‘Likes’ aren’t a measure of success

Too many South African brands embarking on social media marketing campaigns believe that the number of ‘friends’ or ‘likes’ they have on Facebook are a measure of the success of their campaigns and the popularity of their brands. This isn’t the case, say local social media and marketing experts.

Jarred Cinman, chief inventor at Native, points out that brand ‘likes’ on Facebook are generally incentivised and do not necessarily indicate brand support. The success of a social media marketing campaign lies in the spread of the message throughout the right networks, the level of engagement that follows, and the positive sentiments this generates, he says.

“In South Africa, we have a very active social media user base that is very engaged. This isn’t matched on a brand marketing level. South African businesses tend to be very conservative and stuck in the old paradigm, focusing on broadcast and print media. Brands and companies are not fully exploiting social media to their advantage yet,” he says.

Using social media effectively takes a whole new marketing mindset, the experts say.

Numbers not a metric

Walter Pike, founder and leader of PiKE | New Marketing, says: “We suddenly think about the audience and realise that, although it may be great to have 10 000 Facebook ‘likes’, it may be better to have 10. The 10 000 could be the lurkers, or not even actually present – they may have clicked the button never to return, while the 10 may be the bridges or the thought leaders.”

Melissa Attree, business development manager at Cerebra, echoes this sentiment: “I’d far rather have an audience of 100 very engaged people in a social network than a thousand ‘likes’ who only visit the page once,” she says.

Handing over control

What is happening now, thanks to social media, the experts say, is that brands are having to find their voices, customers are becoming the branding agencies, and the conversation is no longer with a customer, but with a chain of that customer’s networks, too. Brands can no longer tightly control their messages.

“We start thinking about strategic brand management and we suddenly see that we no longer control the messages, the brand associations nor the media, and realise that we only control the experience with the brand,” says Pike.

Five tech firsts for Olympics

The London 2012 Olympic Games will see several technologies making an appearance for the first time in the event’s history, in areas like communications infrastructure, media and the sporting activities themselves.

Here are five technologies making their debut at the Games, and what they will mean for athletes and spectators alike.

Pay phone

The London Games will be the first to make use of a mobile contactless payment application, being offered by official sponsors, Visa and Samsung. Near-field communications technology has been built into Samsung’s Galaxy S III phone – the “official phone of the Olympics” – which allows users to wave their phones in front of a contactless reader to make a purchase. The app also displays transaction history and account balance, providing customers with greater visibility into what they’re spending and how much money they have left.

The phone, if associated with a Visa card, can be used to pay for items up to the value of £20 anywhere that accepts contactless payments, for any purchases within the Olympic areas. It’s estimated there will be about 140 000 contactless terminals in the country by the time the Games roll around.

MS posts quarterly loss

Microsoft reported its first quarterly loss as a public company yesterday as it took a previously announced hit for writing down the value of its ailing online unit, but held up better than expected in the face of stagnant computer sales.

Excluding the multibillion-dollar write-down, which was signalled earlier this month, and factoring in some deferred Windows revenue, the world’s largest software company actually exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, boosting its shares in after-market trading.

“It looks good, given the dicey economic environment and the weakness we already know about in PCs,” said Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities.

After several years of stumbling behind mobile and Internet trailblazers Apple and Google, and a decade-long static share price, some expectation is building that Microsoft can re-establish itself as a tech leader with its new, touch-friendly Windows 8 system, due out on 26 October, and an accompanying tablet of its own design.

“There’s a lot of anticipation for the next Microsoft products. They are regaining credibility with enterprises,” said Trip Chowdhry, an analyst at Global Equities Research.

Alongside Windows 8 and its new Surface tablet – which it hopes will challenge Apple’s all-conquering iPad – Microsoft is set to release new phone software and a new Web-oriented version of its highly profitable Office suite of applications over the next 12 months.

These, and other products, “will drive our business forward and provide unprecedented opportunity to our customers and partners,” said chief executive Steve Ballmer, in a statement.

Gender diversity lacking in IT

More than a third of global IT companies do not have a woman in an IT management role, and 92% of CIOs are male.These results come out of a study by Harvey Nash, in association with TelecityGroup. The 14th annual CIO Technology Survey 2012 probed the views of 2 400 CIOs and technology leaders in 20 countries.

Harvey Nash’s survey reveals there is growing concern over the question of gender diversity, in particular the availability of female talent in the technology sector, a section the research included for the first time.
According to the results, the male-to-female ratio in IT leadership remains highly unrepresentative of the population at large, as 93% of the CIOs who responded to the survey this year are male, compared with 92% in 2010.
Harvey Nash Group CEO Albert Ellis says the lack of gender diversity is a challenge “for technology companies and IT departments around the world”.
Over a third of CIOs – at 35% ‑ said there were no women in IT management roles in their organisation. In addition, 46% of respondents said less than a quarter of their IT management roles are populated by women.
“Traditionally, all forms of engineering have suffered from an image problem. In the past, female graduates have not aspired to be ‘tech geeks’ and a career in IT has not been seen as attractive,” says Ellis.
Missing out

Harvey Nash director Rob Grimsey says its expectation is that, in the short term, the proportion of female CIOs will remain relatively static. He says, globally, this is about 7% of total IT leadership, which does not represent the population.
“The data suggests IT currently lacks the pipeline of talent, not to mention the female role models, to create the next generation of female technology leaders,” says Grimsey.
Grimsey notes that what is “especially interesting” is that its research shows that nine out of 10 technology leaders believe they are missing vital skills as a result of low representation of women in their teams.
“As IT departments and the technology industry, in general, look to compete in an increasingly global, diverse and user-driven market, the need for diversity, creativity and relationship building has never been more important.”
Ellis adds that technology companies and groups without female representation will miss out in the future, which makes the skills shortage even more acute. However, such high-profile marketplace developments like the up and coming Facebook listing will draw attention to the enormous potential offered by careers in technology, he adds.
Grimsey explains that women generally do not find technology attractive and a supply of talent is at the heart of the problem. He points out that 75% of women CIOs believe there is a lack of qualified women candidates available for technology roles, and 88% of men share this view.

Gijima ditches staff

JSE-listed Gijima will trim between 8% and 12% of its R1 billion-a-year staff bill through retrenchments as it faces declining revenue because of lost deals and increasing costs.
The group, which recently lost half an Absa deal and a police desktop contract, currently has 3 080 employees. It says it will trim its “human capital” costs, mostly through retrenchments, but refuses to provide numbers as it still needs to follow a consultative human resources process.
In a statement, Gijima CEO Jonas Bogoshi said changes in the global market, and pricing pressure, means the company has to reassess its business operating model and restructure it to make it relevant. “Our aim is to enhance our business competitiveness.”

Gijima’s statement says the ICT industry landscape has changed dramatically and ICT spend globally is under pressure. “At the same time, clients, particularly those in the financial sector, have come under pressure to be even more competitive following global acquisitions.”
Revenue declines
An e-mailed communication sent to staff yesterday morning, which is in ITWeb’s possession, reveals the staff cuts are linked to lost revenue and higher costs.
“We have to take into consideration revenue forecasts for the new financial year, the investment required in new service offerings aligned to Vision 2025, and the investment needed to secure the company’s sustainable future,” said the mail from the CEO’s desk.

The mail says Gijima needs to “optimise our resource capability and utilisation” to remain competitive, “particularly in light of the loss of the SAPS [South African Police Service] contract for desktop computers and Barclays’ decision to in-source more than half of our contract with Absa”.
Gijima lost 200 staff members after Absa took half of a R200 million-a-year desktop contract in-house in March and took over employee contracts. At the time, CFO Carlos Ferreira said the group was not in a retrenchment phase.
A Gijima spokesperson says the current retrenchment plans and the March staff move are two separate matters and should not be confused. However, the loss of the Absa deal, which was secured in 2006 and worth R960 million over five years, has hurt the company.
Gijima has also lost part of a R20 million-a-month desktop supply and maintenance deal with SAPS.
Falling behind
In the first six months of the year to December, the company reported results that, while an improvement, were below expectations. Revenue gained 7.5%, to R1.3 billion, and it posted a R28.6 million net profit, compared with the previous R208.7 million loss, which it incurred as a result of the settlement with home affairs.
Bogoshi was not happy with the company’s performance as it fell short of expectations. He explained Gijima’s new client-centric business model was running four months behind schedule.
Bogoshi explained that the new model involves deep restructuring of the company’s operations. It should be completely implemented by the new financial year, which starts in July.
Bogoshi said the optimisation strategy, which involves cutting staff, is part of Gijima’s Vision 2025 plan, which it initiated in early 2011, in a bid to become more competitive. “We are already seeing traction of the plan we have put in place.
“We aim to improve our performance and enable the organisation to look for and create new opportunities in the ICT space. We are realigning our service and business offerings to create greater efficiencies and enable the organisation to adapt appropriately to market conditions,” said Bogoshi.
Top talent will be retained and the process will be completed by mid-August, while the business restructuring will come into full effect on 1 July.