Only about two years after its launch, a Chamber of Mines (CoM) campaign to demonstrate the positive contributions of the mining industry to South Africans has managed to maintain a community engagement score of 10%, well above the 7% benchmark.

CoM transformation and stakeholder relations senior executive Vusi Mabena says the Mine campaign is a community fan page on social network Facebook that serves as an official source of information, insights, perspectives and opinions of everything pertaining to mining in South Africa. The CoM believes that the fan page helps ordinary South Africans understand the significant role mining plays in their lives.

He further notes that, when the CoM started the campaign, almost 90% of the participants had a negative perception of the mining industry and its contributions to the wellbeing of South Africans.

This negativity was exacerbated by the events at platinum miner Lonmin’s Marikana mine, in the North West. The campaign was launched shortly thereafter. However, Mabena points out that, over time, the postings have resulted in a positive debate about mining.

“Currently, there are about 19 000 fans who participate regularly on the page, [but] I can confirm that, on some of our postings, we were able to reach far more than that number of regular fans. Since the launch of the campaign, we have had more than 100 000 people who have either heard of or seen our social media page,” he points out.

Marketing company Quirk head of strategy Gerard du Plessis, responsible for the CoM’s integrated marketing agency, says that this was definitely one of the most challenging and exciting projects Quirk has ever worked on, and it was important for the agency to conceive a campaign that would be relevant and appealing to all South Africans.

Du Plessis explains that the campaign was a result of the CoM’s need to encourage positive communication around the mining sector. This provided the opportunity for Quirk to develop an exciting new brand for the South African mining industry, which would encourage more people to engage with the mining sector. Going the social network route allowed the CoM to tap into an already active audience and raise awareness of the sector.

The CoM mentions that it is encouraging to note that individuals who participate on the fan page are already giving positive answers to the questions or statements placed by other community members, even before the CoM responds to those questions and queries.

Another positive factor about the campaign is that it has provided a platform from which the Chamber can dispel misconceptions about the sector.

Mabena also highlights that reaching such a large number of people who are fans of the campaign is the result mostly of word-of-mouth marketing.

“We started with our own members who promoted the page via their own Facebook presence and also shared the link with their respective stakeholders, and so the following has grown,” he explains.

Since its launch, the page has also profiled successful individuals in the sector as a way of increasing awareness of the brand and building a nation that is proud of mining in South Africa, the CoM points out.

“We have paved the way for healthy engagement on the topic of mining, creating a platform that all South Africans can use to express how eminent the mining industry is while not being shy to discuss those areas of the industry that need attention. “What remains important to us is providing rich and exciting content that resonates with our audience and in which the whole of South Africa can engage, while advocating the benefits mining brings to our nation,” Mabena highlights.

The CoM also has a Twitter account, which it uses to extend the campaign. Although it has not grown at the same rate as the Facebook fan page, it has more than 800 followers, which the CoM believes is likely to increase in the near future.

“We are also exploring the use of YouTube to supplement Facebook and Twitter, as there is so much engaging visual content of the industry that we would like to share,” he concludes.