Nigerian Telecommunication Industry and Social Marketing: Where Are We?

Presented By Uche Nworah At The Social Media Club International, Nigeria National Conference, Friday, February 26th 2010 At Horscal Suites, Nigeria Institute of Medical Research Yaba Lagos.

Outline
Social Media Marketing at a glance How Social Media Works Social Media Landscape Major Nigerian Telecom Brands Emerging Competitive/Branding Strategies Peculiar Challenges Of Nigerian Telcos Whats All The Noise About? Nigerian Telcos & Social Media Way Forward/Conclusion

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a term that describes use of social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. In the context of internet marketing, social media refers to a collective group of web properties whose content is primarily published by users, not direct employees of the property (e.g., the vast majority of video on YouTube is published by non3 YouTube employees).

How Social Media Works

Firms & Individuals can create buzz or newsworthy events, videos, tweets, or blog entries that attract attention. These could be viral in nature. Buzz is what makes social media marketing work. It replicates a message through user to user contact, rather than the traditional method of purchasing of an ad or promoting a press release. The key is to create an environment that enable fans of a brand or company to promote a message themselves in multiple online social media venues It is based around online conversations. Social media marketing is not controlled by the organization. Instead it encourages user participation and dialogue 4

Social Media Landscape

Major Nigerian Telecom Brands

Emerging Competitive/Branding Strategies of Nigerian Telcos

Print Media Out-of-Home Media Broadcast Media

Sponsorships

Sales Promotions

Competitive Strategies
Celebrity Endorsement

E-Marketing

Public Relations Personal Selling

Experiential

Peculiar Challenges Of Nigerian Telcos

Infrastructure e.g. energy, security etc Increasing competition (increasing number of GSM/CDMA operators offer similar services voice, data). Implications of the coming New Nitel with Chinese DNA Sales promotion led market (keeping up with the Joneses). The Herd mentality in Marketing Dearth of reliable customer database Network congestion/overall service quality Others
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Whats All The Noise About?

The latest Facebook demographic data, as of February 3, 2010, indicates that there are about a million Nigerians on Facebook (less Diaspora). Compare this with South Africa with 2.3 million, Egypt with 2.5 million and Morocco with 1.3 million (all less Diaspora). Why do all these Nigerian Facebook statistics matter? It matters for Nigerian causes online, for public figures amassing a following on Facebook and for companies initiating Facebook campaigns. The truth is that Facebook has not gone mainstream, yet. It has about 0.7% of the countrys population; a sizeable number given Nigerias size, but not quite what is needed to make the dent required for an upset in either business or politics. For now, activists, Nigerian businesses and public figures should (while maintaining their Facebook pages) remember to first, take their movements to the streets, if not, they stand the risk of not reaching out to about 99% of the Nigerian public.
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Whats All The Noise About?

There are several reasons or may I say, hypotheses why this might be so. First is what I like to refer to as the lag effect, second is a relative lack of awareness or even a low propensity to adopt the platform among Nigerians and third, is the relatively poor Internet connectivity experience in Nigeria Nmachi Jidenma (Next Newspaper 09/02/10)
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Nigerian Telcos & Social Media

Major Telcos already have some presence on key social media platforms (see screenshots) However, social media is still not first choice platform amongst the Telcos. Traditional media still rule here There is a belief that the quest for stature & visibility can only be satisfied by increased patronage of more dominant media such as Outdoor, T.V. Current usage of social media by Nigerian Telcos is still very much limited to ad placements and click-thrus, this limits the use of social media platforms. There is no evidence of community of brand users and loyalists.
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Global Best Practice

The Pepsi example Has shifted one third of marketing budget to interactive & social media. Pulled its ad out of the 2010 Super Bowl diverting the money to promoting a digitally focused social responsibility campaign. (www.refresheverything.com)
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The Big Question For Social Media Agencies

If I place my brand on You Tube, Twitter, Facebook etc. How many more recharge cards will that help me sell?

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Conclusion
Telcos/Firms should incentivise the forgotten tribe (Internal customers & employees) Promote social causes as this may appeal to brand users and help them to create communities The Pepsi example Social media agencies need to do more to market the platforms to the Telcos by making a case of its contribution to the bottom-line, something the traditional media have been able to do.
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234next.com (08/02/10)

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Case Study: Next Community

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saharareporters.com (08/02/10)

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nigeriavillagesquare.com (08/02/10)

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facebook.com (08/02/10)

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ngrguardiannews.com (08/02/10)

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MTN on Facebook

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MTN on Facebook

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MTN on Facebook

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Zain on Facebook

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Glo on Facebook

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Visafone on Facebook

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Starcomms on Facebook

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Starcomms On Facebook

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nairaland.com (08/02/10)

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Etisalat on Yahoo

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Other Nigerian Brands On Facebook (Lucozade)

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Vodafone (UK) On Facebook

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Virgin Media & 02 On Facebook

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