Content Strategy in Nigeria: How to Drive Traffic & Attract Sales

Content has become one of the most powerful tools used in shaping conversations, building reputation and influencing lifestyles but most brands are still struggling when it comes to navigating content strategy in Nigeria and most of Africa.

For starters, Africa is indeed a different terrain with its own peculiarities when it comes to digital marketing. So, what might be working for you in more advanced markets Across Europe, America and Asia might not really fly here.

To get you a content strategy that works in Africa, you have to understand the nuances of digital marketing in Africa and the African audience in particular.

In this tutorial, I have pieced together a guide you can start with. And in the following paragraphs, I’ll share with you, some of the key things you should keep in mind, as you get ready to shape Africa’s narrative using content marketing.

What is Content Strategy in Africa?

Content strategy is the process that guides the planning, creation and delivery of content, in order to create a specific outcome.

Without an effective content strategy, it is very possible to spend your best effort and resources to create and share content without getting your returns on investment.

Now, what makes digital strategy peculiar in Africa is that unlike other regions, in Africa, the target audience, demographics and audience’s needs are very unique.

So, to create an effective content strategy in any part of Africa, you have to put this point of difference into perspectives. You have to understand the peculiarity of the Content Marketing Industry in Africa and then key into it to drive your goals, as part of your strategy.

Digital Escapism & Content Marketing in Africa

Escapism is the desire to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities and the problems of everyday life, by seeking entertainment or engaging in a form of fantasy.

One notable thing about content marketing in Nigeria and Africa generally is that an increasing number of Africa’s youthful population are gradually using entertaining content as a means of escaping the grime realities of every day life.

Take for example, a decent number of social media users in Nigeria are increasingly using digital content (video content in particular here), as a means of escapism. This has given rise to the explosion in skit making, a sub niche in the entertainment industry.

While this trend can also be noticed in pocket of places around the world, it is one of the most notable digital marketing trends in Africa in recent years and paying attention to this trend is very important if you plan to create a successful content marketing strategy, in Africa.

Why Escapism Thrives in Content Marketing

One major motive for a decent number of content consumers in Nigerian and African market is to a large extent, to “escape reality” by seeking entertainment.

And for this reason digital natives can get to ignore other forms of content that does not offer this escape, regardless of how good the content can be.

In Nigeria in particular, when you feel disillusioned, tired or bored, it’s very common to have someone tell you “Get online and watch comedy skits and you will be fine”.

Beliefs like this and more have influenced the use of digital content in Africa. This can also be noticed in countries like Kenya, Ghana, South Africa etc.,

The trend has of course given rise to the growth in comedy skit makers, getting the skit makers themselves, from ordinary people to social media influencers and then to celebrities with high end endorsements and some times, movie roles.

Using the Humor Marketing Strategy

To thrive in the African Content Marketing Space, you have to understand the use of Humor Marketing as part of your content strategy especially when it comes to digital advertising.

The reason for this is not far fetched. In Nigeria and most parts of Africa, your average content consumer is going to be very much inclined to pay attention to content with a touch of humor or a good deal of entertainment.

This is why in Nigeria, an average content consumer will prefer a comedy show over a Ted Talk event, regardless of the supposed benefit derived from the later.

Same reason why reality shows like Big Brother Naija and others will thrive over other content creators with supposedly more educational content.

Normally, this is not supposed to be so. But based on studies, a lot of socio economic, cultural factors and the daily realities of life sometimes contributes to putting pressure on a good number of the target audience, leading them to seek for whatever form of escapism they could afford.

And most times, these escape gets centered around entertainment that could manifest itself in contents like comedy, comic skits and so on.

With this reality, as a brand, using humor marketing as part of your content strategy for an African audience will lead you to creating content your audience can connect with.

Aspirational Content as a Marketing Strategy

What would you like to become in the future? This is one of the most common questions, directed at kids, in many African homes.

As you probably know, Africa is not one of the richest places in the world. So, oftentimes, a lot of parents, want their kids to do better, thrive to become better versions of themselves.

Yes, this is applicable to nearly all humans everywhere. And it’s even sentimental but in Africa, the aspiration to do better, gets even more special.

So, the infusion of aspirational content marketing in African targeted content is genius. It is part of the popular digital marketing strategies in Africa available for businesses.

Just as it is in most other regions, in Africa the use of aspirational content has come to stay as far as digital marketing is concerned.

With a large population of young people driven by millenials and Gen Zs, a content marketing strategy brought to life with the use of aspirational videos will sit very well with the African targeted audience.

This has been very noticeable in more serious campaigns like political campaigns among many other campaign types, targeted at appealing to the sentiments of the audience. A number of businesses have also used this marketing strategy to drive their campaigns.

The good thing about the use of aspirational content is the fact that it cuts across almost any sector and can be used by almost any kind of businesses, as far as the content is relatable to the target audience.

Best Platform for Content Marketing in Africa

Africa’s population is very young. And for this reason, a large number of content consumers in Africa are the Gen Z, Millenials and to some extent, the baby boomers.

Compared to Europe and the Americas where this target population is spread broadly across the top social media platforms, in Africa, there’s a slight difference.

So, before choosing the best platform for your content marketing strategy in Africa, you have to understand what platforms the majority of Africans in your target country frequents online.

After that, you also want to bear in mind the most popular content form shared on that platform, be it video, text, pictures or audio.

Going back to the popular platforms, according to a report by Statista, Facebook dominates the social media platform in most of Africa with more than 50 percent of social media. YouTube follows at a distant second and then there’s Twitter (Now X).

Facebook also tops the charts in specific African countries like Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt etc. But interestingly, one of the top trending content forms in Africa right now are short videos.

This statistics single handedly should make make Facebook your go to platform for content marketing in Africa. But there’s a twist to it. I’ll explain it below.

Most Popular Type of Content for Marketing in Africa

You might think that Africa is not supposed to be a rich continent where people can subscribe for top tier paid internet options to consume video content but you might be wrong when it comes to content strategy.

Because interestingly, just like it is in most parts of the world, one of the most popular type of content for digital marketing in Africa right now is short video content.

The reason for this is not far fetched. With improvements in the availability of smartphones and increasingly affordable data, more content users in Africa are gradually paying attention to video content.

Also, the recent growth in video focused social media platforms like Tiktok, Youtube, Instagram etc. in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa goes to underscore the growing consumption of video content in Africa.

So, while trying to capture an African audience, keep in mind that you can start with using Facebook as your major platform but, you don’t necessarily have to limit your campaign to Facebook.

Also, even where you choose Facebook as your preferred advertising platform, you can also play around with short video content outside using other preferred content format.

You can use video content right on Facebook or any other platform of choice after your strategic research.

Creating an Effective Content Strategy in Africa

To create an effective content strategy in Africa, you need to know what works for an African Audience.

In my years as a digital marketing expert, one of the major questions I’ve had from Business CEOs, Authors, Content creators, Advertisers etc. usually bothers on getting more visibility for their content.

And this is usually my undiluted answer…

Whether you’re creating an ad, writing a book or script, creating a musical lyrics or writing your next blog post… The best content idea you have is not as important as the content your audience wants to buy (or consume as the case may be).

To a large extent, your audience are the ones you aim to please. Keep this in mind.

And in terms of creating exceptional value that matters, your content strategy should revolve around content that is important to your audience. That is content they care about.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re already an expert in the American or European content marketing industry for example… Or you already have this one million dollar content idea..

If you really want to penetrate the African market digitally, you need to know the kind of content that will work for your audience in the African market. And then align your content strategy accordingly.

What Can you Do?

Now, I want to get a bit personal. In Africa, unless you’re already a very successful creative, successful content strategy is not centered around you the creator, as compared to your audience.

So, that idea about creating the kind of content you’re passionate about alone does not really work here at all. Or put differently, doing this might not get you the kind of success your content deserves in good time.

This is why you have the so-called “trash content” selling very fast compared to other content with supposedly better value.

So, do you want to create a content strategy that delivers the success your content deserves?

The short answer is, change your audience.

And here’s the longer answer …

Instead of working on creating content that’s just about your passion, find a way to package and present that same passion to your audience in a way that appeals to them.

Final Words

Be it in Europe, Asia or Africa, Content strategy is a very important aspect of content marketing.

When it comes to creating content that drives traffic and attracts sales, your content strategy is the corner stone of your success. And frankly speaking, all serious creatives have a content strategy that guides their content creation effort.

Whether you’re creating content for your personal or business brand you need to consider your target audience and what matters to them as you work on creating your content strategy.

So there you have the most important questions to consider while setting up a content strategy in Africa, for an African audience.

If you’re still not sure about how to get started after reading this, talk to our team here.

And of course, our content marketing course is opened for students interested in learning more about content marketing. Join here.

Now, it’s over to you! What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to creating content strategy for an African audience? Drop your comments below.