Simon Colman According to a report released by social media agency We Are Social, the number of active social media accounts in South Africa grew by 20% to 11.8 million in 2015. With a growing number of people active on social media, it is becoming increasingly important that businesses realise social media can be used to their advantage when it comes to potential product liability claims. Simon Colman, Head of Commercial Liability Underwriting at SHA Specialist Underwriters states that the wide adoption and instantaneous nature of social media platforms means that bad news spreads faster than ever before. “Therefore, it is advisable that businesses constantly monitor these platforms from a risk management perspective.” He explains that these days, consumers go to social media platforms to complain about a product, or specific features of the product, as opposed to lodging a complaint with the company directly. “Within a matter of seconds the story can spread across various soci...

Damage to Reputation cited as No.1 Business Risk Aon Global Risk Management survey shows 40% of businesses are unprepared to deal with a major reputational crisis Terence Williams Nothing feeds the news cycle like a company scandal, and with social media and citizen reporting on the rise, serious blows to a company’s reputation and market value can spread in nano-seconds. The likes of BP, Goldman Sachs, Toyota, Nestle, Domino’s Pizza, and locally and more recently Eskom, Capitec, KFC, the Estate Agency Affairs Board and Lonmin are among a host of brands that have taken a reputational hammering in the court of public opinion. While the precise impact of these reputational crises in terms of lost profit and revenue are difficult to quantify, there is no denying that these brands have all suffered varying degrees of quantifiable financial loss, and face the onerous task of rebuilding the reputations that in many instances have taken decades to establish.  In view of such ...

Maxi’s actively cultivates an interactive space through social media platforms Digital communities using a variety of electronic devices have developed around brands that harness social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Yolandi Ferreira, Maxi’s marketing manager, says savvy South African franchisors have recognised just how valuable these communities can be to advance their brands and are actively engaging with them by creating an interactive space in which consumers can communicate both their good and not so positive experiences. Digital publishing has become a part of today’s retail world and restaurant franchisors like us have learnt very quickly to promote our brands on social media platforms to encourage consumers to try us out and to keep coming back. There’s a lot of material to draw from in order to present content that is always engaging. In addition to our menu and special offers, we talk about our Corporate Social Investment programmes, community events, m...

What does it mean for your business? By Ryan Hogarth Almost every business is aware that something is happening, something big; and they are aware in a rather vague way that it has something to do with them. Social and mobile; they are big and getting bigger and, do not be mislead, it has everything to do with you and your business. The good news is that it is far less complicated and far less scary than all the buzz words make it seem. Every new advance cloaks itself in mystery with new, complicated sounding terms. It happened when the Internet was becoming a standard platform and it is the same with social and mobile. Conversation, engagement, content curation, inbound marketing and other catch phrases give the appearance of a technical and complicated field. Yet, at the base of it all is the simple and ancient human relationship. Worrying about going social? Let’s first deal with the issues that make ‘going social’ worrying. More than the mechanics of having...

Who should ‘own’ your brand in the social media space? By Craig Rodney Managing your brand in the online and social media space is a daunting enough task, but when you add in the complexities of the franchisee and franchisor relationship, you soon find that there does not appear to be a ‘right’ answer to the question “Who should ‘own’ your brand in the social media space?” In very basic terms, should a brand have a single presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc, or should each franchisee be allowed to create their own profiles to represent the brand? Unfortunately, the answer is not that simple because a brand, in the online social space, is the furthest thing from a corporate logo. Your brand is the collective of everything people say about you – their feelings towards you, their collective experiences and, importantly, their engagements with your online personality. Whether you like it or not, conversations about you and your products are happening all the t...