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We’ve received a large number of enquiries asking who the most followed SA Pinterest accounts are. There isn’t a lot of published research out there regarding this new platform, and Pinterest doesn’t make it easy to get accurate information easily – so we did it ourselves.

We data mined the Pinterest network and scanned for South African profiles, which produced the following leaderboard – a list of the top 100 most followed Pinterest accounts in South Africa.

Some interesting points:

• The most followed person on Pinterest in South Africa has more followers than the most followed person on Twitter in SA – which is incredible, but is a bit of an outlier. Aimee Sawyer, you have certainly done something right
• The demographic representation is almost entirely 25-35 year old women
• The primary interests of these top accounts are design, travel, cooking, arts and crafts, weddings and personal development
• There still remains a small presence of brands on this list, which we hope will change soon as brands see the value of this platform.
• The only well known SA brand to make this list is Pick n Pay – congratulations on your social media success

Without further ado, click here to see the 2013 Top SA Pinterest Users list.

Showcasing SA’s top retailers on social media

The Social Media & SA Retail Report, the first of its kind in South Africa, is being released in early December. This report contains insights into how retailers are using social media, and which retailers are most successful on the major social networks:

1. Top retailers on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Youtube, including which content is working most for their audiences
2. The top social ads of all retailers in South Africa, including which ads are receiving the most traction on Facebook
3. An analysis of the consumer influencers in online retail, including noteable blogs and Twitter presences
4. A drill down of the top retailers’ social presences, analyzing their profiles, content & communities
5. Subjective analysis and insights into the retail segment and how social media has affected it, as well as what’s happening around the corner

To receive the report as soon as its released, as well as a full 25% discount on the purchase price, make sure to pre-order within the next 7 days. To pre-order, contact the reporting department at reports@fuseware.net.

• The report retails at R8000 – pre-order within 7 days to save R2000 and pay only R6000

The South African Social Media Landscape 2012 study, released by technology market researchers World Wide Worx and information analysts Fuseware, includes analysis of South African consumers’ use of Facebook, Twitter, Mxit, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Foursquare, as well as a survey conducted among corporate brand owners. The headline findings are graphically shown in the infographic below:

For more information and to purchase the full report, go to http://www.worldwideworx.com/corporate-social-2012/.

Fuseware provides reports, analysis and and news on social media usage by consumers and corporates. You should subscribe to this newsletter if

1. You want to be one of the first to know when new social media statistics and research are released
2. You are a marketer or work in the marketing, PR or communications departments of any brand and want to stay on top of industry trends
3. You are a CXX level executive and need to be informed on how social media ties into your company, products and overall industry

Large corporate brands in South Africa have woken up to social media, following in the footsteps of their customers.

The South African Social Media Landscape 2012 study, released today by technology market researchers World Wide Worx and information analysts Fuseware, reveals that 95% of major brands surveyed have some form of social media strategy aimed at consumers. However, only 51% rate their efforts on Facebook as effective – and only 33% believe they are effective on Twitter.

“The survey shows that corporate South Africa has woken up to social media, but it hasn’t yet figured out how to dress for the role,” says World Wide Worx managing director Arthur Goldstuck. “Most large companies are still neutral on the impact of social media, and are still feeling their way.”

The report includes analysis of South African consumers’ use of Facebook, Twitter, Mxit, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Foursquare, as well as a survey conducted among corporate brand owners. The headline findings of the consumer study were released at industry events in Johannesburg and Cape Town at the beginning of September, while the corporate findings are contained in the final report released today, along with detailed analysis of consumer trends.

“We interviewed representatives of 61 major brands, and found that corporate use of social networks tended to be a case of responding to media hype,” says Fuseware managing director Mike Wronski. “The most popular social media platform in South Africa, Mxit, is used as a marketing tool by only one out of five large brands. This compares to Facebook, with nine out 10 using it, and Youtube, with two out of three.”

Other key findings announced today include:

• 49% of South African corporations surveyed leave social media in the hands of a marketing team, while 18% allocate it to public relations and a further 18% outsource it;
• The most commonly cited reason for using social media is as an effective PR channel, with 70% of brands using it for this purpose, while 62% use it as a core part of their marketing campaigns;
• Sales represent a key element of social media for corporations, with 43% using it for customer lead generation;
• Only 13% of companies are using social media specifically because their competitors are using it;
• Most companies intend to make investments in training their current people in social media best practices. A full 36% intend to use specialist social media agencies to assist in their social media PR and marketing. Only 15% say their skills are optimal.

The survey shows that that corporate brands are also still getting to grips with how to measure their social media effectiveness. While 74% use number of followers as a key measure on Twitter, only 24% measure the number of their own customers who are followers. Similarly, while 72% measure effectiveness according to comments and mentions, only 40% consider Sentiment analysis, i.e. evaluating the positive or negative tone of the comments.

An even bigger gap is seen on Facebook, where 83% of brands live by comments and mentions, but only 37% use Sentiment analysis.

“The survey shows that companies haven’t quite figured out what is more important,” says Goldstuck. “It comes down to separating volume from value, and that takes time and energy, rather than just a dashboard of numbers.”

Wronski adds: “When we asked companies what barriers were preventing marketers from getting more value out of social media, the most commonly cited was, ‘Time to properly manage these channels’. This is the largest bottleneck to social media success. Brands are struggling to allocate resources and time to manage social channels.”

Download the executive summary of the SA Social Media Landscape 2012 report, including the above information as well as a full contents list, by clicking here.