by Remon Geyser (@remongeyser) Through Springleap’s creative insights division, we’ve isolated a trend on social media of three African countries: in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, cellular network operators are growing in popularity among Facebook and Twitter users.
In Kenya, Safaricom — which is now a key player in the stock market — has recently hit over 1m likes on its Facebook page from local internet users. Ghana’s social media stats ranks Airtel Ghana and MTN Ghana at first place, with 483 000 and 446 200 likes respectfully (in third place is Vodafone Ghana, with 334 000 likes). Nigeria, which boasts a higher internet penetration rate than Ghana or Kenya at 39.7% (2014), also reflects a large portion of local engagement and likes, with MTN Nigeria at 2 750 000. On Twitter, the same brands also generate positive engagement, with the most impressive statistic belonging to Safaricom Limited, which has 485 000 followers.
What seems to be driving this trend of positive engagement with cellular network operators in these three countries is an emotional attachment consumers have with a company that “connects people to one another”. While social media continues to grow and make inroads for brands with consumers in emerging markets, consumers on social media are interacting with their brands by following and liking their accounts. As this wave of digital loyalty continues to rise, brands should leverage this insight to enhance their presence in Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria.
Why are mobile network brands so popular online?
There could be a short-fire answer to this question — namely that these brands are performing well with the markets they have penetrated. However, is penetration alone enough to convert awareness into high doses of social media acquisition? One can’t simply stipulate that brand awareness is enough to garner such a high return, either. It takes an organic drive of sorts to get consumers moving on brands’ social media platforms.
In Kenya, mobile money is on the rise. Safaricom is in direct competition with the country’s most-profitable bank, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), for market share in the mobile money sector, and it is doing well. Of the 26m Kenyan mobile-money subscribers, 20m are Safaricom customers. On the brand’s Facebook page, customers have the ability to sign up, a function that directs users to the Safaricom website. This feature could benchmark Safaricom above its competition, helping to promote an innovative, user-friendly experience.
Indian telecommunications giant, Airtel, is leading in Facebook likes in Ghana. This success is largely attributed to the company leveraging the Ghanaian football culture which is top of mind in consumers. Airtel sponsors the Rising Stars programme, which explores the African continent for the next big name in professional football. There could be a link between Airtel Ghana’s popularity on social media and how the brand is marketed at the masses by sponsoring football-related initiatives. Could the next step be sponsoring the country’s national football team, the Black Stars?
In Nigeria, South African mobile network operator, MTN, is clearly celebrating the nation’s success in mobile internet connectivity. There could potentially be several reasons that its social media presence and Facebook likes are climbing. By building a consistent, visually engaging and prominent identity, the brand’s name has been borrowed for many different initiatives, drives and partnerships, which would appeal to the empowered local urban black youth (UBY) market. MTN Nigeria sponsors the hit Lagosian TV show, Project Fame West Africa, which is a reality singing contest helping unknown but talented musicians to launch their careers.
Social media campaigns
Twitter is a popular platform for digital campaigns which has been shown to produce tangible results, especially when brands use ad budgets to promote the campaigns. There is a clear relationship between how a brand communicates with its target audience on social media, and the number of followers they are able to gain. Retweets are a common occurrence by Twitter handles, which means that brand awareness is being spread to even more potential consumers.
Hashtags are being used by brands in this social media advertising space, too. Recently, Safaricom used #NeverMissaMoment, enticing consumers to “not miss out” on their data bundles, thus creating a sense of urgency. Airtel Ghana promoted #makeyourchange, which appeals to customers who are not brand loyal yet. Very recently, MTN Nigeria used #TheHottestOne to circulate hype around the launch of the Hot 2 Android One smartphone.
Consumers could be giving these brands a ‘thumbs-up’ on Facebook for enabling them to go online in the first place. In addition, some of the network services on offer could be viewed as ‘innovative’; it isn’t uncommon for happy customers to like Facebook pages in return for good service.
The cellphone industry in Africa has boomed, and this could be another reason for such a high level of social media engagement directed towards the brands, as they might use their social media pages to contact regional offices or inquire about products/services.
At its core, the action of rolling out effective adverts on platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook (resonating with the target markets), could lead to a high influx of consumers engaging with brands through liking and following brand pages.
As cellular operators in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana continue to build stronger strategies and ad campaigns to attract more digital customers, local ad agencies will be given the task of communicating in a relevant way to build sustainable relationships with the online world of Africa.
Resources:
- Internet World Stats: Internet Usage Statistics for Africa
- socialbakers.com
- Quartz Africa: Kenya’s No.1 mobile network is battling one of the country’s top banks for mobile money’s future
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Remon Geyser (@remongeyser) is a burger fanatic, wine connoisseur and eSports enthusiast (yes, a fancy term for playing computer games). He is also the research lead for Springleap, heading up a new global creative research division while obscurely attempting a PhD. Springleap provides instant creative expert feedback to rock marketing ROI. Remon contributes the new weekly “Talk Africa” column, covering Pan-African trends, on MarkLives.com.
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