There have been more announcements and moves in this space recently than you can shake a stick at.And while this is all very exciting and it’s great to see such buoyancy after 2009’s doom and gloom, as a PR and communications consultant I am feeling a touch of unease. Primarily there are concerned about unrealistic expectations being set up with clients by agencies, often followed by poor implementation by people who haven’t truly engaged in the space for a significant period of time. Not only that, though, if South African companies don’t get this social, mobile and digital media thing right they will lose the biggest opportunity they have to grow their businesses and be successful.

4. Over-emphasising the impact of social.

Imagine walking into a Hell’s Angels convention wearing a pink pleather jacket. Carrying a scooter helmet with the price tag still attached. 4. Over-emphasising the impact of social. And expecting to be taken seriously. Not going to happen. Else at best you are going to get ignored, but more likely laughed at and then ignored. It’s the same thing with social media, you only truly understand the space and engage authentically if you are genuinely part of it in your own capacity.

General George Washington

There are heaps of cool, interactive things you can do with a bog standard mobile phone. And make sure that what is happening on the mobile phone is aligned with what is happening in the rest of the campaign. This is too important an opportunity to get things wrong. And South African companies, notch up the scepticism a few levels the next time you are speaking to the latest social media rock star. Just tread carefully, as South Africans have been bitten one too many times by unscrupulous subscription offers.

1. What’s with the silo approach? At MANGO-OMC we’re seeing more and more that we are required to take both a strategic and project manager role on behalf of our clients, bringing together different communication channels and technologies, overseeing an integrated campaign and serving as chief gatekeeper for brand messages. Certainly the announcement of a new division gets an agency attention, but just how does it work to have all your social media “rock stars” sitting at one end of the agency when it comes to running integrated communication campaigns? Social media, online and mobile needs to be considered at strategy and conceptualisation stage, and then implemented coherently across the board.