Analysis

This is an excerpt from my free, downloadable book Should your company be using Social Media?

You can download the book from here. Please feel free to distribute, RT and share with your network!

INTRODUCTION

Social Media allows people to talk and discuss things online. One of those things that will possibly be discussed is your company, and its products. The premise therefore is simple: if you want to be part of that discussion, so that you are not just being talked about, but are actually talking with, then you need to start embracing social media.

It has almost become a cliche to mention, at this point, that the conversation about your company will happen whether you are or are not actually part of it. I tend to disagree with that. Yes, if you are one of the four banks, or an airline, or a major retailer then South Africans will definitely talk online about you in both positive and negative terms. But if you are a smaller business, or one with a very small niche market, with narrow reach, then unless you are absolutely exemplary or absolutely pathetic, the chances are that conversations about you will not carry much impact. At least, not unless you start getting seriously involved in them.

So that leaves a South African company in a curious position. Because the online penetration and adoptation rate by older generations is so much greater in the US, the conventional wisdom there is that companies must be active online, and must engage their customers in regular conversations. That is probably true. But in South Africa, there is no must about it. It is up to you, as company or brand owner to figure out whether such a conversation is worth the time and expense that it will carry.

The answer is not clear cut.

Although I will be the first to say that a good online strategy will almost definitely be an effective way to drive business, I have seen (many) local companies who have had plentiful resources to throw at social media fail miserably in their endeavours. The truth is that you need more than just a positive attitude towards social media to make it work. At the very least you need knowledge, dedication and the right people to drive its success.

Undoubtedly, the pressure is on for South African businesses and their brands to establish a strong online presence for themselves. Since you are reading this book, I assume that you too are interested in initiating or strengthening your online strategy. You’d be smart to feel nervous and apprehensive. No one really has all the answers, and mistakes can be expensive both financially and reputation-wise. On the other hand, get it right and you could be reaping the benefits only dreamed of by your competition.

This book is meant to answer your question of whether the online presence of your company or brand should be passive or active. The passive approach implies a static website that offers basic information to your customers. There is nothing wrong with that, and sometimes it is the better choice. The active approach is the one that is getting all the buzz: it means creating a presence that is reactive, dynamic and never stagnant.

Part of the trick in getting it right is making sure that you have all the necessary information so you yourself can evaluate the viability of investing time and money in the web. And that information should be as “local” as possible, since our online space in South Africa and our online audience is vastly different from that of our other English speaking friends. Our adaptation and interaction differs, and therefore so should your strategy.

That’s what this book is for. It presents the facts, and the options for a successful online presence. It also highlights the pitfalls and the dangers. It is my sincere belief that after reading the book you will realise that every company in South Africa:
Needs to be online
Need to be online with a strategy
Needs to find its own acceptable level of online presence penetration

Or, in other words, I hope that after reading this book you will have a good idea of what kind of online strategy your company should follow. Whether you decide to implement it in-house or outsource it, you will be entering the space from a position of strength, and knowledge on your side.

There is another huge benefit to you having this knowledge: you will not be taken in by overpriced “gurus” and “experts” who are simply out to fleece you. I see it often. Because this is a complex space, and no one really wants to look ignorant, companies are happy to just hand off thousands of Rands to others, trusting them to do a good job. At best, this works well, but often times it is an absolute disaster. A well cited example is Durban’s R6 million Rand website that did not run on all browsers. On the other side of the coin are companies who think they can do it all themselves…this too has often proven foolish.

To read more, please download the full book here.

When I was putting together The Broadband Bible (that compares about 300 ADSL plans), I was amazed at how much subterfuge there was in the industry. It seemed that ISPs were going out of their way to confuse their customer by providing dozens of different plans with subtle differences, and by not being transparent about actual costs. It was ridiculously difficult to compare one ISPs package against another ISP’s package. I think it worked in the ISPs favour, since everyone was so confused, they tended to stick with what they had, without asking too many questions.

I am afraid to say that the online development space is not much different. There is no guide, or reference point, as to what is and what is not reasonable to charge for a service. And if you are a customer, how in the world will you be able to tell if you are being ripped off or not?

I hear stories of companies charging R15,000 to put up a Facebook page or install a twitter account. Or R30,000 to install a WordPress blog. I once consulted to a client who charged his client R50,000 a month for maintaing a product that cost about R3,000 to install. I often see click through rates that cost in the high R100s, and for terms that were utterly irrelevant to the advertiser. Recently I heard of a click through rate in the high R1000s!

The problem is, there is no accepted standard rate. The even bigger problem is that value is very hard to measure in a field like this: the client is not just paying for a service, but presumably for the strategy that goes with that service. And that can be worth a lot of money, even though it’s difficult to justify when considering just the time or the cost of the product being used (WordPress is free, after all). Companies (and individuals) have various levels of expertise (and incompetence), and should be rewarded accordingly.

I am not quite sure how to fix this shortcoming, but I am going to try. What I would like to do is hear from a bunch of industry experts as to how much they charge, or what they think a service should cost. We could then use that as a starting point, and agree on benchmark costs for various services. I can fully see that a lot of companies are not going to see a value in participating in this, but I think it will do our sector a world of good. Just don’t expect it to happen in a jiffy.

So I would like to open up the platform to those who work in the development side of the online sector. Please get in touch with me, leave a comment on this post, or join my web expert group on Linked In where we can have a robust discussion. (You can also give the new Forum, as yet untouched, a try).

To start the ball rolling, I would like to hear your opinion on how much each of these should cost. Giving a range is fine, assuming that the lower bracket is what newbies would charge, and the highest bracket goes to established firms.