In Africa’s fast-growing digital economy, brands are under increasing pressure to be visible, relevant, and culturally connected. Social media has made this easier than ever. Campaigns have the potential to reach millions in a matter of hours. Influencers can influence public perception almost instantly. AI can enhance messaging at scale.
However, an emerging challenge that numerous brands are just starting to recognise when advertising on these platforms is becoming apparent: visibility is no longer the risk, credibility is.
Across the continent, there is a noticeable change in the way audiences interact with brand campaigns. What once would have been a controlled marketing rollout is now an open, real-time public forum where consumers do not just receive messages, they interrogate them. When credibility is missing, campaigns do not just underperform. They unravel.
Recent instances in South Africa illustrate how promotional campaigns can rapidly escalate when audiences utilise comment sections to express underlying frustrations, from unresolved customer complaints to a wider erosion of trust in institutions. What begins as a brand awareness effort can rapidly escalate into a reputational flashpoint, amplified by the very platforms meant to drive engagement.
This is the new reality of digital communication: Brand campaigns are no longer judged only by their creative execution in advertising, but also by the credibility of social media influencers and engagement in the comment sections.
The growth of influencer marketing has added complexity to this dynamic. Although influencers provide extensive reach and relatability, they cannot substitute for proper verification. Campaigns that depend exclusively on personality-driven amplification, without a foundation in credible, fact-checked information, are inherently vulnerable.
Artificial intelligence is intensifying this challenge by enabling faster content creation, broader distribution, and optimisation for engagement with remarkable efficiency. However, AI does not validate the accuracy of information. It scales whatever it is given, including weak, misleading, or poorly contextualised messaging.
This is where the importance of journalism becomes critical again.
Verification, context, and accountability
For many years, traditional media have been perceived as slower, more inflexible, and less responsive compared to digital platforms. But in an ecosystem flooded with content, its value is becoming clearer: verification, context, and accountability.
Brands that integrate journalistic principles into their communication strategies — whether through credible media partnerships, fact-checked narratives, or transparent messaging — are more likely to build consumer trust that can withstand public scrutiny.
Because in the current environment, every campaign is a conversation. Every conversation is subject to challenge. The brands that will succeed in today’s digital economy are not the ones seen most. They are the ones who can stand up to being questioned.
Credibility is not just a supporting element of a communication strategy. It is the foundation and without it, even the most well-funded campaigns risk going viral for all the wrong reasons.
Author: Glodine Makapela
Glodine Makapela is a media relations specialist at OnpointPR and a content contributor with recent publications in TechFinancials (South Africa) and Techeconomy (Nigeria), where she examines the intersection of digital influencing and an AI-driven environment, particularly focusing on the importance of aligning credible journalism with the expanding digital economy.
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