Hey everyone,

It seems that the South Africa section is more organized than ever, with a steady stream of developments to talk about and amazing gallery threads which should be bringing in more lurkers and more people to post.

I think we need to start brainstorming and recording our ideas on how to market ourselves on SSC (non-spam methods) as well as outside of SSC.

I think having more members would really brighten this place up, and would make it the best it could be.

-thryve

-Maybe capetonians.com would be a good place to advertise?

-University campuses?
(I can make a poster... Tom, Mo, etc... would you post it up at your university?)

Thryve,
I have a posted in a thread about SCC on the capetonians.com forum. Also posted some new pics from that site in SSC. They have some nice pics there

^^ Okay, thanks.

But I think we need a more pre-planned, recognizable trademark for advertising. We need to plan out a quick strategy, and then go all out.

I'm hoping we can bring in alot more people eventually-- but we need plans first.

Theres always the classifieds section, below adult entertainment........ just joking,

Hmm, advertising, will think up of somthing & get back to you.

dysan studies marketing? i think...what do u say dysan?

make a video of SSC SA & put it on youtube :D

Also guys, we need to participate more on the global oriented forums on SSC like infrastructure, mobility etc by posting SA pictures on these forums. I was lurking around these forums and realised that there is little content from SA. Just a thought.

^^ Yes, but un-called-for threads of photos can be annoying to everyone, and often considered 'spam'. But then again, if we put South Africa's developments and infrastructure out there a little more, it should work.

Creative ideas are good by default-- I very much like the YouTube video idea, to be honest. We could add a million tags relating it to peoples' searches. (ex. urban, South Africa, city, cities, buildings, architecture, developments, real estate, architecture, architect, etc. etc.) Having our own TV ads will be cool.

Keep the ideas coming, everyone. In the meantime, I'm putting some stuff together.

I rate we start posting some of the impressive skyline and street level shots of joburg, durban and cape town in threads such as Cityscapes and Skylines. The few pics of SA on the rest of the forum are mostly old pics of Joburg in it's deepest rut. I don't think these give an accurate representation at all, and i seriously think we should open a dedicated South Africa and its Cities thread in Cityscapes and Skylines. I think this will give us the adequate exposure, and i can guarantee you many ppl will be shocked at how far along SA is

Yes... there'd be no harm in sugarcoating it, I think. We need to put ourselves on par, and show photos of the new shops opening, the new vitality... Johannesburg suffers from a poor image by far. Durban and Cape Town still come across as rejuvenated or atleast nice cities, it seems.

Im back at Uwc. will make some posters to advertise SSC on campus.

I'll put some up around Architecture and urban planning @ Wits..

Okay-- I'll have a poster made up before too long. And perhaps a video for YouTube. That'll draw non-SSCers in to our section, hopefully.

In terms of marketing ourselves within SSC, I think all we need to do is keep posting the best photos of our cities outside and in the Cityscapes and Skylines section. Phototours of Cape Town always generate alot of attention because of how quaint and attractive it is. Any photos that show Durban or Johannesburg well are also not a bad idea to post. Often Johannesburg isn't put forth as a very attractive place. Perhaps our nicest shots of the CBD, as well as photos of the cute parts of the northern suburbs would be the best way to approach that.

Busy putting together a thread for Joburg in the Cityscapes and Skylines Section. I'm just compiling all the good pics from the Joburg pics thread, and including a few captions added from ppl. I apologize if you don't get any recognition :(.. I've taken the liberty of only posting the good/snazzy looking pics, as if ppl wanna see the 'other' Joburg, they can easily find it with all the crap pics posted around SSC. I'm sure i will get some trouble from this, but i dont honestly give a crap. I am portraying the Joburg i know and love, and if ppl dont like it, they can stuff off. I will post a link shortly :)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8 :) - Good collection i think..

as an example, i have put a thread yesterday on the SkyscraperCity > World Forums > Infrastructure and Mobility> Subways and Urban Transport, which is attracting quite a fair amount of views on Gautrain. I found out people don't know much about what is happening in SA and they are actually quite interested in new infrastructure development or just simply what SA offers.
See this link below on the thread.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=445241