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Also, in 2012 the decision was made to hire a strategic Branch Chairmen were encouraged to invite
communicator to allow CESA to react quickly to topical clients to the Regional Presidential Visits in order
issues in the media and to start the process of the to expose them to CESA.
organisation being able to drive important messages
Following research amongst delegates regarding
into the media. This ability to react timeously could
the CESA Annual Conference in 2012, it was
greatly enhance the organisations ability to be top-of-
decided that a great deal of input and planning
mind without the print media cost implications.
would be taken in the preparation of an excellent
Hence, in 2013, with significant budget constraints, speaker programme for the 11-12 November 2013
it was agreed to minimise the high impact marketing event to be held in Cape Town.
initiatives such as radio and paid print and consider
the “newer” marketing platforms for reaching
influencers. CESA was well positioned with its Social Media
strategic communicator and it was felt that CESA was
A social media strategy was formulated and
ready to enter the realms of social media and time to
implemented in 2013 to create awareness about
test these platforms.
CESA and reach users who would benefit from the
A very low-key approach would be adopted to broader organisation. It was also agreed to start a social
marketing activities: media drive to educate viewers on what CESA is and
what they do in order to grow the CESA name in the
online space. Social Media requires specific skills
Print Advertising and it was agreed to hire a specialist social media
firm to manage this process. The three platforms that
Business Day on 29th August 2013
were developed are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn,
This feature focused solely on the CESA Aon since these three platforms are more commonly used
Engineering Excellence Awards and was to be in South Africa and will provide the greatest reach to
funded by member firm advertising contributions. the target market:
In order to make the feature viable CESA had to
Facebook
make a contribution to the costs of the feature.
Facebook continues to grow and by September 2013
Regional features CESA had 1660 fans and the page had been seen
118 500 times by 71 000 users since creation. The
It was agreed that these would be considered
demographics of the individuals sharing content is
for KZN (The Mercury), the Eastern Cape (The
similar to those who view the content males (82%)
Herald) and Western Cape (Cape Times) during
between the ages of 18 – 24.
October 2013, but would be dependent on
member firm advertising contributions. No budget Twitter
would be allocated. By September 2013 CESA had acquired 60 followers
on Twitter. A strategy has been put in place by the
Social Media sub-committee to increase conversation
Direct Marketing and response times that will dramatically improve

following. There are more male (78%) than female
Direct Marketing initiatives remained constant and
followers and the users are between the ages of 25-
included the following:
34 and 45-54.
Increasing member awareness of what CESA LinkedIn
CESA Annual Review 2012 / 2013 Various National Client Liaison Committees have started to post press releases.
does through our quarterly magazine, Inside
The CESA LinkedIn page has grown to 52 followers
Track, and the fortnightly newsletter (e-News).
and is seeing more engagement since we have
Principals were encouraged to circulate these to
all staff. The YPF also assisted by sending these
to all Young Professionals.
Public Relations

CESA continued to enjoy extensive coverage in both
been re-established and, where appropriate,
the business and technical press at very little cost
National Chairmen are liaising with their Regional
to the Organisation. Newsworthy issues have been
counterparts.

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