By Melissa
Everywhere you look, there’s a new podcast, series or book delving into the twisted details of solved and unsolved true crime stories. With these stories going into disturbing detail and without the comfort of knowing that the stories are made up, lately I’ve found myself wondering: why am I hooked?
It turns out that my morbid fascination with it makes more sense than I’d originally thought:READ MORE
By Liz
We have always found that the most successful projects are a collaboration between us and our clients. Most often, it’s clients who have a clear idea of what they want, and put careful thought into articulating it, who end up happiest. Pomegranite has never worked with pricing packages because every website and every organisation is unique, but we understand that creating a brief for a website can be daunting.
Here’s a breakdown of what you need to focus on in a website brief for the best result, and also what our standard practices are so you know exactly what’s handled.READ MORE
By Sarah
When we interviewed candidates for the social media manager position at Pomegranite, we took notes during each chat to help us remember key points about each person.
During Anja’s interview, Liz only wrote down one word: yay!
As soon as Anja’s second interview, which involved a chat with other members of our team, ended, Nicole said, “She reminds me of a younger me…”
And Tom said, “Hire her immediately!” READ MORE
Our usual Pomegranite birthday party obviously wasn’t an option this year, but turning eight felt like a big deal and we wanted to do something to mark the occasion.
After our alternative celebration, these were the messages sent on slack:
“My face actually hurts from smiling – thanks guys that was great! 
This month Pomegranite turned eight! A birthday in lockdown, without our usual party for the second year in a row, felt a bit like this:READ MORE
South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act, otherwise known as the POPI Act or POPIA, became enforceable on July 1st, 2021, much to many people’s alarm. We are by no means experts on the topic, but, in wrapping our heads around it and understanding how it intersects with our work, we came across some useful resources which we thought we’d share with you to help you get a sense of what it means for you and your business.
READ MORE
By Melissa
usepastel.com is a newly discovered tool we’re using to make the review and feedback process for digital projects simpler and faster. The best part about it is that you can give feedback on any website, image or PDF directly in your browser.
By Sarah
About four years ago, we interviewed Nicole for a social media position at Pomegranite. We moved a bit too slowly and it didn’t work out – and she became known as “the one who got away”. Until a year later… when her name popped up in an application for another social media position.
I can still hear Liz’s, “Oooooh ooooooh!” as she showed me the application.
It’s been almost three years now, since Nicole became a Pomegranite. One of the things I love most about this company is that, even though it’s small, there is so much room to grow within your role, to learn, to make it what you want it to be – if you have the initiative and passion.READ MORE
By Carla
Photo by KOBU Agency
As far as our personal health and well-being is concerned, it is generally accepted that keeping your body strong and healthy is much more effective than letting it fall into ill-health and then attempting to rectify the problem. The same principle should be applied to our software and, in this particular case, our WordPress sites.READ MORE
By Melissa
Photo by Kat Wilcox
Sleep is complex and a little bit weird but an essential part of our overall health and wellbeing, enabling our bodies to repair and be ready to take on another day. Let’s take a look at some surprising myths and facts about this function we spend a third of our lives doing.
By Tom
Photo by Edu Grande
What is the last album you bought? Can you even remember? I suspect that is the case for most people these days. As a DJ in my spare time, and just generally being a music obsessive, I find huge joy in discovering and collecting music. I also fully understand why people turn to streaming services like Spotify with its seemingly endless library, ease of use and almost psychic algorithm which just knows when you need to hear some Fleetwood Mac. Perhaps its biggest drawcard is its price point but that’s also potentially its biggest drawback. If an individual Spotify Premium plan costs only R59.99 a month, it’s hard to imagine how much of your money is actually getting to the musicians who are the platform. If you really want to support the artists you love, then it’s time you start buying their music again, whether singles, EPs or albums, because it’s more important than ever before.
READ MORE
By Mulesa
Photo by Gratisography
The negative effects of social media on our mental health are well documented. Facebook envy makes us long for the seemingly blissful existence of our Facebook friends. We stay glued to our phones because the FOMO has us believing that we need to be plugged in consistently so that we don’t miss being a part of that viral moment. We spend all of our time curating the perfect online journal of our best moments that we actually forget to live those moments. In short, social media can leave us feeling miserable, anxious, dissatisfied, lacking in confidence and disconnected from ourselves.
That said, working in digital marketing has given me insights into the utility of social media – it can be a great source of information, a vehicle to achieve social good, a purveyor of (mostly) trustworthy news in quick time, a great awareness-raising tool, and a platform for small businesses to showcase their products. If approached carefully and correctly, social media can also benefit your mental health rather than harm it.
By Melissa
Photo by Liam Tucker
Online security is something everyone has to pay attention to – more and more, these days. We take it very seriously at Pomegranite, from big things like ensuring all our websites have strong security, to little questions like: how do you safely share website passwords with clients?READ MORE
By Jesse
Let’s talk about HubSpot’s business model, what they’ve done right and what kinds of things any digital marketer can take away from it.
By Liz
Photo by Joel Henry
Tasks at work are flying in like 747s at a busy airport and you’ve got to shuffle things to ensure your deliverables are ready for takeoff – but in what order? The skill of prioritising tasks is like the air traffic controller in your brain that keeps your work on schedule. It requires seeing the bigger picture as well as the finer details to avoid missing opportunities while sticking to deadlines.READ MORE
By Sarah
Photo by Maximilian Weisbecker
Our office lease expired last month. Since our lovely office mates, Crush, had moved out quite a few months ago as a result of the pandemic, it didn’t make much sense for us to hang onto such a big space just for us.
The question was – do we look for another smaller office? Or do we sit tight for a while, seeing as we’re mostly all working from home anyway? Would it be ok not to have a “home” for a while?
Running a business comes with the inevitable big decision making every now and then: hiring new people, taking on extra risk, making a big investment.
How do you know when it’s the right time to “push the boat out”, as my mom would say? And how do you know whether the decision you’ve made is the right one for your business?READ MORE
Three years ago, Tom joined our team as a social media manager (has it been that long already?!). This charming old soul’s hard work and dedication to the team has seen him grow into his current project manager role, and it’s been an absolute pleasure to have him as part of the Pomegranite family.
By Mulesa
Why is my post reach dropping? Why am I losing more Instagram followers than I gain every time I post? Why is it that when I like one post, I’m flooded with the same kind of content all the time?
These are a few questions that have come up in conversations I’ve had with influencer and digital marketer friends. I figured that doing my skills share on social media algorithms was a good way to answer these questions, out of both personal and professional interest. I find social media quite captivating, especially the way it has grown to become such a big part of our existence as people. It’s also quite exciting (and somewhat scary) that social media algorithms, though supposedly guided by our own behaviour and interests, are seemingly designed to know more about what we want than we know ourselves.
By Nicole
With the pandemic in the air, the start to a new year has felt far from a fresh start, and it can be difficult to feel excited about the future. In many ways, diving into this topic of digital innovation sparked feelings of inspiration, excitement and motivation for me, as it reinforced the wealth of opportunity within this industry and the challenge of keeping up with trends that I love so much.
By Carla and Tom
Photo from Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash
Have you ever wondered why online banking has so many OTPs? It’s because cyber security is a big deal, that’s why you hear it on the news more and more. And while you might think that hackers aren’t as interested in your shopping habits as state secrets, you’d be wrong. Whether you are a global superpower or an undercover cat blogger, your data is valuable. Let me explain why “password123” won’t cut the mustard and how two-factor authentication is a must have.
By Sarah
The question I’ve been chatting to Liz about this morning is:
What do you say in a “Happy holidays!” blog after a year like 2020 without sounding like a trying-too-hard-bit-off-the-mark Hallmark card? All that makes sense to us is to be honest and real.
For me, this year has been about surrender. Never before has a lesson been delivered with such quiet (and sometimes loud) insistence.READ MORE
