Is South African Business Honest enough for Social Media?

One of the tenets of a successful social media strategy is honesty, brutal honesty. I came across this video made by Domino’s Pizza in the US. A very brave move by a corporate and one that goes some distance in making them more human and believable, another important component in social media.

South Africa has always had cultural lag. This has shortened considerably over time given the speed of technology. But still from a social media and business perspective we’re a good two years behind. Consumers however are now catching up a lot faster. Social media is so “now” and so instant that it is forcing that cultural lag closed. Consequently consumer demand for human interaction from brands is growing faster than brands can handle.

And it begs the question: Will any South African brand have the balls to do something on the order of the Domino’s video? I can think of a few who should. Funny that most of them are telecom companies.

I’d love to see it happen because when it does it will be the dawn of a new business age in South Africa – one that finally moves us away from the monolithic business culture charactarised by its consumer disregard.