At TomorrowToday we’ve tracked social media developments, and always tried to help our clients stay ahead of the technology curve while at the same going beyond the hype.
We’ve worked with many clients to help them shape their social media strategies – our latest case study was a strategic insights research document that we prepared for The Direct Selling Association of South Africa.
Outlined below is the problem that the client faced, the solution and the result. Speak to one of our team to find out how our strategic insights team can help your company prepare for the future of work.
PROBLEM:
- The Direct Selling Association of South Africa represents 38 companies in the direct selling industry, with hundreds of thousands of people involved as distributors and entrepreneurs across South Africa.
- Very few DSA companies and their distributors are using social media effectively to build their businesses.
- The DSA board want to help their members future proof their businesses, and felt that understanding social media and improving its use was critical to achieving this.
- Very little existing available was available to provide a basis for analysis.
SOLUTION:
- The TomorrowToday Strategic Insights team was commissioned to produce a report into social media and direct selling.
- The research involved workshops with DSA companies, interviews with key personnel locally and internationally, desk research on global direct selling best practice including accessing literature and conference content, interviews with social media experts and the inputs from our own experts on the emerging digital world of work.
- Over a three month period, the TomorrowToday team engaged with all the role players across the industry.
- An analysis of each company’s social media presence was completed, and a confidential report delivered to each company.
- The DSA’s own website was also analysed, and assistance provided for an update.
- Fears and concerns were raised, and these were dealt with in the final report, which turned into much more, including a manual that covers all of the main social media platforms.
- A generic template for formal social media policies was provided to each DSA company.
- An overview of an eight step process to develop a social media strategy was included in the final report.
RESULT:
- We cannot share the full report we generated, as it is proprietary to the DSA, but here is an extract to provide some idea of what was produced.
- The report was delivered to the DSA, along with a 45 minute multimedia presentation at the DSA annual awards luncheon. You can download the slides here.
- DSA companies with some social media activity immediately responded positively to the report by implementing some of the recommendation.
- Distributors who had previously been opposed to the use of social media committed to developing an understanding of the value of social media.
- We need to wait a few years to see if this report has truly future-proofed DSA companies, but early indications are very positive.
Click here for more case studies by the TomorrowToday team, or click this link to find out more context about this particular case study, and to download a copy of the slides for the presentation where Graeme presented back to the client.