Roman's Pizza
10.12x
return on ad spend on Meta over a six-week payday-to-payday activation
A value deal that had to be believed, not announced
1 375
pieces of customer content
8.8/10
sentiment, Grade A+
Your real customers
Activated & Amplified
theSalt turns your customers into a media channel. We match your brief to real South Africans from a community of 730 000+ people, they buy your product, use it and post about it, and every result is verified before it lands on your dashboard.
See the numbers 730 000 +
verified South African consumers in the community
300 +
campaigns delivered in the last 12 months
90% +
of customer content approved first time
< 2 wks
from signed brief to a live campaign
Why it works
See the numbers
We don't rent influence. We activate the customers you already have.
Unlike an influencer campaign that pays strangers to say a product works, we find people who already think so and then amplify their voices. Same social feeds. Very different credibility.
The difference shows up in the numbers, because a recommendation from someone you know motivates a purchase in a way a sponsored post doesn't.
Paid influencer
theSalt
Talent picked for follower count
Customers picked by profile: bank, network, region, language, lifestyle
Product gifted or scripted
Product bought by the advocate, with proof of purchase
Reach reported by the creator
Every task verified on the platform, reported on a live dashboard
Hope the content is usable
You sign off who appears and what they say. 90%+ approved first time
One post, then it's gone
Top content amplified with paid media. You keep full usage rights
Weeks of negotiation
Community activated in a week, campaign live in under two
Your customers
and the people
about to be
Our
700 000+
verified
community
Your
next
campaign
Results
The numbers our clients took back to their boards.
Every figure below is measured against the KPI set in the brief, not against a benchmark we chose afterwards.
MyLoan
27.6m
organic video views from real borrowers telling their own story
Trust first, then a 32% drop in TikTok cost per acquisition
18.4m
views on one unpaid TikTok
-32%
CPA as volume grew
GOTyme Bank
1 755%
of the organic impressions KPI, delivered in two days over payday weekend
A rebrand carried by 60 real customers switching apps
328%
of content KPI
2 days
to complete
Epi-Max Baby & Junior
1 441%
organic reach against baseline, from real moms on Instagram and Facebook
Real moms, real sunscreen, real reach
170%
content vs benchmark
300%
paid-media efficiency
Automotive · new entrant
1.04m+
organic impressions against a 100 000 target, from 100 drivers in real dealerships
From unfamiliar to test-driven in four weeks
102
verified test drives
238
UGC pieces vs 100
Dr Oetker
R0
in-store sampling budget to launch four new ready meals
135 customers did the sampling. In their own kitchens.
847%
organic reach
246%
paid-media efficiency
How the campaign runs
Six steps. One unified platform.
1 Source
We query the community by profile and pull the people who match your brief, from Sandton to Pofadder
2 Buy
Advocates purchase the product themselves and upload proof. Real spend, real shelf, real receipt.
3 Use
They try it at home, in the car, at the till. The moment is theirs, which is why it reads as true.
4 Post
Content goes out on their own Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp groups, disclosed as #Ad per the ARB code.
5 Verify
Task completion is checked by the platform, content is approved against your guidelines, and it all lands on your dashboard.
6 Amplify
The best-performing pieces get paid media behind them, so the credibility of the source travels a lot further than one feed.
Three ways in
Pick the job. The community is the same underneath.
Most clients start with one product and a pilot. The ones who stay tend to end up running all three, because the same customers who answer your survey can carry your content and your sampling.
Market Research
Fast, pinpoint-targeted consumer surveys through the community. Segment by bank, telco, lifestyle, region or language and get answers from your actual market, in their own language, in days rather than months.
Good for
Brand trackers, concept testing, usability testing, multi-language segmentation, consumer journeys, mystery shopping.
Bring us a briefCustomer-Generated Content
Peer-to-peer content at scale. Your customers create and post real stories about your product; you sign off who appears and what they say; the strongest pieces get boosted. You keep the usage rights.
Good for
Launches, always-on content libraries, retargeting creative that doesn't look like an ad, replacing tired influencer line items.
Bring us a briefActivate
The execution layer. Technology-enabled sampling, shopping and validation: advocates buy, trial, post and prove it, then the content is amplified. Cheaper than a field team, faster than sampling, more believable than creator content.
Good for
In-store trial, category seeding, test drives, app switches, payday promotions, anything where the product has to be in a real hand.
Bring us a brief
The platform
Technology as the backbone.
Technology as the backbone.
Humans at the core.
Profile-level targeting.
Bank, mobile network, lifestyle, region, language. National footprint, down to the nearest corner café.
Verification built in.
Proof of purchase and task completion are checked on the platform, not taken on trust.
One dashboard.
Sourcing, purchase, sampling, advocacy, verification and paid distribution, reported in one place.
Brand-safe by design.
Your guidelines are briefed in, disclosures are enforced, and content is approved before it goes anywhere.
What a head of brand asks us first
The questions before the pilot.
Will the content stay on-brief?
Yes, and you don't have to take our word for it. You sign off which customers take part and you sign off the content before it posts. Your brand guidelines are briefed into the platform, which is why more than 90% of customer content is approved the first time round.
How is any of this measured?
Against the KPIs you set in the brief. Proof of purchase is uploaded, task completion is verified on the platform, and reach, content volume and paid-media efficiency are reported on a live dashboard. Where sales are the goal, verified purchases tie the social activity back to the till.
How fast can a pilot go live?
The community can be activated within a week and a full campaign is typically live in under two. GOTyme Bank's rebrand activation completed in two days over a payday weekend.
What does it cost compared to a celebrity creator or a field team?
Pricing is in Rand and quoted per pilot, based on the number of advocates, the tasks involved and the paid-media budget behind the content. Activate campaigns are built to come in below the cost of a traditional field team, and there are no talent fees, because the people posting are customers. Send us the brief and we'll come back with a number.
Who owns the content afterwards?
You do. Brands retain full usage rights to content produced through theSalt campaigns, so every piece becomes part of a library you can run in paid, owned and future activity.
Is this compliant with SA advertising rules?
Every piece carries a disclosure such as #Ad or #Partnership in line with the ARB Code of Advertising Practice, and community members' personal information is handled under POPIA. For financial services, alcohol and betting briefs we build the category rules into the brief before anyone posts.
Are these influencers?
No. They are customers. Most have everyday-sized followings, which is the point: their recommendation lands with people who know them. They are compensated for the work and for the product they buy, and the commercial relationship is always disclosed.
Start here
Send us the brief. We'll send back a pilot plan.
Tell us what you're trying to move: awareness, trial, content, research or sales. You'll hear from someone who runs campaigns, not a sales deck.
- 1
A 30-minute solve call
We map your marketing challenge to one of the three products.
- 2
A pilot plan, in Rand
Advocate numbers, tasks, timing and paid-media budget, with the KPIs written down.
- 3
Live in under two weeks
Then scale what worked.
If you're not in the conversation, you're still being talked about.
