An analysis of the use of visual storytelling by South African brands to promote brand engagement on social networks
- Authors: Gwatiringa, Tsitsi
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Digital storytelling -- South Africa , Branding (Marketing) -- South Africa , Social media -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7533 , vital:21799
- Description: Stories have the ability to evoke feelings and emotions in humans and have since been used by brands as part of corporate communication, communicating their vision and values. However, the growing technological trends have not only shifted the platforms for communication but also changed the techniques of communication as audiences on social media expect two-way communication instead of the traditionally used one-way communication. This is exacerbated by the power of word-of-mouth on social media as well as the presence of digital natives who are increasingly visual in their nderstanding and are immersed in their lives online. This has given rise to the use of visual storytelling as a corporate communication strategy as brands are using it to connect, transmit and receive messages from their audiences. This study examines the ways in which South African brands are making use of visual storytelling on social media and aims to determine the extent to which the use of visual storytelling promotes brand-audience engagement. The study is based on the philosophical assumptions of the Visual Rhetoric framework, which is concerned with the symbolic processes by which images perform communication. The hermeneutic – interpretive research method design is applied to justify knowledge produced by this study. A content analysis of six social media pages was conducted, looking at the visual content posted as well as interpretation of comments and interactions by fans of the selected brand pages. Overall, South African brands make use of visual storytelling to promote brand-audience engagement but they are not utilising the communication strategy to its fullest extent.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Gwatiringa, Tsitsi
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Digital storytelling -- South Africa , Branding (Marketing) -- South Africa , Social media -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7533 , vital:21799
- Description: Stories have the ability to evoke feelings and emotions in humans and have since been used by brands as part of corporate communication, communicating their vision and values. However, the growing technological trends have not only shifted the platforms for communication but also changed the techniques of communication as audiences on social media expect two-way communication instead of the traditionally used one-way communication. This is exacerbated by the power of word-of-mouth on social media as well as the presence of digital natives who are increasingly visual in their nderstanding and are immersed in their lives online. This has given rise to the use of visual storytelling as a corporate communication strategy as brands are using it to connect, transmit and receive messages from their audiences. This study examines the ways in which South African brands are making use of visual storytelling on social media and aims to determine the extent to which the use of visual storytelling promotes brand-audience engagement. The study is based on the philosophical assumptions of the Visual Rhetoric framework, which is concerned with the symbolic processes by which images perform communication. The hermeneutic – interpretive research method design is applied to justify knowledge produced by this study. A content analysis of six social media pages was conducted, looking at the visual content posted as well as interpretation of comments and interactions by fans of the selected brand pages. Overall, South African brands make use of visual storytelling to promote brand-audience engagement but they are not utilising the communication strategy to its fullest extent.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
An investigation into the role of social media in the 2014 South African general election
- Authors: Numa, Esethu
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Social media -- South Africa , Communication in politics -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/5271 , vital:20833
- Description: The citizens of a state make sense of political parties from what is communicated about the parties as well as how that message is communicated. The use of social media, as a campaign communication vehicle, by political parties and voters is increasing, which brings rise to the need to examine the role of social media in South African politics. This study, which is a necessary exploration of political communication in South Africa, particularly on social media post-1994, looks at the scope of political communication on social media pre and post the 2014 elections in South Africa. Through a content analysis, this study analyses the communication messages of political parties on Twitter and the public‟s response to those messages. Furthermore, drawing from the theories of Framing and Agenda setting, this study explores how issues are framed on social media as well as the agenda setting role of social media. The study also identifies the issues that present themselves in political communication through social media in South Africa, and proposes ways in which the political parties could campaign more compellingly and effectively on social media.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Numa, Esethu
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Social media -- South Africa , Communication in politics -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/5271 , vital:20833
- Description: The citizens of a state make sense of political parties from what is communicated about the parties as well as how that message is communicated. The use of social media, as a campaign communication vehicle, by political parties and voters is increasing, which brings rise to the need to examine the role of social media in South African politics. This study, which is a necessary exploration of political communication in South Africa, particularly on social media post-1994, looks at the scope of political communication on social media pre and post the 2014 elections in South Africa. Through a content analysis, this study analyses the communication messages of political parties on Twitter and the public‟s response to those messages. Furthermore, drawing from the theories of Framing and Agenda setting, this study explores how issues are framed on social media as well as the agenda setting role of social media. The study also identifies the issues that present themselves in political communication through social media in South Africa, and proposes ways in which the political parties could campaign more compellingly and effectively on social media.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Investigating the radical democratic potential of social media use by new social movements in South Africa
- Authors: Zdanow, Carla
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Social media -- South Africa , Social movements -- South Africa , Neoliberalism -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/4310 , vital:20583
- Description: Since its inception, the internet ‒ and in particular Web 2.0 ‒ have been valorized as potentially revolutionary democratic spaces. Despite the emergence of concerns over the progressively neoliberal orientation and narcissistic effects of the internet, evidence of the radical democratic potential of this media has received considerable attention. This thesis is orientated around both an exploration of such evidence, and a consideration of its relevance for South Africa. In this regard, the thesis commences with an exploration of the neoliberal underpinnings of the internet and the growing translation of dominant neoliberal discourses into the online practices of mainstream liberal democratic politics. Focus then shifts toward the mounting influence of alternative radical democratic positions online, through an investigation of the virtual manifestations of deliberative, autonomous, and agonistic approaches to radical democracy. And following an examination of the online political practices of selected recent global social movements, the primacy of agonism in online expressions of radical democracy is advanced. In turn, resonances and dissonances between the online activity and practices of such global social movements, and the use of the internet and social media by well-known South African new social movements, are explored. Finally, this thesis concludes by recommending a fourfold new media approach through which the agonistic radical democratic potential of the internet can be realized more fully by the new social movements of South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Zdanow, Carla
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Social media -- South Africa , Social movements -- South Africa , Neoliberalism -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/4310 , vital:20583
- Description: Since its inception, the internet ‒ and in particular Web 2.0 ‒ have been valorized as potentially revolutionary democratic spaces. Despite the emergence of concerns over the progressively neoliberal orientation and narcissistic effects of the internet, evidence of the radical democratic potential of this media has received considerable attention. This thesis is orientated around both an exploration of such evidence, and a consideration of its relevance for South Africa. In this regard, the thesis commences with an exploration of the neoliberal underpinnings of the internet and the growing translation of dominant neoliberal discourses into the online practices of mainstream liberal democratic politics. Focus then shifts toward the mounting influence of alternative radical democratic positions online, through an investigation of the virtual manifestations of deliberative, autonomous, and agonistic approaches to radical democracy. And following an examination of the online political practices of selected recent global social movements, the primacy of agonism in online expressions of radical democracy is advanced. In turn, resonances and dissonances between the online activity and practices of such global social movements, and the use of the internet and social media by well-known South African new social movements, are explored. Finally, this thesis concludes by recommending a fourfold new media approach through which the agonistic radical democratic potential of the internet can be realized more fully by the new social movements of South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
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