Best Social Media Management Companies in South Africa 2018

This is an older article. For the 2020 version please click here.

We’ve recently seen the election of a CNN Social Media Director, Samantha Barry, and succeeding Cindi Leive at Glamour. Why is this so surprising? Samantha Barry has absolutely zero magazine or print experience, which is a radical transformation for one of the most popular prints of the 2000’s.  This gives us a bit of insight into the way the world is transforming – a decade ago, jobs such as Social Media Manager, Director – or anything along those lines for that matter did not exist.

Social Media Management (and presence, of course) is the crux of any successful business – whether it be a start-up looking for exposure, an established brand seeking better customer interaction, or a corporate and international body seeking better ways to publish news to a newer, more tech-savvy audience.

For this reason, the industry has exploded, not just locally – but throughout the world. Social Media Management companies are popping up all over the place – with one shared promise: exposure.

Not all Social Media Management companies are created equal, though, so we’ve compiled a list of some of the most diversity-showing companies – some of which focus mostly on the management of social platforms for their clients, and others which offer a full service package.

Social Media Management Companies in Gauteng

• HashtagSA

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/pg/hashtagsouthafrica/about/?ref=page_internal

Website: http://hashtagsa.com/

What We Like:

Their Facebook page (i.e. – one of the most popular social media platforms) is quite something. They have a YouTube presence – which is nice in terms of being able to put a face to the name; not just any face, though; Conrad Davies’ face to be exact. This lends an air of transparency to the company, which we love.

Their service offerings are in-depth, and ahead of their time:

• Online Marketing
• Social Media (management, consulting, training and strategy)
• Cloud Computing
• Fibre Communications (consumer, Vodacom and enterprise)
• Mobile Applications
• Augmented Reality
• Web Development
• Digital Advertising
• Public Relations

• HelloYes Marketing

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/HelloYesMarketing/

Website: https://www.helloyes.co.za/

What We Like:

Their service offerings are expansive, and incorporate various methods of social interaction and brand activation / awareness. – as well as some more traditional forms of customer engagement.

• Branding
• Campaign Management
• Design
• Digital Marketing
• Google AdWords
• Media Buying and Planning
• Media Production
• Photography
• Print
• Reporting
• SEO (not sure what this is? Click here)
• SMM (not sure what this is? Click here)
• Strategic Planning
• Website Design and Development

Yes, many other social media management companies offer a lot of this, but the addition of “classical” marketing strategies within their service offering is what makes them stand out, to us. Can’t hurt to use some old and some new methods!

Social Media Management Companies in Cape Town

• Creative Spark

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/brandsparkcreative/

Website: http://www.creativespark.co.za/

What We Like:

Okay, this one took a little bit of investigation, until we stumbled upon their clients. Yes, their Facebook page may seem a bit quiet, but a company must be doing something right to have a list of client’s such as:

• Governmental Department
• Gautrain
• Naspers
• Philips
• Coca-Cola
• eTV
• Heineken
• Afro Centric
• SABC
• Ndalo Media
• DStv Digital Media
• Huggies
• Baby Soft
• Kleenex
• Kotex
• EOH
• Bonita’s
• Canal Walk
• UltraMel
• YogiSip
• NutriDay

Need any more convincing?

• Scope Agency

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/SCOPEagency/

Website: https://www.scopeagency.co.za/

What We Like:

This is one of those companies who place their main focus on Social Media Management – and all the aspects therein. They have not spread themselves too thin, but have rather chosen to improve their core offerings to those who need specialised social media management.

They offer Community Management – where they connect and engage with the client’s audience on social media. Looking for crisis management or community engagement? They handle all of their client’s online communication efforts, with their focus on building excellent relationships.

Their other service offerings include:

• Social Media Management
• Influencer Management
• Paid Marketing
• Personal Branding
• Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Copywriting
• Influencer Management
• PPC Advertising
• Analytical Reporting
• Email Marketing
• Strategic Consultancy
• Personal Branding
• e-Commerce Solutions
• Re-Marketing
• Community Management
• Design
• Web Development & Branding 

Social Media Management Companies in Durban

• Deepcurrent

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/deepcurrent/

Website: http://www.deepcurrent.co.za/social_media_marketing_management_services_durban_south_africa/

What We Like:

Many social media management companies focus the lion’s share of their efforts into desktop-compatible content. DeepCurrent seems to understand the need for mobile-friendly content and development; think about it, are you more likely to be browsing interesting content from a client of theirs via your phone, or your desktop? Probably your phone, along with cat video’s. #JustSaying
Their mobile offering includes:

• Mobi Websites
• Mobile Applications (Apps)
• SMS Shortcodes & Keywords
• QR Codes
• Airtime Vouchers
• Location Based Solutions
• Bulk SMS Gateway
• USSD Application Development

• BombHQ

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/BombHQ/

Website: http://www.bombhq.co.za/

What We Like:

We have touched on the difference between generalist and specialist social media companies, and BombHQ is a great showcase for generalist digital marketing.

Their offerings are a great indication of this:

• Responsive Web Design: explosive website design and development across any device, from desktop to feature phone.
• Social Media: management of profiles and pages, create awesome content and make them go BOOM!
• Digital Campaigns: grab the attention and reach your exact target market and with creative digital campaigns.
• Search Engine Marketing: SEO, PPC, GDN and other acronyms which mean bigger reach and more traffic to your website.
• Content Creation: if you prefer to self-manage your pages, they will create your content.
• E-Commerce: if you are thinking about taking your business online, their offerings range from consultation to creation.

But, What About Us?

Surprised to not see Digital Results listed here? We aren’t 🙂 While we know our service offerings are developed, tailored and maintained for each customer, we classify ourselves as an un-agency.

What’s that, you ask? Our clients vary from automotive, medical equipment all the way through to e-commerce sites. We don’t limit ourselves to offering social-media or digital related services. We are neither specialists, nor generalists. We’re simply an affordable solution to a wide-spanning problem.

Our team of specialists have an incredibly diverse background; you might enjoy the story of how we started. 8 years ago we started a coffee business called Aquaspresso (which we still run today). After starting our business, we quickly realised that if you have no customers, you have no business (pretty obvious but pretty jarring); we were good on the sales side but sucked at marketing which led us to reach out to a bunch of marketing companies and in particular digital marketing companies.

After being let down for the fourth time, we made the decision that if we ever wanted to grow our business successfully, we had to become masters at this marketing stuff. Over the next 8 years, we lived digital marketing and sales in our coffee business. Our customers started asking us “who is doing your marketing” to which we replied – it’s just us; to which they replied – cool, can you do our marketing?

This brought us to the realisation that there are so many companies out there going through what we went through; getting constantly let-down by digital marketing companies who have never run other businesses themselves and have never been on the customers end where return-on-investment is the only thing that matters. Real measurable results are the only thing that matters (customers paying you money) whereas, vanity metrics such as likes, comments and clicks are nice but don’t pay the bills.

Our offerings speak for themselves:

• Conversion Optimisation
• Facebook Marketing
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Outsourced Sales Services – Appointment Setting Services

Check us out here:

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/digitalresults1/

Website: https://digitalresults.co.za/

For a comprehensive list of each and every digital or social media management company country wide, check out this BizCommunity article right here.

*All agencies listed here have not been voted “best” by us, we have simply based our decision to include them for what we consider outstanding features and services they offer. If you would like your name featured, pop us a reply in the comment box below and we’ll be onto it immediately.