With more than 5 billion users and a proven track record of growth, countless studies have shown that social media marketing can propel businesses to gain increased visibility, make more sales and, grow in earnings.
In developing markets like Nigeria and most of Africa, millions of businesses are already leveraging the opportunities in Social Media Marketing to grow their businesses. But sadly, some of these businesses are not experiencing the expected growth they should be having.
After practicing social media marketing in more than half a decade, I’ve found that most of the challenges experienced by businesses when it comes to driving social media generated growth are due to inexperience and inadequate information.
So, in this guide, I’ll be sharing with you in the following paragraph, some of the key issues you need to understand and how to navigate social media marketing successfully so you can drive growth for your business.
What is Social Media Marketing?
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Social media marketing is a powerful digital strategy that allows you to use the social media to build communities, engage with clients, promote your brand and ultimately drive business growth.
It is one of the different aspects of digital marketing that businesses are leveraging to create visibility that will attract new customers and possibly, new sales.
In Africa generally, the use of social media is growing in leaps and bounds. And with this growth come numerous opportunities and new market frontiers for nearly all kinds of businesses to advance in sales and overall growth.
Popular Social Media Platforms
As Africa’s largest country, Nigeria has one of the most vibrant social media marketing landscapes, with users numbering over 36 million and opportunities for numerous businesses to thrive. However, not all social media platforms can deliver effective outcomes.
In fact, if you want to engage in social media marketing today, you need to know that not all platforms are worth your effort. Outside the fact that some of these platforms do not have a large number of users, some of them do not have a suitable audience for some kind of business.
That said, I’ll be sharing some of the top 5 social media platforms in Nigeria based on a report by Statista and what you can use for your marketing, depending on the nature of your business.
WhatsApp: WhatsApp is by far the most used social media platform in Nigeria, with more than 90 percent of internet users in the country, claiming to use the application.
Owned by Meta, the messenger app is not as robust for marketing, when compared to Facebook and Instagram, its other sister applications.
Although a number of businesses have for some time been using “WhatsApp TV” which is more like the updated version of today’s WhatsApp channel to engage in marketing, success results from this channel has not been as well documented as the ones from Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, to demonstrate its effectiveness.
Based on the foregoing, despite its growing potential, the use of this platform for social media marketing is yet to be well established compared to other social media platforms.
Facebook: Used by over 70 percent of social media users in Nigeria, according to Staista. Facebook is by far, one of the most established platforms for social media marketing in Nigeria.
Outside having a vast number of users, its diversity makes it suitable for almost all kinds of businesses seeking to engage in marketing. You can almost find any kind of audience on Facebook and it is almost like the defacto marketing platform for businesses.
However, if you’re more after other kinds of content like visual focused content, politics related content etc., you might want to consider using it alongside other platforms.
Instagram: Like Facebook, Instagram is a very popular social media platform in Nigeria. Outside its general popularity, it is also a well-known platform for social media marketing and advertising.
It is most suitably used for visual driven content and by businesses in the niche using visual driven marketing. In most cases, businesses are keen on using Instagram alongside Facebook either on a linked account or as two standalone platforms for marketing.
Alongside Facebook, Instagram is a leading platform for small business marketing and advertising.
X (Formerly Twitter ): Popular for political commentary, real time engagement and innovative content, Twitter has been one of the top platforms used by social media enthusiasts in Nigeria.
Compared to user statistics, it is not as popular as the other two social media platforms however it has been a powerful platform used in creating real time engagement. Over the years, twitter has morphed into a effective tool in driving political discourse, creating conversations on social issues and building awareness.
It is mostly used by brands seeking to drive engagement around political discussions, promote evolving technological platforms like Cryptocurrency, NFTs, AI etc. it can also be used by businesses seeking a well advanced audience or those with aims to shape conversations around specific subject matters.
YouTube: Projected to reach 11.9 million users in 2025, YouTube is one of the most visible social media marketing platforms for businesses focused on creating video content for its users.
Although other social media platforms like Instagram also gives creators the chance to use video or visual focused content, YouTube offers far more leverage.
Alongside these are other social media marketing platforms like Tiktok, LinkedIn etc. these are some of the most well-known social media platforms that can be used for social media marketing in Nigeria. And you can choose a platform that works for you, based on your own needs.
How to Do Social Media Marketing
Now that we’ve identified the top social media platforms in Nigeria, it’s time to get started with actual social media marketing and how to get it done. And you’ll need to do this by using the following steps.
Identify your Goal: The first step to get started with social media marketing is to identify your goal. What exactly are you trying to achieve on the social?
There are a number of goals you can shot for as a brand, including: Brand awareness, Engagement, Leads, Sales, and Customer Service etc.
It is crucial to identify the exact kind of goals you want to achieve because doing that will guide you on choosing the best platform and audience that will get you to achieve that goal.
Find your Audience: Now that you’ve figured out your goals, who are the people that can actually help you to achieve these goals? This is the next puzzle you’ll have to find out on your social media marketing journey.
Keep in mind, your audience are the people that’ll easily be interested in your service. They are interested because it matters to them.
They are also the people that will be ready to pay for whatever solution, product or service you’re offering. So, you have to find out where they are. Or put differently, where you can have the largest number of them and then get them over to your platform.
Choose a Social Media Platform: You can’t do social media marketing without choosing the right kind of platform that will deliver your expected outcomes consistently.
Over the years, I’ve seen how a number of brands have jumped onto just about any platform because it is trending or making waves at the moment.
As someone expecting to drive high yield in returns, you don’t want to use this approach for your digital marketing.
So, you have to go out there, identify the social media platform with the highest number of your target audience, based on your niche, industry or business goals.
PS: There might be number of platforms with a large number of your target audience. If you find yourself in such a situation, you want to consider for the platform with the largest number of target audience, the one with the most engaging audience and of course, the platform with the audience most likely to fulfill your expected outcomes.
Create a Social Media Strategy: A social media strategy is like a plan that will guide your social marketing activities across the platform(s) you choose to use on social media.
A social media strategy should outline your goal, audience, preferred platform and the steps you’re going to use to achieve those goals.
It should lay out things like the kind of content you want to create, number of times you’ll be creating it and the expected outcomes you have for each piece of content created.
If there’s a plan for social media advertising or promotion, you want to include the preferred options you plan to use for this, in your social media strategy.
PS: Keep in mind; you need a flexible social media marketing strategy. As you’re building and growing with social media marketing, you’re going to eventually find out about what’s working, what’s not working and eventually, you’ll adapt your strategy to meet up with these new realities.
Plan, Create & Share Content: Social Media Marketing thrives on content. To engage your audience and grow your platform, you’re going to plan, create and publish content consistently.
As far as marketing for social media is concerned, it can be difficult to stay consistent but, with a social media plan, it gets a bit easier.
So, you want to plan your content ahead of time. This planning can be themed based, audience based, trends based etc. whatever it is you choose, you need some list of content ideas that you’re going to publish to get your audience engaged and your platform growing.
To plan your content properly, consider your overall goals for getting your business on social media, identify the needs of your audience and then use these two factors to create a content calendar based on topics that will interest your audience.
PS: Keep in mind to also find out the preferred content format for your target audience before deciding on what format to use. Also, find the most convenient time when the largest number of your audience are online and share your content at those times.
Engage, connect, and Build: Social Media Marketing gives brands opportunity to engage, connect and grow with their audiences. It affords businesses the chance to grow a community outside their websites and owned platforms and one of the best ways to leverage this is to engage and connect with your audiences.
Remember, some of the best brands are those brands their audience can connect and easily engage with. So after creating and sharing your content, you want to also connect and engage with your audience.
You can do this by sharing content that matters to them, engaging and replying to their comments and enquiries, organizing giveaways, competitions and posting user generated content.
There are many other ways to foster connections and build a thriving community with your audience. You’ll find a lot of this as you embark on your marketing efforts on social media but whatever options you choose, be authentic, sincere and keep it real.
Make it about them, more than it is about you. And you’ll raise a team of loyal fans.
Steps to Promote a Brand on Social Media
There are many ways to promote a brand on social media as part of your social media marketing campaign. Below are some of the popular options you can try.
Content Creation: Content creation is by far one of the popular ways to promote a brand on social media. Regardless of your industry, content marketing will get you in front of your audience, solve their needs and also, potentially position you as an expert in your niche.
Hashtags & Keywords: To get better visibility for your content, consider using hashtags and keywords to optimize your social media posts. There’s a way you can go about this strategically and it’ll lead to improved results for your content reach, engagement and overall visibility.
Collaborations: Collaborating with other established brands, social media users or even influencers is a great way to establish to promote your brand. It gives you the chance to expose your brand to the other party’s audience just as they expose theirs to yours. At the end of the day, you can get a few new followers, over to yours.
Trending topics: Trending or viral topics can get your brand easily visible. This has been a popular social media marketing strategy used by some top brands. All you need to do here is get on trending topics, create content, find a way to connect or link it to your audience, give your takes and then share with your audience. This can potentially double up your visibility.
PS: While doing this, consider the potential effect of a trending topic on your brand before getting on it.
Content Curation: this is almost the same as getting on trending topics but what is different here is that all you need do is to curate and share popular content that matters to your audience from different creators. This brings the whole content over to your platform in a way that your audience won’t have to go elsewhere. At the same time, it gets you the chance to promote the other brands – a good will you can draw from in the future, making it a win-win.
Paid Advertising: Where you’re looking for faster outcomes for your social media marketing effort; you can consider using paid advertising. Depending on your preferred platform, there are several PPC advertising options you can choose, to get a faster outcome.
PS: You can use paid advertising alongside other organic marketing strategies shared here.
Influencer Marketing: Influencer marketing is a popular social media marketing strategy in Nigeria and most of Africa. It is one of those options that leverage the good will of a popular personality to promote a product. Where it fits your budget, you have to identify the influencer that will get you the best results and then work with them.
Tips for Social Media Marketing Success
Know your Audience Inside Out: Understand what matters to them and provide content that meet their needs at all times.
Stay Consistent: Consistency is important. It takes a lot of tiny little effort to create an outcome that stands out. You have to stay consistent as much as possible, whether you’re seeing your expected outcomes right now or not.
Understand Trends: Social media is a fast paced environment. People’s interest in content can change really fast. You have to understand what’s changing, what’s trending and what’s working at all times if you want to build success as a social media marketer.
Evaluate: Take out time to evaluate and analyze the effectiveness of your content, marketing strategy and everything you’re doing on social media. Remove what’s not working, iterate what’s working and then make effort to adapt to changes.
Final Words
Social media marketing in Nigeria offers a lot of opportunities for brands and businesses to grow their brands and make long lasting impacts. And of course, a number of brands are already doing just this.
As a new brand seeking to leverage the power of social media marketing for your business, you can get started using these strategies right here and you’ll launch your business right into the next level of growth and prosperity.
Where you’re finding it difficult to get started, you can sign up for our Social Media Marketing Training here and learn the strategies, skills and then get the mentorship that will get you to stand out as a social media marketer of repute.
Now, it’s over to you. What are your challenges when it comes to social media marketing in Nigeria? Drop your comments below.
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