Social media has evolved as a crucial platform for individuals and firms to showcase products and services. It has become a channel for consumers to make informed choices and a meeting place for buyers and sellers. TONIA ‘DIYAN reports
Agatha Ike has become an addict of a particular product page on facebook. In the last four years, she has liked the page, because on it, she has been able to know more about the product in question and its benefits.
She is also armed with various updates from time to time on the importance of sticking with the same product. She now prefers the products to others in its category. One of her comment on the page reads:”I have tasted all the flavours the product has, they are incomparable to the flavours of other products in its category. Thumbs up!!!”
Another follower of the same page, Betty Ozioma, said: “I cherish this product so much because it is so nourishing.” The page parades several flavours “I feel good using it and I love it.”
Social media, in the last decade has evolved into one of Nigeria’s strongest platforms where infopreneurs showcase products and services and provide an avenue for consumers to make choices.
The ascendancy of social media rests on the fact that it has broken the barriers of traditional market where traders place their wares in shops or road sides to make a sale.
More importantly, social media enables products to connect with customers’ easily. It is said to give businesses leverage and serves as an important tool for marketing. So many businesses have entered the market and have worked hard to earn consumers’ loyalty and respect through promotions and campaigns.
Along the way, some have become household names, while others have grown bigger with the adoption of social media for product building.
Quality products often have Facebook pages that are growing daily. Overwhelming response to the daily tips on specific topics by visitors to various pages have resulted in countless clicks on the Like button since its inception.
In addition, thousands of visitors to these sites engage in lively discussions on their daily experience with products and businesses. For retailers, social media serves as a means of reaching out to consumers.
Mrs Folashade Randle of The Home Store in Surulere, Lagos said social media provides consumers with access to enough content to be able to choose from.”
Mrs Randle said the platform makes consumer awareness easier and helps with decisions consumers make on a daily basis concerning products.
“Communication is key and social media helps bridge the gap between the product and the consumer,” Mrs Randle said.
Social media has helped with creating awareness, communication and also for narrowing down/reaching out to a large audience that consist of customers and potential customers.
Social media is a very important tool for commerce, bridging the gap between the brand and its consumer. With social media, commerce and brands can drive much traffic with good content and good conversation to the website.
This eventually leads to conversion for the brand in terms of sale. Social media if done well can build a good image for the brand.
However, products equity depends on two things: the level of awareness it commands among consumers in its category and how positive the consumer is concerning the product as perceived by its image.
With comments like “this product or place is the best and original in Nigeria”, “I love this place, product or business or my day is incomplete without a taste or feel, or use of this product” by people who visit these pages, it becomes easier to appreciate the premium value of the businesses and products, in addition to clicks on Like button on comments that cumulatively run into thousands.
Interestingly, social media shops also reward visitors to the page. A good example is the chivita page, where a follower gets a discount on up to 5 Chivita Premium cartons. The more friends that a player has who also like the page and the more correct answers to questions about the friends, the more the chances of the players winning prizes like iPad 2 or Samsung chat phones.
According to Managing Director of Chi Limited, Mr. Roy Deepanjan, “The need to inform consumers on the benefits of consuming 100 percent fruit juice as well as providing useful and life enhancing health tips necessitated our facebook page opening. We want to nurture long-term relationships with our consumers through the Chivita Premium Facebook Page, in an engaging and mutually beneficial way” he said.
Innovations in technology have witnessed the e-business and online marketplace boom operated by international models Ebay and Nigeria’s leading online marketplace Kaymu. This is as a result of the online culture embraced by Nigerians in recent times.
The growth of Nigeria’s online culture is largely facilitated by the advent of social media. Besides engaging and connecting people, social media has become a marketing function that allows businesses target consumers with personalised offers and deals.
Big players in the Nigerian online marketplace, kaymu.com.ng have identified social media as a valuable marketing tool, emphasising its influence on consumer buying behavior.
The impact social media has on brand is huge and Ebay’s estimates that in the next two years, the value of social media for retail will be more than double £1.5bn to reach around £3.3bn.
Kaymu’s Public Relations Manager, Tomiwa Oladele, said social media influences and inspires purchases. “Many online shoppers are active users of social media and their purchases are influenced by social media trends, ads and engagements”, she added.
Shoppers embrace online shopping for a variety of reasons, ranging from convenience to options, price and competitiveness. To this end brands are constantly using social media to capture and retain attention as well as influence sales.
Since inception, platforms like Facebook, have been a primary vehicle for the promotion of businesses as it allows consumers engage in a discussion about a product or service which they like or intend to purchase and this influences consumer purchasing behavior.
In recent times, business savvy brands like Kaymu have engaged the use of other social media platforms like Instagram, Google and Youtube as added marketing channels.
Major brands are certain that social media will drive retail traffic and become a “major channel of commerce.
When it comes to retail, more than 25 percent of new customers come from Facebook, and from Twitter.
“Social media has become a major channel of commerce and we believe that social shopping, as everyone is calling it now, is the future of ecommerce.” Said Afam Anyika, offline manager, Jumia.com.ng
Facebook stores are driving sales and are effective platforms for acquiring new customers compared to more traditional methods
A report by Reuters said: Facebook seems to have finally wised up to how to make money from its own mobile applications. The social network said it made 14 percent of its advertising revenue or roughly $152.6 million, from mobile advert during the third quarter of 2012.
Reuters also estimated that 80 percent of the world’s most popular brands are on social media.
On the social network, there is an array of big-names owners from Kontessa bags and shoes to just anything worth selling.
Today, retailers are becoming more aware of what’s called the “social mobile consumers,” or in other words, the increasing amount of people spending time on their smartphones browsing social media, helping an array of consumers from grocery to clothing to electronics – reach products on their devices.
