Mr Wynand Coetzer, Head of Strategy at Base2, a digital agency, presented a stimulating and fascinating guest lecture to the third-year Integrated Practical Project class on 5 May 2015. Mr Coetzer enthusiastically shared his extensive knowledge on digital marketing. He emphasised the importance of social media in marketing as the world has shifted from traditional media to the digital realm, where many conversations now take place online. This shift has placed consumers in a more powerful position, especially on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This phenomenon is a marketing game-changer.
The emphasis of the lecture was that social media is “not really social”, as brands actually do need to pay consumers to get their attention. In essence, this practice is not very “social” – people would not pay their friends to engage with them. Mr Coetzer also effectively debunked the myth that social media exposure is free for brands. In reality, brands need to pay social media platforms to attract more consumers so that their brand can be “followed”, “liked” or “boosted”, and also as social media platforms need to make money.
Mr Coetzer enlightened the students on what may be done about the not-so-social aspect of social media marketing by presenting a well-structured strategic planning process. The students were further excited about social media marketing by practical examples such as the ABSA Springbok April Fool’s campaign that Base2 launched in 2014.
The students, whose next project entails the development of a digital campaign for Potatoes SA (sponsors of the Integrated Practical Project module), found this learning experience invaluable. This was evident from their questions and comments on the guest lecture. Mr Coetzer concluded his lecture with a quote from The Cluetrain Manifesto: “While a social advertising strategy is the new normal, brands must not neglect their social business strategy.”
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