We are at the social media tipping point Some brands in Africa have already understood this and are harnessing the power of this medium. Will YOU be one of the pioneers in social business, or will that be for another company? You can make this happen. This session is designed to focus your mind on the opportunity to use social media for business gain, looking at how mobile penetration, data and audience growth have created a perfect chance for 'first mover advantage' for those brave enough to dive in.

1. SOCIAL BUSINESS
Using Social Media for business in Africa
Presented by Mark Jennings, Road Less Travelled
Marrakech 2014

2. SESSION PLAN// This session is designed to
focus your mind on the opportunity to use
social media for business gain.
1. Social media in Africa – The opportunity
2. Examples of social media in action
3. How to make social media successful for your
business

3. SOCIAL MEDIA IN AFRICA – THE OPPORTUNITY

4. //VOICEOVER
I hear lots of reasons why businesses
don’t like social media, and my
favourite is “my customers don’t use
social media”.
Ever said that?
Let’s look at if that is really the case

5. What is
social
media?

6. //VOICEOVER
When we talk about social media, what do we mean? We
mean videos, photos, audio, articles and comments that can
be shared with or engaged by a wide group of people quickly
and easily across a social network.
In Africa when we talk about social networks we really mean
Facebook. No other platform has such reach.
Facebook has become the most visited website on the
continent, with African users standing at an estimated 44.9
million people.
We will also talk about Twitter and YouTube and Instagram,
the photo sharing social network. There are many more
social media networks in the world of course, and some
specifically African such as South Africa’s Mxit but their
audience is much smaller at present.

8. 205,185,547
WEB USERS
IN AFRICA
We Are Social, January 2014

9. 79, 851, 240
ACTIVE
SOCIAL
MEDIA USERS
We Are Social, January 2014

10. 750, 257, 377
ACTIVE
MOBILE
SUBS
We Are Social, January 2014

11. Africa’s mobile
data usage
amounts to 14.9%
of the total web
traffic - second
only to Asia
Deloitte “Social Media in Africa” report, October 2012

12. “The high and growing amount
of traffic generated from mobile
phones in Africa highlights an
important trend going forward:
namely, that throughout Africa
there is a vast interest and
uptake in social media
platforms.”
Deloitte “Social Media in Africa” report, October 2012

13. //VOICEOVER
Here are three African
country examples to set
things in context.
Of course not all countries
have such an uptake of
social networks, but it is
only a matter of time

14. In Morocco there are
5,091,760 Facebook
users. 18 – 34 year olds
make up 69.6% of the
audience but 7.8% of the
audience are 35-44.
Maroc Telecom is the
most popular page with
1,160,995 Fans
Social Bakers, January 2014

15. In Tunisia there are
3,328,300 Facebook
users. 18 – 34 year olds
make up 70.3% of the
audience but 9.7% of the
audience are 35-44.
Orange Tunisie is the most
popular page with
809,774 Fans
Social Bakers, January 2014

16. In Kenya there are
2,045,900 Facebook
users. 18 – 34 year olds
make up 72.7% of the
audience but 8.7% of the
audience are 35-44.
Safaricom Kenya is the
most popular page with
683,013 Fans
Social Bakers, January 2014

17. We are at the
tipping point.

18. //VOICEOVER
“It’s almost impossible these days to have a conversation
that doesn’t touch on the world of social media. Our world in
Africa has now passed “the tipping point” where more and
cheaper bandwidth, combined with cheaper and increasingly
versatile mobile devices have been inextricably linked to a
universe of highly-functional and userfriendly platforms. We
have been catapulted into a new, digital dimension. It’s a bit
like how Alice felt in “Alice in Wonderland”.
However, this is no fairy tale. It’s real! People’s lives are
changing – for the better, companies are adapting to this
digital dimension with more enthusiasm than fear and there
is a tangible economic stimulus and business impact.”
Deloitte Social Media in action Report 2013
Still think your customers don’t use social media?

19. EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN ACTION

20. //THEORY #1
By being present on the
social networks that your
customers use you can
engage them where they
“work, live or play”, this in
turn builds new customer
acquisition opportunities

21. //EXAMPLE
Nigeria’s GT Bank has fully embraced
social media to reach new customers,
support existing customers and winback disgruntled customers.
With over 1.5 million Fans on
Facebook and 111, 000 Twitter
followers CEO Segun Agbaje says “the
objective was to engage the public
where they work, live or play”

24. 299 people Liked this
87 comments
39 people shared it
Potential audience
Over 127, 000 people

25. 504 people Liked this
283 comments
47 people shared it
Potential audience
Over 167, 000 people

26. “Every click will serve you better”

27. //VOICEOVER
This bank takes customer service seriously.
I spoke to John Obidi in Nigeria who had a bad
experience in a branch and was determined to
move his account. He posted this on Facebook
and within 2 hours received a customer service
call which solved the problem and he remained
a customer.
He has now told many friends of this positive
experience who have since moved to the bank.

28. //LEARNING
1. Giving people what they need to make their
lives easier builds your brand online, and this
benefits the business offline.
2. By doing the basics of community management
well they cheaply maintain engagement with
their customers, who then share the business’s
brand to their friends. This has helped them
grow their Facebook audience by over 13, 000
each month.
3. By being present on Facebook the business can
deal with customer complaints more quickly,
and publically, showing transparency and
further building their brand.

29. //VOICEOVER
Increasingly your customers are spending
more time using social networks such as
Facebook and the brands that command these
networks, command the greatest share of
voice, and can build deeper connections with
their customers, who in turn become the best
advocates of the brand.
Giving people the services they want and need,
where they live online, before the competition
gives these brands first mover advantage and
shows that they are progressive, customer
centric and part of their lives.

30. //THEORY #2
Understanding your
audience and playing a
bigger part in their lives
helps them choose your
brand over the
competition when it
counts

31. //EXAMPLE
Mobile operator Airtel wanted
to engage the youth market.
They knew that this audience
did not want to just watch an
advert, they wanted to
participate and become part of
a brand that truly spoke to
them, and for them.

33. In the past this would
have just been a
television or cinema
advert, but Airtel took
it further
The campaign allowed
fans to get involved,
upload their own
mixes, create comic
books of the campaign
and much more
This brought the
“Friends help you
achieve success”
message to life

34. //LEARNING
1. By truly understanding their market the brand was
able to speak with authority, and people believed
them and wanted to be part of it. In just three
months the Airtel Facebook Page grew from
70,000 to 350,000 Fans, while Interactions (Likes,
Comments, and Shares) rose to over 530,000. On
Twitter they acquired 14,000 new followers.
2. By using social networks as part of a campaign
Airtel got a lot more value from their creative
asset. Before the online campaign, the TV
commercial had been viewed just 11,000 times on
YouTube: that rocketed up to 680,000 during the
campaign period.
3. By building awareness on social networks in an
authoritative and clever way, sales also rose by
39%.

35. //EXAMPLE
MTM Uganda did something similar
with their sponsorship of the Cranes
and their creative asset the We Believe
commercial.
Rather than just showing it on TV,
they used YouTube to host the video
and built competitions around it to
further engage the audience and drive
up ‘share of voice’ in this congested
market.

37. The video had over
8000 views, 13 times
more views that any
other MTN video
All competition
interaction was done
via You Tube
comments, which built
up traffic to their
The theme music from
the advert was
promoted for
download on the web
to further build
awareness, and
extend the value of
the asset

38. //THEORY #3
By providing a good
service to
customers online,
they appreciate it
offline

39. //EXAMPLE
With 138,000 Fans, Bagatelle
Mall - The “Mall of Mauritius” is
the country’s most popular
Facebook page. They didn’t
achieve this with expensive
adverts, or competitions, they
did it by providing a really
human service.

40. No matter what
Facebook fans say, the
team at Bagatelle Mall
have a response ...

41. They are always
pushing the
boundaries of
customer
engagement...

42. //EXAMPLE
Other examples of brands
using social networks to
provide their customers
with updates are
Morocco’s Afriquia,
Uganda’s Umeme and MTN

43. Club Afriquia:
Doing the basics,
getting some traction
but lots of room for
improvement
Here is an example of a
competition they have
run

44. Club Afriquia:
Competition winners,
some happier than
others

45. Umeme
Using Facebook to
update customers of
supply problems

46. MTN
They use Facebook to
inform their customers
about phone features
they may not be aware
of, especially phone
safety

47. //LEARNING
1. Across Africa customers are turning to social
networks for the latest information, those
brands that have a strong presence are winning
business
2. Responding quickly and appropriately is
expected, but this can be the cheapest form of
customer service
3. Helping one customer on Facebook means you
help other customers at the same time – as the
solution is public and can be ‘overheard’

48. Finally, a few
examples of
interesting social
media from around
the world ...

49. Sheeps Sell
In Kuwait, someone
has started using
Instagram to sell sheep

50. Citroen C1
The social media car
that you choose

51. KLM Meet and Seat
One way to find new
business, or at least
avoid a boring flight

52. SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS

53. WILLINGNESS to dive in
and give it a go, even if
you hate Facebook
personally, your
customers are using social
media more each day, and
soon your competition
will be too. This is not
someone else's job.

54. //VOICEOVER
If you think social media is someone else’s job
ASK Richard Branson or Kenya’s President
Uhuru Kenyatta – he exemplifies how
important social media is when led from the
top.
As well as running Facebook and Twitter
successfully, he also notably called on other
members of parliament during his 2011/2012
budget speech to use social media to
communicate directly with Kenyans, and has
since asked for views on major matters such as
the budget via Twitter

55. A CLEAR STRATEGY for
success, that includes
goals, measures and risk
mitigation. Success in this
new world is not by
chance, it is through
proper planning.

56. SUPPORT such as training
and ongoing help from an
expert, and support from
you to your own staff who
will manage social
networks. Reward success
and accept some failure.
Learn from it.

57. CONCLUSION

58. We are at the tipping point.
Some brands in Africa have
already understood this and are
harnessing the power of this
medium. Will YOU be one of the
pioneers in social business, or
will that be for another
company? You can make this
happen.

59. //VOICEOVER
Social media is here to stay, with adoption growing by the
minute.
Elsewhere in the world it is smartphones that have driven
the real use of social media, and with smartphone adoption
expected to double in the next 4 years to 40%, you can see
we are at the tipping point.
Some brands in Africa have already understood this and are
harnessing the power of this medium. Whether you like
social media, or hate it, your customers now and of the
future are engaging ever more. Will YOU be one of the
pioneers in social business, or will that be for another
company? You can make this happen.
“Social Media is like the wind, so the least you can do is to build
a windmill”

60. THANKS
Written and presented by Mark Jennings for XXXXXXX
Marrakech, Morocco 4th February 2014
Contact me via:
www.clicktoexit.com
www.twitter.com/markofrespect
uk.linkedin.com/in/markjennings