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Why you shouldn’t overlook social media

September 26, 2013 by Bankole Adedeji (dejibankole@justjobsconnect.com)

Bankole Adedeji
| credits: File copy

The social media world is huge, very huge. The statistics could make one’s head spin. I believe you and your brand(s) are on one social media platform or the other and I am sure you are having a swell time. Everyone on the social media has a story to tell about his or her experiences. I have a collection of my own awesome experiences on the social media. What is the volume of your experience? Can you have a repeat of your awesome personal experience in your company as well?

Companies today should not find it difficult to embrace social media as a means of enhancing their business. Speaking to the chief marketing officer of a multinational recently, he said, “Social media is beginning to have a great deal in today’s business world. The more we use it in our company, the more we are learning”. Social media has changed marketing, sales, public relations, human resources and the entire way of running a company.

Reinforcing your stand in a fierce competitive market requires doing the extra ordinary. Taking your personal brand or company brand to the next level requests more – social media. The first time I introduced many of my clients to social media, they saw no reason for joining the platform personally or business wise. But after a little experimental activity on the platforms, they jumped at the initiative. If, however, you are among those doubting the importance of the social media, the following reasons can make you have a change of mind.

Fascinating traffic

The biggest social media platform, Facebook has 1.15 billion users. If Facebook was a country, it will be the second largest country. Its number is so huge you cannot overlook it. Imagine what the traffic of other social media platforms can do when harnessed.

About three years ago, I was in the office of a managing director of a newly established hotel in Ikeja, Lagos. At the meeting, another top executive of the firm worked in. He looked outside the window and said, “The traffic on this highway is so much today”. Surprisingly, the managing director replied, “It is good for our business. People will notice us”. The social media traffic is so huge that you and your business can go unnoticed. Why do you think companies pay more for advert space in traffic zones? Why do you think companies pay more to put their adverts in the first, two pages of a newspaper? Simple: so that people can notice them.

Your company is competing for attention against everything. Attention is what you seek. Unfortunately, getting customer’s attention does not translate into purchase. Today’s customers do not have time. They are too distracted to pay attention to your adverts. They are also tech cum social media savvy. They make their purchase decision on informed information, many of which circulate via social media.  Social media does not just make customers to notice you or your brand but provides you with a platform to meet your targeted audience.

Awesome statistics

Nigeria has one of the largest Internet population in Africa and the 11th in the world. Incredibly, Nigeria’s Internet population is more than the entire Tanzania’s population. More than 3,326,468 persons became new Internet users between December 2011 and June 2012. The male Internet users stand at 67 per cent, leaving the other 33 per cent for the female folk. You may ask what people do most on the Internet.

Sharing news and information comes first, followed by social networking. Over nine million Nigerians are active on social media. Nigeria’s telecoms industry being the largest in Africa, has aided the use of social media. Virtually everyone has a smartphone. Even many of these phones have facilities for browsing the Internet as well as for social networking apps.

As the world continues to embrace social media, the ways we use the social networks are becoming clearer. Twitter with its brief and snappy messaging is very dependent on mobile usage and smartphones. The rise of the virtual web is making Pinterest and Tumblr the fastest growing social networks on the planet. Facebook is where we share with friends and family. I will be waiting for reason you or your business would not be on the social media platform.