Social Media Marketing is a key channel to stay in direct contact with your customers. Here’s how to use it to attract more customers and grow your business successfully in Nigeria

Social media marketing has become a very important tool in allowing both SMEs and big companies in Nigeria to find fresh and creative ways to attract more customers.

All the popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have certain features that can extend the reach of your marketing campaigns.

Why do businesses need Social Media Marketing in Nigeria?

As a small business owner in Nigeria, you’re always on the hunt for new customers —  after all, that’s what the game is all about

Even if you’ve built up a loyal core customer base, new customers are key to scaling your business for the long term. The fact is, repeat customers can either move away or fall on hard times and do less discretionary spending.

You need to make sure your business is always relevant and inviting to new customers and clients. The good news is that social media marketing makes all these very easy these days

If revenue is starting to slow or get stagnant, it’s time for you to come up with some new and creative ways to market your business to new customers.

Ways to Use Social Media for the Success of Your Business in Nigeria

There are over 3.48 billion social media users worldwide and in Nigeria, There were approximately 29.3 million social network users in 2019 and this figure is projected to grow to 36.8 million social media users in Nigeria in 2023.

The question is: in what ways can you effectively reach this crowd and turn a good number of them into paying customers?

 If you want to reach out to this massive audience, you need to have an effective social media marketing strategy in place.

That’s because simply creating a social media account for your business in Nigeria isn’t enough. You can’t expect much from social media when you randomly post updates. Without a proper social media strategy, it is hard to generate any significant results for your business.

However, creating an effective social media strategy is easier said than done and most people that parade themselves as social media specialist don’t bring the expected result.

 We have put together a list of some proven ways that can help you capitalize on the power of social media.

Don’t always shout buy this buy that on social media.

This is one mistake most people make when using social media in Nigeria. You see the point of social media is not to sell. No that is what your website is for.

 Social media is much more subtle and should be treated as a way to build an audience that in time may buy your products. The trick is to grow your brand recognition, increase awareness of your products and services and build a relationship with your audience.

When we say “sell” we mean don’t post pictures of your products with a price, image and a caption that says “buy this now” or “50% off”.

This isn’t going to make people buy your product. It is more of an intrusion of their space. Let’s take Facebook as an example. Many of us use Facebook to catch up with our friends and family, to look for entertaining videos, catch up on all the latest events and generally have a nose at what’s going on.

What we don’t want is a newsfeed rammed full of posts saying “buy this” or “don’t miss this”. It feels like an intrusion to many and is a sure fire way for you to lose followers.

On Social Media marketing, Engagement is the key.

The best thing to do on social media is to make your posts engaging. Post something that happened in the office today, post a picture of the team, share a funny video that made you laugh or ask people for their feedback.

There are subtle ways to showcase your products without making people feel that they have to buy. The key to successful social media strategy is to create engagement.

 If people like, share or comment on your posts they are more likely to see your future content. The more engagement you can get the greater the visibility of your posts and more followers

Be Subtle and Patient in Your social media marketing

When we said don’t post buy this, buy that; we aren’t saying that you should never post pictures of your products. Of course you want people to know what you are all about. Here are some ideas of more subtle ways to showcase your products without giving it the hard sell on social media.

• Educate people and let them see the benefit of your product and services. You may find out that people will start asking you how they can get it.
• Post pictures of your products, perhaps side by side, and ask people which they prefer

• Consider a poll asking for people’s feedback on products they would like to see
• Post an image of someone using or wearing your products – better still encourage them to post their images
• Tease future products “coming soon” or “limited edition”
• If you get reviews of your products then share these – people love to buy on recommendation

What you need to avoid is constant posts that encourage people to click and buy now. The majority of what you post should be designed to engage, inform, educate and entertain.

When it comes to building quality followers that can be converted to paying customers on social media, you need to be patient

Sometimes it can take time to build a relevant following. What you need to do is nurture your audience, give them what they want to see and make them feel a part of a community.

In time they may introduce your page to their friends and when they are in the market for your products or services then you will be front of mind. Encourage your clients to use your social media pages to share their experience of your products or services, promote your social media pages on your website, shop window, business stationery etc.

Post regularly and consistently, not just when you remember. Most importantly remember that the purpose of your pages is not to sell but to build a relationship with your followers and increase your brand awareness.

Create valuable and shareable content.

When you post content that offers value or inspires people, there are higher chances that your followers will share it. Shareable content helps you organically attract more followers.

These are some popular types of content that you can share on social media:

High-quality articles, such as how-to guides and actionable tips

Inspirational posts

Funny memes

Product reviews

Videos

Screenshots

Client testimonials

Expert interviews

Case studies

Behind-the-scenes stories

Include paid ads on social media marketing.

You should always track the performance of each of your social media posts and engagement activities. This will help you identify your top-performing content. You can boost the reach of these posts using paid ads.

This tactic can help you generate more engagement, drive more traffic to your website, and increase brand awareness.

To get the most out of your paid social ad campaigns, you should do the following:

•        Use social proof.

•        Include compelling calls to action (CTAs).

•        Use high-quality, attractive images.

•        Consider consumer psychology.

•        Choose colors, themes and messaging wisely.

•        Run targeted campaigns to meet the demands of specific consumer groups.

•        A/B test multiple versions of your social ad.

Leverage compelling Call to Action -CTAs.

Strong and well-placed CTAs can help you motivate your potential customers to take action and make the next move through your sales funnel. You should keep your followers engaged by prompting them to “learn more” or “shop now.”

You can also compel them to take action quickly using a limited-time discount offer or promoting a flash sale that will only last for a few hours.

It is important to ensure that your social media posts and ads end with CTAs that are relevant to the needs and interests of your audience. At the end of the day, people only care about what you can offer them.

Statistics that show why you need to start using social media marketing in Nigeria.

Your goal as a business owner in Nigeria is to take advantage of all the marketing strategies out there, including Social Media marketing, and maximize revenue.

However, you may wonder how to go about it to ensure one reaps the full benefits. Likely, you have heard or read articles where people argue about how effective the social media is in marketing.

Anyways, we will look at the possible challenges and solutions to using social media marketing. We will also consider some interesting facts about social media marketing that make it an invaluable tool for digital marketing. To start with, let us have ideas about what various social media channels offer.

Facebook: Facebook is a social networking website where users can post comments, share photographs and post links to news or other interesting content on the web, chat live and watch short-form video.

Why You Should Consider Using Facebook For Your Social Media Marketing?

Statistics:

• Every second, there are 20,000 people on facebook. In addition, Facebook is adding 8 people per second and there are 3 million posts per minute. People share 1.3 million pieces of content on Facebook every minute and on average, users spend 21 minutes per day on facebook. What these mean: facebook pulls the crowd more than any other social media channel, and you should consider facebook marketing.
• 79% of all users are accessing Facebook from their mobile. What this means: you should consider optimising your site for good mobile user experience to encourage more engagements.

Instagram: This is an online photo-sharing application and social network platform that allows users to edit and upload photos and short videos through a mobile app.

Why You Should Consider Using Instagram For Your Social Media Marketing?

Statistics:

• 91% of instagram posts are photos. What this means: They say, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. We all love pictures, especially the youths and young adults, and this explains why this age bracket is more active on this platform than any other age group. So, as a digital marketer, you will need to target this group when using Instagram.
• 68% of instagram users are females. What this means: I guess you are already connecting the dots. So, if you want to effectively market your products on Instagram, then, your products need to match this audience interests.

Twitter: This is a micro blogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as tweets. Registered users can post, like and retweet tweets, but unregistered users can only read them.

Why You Should Consider Using Twitter For Your Social Media Marketing?

Statistics:

• 50% of twitter users are using the social network via mobile. What this means: your site design must be mobile user friendly.
• The average twitter user has 126 followers and the average business has 14,709 Twitter followers; 92% of retweets are based on interesting content. What this means: your content needs to be top-notched to attract followership and retweeting.
• Infographics shared on Twitter get 832% more retweets than images and articles. What this means: This explains the importance of choosing the right content for the right audience.

LinkedIn: This is an employment-oriented service that operates via websites and mobile apps. It is mainly used for professional networking, including employers posting jobs and job seekers posting their CVs.

Why You Should Consider Using LinkedIn For Your Social Media Marketing?

Statistics:

• 25million LinkedIn profiles are viewed every day and you can increase your LinkedIn views by 11 times by including a photo. What this means: Generally, people are more comfortable doing business with you when there is a face to your business.
• 59% of LinkedIn users don’t visit Twitter. What this means: This explains why should use a couple of social media channels that cater to different interests.
• One in three professionals are on LinkedIn, This explains why this platform is used for professional networking. The possibility is there that you will meet online a professional, or an organisation that needs your products or services.

Youtube: It is a video-sharing platform where users watch videos posted by other users and upload videos of their own.

Statistics:

• It has over 2 billion users, almost one-third of all people on the internet. What this means: Enough traffic, if you create the right content for the right target audience.
• Each visitor spends 11m 24s per day on YouTube, on average. What this means: Enough engagement, if you have good content.
• Over 70% of YouTube views are on mobile. What this means: Make your site layout mobile friendly to attract more prospects.
• When choosing what to watch, whether a video relates to a viewer’s interests is 3x more important to people than whether it has a famous actor, What this means: Know your audience interests, and that will help you come up with a content that is relevant to them.

While social media is a fantastic way to reach and engage your target audience, it has its own drawbacks. There are concerns about posting fresh content every time and the time needed to produce it.

To resolve this, some companies outsource these tasks to advertising agencies to handle. The reason is that these agencies have the experience, manpower and strategy needed to undertake this assignment.

Another challenge facing social media marketing is posts getting high engagement but not converting. Generally speaking, social media platforms are meant for relationship building; hence, they should be used to build relationships between you and your customers.

These customers then, over time, become your brand ambassadors and loyal customers. If you are not getting conversion now, do not worry, you know it takes time to build a lasting relationship.

Focus on Generating Cash

Never get carried away and try to use all the social media marketing platforms out there. This can become overwhelming and difficult to manage. Focus on social media sites where the majority of your customers are.

Remember, having a large number of followers on social media site should not be your sole motive. You need to have a plan to ensure that you can generate leads from these followers. In the end, the success of your campaign depends upon the money you make.