Calling Africa's Netpreneurs: The world's first Social Branding Summit

Click here to register for the event.

Welcome to the New Economy

As recent events in North Africa have shown, the world of communication has changed fast - and for good. Social networks have replaced the traditional means of mass communication and the mobile revolution has redefined how governments and brands need to engage their audiences.

Currently, two billion people on the planet have access to the internet; that's almost 30% of the entire world's population. Additionally, there are more than 5.3 billion mobile subscribers (77% of the world's population). This explosive growth is led by China and India, and many mobile web users are mobile-only: in other words, they do not (or only very rarely) use a desktop, laptop or tablet device to access the internet. Mobile-only use is 70% in Egypt and 59% in India - and even in the United States, it comprises 25% of subscribers.

What is Social Branding™ all about?

Social Branding™ is at the very heart of the New Economy, as it focuses on the needs of others, giving gifts, working with outsiders, and caging your marketing messages - in other words, the exact opposites of traditional marketing.

This holds tremendous opportunities for African entrepreneurs, as they now have a unique platform to tap into the global market and attract new customers and grow their international share of revenue. "It is interesting that with a lot of these newer marketing techniques, you can really beat the big guys in a huge way, because they are usually tied to their older methods of doing marketing," says Mike Volpe, VP of the leading social media portal HubSpot.

Interestingly, if Facebook were a country, it would be the world's third largest, with more than 800 million citizens, half of whom log in every single day. And - unbeknown to many - the fastest growing segment of Facebook users is not teenagers, but women between the ages of 55 and 65.

Currently, Coca-Cola has over 35 million fans of its Page, while Starbucks is closing in on 26 million. Vitamin Water launched an extremely successful contest on Facebook to choose the flavor, design the package, and name its newest drink. The company now has 2.9 million fans.

Even small brands can get in on the action. Sprinkles Cupcakes has more than 307,000 fans because of a Facebook-only promotion that ran in its stores. Luxury hotel chain Joie De Vivre offered a similar Facebook-only discount and booked more than 1,000 rooms because of the deals.

Introducing the Social Branding™ Roadmap

The first ever Social Branding Summit™ has been designed to reveal all the latest techniques and proven business-building tactics you need to know to immediately benefit from social media.
Meet Leaders from Business and Government to learn about:

• Understanding the New Economy
• Conquer the Fear of Digital Exposure
• How to design a World Class Social Media Strategy
• The New Social Skills Everyone needs to succeed
• How to optimise your GQ (GoogleAbility™ Quotient)
• How to protect Yourself from the Dark Side of the New Web
• The Role of Social Media for Entrepreneurship in South Africa
• How to turn Fans, Friends and Followers into Paying Customers
• The Mobile Revolution - and last but not least

• How to become an acknowledged Industry Thought Leader

Join us on the 9 December 2011 at the Development Bank of Southern Africa to discover how to fast track your social media strategy.

Click here to register - and claim your complimentary copy of Dr Nik's new book "Building Your Brand Online: How to take Charge of the Social Media Revolution".