and behind the corporate firewall. In an effort to introduce South African business to the intricacies and challenges of social business, Cerebra are excited to announce the first Social Business Summit.

Cerebra CEO, Mike Stopforth says, “Social media has not just changed the face of marketing, but challenged the very construct of business. ‘Corporate firewalls are keeping smart employees in, and smart markets out.’ Talent attraction and retention, culture shifts, collaboration and information dissemination need a new approach.”