Social Media Marketing A Strategic Approach 2nd Edition Ebook PDF Version

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 58

Social Media Marketing: A Strategic

Approach 2nd Edition – Ebook PDF


Version
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/social-media-marketing-a-strategic-approach-2nd-edit
ion-ebook-pdf-version/
Social
Media
Marketing
A S t r at e g i c
Approach
Second Edition

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Social
Media
Marketing
A S t r at e g i c
Approach
Second Edition

Melissa S. Barker
Donald I. Barker
N i c o l a s F. B o r m a n n
Mary Lou Roberts
Debra Zahay

Australia • Brazil • Mexico • Singapore • United Kingdom • United States

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
This is an electronic version of the print textbook. Due to electronic rights restrictions, some third party content may be suppressed. Editorial
review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. The publisher reserves the right to
remove content from this title at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. For valuable information on pricing, previous
editions, changes to current editions, and alternate formats, please visit www.cengage.com/highered to search by
ISBN#, author, title, or keyword for materials in your areas of interest.

Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the eBook version.

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Social Media Marketing: A Strategic © 2017, 2013 Cengage Learning®
Approach, Second Edition WCN: 02-300
Melissa S. Barker, Donald I. Barker
Nicolas F. Bormann, Mary Lou Roberts, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein
Debra Zahay may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, except as
permitted by U.S. copyright law, without the prior written permission of the
Vice President, General Manager, Social Science copyright owner.
& Qualitative Business: Erin Joyner
Product Director: Jason Fremder For product information and technology assistance, contact us at
Senior Product Manager: Mike Roche Cengage Learning Customer & Sales Support, 1-800-354-9706

Product Assistant: Allie Janneck For permission to use material from this text or product,
submit all requests online at www.cengage.com/permissions
Content Developer: Ted Knight Further permissions questions can be emailed to
Marketing Director: Kristen Hurd [email protected]

Marketing Manager: Jeffrey A. Tousignant


Marketing Coordinator: Casey Binder ExamView® is a registered trademark of eInstruction Corp. Windows is
a ­registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation used herein under
Art and Cover Direction, Production Manage- ­license. Macintosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple
ment, and Composition: Lumina Datamatics, ­Computer, Inc. used herein under license.
Inc.
© 2008 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Intellectual Property:
Analyst: Diane Garrity Library of Congress Control Number: 2015960964
Project Manager: Betsy Hathaway Student Edition
Manufacturing Planner: Ron Montgomery ISBN: 978-1-305-50275-8

Cover Image(s): iStockphoto.com/Rawpixel Ltd


Cengage Learning
20 Channel Center Street
Boston, MA 02210
USA
Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning solutions
with employees residing in nearly 40 different countries and sales in more
than 125 countries around the world. Find your local representative at
www.cengage.com.
Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by Nelson Education, Ltd.
To learn more about Cengage Learning Solutions, visit www.cengage.com
Purchase any of our products at your local college store or at our preferred
online store www.cengagebrain.com
Unless otherwise noted, all items are © Cengage Learning

Printed in the United States of America


Print Number: 01 Print Year: 2016

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Listen

Brief Contents Tune

Preface xi
About the Authors xii
Acknowledgments xiv

Chapter 1 | The Role of Social Media Marketing 1

Chapter 2 | Goals and Strategies 22

Chapter 3 | Identifying Target Audiences 41

Chapter 4 | Rules of Engagement for SMM 60

Chapter 5 | Social Media Platforms and Social Networking Sites 77

Chapter 6 | Microblogging 99

Chapter 7 | Content Creation and Sharing: Blogging, Streaming Video,


Podcasts, and Webinars 113

Chapter 8 | Video Marketing 141

Chapter 9 | Marketing on Photo Sharing Sites 157

Chapter 10 | Discussion, News, Social Bookmarking, and Q&A Sites 175

Chapter 11 | Content Marketing: Publishing Articles, White Papers,


and E-Books 193

Chapter 12 | Mobile Marketing on Social Networks 206

Chapter 13 | Social Media Monitoring 227

Chapter 14 | Tools for Managing the Social Media Marketing Effort 249

Chapter 15 | Social Media Marketing Plan 269

Appendix | XYZ Coffee Company Social Media Marketing Plan 303

Index 319 v

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Tools
Goals
Contents Strategies

Preface xi
About the Authors xii
Acknowledgments xiv

Chapter 1 | The Role of Social Media Marketing 1


What Is SMM? 2
The Seven Myths of SMM 4
The History of SMM 11
Why SMM Is Different 14
Careers in SMM 15
What Are the Characteristics of a Successful Social Media Marketer? 18
Best Practices for SMM 19
Notes 19

Chapter 2 | Goals and Strategies 22


What Is a SMM Plan? 23
SMM Planning Cycle 23
Listen and Observe: Five Stages 25
Listen and Observe: Listening Centers 28
Setting Goals and Objectives 31
Determining Strategies 35
Linking Goals with a Call to Action 36
Self-Promotion vs. Building an Army of Advocates 37
Best Practices for Developing a Social Media Strategy 39
Notes 39

Chapter 3 | Identifying Target Audiences 41


The Importance of Targeting in SMM 41
The Targeting Process in SMM 42
Targeting Ads and Posts on Social Platforms 51
Best Practices for Targeting Branded Posts 56
Notes 57

vi

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Chapter 4 | Rules of Engagement for SMM 60
Permission vs. Interruption Marketing: Developing the Social Contract 61
Initial Entry Strategy: Passive vs. Active 64
Principles for Success 64
SMM Ethics 68
Making Ethical Decisions 70
Global Perspective 71
Best Practices: Following the Rules of Engagement for SMM 72
Notes 75

Chapter 5 | Social Media Platforms and Social Networking Sites 77


List of Social Media Platforms 77
A Brief History of Social Networks 79
Benefits of Marketing with Social Networks 82
Marketing with Social Networks 85
Why Use a White Label Social Network? 90
The Future of Social Networks 90
Notes 95

Chapter 6 | Microblogging 99
What Is Microblogging? 100
A Brief History of Microblogging 100
Different Uses for Microblogging 101
Building Your Brand Online 103
Building a Twitter Following 105
Best Practices for Crafting an Effective Twitter Channel 107
Marketing with Microblogging 109
Notes 111

Chapter 7 | Content Creation and Sharing: Blogging, Streaming


Video, Podcasts, and Webinars 113
Creating a Content Strategy 113
Blog History 116
What Is a Blog? 117
Creating and Promoting a Blog 117
Everyone Is a Publisher 120
Marketing Benefits of Blogging 122
Linking a Blog to Marketing Objectives 123
Monitoring the Blogosphere 123
Video Streaming in the Social Media Mix 123

CONTENTS vii

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
A Brief History of Podcasting 125
Creating and Sharing Podcasts 125
Marketing with Podcasting 127
Hosting Webinars 129
Marketing with Webinars and/or Podcasts 131
Best Practices for Blogging, Podcasting, Video Sharing, and Webinars 132
Notes 136

Chapter 8 | Video Marketing 141


Viral Videos—Numa Numa and the Old Spice Guy 142
Consumer Use of Video 143
Benefits of Marketing with Online Videos 145
How to Create Appealing Video Content 150
Notes 154

Chapter 9 | Marketing on Photo Sharing Sites 157


The Growing Importance of Visual Marketing 157
A Brief History of Photo Sharing 161
Benefits of Marketing with Online Photos and Other Images 165
Marketing with Photo Sharing Sites 169
Best Practices in Marketing through Photo Sharing 170
Notes 171

Chapter 10 | Discussion, News, Social Bookmarking, and Q&A Sites 175


The Evolution of Online Discussions 176
Marketing with Social News and News Aggregation Sites 177
Marketing with Social Bookmarking and S-Ecommerce 182
Marketing with Q&A Sites 185
Future of Discussion Boards, Social News, Social Bookmarking, and Q&A Sites 186
Best Practices for Online Discussions on All Platforms 188
Notes 190

Chapter 11 | Content Marketing: Publishing Articles, White Papers,


and E-Books 193
Publishing and Distributing Articles 194
Creating White Papers and E-Books 196
Marketing with Articles, E-Books, and White Papers 199
Best Practices in Crafting Articles, White Papers, and E-Books 201
Notes 204

viii CONTENTS

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Chapter 12 | Mobile Marketing on Social Networks 206
Mobile in the Lives of Global Consumers 208
How Many People Use Mobile to Access the Internet and Social Platforms? 208
Which Networks Do They Access? 209
Which Devices and Which Services Are Winning and Losing in the Shift to Mobile? 210
What Part Do Apps Play in Mobile Use? 212
What Kinds of Activities Do Consumers Conduct on Mobile? 213
Are Consumers Making Purchases on Mobile? 215
What Will the Impact Be of Having a Buy Button on Social Networking Sites? 217
Mobile-First Strategy 218
Location-Based Marketing 220
Mobile Customer Experience 222
Best Practices for Social Mobile Marketing 223
Notes 223

Chapter 13 | Social Media Monitoring 227


The Importance of Social Media Monitoring 228
Listening and Tracking 228
Measuring 229
Measuring 232
Evaluation 238
Evaluating the Impact of Social Media Activities 239
Metrics and Analytics Best Practices 246
Notes 247

Chapter 14 | Tools for Managing the Social Media Marketing Effort 249
What Are Social Media Marketing Tools? 250
Choosing the Right Tool for the Job 251
Single-Purpose Tools 253
Single Platform Tools 257
Multiple Platform Tools 258
Purchased Services 260
Consumer Tools for Productivity and Engagement 264
Notes 267

Chapter 15 | Social Media Marketing Plan 269


Creating an Informative and Eye-Catching Title Page 270
Automatically Generating a Table of Contents 270
Writing a Compelling Executive Summary 271
Composing a Brief Overview 273
Observing Social Media Presence 274
Conducting a Competitive Analysis 275
Setting Goals 279

CONTENTS ix

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Determining Strategies 279
Identifying the Target Market 280
Selecting Platforms 281
Implementing 281
Monitoring 291
Tuning 294
Budgeting 294
Calculating Return on Investment 298
Getting C-Suite Buy-In 299
Notes 299

Appendix | XYZ Coffee Company Social Media Marketing Plan 303


Executive Summary 305
Brief Overview 306
Social Media Presence 306
Competitive Analysis 307
Goals 309
Strategies 310
Target Market 310
Platforms 311
Implementation 311
Monitoring 314
Tuning 317
Budget 317
Return on Investment 317
Notes 318

Index 319

x CONTENTS

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Preface Strategies

S
ocial Media Marketing: A Strategic Approach is built upon an eight-step planning
cycle that helps ensure the development of a winning SMM plan. This model
incorporates the conceptual foundation and practical techniques necessary for
creating a comprehensive and effective SMM plan. The model also provides a
framework for developing a personal brand, a subject given chapter-by-chapter coverage
in the second edition.
This planning cycle begins with observing an organization’s current goals, presence
and competition on the social web, followed by the establishment of SMART social
media objectives and effective strategies to achieve them. The next step is to define an
organization’s target markets and campaign-specific audiences on the social web. This
process makes it possible for a company to identify the social media platforms with the
highest concentrations of its target audiences and determine how they are participating
on those platforms, which enables the organization to select the optimal social media
platforms for reaching its target audiences.
Interaction on the social web is guided by informal rules of engagement and general
principles of appropriate behavior (social media ethics). Marketers must be aware of
these precepts before attempting to participate in social media or risk alienating the very
market segments they hope to connect with and influence.
With these guidelines in mind, as well as the company’s social media goals, strategies,
target audiences, and prime social media platforms, marketers can craft actionable plat-
form-specific marketing tactics. The execution of these tactics allows an organization to
implement its social media strategies across multiple platforms and realize the company’s
marketing goals. The bulk of this textbook is dedicated to learning how to create and
deploy specific marketing tactics using online platforms and the mobile web.
Social media tools that make the process more efficient as well as more effective are
given detailed coverage. In addition, extensive consideration is given to monitoring and
measuring the progress made in reaching social media objectives and demonstrating
return on investment. Feedback, both qualitative and quantitative, provides the means to
continuously adjust and improve the elements of an SMM plan to maximize the chances
of success.
The final chapter draws upon all the preceding material in the textbook to dem-
onstrate and explain how to develop a formal SMM plan with multiple references and
illustrations from a real world sample plan (presented in its entirety in the Appendix).
Hence, this textbook provides a rich and robust cumulative learning experience with
deep contextual relevance that endows the reader with an enduring understanding of
the process of effective SMM planning. This process provides the social media marketer
with a strong foundation for dealing with the ever-changing audiences, platforms and
technologies of the social web.

xi

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Listen
Goals
About the Authors Tune

Melissa S. Barker
Melissa S. Barker is a digital marketing consultant and public speaker, currently
working with Jive Software, Puppet Labs, and Gates NextGen Open Source
Courseware Grant. She has coauthored five textbooks, including the best-selling
Internet Research Illustrated. In 2010, she created the first accredited social media
marketing certificate in Washington State. She teaches search and social media
marketing, as well as other related courses at Spokane Falls Community College.
Melissa holds a B.A. in public relations and advertising from Gonzaga University, and
an M.B.A. from Willamette University (expected in 2016). She has held key roles in
digital marketing management at Siber Systems, Own Point of Sale, Integra Telecom,
Jive Software, and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Melissa has become a recognized
authority on LinkedIn, and a sought-after speaker at conferences, such as InnoTech
and ITEXPO. For more information, visit: www.linkedin.com/in/melissasbarker

Donald I. Barker
Donald I. Barker has authored, coauthored, and contributed to forty cutting-
edge and best-selling textbooks on subjects ranging from computer operating
systems and expert systems to Internet research and social media marketing. He
holds an M.B.A. from Eastern Washington University. As an assistant professor
of information systems at Gonzaga University, he won the Best Theoretical Paper
Award at the International Business Schools Computer Users Group’s Annual
North American Conference. In addition, he received several Jepson Scholarship
Awards for notable publications in the field of artificial intelligence. As a senior
editor of PC AI Magazine, he wrote the popular Secret Agent Man column. For
more information, visit: www.linkedin.com/in/donaldibarker.

Debra Zahay
Debra Zahay is professor of marketing and chair of marketing, entrepreneurship
and digital media management at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. She
holds her PhD in marketing from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign,
Illinois, an MBA from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, a JD from
Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois, and an AB from Washington University
in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Zahay is also the president of Zahay, Inc., a digital
marketing strategy and education consulting firm.
Dr. Zahay has been teaching internet marketing, search and social media
marketing, data management, and related topics at the university level since 1999
and has taught full-time at Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois, Northern Illinois
University in DeKalb, Illinois, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North
Carolina, and DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Zahay researches how firms can use customer information to increase
firm performance. Some journals in which she has published include Journal

xii

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
of Interactive Marketing (Best Paper 2014), Journal of Product Innovation
Management, Decision Sciences, and Industrial Marketing Management. She co-
authored the third edition of the Cengage textbook Internet Marketing: Integrating
Online and Offline Strategies with Mary Lou Roberts, solo-authored a book with
Business Expert Press, Digital Marketing Management: A Handbook for the Current
(or Future) CEO. Active in her profession, she is a long-standing member of both
the American Marketing Association and the Academy of Marketing Science, where
she has served as track chair. She has served as conference co-chair for the Direct/
Interactive Research Summit. She serves on the editorial board of the both the
Journal of Marketing Analytics and Industrial Marketing Management and is editor-
in-chief of the Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing.

Mary Lou Roberts


Mary Lou Roberts is professor emeritus of management and marketing at the
University of Massachusetts Boston. She holds a PhD in marketing from the
University of Michigan. After retiring from full-time teaching, she continued to
teach Internet marketing and social media marketing at the Harvard University
Extension School for a number of years.
Other books include Internet Marketing: Integrating Online and Offline
Strategies (third edition with Debra Zahay, 2013), Direct Marketing Management
(second edition with Paul D. Berger, 1999), and Marketing to the Changing
Household (with Lawrence H. Wortzel, 1984). In addition, she has published
over fifty papers and conference proceedings in the United States and
internationally. Her research has received awards including a Robert B. Clarke
Best Paper award and a Dean’s Award for Distinguished Research.
She has served as a convener, chair, and reviewer for many US and international
journals and conferences as well as serving on the boards of directors of
professional and nonprofit organizations, including the American Marketing
Association and Mass Audubon. She has consulted and provided training sessions
for corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations
Dr. Roberts is active on social media. In addition to the Google+ and Facebook
sites that support both students and instructors in Internet marketing and
social media marketing, she has several Pinterest boards and personal
accounts on other sites, including Instagram. She posts professional updates
on LinkedIn and SlideShare and tweets on a regular basis.

Janna M. Parker
Janna Parker is assistant professor of marketing at James Madison University
where she teaches strategic Internet marketing. She holds a DBA in marketing from
Louisiana Tech University. Her previous academic appointment was at Georgia
College and State University where she taught integrated marketing communications,
social media, and other related topics in undergraduate and graduate courses.
Dr. Parker’s research interests are retailing, advertising, and social media. She has
published in Journal of Business Ethics and Journal of Consumer Marketing. She is
active in many professional organizations and has served as a reviewer and track
chair. She is the director of social media for the Academy of Marketing Science.

About the Authors xiii

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Listen
Goals
Acknowledgments Tune

We are indebted to the instructors, students, and reviewers that made the first edition of
Social Media Marketing: A Strategic Approach a success. In addition, we are grateful to
our ever-supportive editor at Cengage Learning, Mike Roche. He brought us together to
create the second edition, and has been a dependable source of information and encour-
agement. Ted Knight, of J. L. Hahn Consulting Group, managed the production process,
with skill and good humor.
Professors Barker and Barker, Zahay, Roberts, and Parker have been teaching Social
Media Marketing since its early days as a marketing and communications discipline.
Being in the forefront of a rapidly evolving discipline has its challenges, as well as its
rewards. Our students have contributed important knowledge and insights about the
working of social platforms, and the activities of social media users. Busy p ­ ractitioners
have given generously of their time and expertise to assist us and our students in
­understanding the real-world practices that make successful social media marketing a
reality. For all these sources of information and inspiration, we express our profound
gratitude, and our best wishes for a productive social media journey together.

xiv

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Listen

Dedication Tune

To our families for enduring the hassles of living with an author; to our students for their
enthusiasm and insights; to the many practitioners who have been supportive. MSB/
DIB/NFB/MLR/DZ/JP

xv

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
CHAPTER

1
The Role of Social Media
Marketing
Social media marketing (SMM) has are still not widely understood. SMM has
emerged as a vital business force offering experienced dramatic growth in recent
vibrant career options. It offers important years and is poised for substantial growth
benefits to marketers but some aspects and change in years to come.

Social media is growing by leaps and bounds. It is estimated that by 2016


there will be around 2.13 billion social media users around the world. That Learning Objectives
is up from 1.4 billion in 2012 and it represents over 63% all Internet users.1 After completing this chapter, stu-
Marketers are working hard to reach this huge social media audience. This dents will be able to:
book is intended to help both students and businesses understand the social
• Explain why social media is im-
media landscape and the changes that are taking place and to learn and how
portant to businesses around the
to approach it strategically.
world
Many businesses struggle with social media because they lack a definite
plan. They start with an end in mind instead of creating a strategy and • Define SMM
objectives. A company might start a Twitter account or a Facebook page, • Explain the seven myths of SMM
but it is not likely to see results unless there is a clear understanding of its • Relate a brief history of SMM
marketing objectives. Like any form of marketing, a strong strategic plan • Explain characteristics of SMM
for social media is required for success. This book contains chapters on and ways in which it differs from
establishing strategic goals and objectives and monitoring plan achievement traditional offline marketing
as well as a chapter on the SMM plan itself and a sample SMM plan. • Describe typical positions that are
The advent of social media has also posed a challenge to traditional available in SMM
marketing methodologies. Marketing budgets are increasingly focused on
digital, and the jobs of marketing professionals have changed as a result. (Continued)

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Advertising has increasingly moved to the Internet and to the mobile web,
• Discuss the characteristics of a with even long-time print magazines such as The Atlantic shifting to a largely
successful social media marketer digital-based revenue strategy.2 For many firms, the focus is now online,
• Identify best practices for SMM which makes knowledge of SMM especially valuable for students and/or
soon-to-be job-seekers.
This book is organized into two core sections: the first four chapters
will lay the foundation for engaging in social media, including marketing strategy and
objectives, targeting specific audiences, and the background rules of social media. The
remainder of the book will encompass more detailed elements of SMM and how to
adapt the strategy to specific platforms and international audiences. By creating a solid
marketing plan and choosing the right tools, a business can expediently and successfully
navigate to its marketing goals and objectives.

What Is SMM?

There are many definitions of SMM. This one from technology marketing site Mashable
is straightforward and covers most of the important issues:

Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention
through social media sites.
Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that
attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks.
A corporate message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because
it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand
or company itself. Hence, this form of marketing is driven by word-of-mouth,
meaning it results in earned media rather than paid media.3

SMM has a number of important aspects:

1. Creating buzz or newsworthy events, videos, tweets, or blog entries that attract
attention and have the potential to become viral in nature. Buzz is what makes SMM
work. It replicates a message through user to user contact, rather than the traditional
method of purchasing an ad or promoting a press release. It emulates word of mouth
(WOM) in the physical world and consequently can have a great deal of impact.
A classic example, one that alerted many marketers to the power of social media,
is “United Breaks Guitars.” It all started when musician Dave Carroll’s guitar was
damaged on a United Airlines flight (Figure 1.1). He spent the next 9 months trying to
recover the $1,200 it cost to have the guitar repaired. As he tells the story, phoning and
emailing only got him the run around. So he, with the help of musician friends, created
a video at the cost of $150. On July 6, 2009, he posted it on YouTube. Within 24 hours
the video had over 150,000 views; 24 days later it had over a million views and major
news organizations as well as social media users had picked it up.
United contacted him agreeing to pay the repair costs and offered $1,200 in flight
vouchers, which he declined. Two years later he estimated that his message had reached
as many as 100 million people, courtesy of all the media mentions. All this created a
storm of negative publicity for United.4
It is important to point out that no one can control, or even do a good job
predicting, when a social media post will go viral. But marketers understand that they
need to pay attention, perhaps even to improve their customer service.

2 Chapter 1 | The Role of Social Media Marketing

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
AP Images / The Canadian Press / Andrew Vaughan
Figure 1.1 Dave Carroll with His Guitar

2. Building ways that enable fans of a brand or company to promote a message


themselves in multiple online social media venues. Corporations or brands can create
pages on major social platforms where they can offer followers information and
promotions like coupons. They can reach huge audiences on these platforms as will be
shown in the next section of this chapter. As we will discuss in Chapter 3, these huge
audiences can be segmented using profile data and behavioral data from the platform
to reach targeted audiences or to attract paid advertising.
3. It is based around online conversations. SMM is not controlled by the organization.
Instead it encourages user participation and dialog. A badly designed SMM campaign
can potentially backfire on the organization that created it. To be successful SMM
campaigns must fully engage and respect the users. Each type of platform, as discussed
in Chapter 5, has its own way of engaging followers. How to conduct SMM in ways that
bring positive response instead of public backlash is the subject of Chapter 4.
4. Social media is part of a larger media ecosystem of owned, paid, and earned
media, which represents a way for marketers to leverage their own brand efforts.
These media are defined in Figure 1.2.
As you can see, paid media describes the traditional print and broadcast media,
which are now joined by paid advertising on social media platforms and blogs. Paid
advertising on social platforms is not a major focus of this book, although it will be
discussed briefly in Chapter 4.
The Internet gives brands the opportunity to own their own media outlets
ranging from their websites to their Facebook and LinkedIn pages. It has made
each brand its own publisher, responsible for content of many kinds and for its
dissemination. Much of the focus of this book is on creating content and marketing
campaigns on different types of social platforms. Only the marketer’s owned
platforms are within her direct control.
The most valuable media of all in this ecosystem is earned media. When people
begin talking about a brand and its content, they spread the word with no additional
effort on the part of the marketer. Even more important, this digital WOM confers
much credibility on the brand, especially if recognized experts or influentials are
talking on Twitter, Facebook, their blogs, and other channels. Like traditional public

Chapter 1 | The Role of Social Media Marketing 3

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
PAID OWNED EARNED
MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA

Source: http://blog.hootsuite.com/converged-media-brito-part-1/
Traditional Corporate web site, Word of mouth,
advertising - print, campaign microsite, Facebook comments,
television, radio, blog, brand community, Twitter (@mentions,
display, direct mail, paid Facebook fan page, @replies), Vine, Blogs,
search, retail/channel mobile, etc. forums, review sites

General Consumers Customers Super Fans

Figure 1.2 Paid, Owned, and Earned Media

relations, the brand cannot control the nature of this conversation but positive
WOM in earned media can give the brand a significant boost.5
The combined impact of these aspects of SMM makes it quite different from
traditional marketing in the offline media. As a result a number of myths have
grown up around SMM, which help to explain both misconceptions and challenges
of the discipline.

The Seven Myths of SMM

SMM is one of the best ways that businesses can drive sales, build relationships, and satisfy
their customers. Although social media has increased in popularity over the years as a
marketing tool, there remain some common misconceptions about SMM. The following
are seven of the most common myths that business professionals have regarding SMM.

Social Media Myth #1: Social Media Is Just a Fad


Wrong Social media continues to grow by virtually any measure you use. Figure 1.3
shows the number of active accounts for the world’s 10 largest social media networks as
of August 2015. The chart shows Facebook in the lead with almost a billion and a half
active users. It also shows huge user bases for a number of messaging apps that are not
widely used in the United States like the Chinese platform Tencent QQ. Twitter, Skype,
and Google+ all made the top 10. Most surprising is Instagram in tenth place. Over
300 million active users is not bad for a platform founded in 2009!6
Businesses want to invest their time and energy in marketing tools that will be useful
in the long term, versus wasting limited resources on a flash-in-the-pan technology or a
fad. Some business professionals question whether social media will remain a powerful
marketing and communications tool or if it will eventually fall by the wayside. To resolve

4 Chapter 1 | The Role of Social Media Marketing

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Facebook 1490

Source: http://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-
QQ 832

WhatsApp 800

Facebook
700
Messenger

QZone 668

WeChat 549

Twitter 316

Skype 300

Google+ 300

number-of-users/
Instagram 300

0% 200% 400% 600% 800% 1000% 1200% 1400% 1600%


Figure 1.3 Number of Active Users of Global Social Media Platforms as of
August 2015

this issue, it is helpful to look at the foundations of social media, which are built on
age-old concepts of community, socialization, and WOM marketing.
The “social” component of social media has been part of human interactions since
the dawn of time. People are inherently social creatures to some extent. What has
changed is the media by which people are able to express social impulses. As technology
has advanced, so have the media available for social behavior. Initially, social interactions
were limited to in-person meetings, then mail and letters, then telephones, then email,
and now social media, or web-based social interactions.
The underlying premise of social media—that people are social and want to connect
with other people—has been stable over time. The difference is that people are now able
to connect with each other in a more efficient and scalable way. Facebook allows users
to see what friends from high school are up to without ever speaking to them. Photos
of friends and family from across the world can be viewed on photo sharing sites. In
these and many other ways, social media allows people to keep up to speed with many
connections in quick and efficient ways.
Like the Internet, social media is a not a flash in the pan because of the human
desire to socialize and because the media of the Internet continue to evolve at a rapid
rate, providing new and attractive means for people to interact. Although social media
will only expand in the foreseeable future, specific social media platforms (technologies
or platforms such as Facebook and Twitter) change considerably over time and other
platforms rise and fall in popularity. The social media marketer must be alert to ongoing
changes in the social media environment.
In the face of all this change, marketers will focus on the platforms most used by
their target audiences. Figure 1.4 shows an interesting contrast between the platforms
used by B2C marketers, with Facebook in the lead, and B2B marketers, where LinkedIn
holds first place. This reflects the different audiences for B2C and B2B marketing.
Notice, however, that Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the top three platforms in
both market spaces,7 just in a different order.

Chapter 1 | The Role of Social Media Marketing 5

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
1% 1% 2% 1%
3%

Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-marketing-industry-
4% 3%
4% 4%
4%
19%
9%
41%
65%
10%

30%

Facebook YouTube LinkedIn Google+


Twitter Instagram Facebook Pinterest

report-2015/
LinkedIn Social review Twitter Forums
Google+ sites
YouTube
Pinterest Forums

Figure 1.4 Social Media Platforms Used by B2C and B2B Marketers

Social Media Myth #2: Social Media Is


Just for the Young
Wrong Many social media skeptics still think that social media is a tool primarily for
the young: kids, teenagers, and college students. The reality is that older users are among
the fastest growing demographics on most social media sites. Pew reports that in 2012
it found for the first time that over half of all adults age 65 and older were Internet users
and that 46% of them used Facebook. Older adults are more likely to own a tablet or an
e-book reader or both while only 13% owned a smartphone in 2014.

100%
90

Source: http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/04/03/usage-and-adoption/
18-29

80%
78
65
30-49
60%
50-64
46

40%

65+
20%
18-29 Age 50-64 Age
30-49 Age 65+ Age
0%
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Figure 1.5 Social Media Use by Age Group

6 Chapter 1 | The Role of Social Media Marketing

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
The age disparity in social media use continues to exist as shown in Figure 1.5.
Young adults are still the most likely to be social media users, but use among older
adults, especially those in the 50–64 age group, has grown rapidly in recent years.8
The growth in social media usage rates among older adults carries over into the
mobile sphere according to comScore. The young are still the heaviest users of mobile
social media as well as the fastest growing group of users. However, among tablet mobile
social media users, adults aged 55 and over represent the fastest growing group.9
Social networks are increasingly being adopted by older populations and are
becoming incredibly diverse, with users spanning all age and income brackets. This
diversity means that most businesses, if they are willing to look, can find their target
consumers on social media sites. It also means that they should not simply try to appeal
to a large, heterogeneous audience. They need to hone targeting skills for their own
messaging and for paid advertising.

Social Media Myth #3: There Is No Return


on SMM
Wrong But that’s not to say that measuring the return on SMM is easy. It requires
careful planning, careful execution, consistent monitoring, and the discipline to
analyze and gain business insights from monitoring data. This textbook has a chapter
dedicated to planning and one to social media monitoring that shows how the two
marketing elements work together to make it possible to measure social media return on
investment (ROI).
Although ROI is a specific monetary value determined by an established method,
social media return is measured in a variety of different ways and is not always as clear-
cut as financial ROI. Figure 1.6 indicates that 70% of marketers surveyed in 2014 agreed
or strongly agreed that SMM helps them improve sales. Those who have been using
SMM the longest are most likely to support the statement with agreement becoming
stronger the longer they have been social media marketers.10 Sales are the ultimate
measure of marketing achievement, so this data makes a powerful case for SMM. That
being said, there are many ways of measuring success that stop short of return on
monetary investment.

Strongly Agree
Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-marketing-

Less than 12 months 11% 26% 37%


Agree

1 to 2 Years 10% 33% 43%

2 to 3 years 15% 36% 51%

3 to 4 years 16% 40% 56%

4 to 5 years 23% 42% 65%


industry-report-2015/

More than 5 years 28% 42% 70%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 1.6 Marketers Who Agree or Strongly Agree that SMM Helped Them
Improve Sales

Chapter 1 | The Role of Social Media Marketing 7

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least


the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,


some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR


MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO


This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second


showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I


came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE


FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE


BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE


LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI


Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK


BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT


SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA


To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

You might also like