As brands extend their reach, social media platforms are increasingly becoming tools to draw in consumers and grow brand presence through influential millennials — the generation born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s.
According to StatsSA data, more than 36% of the population is made up of people between the ages of 15 and 34.
Brand influencers are becoming a canvas for brands to curate their identities to appeal to their "connected" customers.
In the past two years social media culture has created new paths of employment for younger generations, creating platforms for micro-influencers. A micro-influencer is anyone who has between 1,000 and 100,000 followers and is defined as not "insta-famous" but carrying more clout to a committed audience.
"Once people understand the power of social media, you can live for free," said Manthe Ribane, a multidisciplinary artist and one of South Africa's most influential personalities on social media.
Ribane has more than 11,000 followers on Instagram and has worked with brands such as Nike, Dokter and Misses and Simon and Mary. More recently she collaborated with Woolworths' in-house brand Edition with her siblings, collectively known as Dear Ribane, who have just more than 1,800 followers.
"We got approached by Woolies last year.They were reintroducing their in-house brand Edition ... and we were one of the selected influencers," said Ribane.
"I'm glad that mainstream companies are aware of what's coming and want to gravitate towards people that are more driven and more creative."
Famously known for launching new faces on their campaign, Woolworth has previously worked with micro-influencers who are now "instafamous" such as Sarah Langa who has 147,000 follwers on Instagram and Tshepi Vundla with 97,000.
Now working with Ribane and her siblings Tebogo and Kay, Shaheda Sayed, head of brand communications for Woolworths Fashion, Beauty and Home, said social media was the new recruitment agency. "It's alive 24x7x365 and their followers vote instantly whether they like [something] or not."
Neo Mashigo, a creative partner at M&C Saatchi South Africa, said: "Working with micro-influencers gives your brand more authenticity than working with celebrities. There was a point when consumers believed celebrities use the brand and now they're aware that to celebrities it's just deals."
It's "like a word of mouth platform but it's digital ... because this person has built a small community that follows them for a particular reason".
Mashigo said there were many influencers and the key was to identify people who were good for the brand and a brand that would be good for them.
According to research by Mediakix, an influencer marketing research house, the global market is estimated to be worth at least $1-billion (about R11.8-billion) and expected to grow to $2-billion by 2019.
"The decline of traditional TV and the growth of social media have given rise to influencer marketing, now one of the fastest-growing categories in advertising and projected to be a $5-billion to $10-billion market by 2020," the research house said.
Ribane said social media had become more like a work space. "It's your website and you're building a brand and if you take care of it, it can take care of you."
Depending on how many projects they had worked on, "we know we can pay rent, make groceries and maintain our lifestyles".
Micro-influencers are used to assist brands reach a targeted audience.
Peter Shackleton, marketing and merchandise executive at Truworths, said: "Brands use influencers to reach a wider audience, and we have seen that using influencers to achieve this has been effective for Truworths."
Truworths' summer campaign featured micro-influencer Cassandra Twala with more than 25,000 followers. "We were looking for influencers who would connect our brand with their fashion-loving following," said Shackleton.
"We find that influencers should be a natural fit with our brands based on their personal style and following.
"We use social media and various online channels to find influencers who would connect our brand with their fashion following. "It all depends on the objective of the campaign - it can be anything from a few thousand followers upwards," said Shackleton.
But has celebrity endorsement become a thing of the past?
Mashigo believes social media became a place where normal people became brands themselves, with followers and influence, but celebrities would always be there.
"Rihanna will have her own brand like Fenty but will endorse another brand that's not in conflict with hers like Puma.
"It's how marketing and consumers have moved to another area and it's a powerful space," said Mashigo.
Estimates of the amount that can be paid to influencers range from R5,000 to R20,000 a post if they come highly recommended. Whether it's a fashion influencer working with restaurants or a mommy blogger working with a fashion brand, the results show that working with influencers outside of a core industry can reach new audiences and raise further awareness for a brand.
Yet Ribane said that while different brands wanted to work with them, they were faced with the challenge that they are too futuristic.
"We have to balance the normality of the brand and still keep it original to what Dear Ribane is."
"There's power in social media and people need to think how they create content that is different from anyone [else] so that brands approach you. As much as I'm inspired by other people that I follow, it was about finding my own voice that made me different," she said.
Online is where the spending is happening
South African consumers are starting to catch online-shopping fever, prompting traditional retailers to up their game.
There is no separate category for capturing online sales in Stats SA data, where online spending is in the category of "other" retail sales along with sectors such as jewellery and used goods.
And the "other" category was a key contributor to the 8.3% increase in the latest retail sales, of November 2017, when "other" retailers recorded the highest annual growth rate, at 20.8%.
Kevin Lings, chief economist at Stanlib, said online shopping was likely to be the main reason for this.
The South African market has seen the rise of online stores such as Takealot.com, Zando and Spree.
At the moment these online stores are cheaper than brick and mortar shops - part of a strategy to make consumers comfortable with online payments.
"Once people have gotten used to it, it doesn't mean that online shopping will always be cheaper," Lings said.
Some traditional retailers, such as Pick n Pay and Woolworths, have responded to the challenge by offering online shopping.
Annabel Bishop, chief economist at Investec, said it was likely that retailers who still relied on in-store shopping alone would lose market share.
While one needed a credit card to make online payments in the past, Bishop said the ease of payments online had helped grow the online shopping industry, especially because of improved online security.
Those who are comfortable with technology have also started using payment apps such as Zapper and Snapscan.
Both Lings and Bishop said it was particularly the younger generation that enjoyed the experience of online shopping at their desk computer and other places of work via phones and other handheld devices, because they had adapted faster to technology.
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