Tips, and tricks to connect with your customers

Feeling overwhelmed by a jumble of social media tools? We get it. Juggling multiple platforms can be a real headache. As your social allies, we believe in making the hard stuff simple, and that starts with a clear question: do you really need separate tools for social listening and publishing?

The short answer is yes, you do. The better answer is that you need a unified approach that brings them together to get results.

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Social Listening: Your Ears to the Digital World

Social listening is your brand’s way of eavesdropping on the digital watercooler. It is about monitoring conversations across the web to understand what people are genuinely saying about your brand, your industry, and your competitors.

Key benefits include:

• Spotting trends: See what is gaining traction before it goes mainstream.
• Monitoring risk signals: Track suspicious activity or customer account issues early.
• Understanding sentiment: Go beyond likes and shares to see how people truly feel.
• Getting a competitive edge: Understand your rivals’ strategy and find opportunities.

👉 Want to get into the nuts and bolts? How Social Listening Actually Works: Demystifying the Process for SA Brands

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Social Publishing: Your Brand’s Digital Megaphone

On the other side, social publishing is about getting your message out. It is the act of creating, scheduling, and managing content across your social channels.

Key benefits of a strong publishing strategy include:

• Consistency: A unified brand voice across all channels.
• Community engagement: Build relationships and foster a sense of belonging.
• Workflow efficiency: Tools like Hootsuite streamline workflows and accounts.
• Scalable customer care: Handle queries and feedback in real time and at scale.

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Do You Need Both? The YOUKNOW Advantage

The short answer remains yes. Listening informs what you publish, and publishing drives more conversations to listen to. Together, they form a strategic loop.

The challenge we hear most often is about budget and efficiency. Leaders know a social presence is not enough, their platforms need to perform. The problem is that juggling a fragmented tool stack creates a disjointed strategy and wasted effort.

The solution is a unified suite that brings listening and publishing together. We recommend Brandwatch and Hootsuite, which deliver both in a seamless workflow. This ensures insights and actions are aligned, proving suite ROI and building customer trust.

👉 Not sure where you stand? Try the Choosing the Right Social Tech for Your Team Size

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Comparing the Features

👉 Ready to explore your options? Download the Social Tech Buyers Guide: Motivate, Measure, Implement

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The Whole Story: Born in Social. Built for Strategy.

The real power of social is not in a single platform, it is in the connections you make and the stories you tell. A brand that only publishes is just talking into a void. A brand that only listens is missing the chance to act.

This synergy also extends into customer service and digital care. Social is more than scheduling or listening, it is about building genuine, lasting relationships.

Our journey started more than a decade ago, and we have seen what works and what does not. We built a reputation on turning social efforts into business results. With YOUKNOW, the numbers are not the finish line, they are the start of a story that shows the true impact of your brand.

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Ready to Master Your Social Strategy?

The right tech is a tool. The right partner is an advantage.

👉 Request a Custom Consultation with YOUKNOW and discover your brand’s true social story.

We know it is frustrating when you cannot find a price on a website. You just want a number, right? For enterprise social tech, however, a simple price tag is a bit like asking “how much does a vehicle cost?” The answer is always: it depends. A city runabout is a world away from a commercial truck, and the same goes for social intelligence solutions.

That is why we built this guide to demystify the pricing process and equip you with the right information to get an accurate quote, fast.

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Why Social Tech Pricing Is Not a Simple Price Tag

Unlike off-the-shelf software, advanced social listening and management platforms are not one-size-fits-all. A solution for a small retail brand is completely different from what a major bank with multiple markets needs.

The key variables that influence pricing are:

• Scale: How many users will be on the platform? How many brands or markets do you need to track?
• Number of Search Queries: Each campaign, competitor, or product monitored counts as a query.
• Customisation: Do you need a standard dashboard or a deeply integrated solution connected to BI tools and CRMs?

The clearer these details, the faster and more accurate your quote will be.

👉 For more on matching tools to teams, read Choosing the Right Social Tech for Your Team Size.

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Understanding the Different Pricing Models

Most enterprise-grade platforms use one (or a mix) of these pricing models:

• User-Based Pricing: Charged per person who needs access.
• Query-Based Pricing: Charged per search topic (e.g., “brand mentions,” “competitor campaign”).
• Feature-Based Tiers: Different levels (Basic, Pro, Enterprise) with varying features and integrations.

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Beyond the Price Tag: Costs and Value to Consider

A licence is just part of the total investment. Services around it shape ROI.

• Implementation & Onboarding: Ensures queries are built correctly and integrations are seamless.
• Ongoing Managed Services: For teams that need support, expert management often saves more than it costs.

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The ZAR vs USD Advantage: A Local Perk

Currency volatility can wreak havoc on budgets.

• The USD Headache: Unpredictable rates, forex fees, complex accounting.
• The YOUKNOW ZAR Advantage: Stable, predictable billing in rands. Simpler procurement, no forex stress, and the added benefit of B-BBEE compliance.

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The ROI Conversation: How to Motivate for Budget

Winning approval is not just about cost, it is about business impact.

• Identify the problem: “We lack a consolidated view of customer sentiment.”
• Link to priorities: revenue, cost savings, and risk mitigation.
• Show evidence: highlight current workload and missed coverage.

👉 For a broader roadmap, see The Social Tech Buyer’s Guide: Motivate, Measure, Implement.

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Conclusion: Your Next Step

Pricing is not a secret, it is a conversation.
The cost reflects your exact needs.
Value comes from partnership, not just software.
Billing in rands is a local advantage you should not ignore.

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With this guide, you now know what to ask, what to prepare, and how to frame ROI for decision-makers.

👉 Ready to apply these insights and get your quote? Request a Consultation with YOUKNOW

You are ready to dive into social listening. You have heard the hype about uncovering insights, spotting trends, and understanding your audience. Then comes the tricky part: setting up your searches. How do you find the conversations that matter without getting swamped by irrelevant noise?

The truth is, social listening is only as good as the keyword list behind it. That list is the engine of your insights. If it is sharp, your dashboards light up with signals you can use. If it is sloppy, you are left wading through static.

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Why Your Keyword List Matters

Think of your keyword list as your brand’s blueprint for listening. A well-built list tells your tool exactly where to look and what to ignore. It is the difference between overhearing a thousand random chats and tuning in to the thousand that actually matter.

Read next: How Social Listening Actually Works

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The Four Pillars of a Keyword Framework

Here is the framework that stops your searches from becoming guesswork.

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1. Your Brand and Products
Include your brand name, the nicknames, the misspellings, and the hashtags. Do the same for your products and services.

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2. Your Competitors and Industry
Not just the obvious players but anyone fighting for the same attention. Add their names, products, campaign hashtags, and broad industry terms like “audience insights” or “martech”.

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3. Your Campaigns and Events
Track the words and hashtags tied to your campaigns, slogans, and spokespeople. It shows you how the market is really engaging with your efforts.

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4. Your Audience’s Language
This is where it gets interesting. Customers rarely speak in corporate copy. They use slang, sarcasm, and shorthand. In South Africa that might mean “eish my bank” rather than “customer service issue”. Get those phrases in your list if you want the full story.

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Refining for the South African Market

A keyword list is not one and done. It needs regular updates as slang shifts, cultural context changes, and new trends appear. Platforms like Brandwatch help with this by using AI and Natural Language Processing to detect nuance across multiple languages. That makes sure your list keeps pace with your market instead of lagging behind it.

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Ready to Build Smarter Insights?

Your keyword list is the difference between hearing everything and hearing what actually matters. Get it right, and you will uncover real sentiment, spot trends before they peak, and shape strategies that land.

Try the Easy Peasy Social Health Check to see how your listening stacks up.

So, you are ready to invest in a social media management platform. Excellent. It is a smart move, because these tools are essential for cutting through the noise and making your social efforts genuinely impactful.

Here is the challenge. There are hundreds of platforms out there, all promising the world. How do you cut through the marketing jargon and identify the features that genuinely matter for your business?

Do not sweat it. We are here to help you navigate the crowded landscape. Beyond just “scheduling posts”, a truly effective social media management platform offers a suite of functionalities designed to streamline your operations, deepen your insights, and protect your brand.

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Beyond the Basics: Essential Features Your Platform Needs

To truly empower your social team and maximise ROI, look for a platform that offers more than content publishing. These features are non-negotiable:

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1. Unified Publishing and Scheduling
Posting manually across channels is a time sink. A unified platform allows you to schedule, publish, and manage content from a single dashboard. Features to look for include content calendars, draft approvals, and evergreen queues.

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2. Comprehensive Social Listening and Monitoring
This is where you shift from reactive to proactive. A strong platform goes beyond direct mentions (monitoring) to track broader conversations about your brand, competitors, and industry (listening). This helps you spot trends, prevent crises, and understand sentiment. 👉 For a deeper dive, read Social Listening vs Social Monitoring: What’s the Difference?

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3. Robust Analytics and Reporting
Vanity metrics are out. Actionable insights are in. The right platform should give you customisable reports on engagement, reach, demographics, sentiment, and campaign performance. Visual dashboards make it easy to share insights with stakeholders.

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4. Engagement and Inbox Management
Social media is not a one-way broadcast. A centralised inbox for comments, direct messages, and mentions ensures no query slips through. Look for features such as message routing, collaboration tools, and saved replies to boost response times.

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5. Collaboration and Workflow Management
Especially for larger teams, smooth collaboration is key. Approval workflows, user roles, permissions, and internal notes maintain brand consistency and streamline processes.

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6. Security and Compliance
Protecting your reputation and customer data is critical. Check for secure login, audit trails, and compliance with POPIA and GDPR, especially if you handle sensitive information.

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7. Integrations with Your Tech Stack
Your platform should not operate in isolation. Integrations with CRM, customer service systems, analytics, and marketing automation tools give you a full view of the customer journey.

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Beyond Features: The Human Element

Even the most feature-rich platform still needs the right support. Ask about:

• Customer support: is it responsive and knowledgeable?
• Onboarding and training: are there resources to help your team get up to speed?
• Local partnership: in South Africa, a local partner can provide the regional expertise global vendors often miss.

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Ready to Build a Smarter Social Strategy?

Choosing the right social media management platform is a significant investment, but with the right features it can transform your presence from a reactive chore into a strategic powerhouse. Focus on what enables your team to listen, engage, analyse, and grow.

👉 If you are still weighing your options, take our What Social Tool Do You Need? Interactive Quiz for a tailored recommendation, or book a consultation with YOUKNOW to build the right stack for your team.

In fintech, speed and personalisation are everything. Wonga, a leading financial services provider, recognised that its legacy communication systems were hindering its growth. By partnering with YOUKNOW Technologies and implementing Braze, they moved from a fragmented stack to a unified customer engagement platform that delivers loans in minutes and connections that last much longer.

Get the full case study here.

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The Challenge: A Legacy System Stuck in the Past

Wonga’s old setup was slowing them down:

• Siloed data: Information scattered across multiple systems meant no single view of the customer, making true personalisation nearly impossible.
• Inefficient campaigns: Launching a campaign across multiple platforms was slow, resource heavy, and lacked event driven execution.
• Missed revenue opportunities: Without real time reaction to behaviour, Wonga could not deliver timely, relevant offers.
• Unnecessary complexity: Maintaining multiple platforms drove up costs and demanded heavy internal resources without integration partner support.

The verdict? Wonga needed to simplify, unify, and reimagine how it engaged its customers.

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The Solution: A Unified, Real-Time Engagement Platform

With YOUKNOW’s guidance, Wonga implemented Braze as its central customer engagement platform, and suddenly, everything clicked. Four architectural pillars set the foundation:

• Unified Profiles: A complete, real time view of each customer.
• Advanced Segmentation: Tailored groups based on behaviour, lifecycle stage, and custom attributes.
• Cross-Channel Orchestration: Customer journeys spanning email, in-journey messages, outbound calls, and SMS, all from one place.
• Personalisation at Scale: Hyper personalised messaging triggered by customer actions in the moment.

The result? A marketing team empowered to move faster, smarter, and more meaningfully.

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The Impact: Efficiency Meets Engagement

The numbers tell the story:

• Operational efficiency skyrocketed by consolidating multiple platforms into one, reducing complexity and freeing up resources.
• Customer engagement jumped 40 per cent on email uptake alone.
• Speed to market improved drastically, with campaigns launched faster and more responsively.
• Customer journeys became deeply personalised, driving loyalty and nearly 20 per cent more website traffic.

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As James Williams, CMO of Wonga, put it:

“Seeing Braze in action has been incredible. It enables us to connect with customers in ways we never could before, both cost effectively and efficiently. Our customer communications are now seamlessly integrated with the rest of our technology stack, allowing us to deliver loans within minutes. YOUKNOW was instrumental in ensuring the successful implementation of the Braze platform.”

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The Takeaway

By embracing Braze with YOUKNOW, Wonga turned complexity into simplicity, slow into swift, and fragmented engagement into a unified, customer first strategy.

Costs went down, revenue went up, and customers finally experienced the seamless interactions they deserved.

That is the power of getting engagement right, and the kind of transformation YOUKNOW helps make happen.

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👉 Book a consultation on implementing Braze with YOUKNOW (Decision CTA) or explore more on our Solutions Page.

The Cracks in Traditional Research

Ever feel like you are always playing catch up? Focus groups are slow, surveys are rigid, and in a fast moving market like South Africa, waiting for yesterday’s data to make today’s decisions is a sure way to miss the boat. Traditional market research cannot keep pace with the digital first consumer.

There is a better way. An always on, dynamic window into the true voice of the customer has been here all along, and it is called social data. For South African brands, the opportunity is massive, and it is time to start mining this new gold.

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Why Traditional Research is Falling Short

Traditional methods are not irrelevant, but they have clear limits. Panels and surveys are often expensive, slow to execute, and provide static snapshots rather than a living, breathing view of consumer opinion.

You have probably looked at survey results and thought, this feels dated already. Many surveys also suffer from biased samples and low engagement, which means a business could miss a crucial cultural nuance in a campaign.

If you are only relying on traditional research, you are seeing yesterday’s picture of today’s customer.

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Enter Social Data, A Living, Breathing Panel

Social data is your twenty four seven, uncensored focus group where people speak freely, passionately, and in context about what they love, what they loathe, and what they need.

With tools like Brandwatch, you gain real time access to consumer sentiment, emerging trends, and authentic opinions that surveys often miss. This gives you a direct line into the unique behaviours and priorities of South African consumers.

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What SA Consumers Are Saying and Why It Matters

Social data reveals far more than “likes” and “shares.” You can uncover:

• Shifts in sentiment: for example, how Gen Z is talking about financial services in the current economy.
• Context specific priorities: such as how shoppers define value during load shedding.
• Demographic and topic breakdowns: exposing unmet needs, emotional triggers, and the real motivations behind decisions.

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This is the customer truth that cannot be captured in a multiple choice survey.

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From Insight to Impact, Why Strategy Teams Should Care

For research, insights, and strategy leaders, this is the kind of intelligence that transforms decision making. Social data can:

• Validate demand for a new product before launch.
• Shape relevant campaigns by aligning with real conversations, not assumptions.
• Provide confidence to adjust brand positioning quickly.
• Support account based marketing with industry specific segment snapshots.

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It replaces lagging data with living insight, helping you keep pace with your market rather than react to it.

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Ready to Get the Real Story Behind the SA Consumer?

Social data is not just an additional research tool, it is the missing link between what customers say and what they do.

If you want to uncover the insights your surveys might be missing, take our Social Health Check: Self-Assess Your Listening and Trend-Tracking and see where your brand could improve.

When you are ready to move from insight to action, book a demo with us and explore how our Solutions Page can support your strategy.

Is the thought of a long, complex implementation process stopping you from getting your own AI agent? What if we told you that you could have a fully functional agent up and running in just 30 days?

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“AI is just such an overwhelming topic for most at the moment, and the purpose of this program is to bring clarity and have something internally that creates real business impact for the foreseeable future.”, Alex Hoyland, our Product Lead for Domo. “We partnered with Domo for this programme as the platform equips us and our clients with an easy-to-use tool set that makes the 30-day timeline possible”

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But what is this for? It’s to help businesses unlock the power of AI quickly and efficiently. This program delivers a working AI agent that automates routine tasks, provides 24/7 intelligent support, and unlocks real-time data insights. The result? You get increased efficiency, scalability, and an enhanced customer experience while simultaneously reducing operational costs.

Key Benefits of Implementing an AI Agent

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Integrating an AI agent isn't just about a single benefit- it's about a complete transformation of how your business operates. Here are some of the biggest advantages:

• Increased Efficiency and Productivity: By automating repetitive tasks, an AI agent can significantly reduce manual work and operational costs. This frees up your team to focus on more strategic work and allows your business to scale without needing to hire additional staff.
• Enhanced Decision-Making: AI agents can process data in real time, offering faster insights and predictive analytics. This helps you anticipate market trends and make smarter, data-driven decisions. They can also provide personalised recommendations for sales, marketing, and user engagement, helping you connect with your customers more effectively.
• Improved Customer Experience: Imagine your customers getting 24/7 support with lightning-fast response times. AI agents, powered by chatbots and virtual assistants, make this a reality. They can also provide customised interactions based on user behaviour, leading to a more personal and consistent experience for everyone.
• A Culture of Innovation: When AI takes care of the small stuff, your teams can think bigger. An AI agent encourages a proactive approach to problem-solving, allowing your team to dig into the root causes of issues instead of just treating the symptoms. This fosters continuous improvement and cross-functional collaboration.

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A Structured Approach: The 30-Day AI Agent Accelerator Program

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The beauty of this program is its clear, structured approach, designed for rapid implementation. We break it down into three simple phases:

1. Discover & Define: This is where you get clear on your goals. You'll define the specific business challenge and the opportunity for your AI agent. You and the team will clarify the use case, align on success metrics, and map out a plan based on the agent framework.
2. Design & Build: In this phase, the magic happens. The team develops the agent's logic, workflows, and automations. They integrate your data, tools, and triggers, applying advanced reasoning and natural language logic to ensure your agent is smart, reliable, and ready for the real world.
3. Deploy & Enable: The final stage is all about getting your new agent live. It's seamlessly deployed within your Domo instance, and you'll get a full walkthrough of its functionality. Once it's launched, you'll also receive enablement sessions to ensure your team knows how to drive adoption and ensure its ongoing success.

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Wait, Who's Domo?

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If you're not already familiar with our awesome partners, Domo is a leading AI and data products platform. Think of them as the ultimate toolkit for making sense of all your business data. They help companies connect to over 1,000 data sources, automate tedious processes, and build powerful, intelligent applications - like the AI agents we're talking about. Their platform is designed to help you not only manage your data but also use it to make smarter, faster decisions across your entire business.

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Ready to build your new AI agent?

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This programme was specifically built to help companies wrap their head around AI agents and turn ideas into actions. "You bring the data and the use case, we do the rest to ensure that automation through AI agents is accessible for everyone. It is important to me that we create solutions that fix real problems and provide compelling commercial advantages to our clients," Alex says. Curious and want to enquire about more details? He'll guide you on the ins and outs of the Domo AI Agent Accelerator Program. 👇

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How Social Listening Turns Conversations into Business Gold

You know how some South African brands seem to nail it every time? They jump on a trending conversation in minutes, respond with wit, and leave the internet talking. Think Nando’s, Checkers, or any brand that makes you wonder, how did they do that so quickly?

It is not magic. It is the power of social listening, backed by smart technology and expertise.

Platforms like Brandwatch help turn the endless noise of social media into actionable insight. Here is a peek behind the curtain.

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Step One: Collecting the Data

Social listening starts with access to the right information. We are not scrolling timelines all day. Instead, platforms such as Brandwatch have official agreements and direct API partnerships with major social networks.

This means legitimate, compliant, and comprehensive access to data from X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Publicly available conversations flow into a secure hub, creating a live, always-on feed of what your market is talking about.

For brands in South Africa, this provides a real-time view into the heartbeat of your audience.

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Step Two: Making Sense of the Noise

Raw data on its own is messy and overwhelming. That is where artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) step in.

Brandwatch analyses millions of posts to understand sentiment: is it positive, negative, or neutral? It can pick up on sarcasm, regional slang, and local nuances, which is vital in a market as culturally diverse as South Africa.

It then organises conversations by theme, highlights emerging trends, and identifies the people, products, or moments that matter most. Instead of a wall of unstructured chatter, you get clear, meaningful information you can actually use.

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👉 Related: 5 Ways Social Monitoring Helps Banks Spot Fraud Signals Fast

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Step Three: Turning Insight into Action

Once you have structured insights, the real impact begins. Insights shape strategy and help brands engage the right audience at the right time.

One example comes from a sports-related campaign. By analysing social conversations, it was clear that football dominates the South African sports conversation. This finding informed a campaign targeting specific fan communities with content that spoke directly to their passion. The result was exceptional engagement and measurable sales growth. That is the magic of insight-driven marketing. It connects brand action to customer passion.

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Why Social Listening is Essential

Social listening is more than just monitoring mentions. It is a way to:

• Anticipate trends before they peak.
• Understand customer sentiment in real time.
• Tailor content and campaigns to cultural context.
• React faster and smarter to public conversations.

👉 Read next: Spotting Trends Before They Break: Gain the Edge With Social Insight

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Ready to See How It Works for Your Business?

Social listening can transform how your brand connects with customers and the market.

Take our Easy Peasy Social Health Check to benchmark your listening strategy, or book a Brandwatch Demo with YOUKNOW to see it in action.

When you are ready to scale, explore our Solutions Page to see how YOUKNOW can implement, support, and optimise Brandwatch for your business.

If you're in the app space in South Africa, you've likely felt things shifting. We've gone through the latest AppsFlyer report on Sub-Saharan Africa and pulled out the key takeaways that every product manager and developer needs to know. Trust us, these numbers are a proper game-changer.

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The mobile industry remains a powerhouse in the region, contributing $140 billion US dollars to Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP in 2023. But here’s the interesting part: with fewer than one in three people using mobile internet, the potential for growth is immense.

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From Volume to Value: The New SA App Playbook

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South Africa is moving beyond just chasing new downloads. While overall app installs are still forecast to rise by 18% in 2025, user acquisition (UA) spend dropped by 20% in the first half of the year. This isn't a contradiction; it means marketers are getting smarter and more efficient. They're prioritising ROI-driven growth over pure volume.

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And get this: the iOS market is on fire. While Android is set to grow by 14%, iOS is expected to rebound by a massive 68% in 2025. This is partly thanks to new legislation that removed a luxury tax on more affordable smartphones, which opened up the market and brought in a wave of high-value users through the refurbished device market.

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Why Data is Your New Best Friend

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The report notes that UA budgets declined, while remarketing spend in South Africa grew by a massive 48%. Marketers are shifting their focus from top-of-funnel acquisition to re-engagement and retention because that’s where the real money is. For winning apps, the real challenge is no longer acquisition, but engagement.

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But how do you figure out what makes a user stick around? A product analytics platform is your secret weapon. AppsFlyer's report gives you the "what", the big-picture data on installs and spending. But a tool like Amplitude gives you the "why". It helps you see user behaviour after the install. You can figure out what product journeys they are taking, why they drop off, and what a "high-value" user actually looks like. It’s the key to unlocking the value within your existing user base, exactly what the AppsFlyer report says is crucial for long-term success.

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What about App uninstalls? It’s a huge pain point, especially in developing countries where they're higher than the global average. In fact, more than 1 in 2 apps that are installed are uninstalled within 30 days. That’s a serious issue.

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This is where a customer engagement platform comes in. It's no use just tracking user behaviour to find out where they dropped off; you need to fight uninstalls by driving users to value quicker and finding ways to re-engage them. That’s why you need to connect your data to your marketing. Personally, we love OneSignal. It lets you send powerful, timely notifications and in-app messages to guide users along their journey and bring them back to your app, turning those potential uninstalls into re-engagements.

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Install Fraud, Now Available on Andriod AND iOS

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As marketers ourselves, we know that as the market matures, so do the threats. While South Africa has made significant progress in fighting fraud, with Android install fraud dropping by 31%, fraudsters are simply changing their tactics.

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The report shows a shift to iOS, where fresh investment is making it a more lucrative target. In the shopping category, bots now account for nearly 75% of all fraud in South Africa, up from just 5% in late 2023. This means that your user acquisition strategy must include fraud resilience. This isn’t just for marketers in shopping, it’s for all of us.

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Your Roadmap to Success: Final Takeaways

South Africa isn't just catching up to global trends; we're setting the pace for sustainable, performance-led app growth. To win in this new landscape, the report's key recommendations are to focus on:

• Performance, not just scale: Prioritising ROI-driven growth over sheer volume.
• The iOS opportunity: iOS users are a major growth lever.
• Retention as the new growth engine: The focus has shifted from acquisition to keeping the right users.
• Stronger fraud defences: Regularly reassessing your fraud defences is non-negotiable.

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To truly master that shift to efficiency, you have to go beyond just looking at the top of the funnel. It's not enough to know how many installs you're getting; you have to know which of those installs are actually providing long-term value. This is where a digital analytics tool like Amplitude becomes invaluable. By giving you a granular look into user behaviour after the install, this kind of platform can show you exactly where to focus your resources for the best possible ROI, turning that raw data into a smarter, more efficient marketing strategy.

Download their full report and dive into the numbers yourself 👇

🔗Link🔗

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‍Social Competitor Benchmarking: Step-by-Step for Industry Teams

Want to be the best in your industry? In today’s fast-paced market, keeping up with the competition is not enough. To excel, you need to understand what drives your rivals, what strategies are working, and where the opportunities lie for you to stand out.

That is where social competitor benchmarking comes in. Think of it as having the inside scoop on your competitors’ strategies. This is not about imitation, it is about intelligent analysis that gives you a competitive edge.

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Step 1: Identify Your Competition – Know Who You Are Up Against

Identifying competitors goes beyond listing the big players. Who is really vying for your audience’s attention on social? This includes direct rivals and indirect ones targeting the same customers, even if their core offerings differ.

Build a robust list of accounts to track and analyse.

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Step 2: Choose Your Metrics – What Are We Actually Examining?

Do not track everything. Focus on what matters to your goals. Are you aiming to improve engagement? Enhance brand sentiment? Prove customer service efficiency?

Key areas to consider:

• Engagement rates: Are posts connecting with the audience through likes, comments, and shares?
• Share of voice: How much of the conversation do they dominate?
• Sentiment analysis: Positive, negative, or neutral – what does it say about customer experience?
• Content performance: What formats perform best – video, blogs, polls?
• Customer service responsiveness: How quickly do they respond to customer queries? This can also surface early warnings such as fraud signals.

-> For more, see 5 Ways Social Monitoring Helps Banks Spot Fraud Signals Fast.

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Step 3: Gather the Data – Let the Tools Do the Heavy Lifting

Manually tracking competitors is near impossible. Social listening and benchmarking platforms do the hard work, pulling data on mentions, hashtags, sentiment, and engagement.

They simplify the process so you can focus on action.

But choosing the right tool matters. Beyond features, look for solutions that match your team’s size and capacity. For a practical guide, see Choosing the Right Social Tech for Your Team’s Size.

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Step 4: Analyse Like a Pro – What Is the Vibe?

Once you have the data, dig into it:

• Strengths and weaknesses: Where do competitors excel or struggle?
• Opportunities: Are they missing segments or trending topics you can claim?
• Threats: Are new campaigns or players disrupting the market?
• Lessons: If a competitor’s campaign goes viral, study why. If they stumble, learn from their missteps.

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Step 5: Act on the Insights – Time to Get Moving

Benchmarking is not about reports gathering dust. It is about taking action:

• Refine your strategy and content.
• Innovate and differentiate.
• Set goals benchmarked against leaders.
• Solve problems before customers even raise them.

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The Takeaway: Competitive Advantage is a Continuous Process

Competitor benchmarking is not a one-off task. Consistently monitoring rivals and using insights keeps you a step ahead, turning competitor activity into your advantage.

👉 Book a consultation to build your benchmarking strategy or explore our Solutions Page to see how we help businesses turn insights into growth.

In today’s fast-moving world, scams pop up as quickly as taxis during peak hours. Traditional fraud detection methods struggle to catch the early warning signs that often show up first on social media.

Customers share their experiences every day, from glowing reviews to frustrations about fraud. Social monitoring is not a nice-to-have, it is a frontline tool for spotting small signals before they grow into serious issues.

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1. Spotting Unusual Patterns: The Fraud Detection Radar

Fraudsters often test new tricks, and their early attempts leave digital traces. Social monitoring helps pick up unusual spikes in complaints or keywords linked to suspicious activity.

A sudden rise in mentions of “unauthorised transactions” or “phishing SMS” tied to a service can act as an early alarm bell. That gives teams time to investigate before a minor issue snowballs. Think of it as a fraud radar powered by real-time social data.

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2. Identifying Emerging Scams: Staying Ahead of Trends

New scams emerge constantly, often faster than traditional systems can adapt. By keeping track of live conversations, banks can spot fraud trends as they gain momentum.

That early visibility makes it easier to warn customers, tighten security protocols and work with law enforcement before the damage spreads. The benefit is simple: you see what is coming, not only what has already arrived.

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3. Assessing Customer Sentiment: Detecting Issues Early

A sharp drop in positive sentiment, or a spike in negative mentions about a product, service or branch, can be a red flag. While not every change signals fraud, major swings are worth investigating.

Are customers reporting unexpected charges? Are they discussing compromised accounts? Social monitoring connects the dots quickly, turning quiet warnings into insights you can act on.

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4. Geographic Hotspots: Identifying Localised Threats

Fraud often follows geographic patterns. A cluster of similar complaints from a particular region can highlight a localised attempt.

Visualising those mentions helps banks allocate resources effectively, issue targeted warnings and partner with local authorities. Knowing where threats are building means you can respond decisively.

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5. Competitor Insights: Learning from Others’ Challenges

Sometimes the best lessons come from watching how others are tested. Monitoring competitors’ social mentions can reveal fraud signals that have not yet appeared on your radar.

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The Takeaway

Fraud signals often start as scattered whispers online. Social monitoring pulls them into focus, giving banks the clarity to act early and protect their customers.

Book a consultation on banking-specific social monitoring or explore our Solutions Page to see how connected insights can strengthen fraud prevention strategies.

Remember when customer service was purely call centres and email support? Then social media came along, and suddenly every direct message and public comment became a new frontier for customer care. Many businesses thought simply responding to DMs and mentions was enough to tick the box.

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But in 2025, that approach is a bit like driving with one eye closed. Social customer care has evolved far beyond just hitting reply. For South African businesses looking to truly connect, build loyalty, and get ahead, it is about understanding the entire conversation and that means doing much more than answering direct messages.

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Beyond the Inbox: What is Comprehensive Social Customer Care?

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At its core, social customer care is about providing support and service through social media channels. However, a truly comprehensive approach goes beyond reactive replies. It is about:

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• Proactive engagement: Reaching out to customers who mention your brand (even without tagging you) or express frustration about an industry pain point you can solve.
• Sentiment analysis: Understanding the mood behind conversations, not just the words. Are customers feeling frustrated, delighted, or confused?
• Issue resolution: Not just answering questions, but actively resolving problems publicly or privately for a positive outcome.
• Insight gathering: Using every interaction as an opportunity to learn about customer needs, product issues, or service gaps.

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With a complete view of your customers’ social experience, you can turn potential frustrations into moments of brand delight.

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Why Basic DM Replies Are Not Enough

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Simply responding to direct messages and tagged mentions leaves huge blind spots. Here is what your business might be missing:

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• Untagged conversations: Customers often vent, praise, or ask questions about your brand without tagging your handle. Without social listening, you miss this feedback entirely.
• Pre-emptive crisis management: A single public complaint can quickly spiral. Detecting issues early lets you step in before it becomes a viral headache.
• Root cause identification: Multiple similar complaints, even if untagged, often signal a bigger problem. Spotting patterns allows you to fix the source, not just the symptom.
• A proactive reputation: Brands that reach out before being asked, or publicly resolve issues, gain trust and a customer-first image.

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The Real Power of Social Customer Care

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A robust social care strategy delivers more than happy customers, it delivers measurable business value:

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• Elevated customer experience (CX): South African customers expect fast, seamless support on their preferred channels.
• Stronger brand reputation: Quick, transparent responses build trust, even in tough conversations.
• Actionable insights: Every interaction provides data to refine products, marketing, and service.
• Operational efficiency: Resolving issues on social can be faster and more cost effective than call centres.

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Lessons for South African Businesses

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South African consumers are vocal, social-first, and value authenticity. To win them over:

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• Speed is king: Delayed responses risk frustration and public backlash.
• Local context matters: Understand slang, cultural references, and seasonal nuances.
• Transparency builds trust: Own up to issues and be open about fixes.

How to Move Beyond Basic Social Care

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To truly excel, you need:

• A clear strategy: Define response times, escalation protocols, and brand tone.
• Skilled, empathetic teams: Train agents to listen, understand, and solve.
• The right technology: Tools like [Brandwatch] (Partner Page) and [Hootsuite] (Partner Page) help you unify conversations, track sentiment, and automate workflows so nothing slips through the cracks.

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Ready to Deliver Exceptional Social Care?

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If your strategy stops at replying to DMs, you are leaving loyalty, trust, and revenue on the table. Modern social customer care means spotting untagged mentions, detecting crises early, and using insights to improve your entire customer experience.

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For more on why ignoring social conversations costs more than you think, read: [5 Hidden Costs of Ignoring Social Media Conversations] (Consideration).

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👉 Book a consultation on scaling your digital customer care strategy and transform every social interaction into a business advantage.