It is show time
again. It is that time when business houses and individuals gather at the show
grounds to showcase their various products and services offering, at the Zambia Agriculture & Commercial Show (ZACS). I haven’t been
to the show grounds for 11 years. What I remember the most are the
announcements of lost children over the various public address systems. It is a
great thing though to attend the show as you get to learn a lot of things. If I
happen to attend the show this year, I want to visit the ministry of lands
stand. I need to figure out all the processes that lead to land ownership. I
would also like to see how the SME’s attending the show are packaging
themselves in terms of marketing. In my
view they stand to benefit more from exhibiting than the big corporations. We
all know where to find Stanbic offices but you need to ask me where to find Janet
Fredman Jewelry. Over and above, I’d like to speak to and compare how
the small businesses use web advertising and in particular social media marketing.
Marketing is a dynamic
discipline, constantly having to innovate and adapt to changes at both global
and local levels.
In the 21st century
people are reinventing themselves every couple of years. It makes sense that a
Company’s brand must be adjusted, or realigned with new trends accordingly,
every couple of years. The objective is to build a niche for itself in the
larger community. Brands can be reinvented with new marketing outlines to be
both engaging and challenging the marketplace in a world that is changing in
faster moving cycles.
Word-of-mouth (WOM)
as a marketing technique has been around a long time but has increased in
relevance with the growth of social media. Well-planned and researched WOM
marketing management can help to influence consumer purchasing decisions.
However social media also opens the way for negative word-of-mouth. It is
important to adopt strategies for coping with this eventuality. Research shows
that businesses with more experience of a social network react more positively
when faced with negative WOM and that a higher level of loyalty towards a brand
reduces the impact of WOM regardless of its nature.
Social media
marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention through social
media sites. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to
create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with
their social networks. A corporate message spreads from user to user and
presumably resonates because it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source,
as opposed to the brand or company itself.
“Social media itself is a catch- or term for
sites that may provide radically different social actions. For instance,
Twitter is a social site designed to let people share short messages or
“updates” with others. Facebook, in contrast is a full-blown social networking
site that allows for sharing updates, photos, joining events and a variety of
other activities.
Social media often feeds into the discovery of
new content such as news stories. Social media can also help build links that
in turn support into search engine optinisation (SEO) efforts. Many people
also perform searches at social media sites to find social media content.” (http://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-social-media-marketing)
Thumbs up to DSTV
The bulk of
establishments of Zambian industry both private and public sector have not
quite seized on the need for Social media marketing. However, I have to give
the deserved kudos to a few companies in the borders of Zambia which have
embraced social media marketing and used it to their advantage. Multichoice
Zambia comes out top of a list I have included MTN, Football Association of
Zambia (FAZ), Airtel, Zamtel, and yes TEVETA.
When it comes
to social media marketing,
believe it or not, some people still need to be convinced it serves a purpose
other than self-aggrandizement. Most people in Zambia would rather give you the
down side to using social media marketing than looking at the many benefits it
offers. Two main disadvantages always come to the fore;
1.
Threat of hackers. Organisations are skeptical of having social media accounts
because of the fear of hackers signing into those accounts and posting messages
that can cause extreme harm to their brands. Recently, following a false tweet
from the Twitter account of the Associated Press, the Associated Press had to
accept that their Twitter account had been hacked. The tweet that read “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House
and Barack Obama is injured” sent shocks wave across the world.
2.
Business risk. When you use social media like
Twitter, Facebook and Google+ for your product promotion, people get direct
access to post their views. There is equal probability of getting both positive
and negative comments. Even your competitors can post a few highlighting the
negatives. Though you can decrease the impact of negative comments through
quick response, you cannot nullify it.
However, there are
reams of empirical evidence that suggest social media marketing leads to increased sales, increased
leads, increased brand awareness and improved communication with clients and
customers. Improved communication with clients is precisely where I have ticked
the box on Multichoice and their DSTV brand. Gone are the days when I
rushed to Multichoice offices for any query as now I can get a response within
5minutes in the comfort of my home. Recently I had trouble accessing some of
the channels and my initial reaction was to call a friend who confirmed he was
watching without a problem. I had trouble the whole day and when the
problem persisted the following day, I decided to put in a query, and within 5
minutes I was informed that my dish had moved and I was advised to get in
touch with a Multichoice accredited installer. The rest is history. That was
just my experience but I have seen a lot of issues being addressed by the DSTV
team on social media and a lot of clients like me are kept happy and at the
very first sighting of the subscription expiry message we will quickly make use
of XAPIT payment modes or even drive to the nearest pay point.
Remarkably, while in
Zambia we are still grappling with issues of web social, the rest of
the world has even gone further to embrace mobile social. A Classic example
where social media would have helped had it been used, is the Zambeef case
(otherwise called the meatgate scandal in comparison to the infamous Watergate
scandal). Barely few hours after headlines hit the papers with news of traces
of formaldehyde
organic compound found in some Zambeef meat products, social media was
awash with condemnation of the company. Most of the comments were really
actually from a point of ignorance on the effects of this chemical found in the
meat. The only statement that came from the company was a press release which
appeared in the papers and the company only exacerbated the situation by
playing dangerous public relations games of first, 'cat and mouse' then later 'the
blame game'. Initially, the statements given alleged that this was a campaign by
a former employee who was denied benefits of some sought and was now bent on
discrediting the organization. A host of other counter accusations without
really tackling the issue were seen but after even independent laboratories
from South-Africa confirmed the results of the initial test, the said meat products were
burnt in Chisamba in the presence of ministry of health officials and the
nation told it was the end of meat imports. Hmmm, How smart.
What happened to being
factual and truthful to your clients? Even to date, there is no single
statement on the Zambeef official website. How smart indeed. I don’t know if
this was now a marketing problem or the guys in PR department messed this one
up. Engage the people buddy, especially in times of a crisis and bad
publicity. It is time companies in this
land realized the value of social media marketing. Social media
would have been the best platform for handling the kind of bad publicity
Zambeef got. It is a great PR and marketing platform.
If you belong to the
camp that still thinks social media is not much more than a huge “time suck”,
here are statistics from CompTIA’s
Social Business: Trends and Opportunities study:
·
Better communication
with customers, cited by 61 percent of responding companies
·
Cost savings (51
percent)
·
Brand positioning (49
percent)
·
Real-time customer
satisfaction (48 percent)
·
Potential lead
generation (43 percent)
Web social vs Mobile
social
I intimated earlier that
the rest of the world is going mobile social while as a nation we can’t even
grapple with web social. Eventually, in order to remain competitive we need to
move with the new trends. The penetration of mobile phone operators to all
corners of Zambia has given birth an opportunity of a paradigm shift that is
making internet usage extremely high.
But before the shift
to mobile social is achieved, we will need to develop a culture of web
advertising and generally web social? How many organisations in Zambia have a
LinkedIn account they update regularly, let alone just having one? How many
companies have a Facebook account?
Statistics are there for all to access, the population distribution says
50.6% under 64years, the population is concentrated between 14-50 years. This
is the age group that is very active on social media. It is also common
knowledge that an advert on Facebook is far much cheaper than one on say Muvi
TV yet the one on FB will be seen worldwide. In addition it doesn’t have to be
a paid for advert. Companies can simply update status and will be able to
inform millions of an impending new product launch. We are under utilising what
would be a cheaper way of marketing communication or even PR channel.
Benefits of social
media Marketing
Even though earlier
on I gave only two disadvantages of social media marketing, the list can be
more (especially if you are a pessimist). However, my view is that for every
single disadvantage of social media marketing, there are three advantages. If
organisations are skeptical because of the fear of negative feedback, they need
to understand that negative information is still present through word of mouth.
In any case, the best way to avoid negativity on a brand is to take it head on
and address it. Even political dictators have learned this valuable lesson. It
is better to let freedom of information so that you get feedback of what the
masses are saying about you. If you only listen to the people in your inner
circles, you can never win an election.
A great deal of
research finds that word of mouth is more effective than other types of
marketing. Whether compared to traditional advertising, media
mentions, or promotional events, word of mouth is more useful in creating
new users and customers. McKinsey suggests that “word of mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising
in categories as diverse as skincare and mobile phones.” McKinsey has gone
so far as to call word of mouth “the most disruptive force in marketing.”
CMO
surveys by firms like IBM suggest that the overwhelming
majority plan to increase their investment in social media, but ROI metrics
have been hard to come by and CMOs say increasingly those will be the metrics
by which they will measure success of their marketing efforts. According to
IBM, “even among the most successful
enterprises, half of all CMOs feel insufficiently prepared to provide hard
numbers [for return on marketing investment].”
A new white paper by
marketing analytics expert MarketShare and
the Keller Fay Group, called "Quantifying
the Role of Social Voice in Marketing Effectiveness", provides new
and compelling evidence that word of mouth (offline and online) drives sales to
a considerable degree – providing both a direct and an indirect impact on
sales, amplifying the impact of marketing as people talk about the marketing or
share it via social media. And, it demonstrates that the impact can
be measured. (Download a free copy of the executive summary here.)
Social media provides
a way for businesses to increase their "word of mouth" advertising.
Word of mouth has always been a powerful method of promoting products and
services. Think about it - when you need a new mechanic for your car, do you
trust the advertisements in the newspaper or your friend who tells you how
great their mechanic is?
Social networking
makes it possible to establish relationships and build trust online, which
allows businesses to indirectly market their products and services to people
who are more receptive to the marketing messages you are sending out.
Generally, people are more trusting of social media sites than they are of more
traditional websites selling products or services directly, because the users
of social media websites feel that there are fewer people who would have
something to gain by reviewing and recommending another's product or service.
Social media
marketing offers a number of benefits you would be hard pressed to find in
other forms of marketing, including:
- Ability to create brand
awareness. As more people see your business name and the link to your
site, your logo, and other details found in social media profiles, you
establish more brand awareness among your potential client base.
- Trust is established through
natural connections and relationships that develop in online communities.
- Your main website will gain
traffic from niche conversations had through social networking websites,
discussions, groups, and through blog comments.
- Search engine optimization
is increased through the increasing number of high quality links to your
site and/or blog as other community members link to you and as you link to
yourself from various social media sites.
- Increased visibility in
search engines will boost the number of visitors who find your website
when searching keywords related to your industry.
- Having a following on
various social sites will decrease your dependence on search engines in
general, since you'll have a number of other websites helping to drive
traffic to your site or blog.
- Your participation in social
media discussions and groups helps you see what is going on within your
niche and find out what people want to see in the products and services
you offer simply by listening to what people say to one another.
- When you are actively
involved in social media, you have the opportunity to manage your
reputation. You can respond to complaints in a timely manner, encourage
people to talk about their good experiences with your company, and keep an
eye on what is being said about you in general by your client base.
- You can discover more about
the needs, desires and trends that encourage your market niche to spend
money, and use that information to fuel your marketing efforts.
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| Embracing new marketing techniques puts you ahead of the pack as you become more effective & efficient |
Advantages of Social
Media Linking
It's possible to
obtain links to your website from a few different sources online - including
companies who sell links to your site. One of the primary advantages of using
social media marketing is that you obtain numerous links to your website and
blog from multiple sources. When you publish a new blog post or an article on
your website, you can automatically update each of your social media profiles
across multiple websites to reflect the new post - and include a link back to
your site. I do this regularly on social media everytime i put up a blog on this site. As an organisation, your followers, fans, or connections appreciate the information
in your blog posts or article, you'll see them announcing these to their
followers, fans or connections, quickly growing the number of incoming links
through social media. You end up with links to your site strategically placed
everywhere your potential client base is already visiting online, which means
the people who are clicking those links are already your targeted prospects,
and have already established somewhat of a relationship with you through their
connection on these social media sites.
I worked as a sales
executive for a software company and I learned quite a lot about how generally
Zambian companies and government institutions are not taking advantage of
available technology. Most organisations give cost as a reason for not
investing in technology hence they do not have the money to invest in IT
solutions. In truth, the cost and maintenance of most IT solutions is less than
the cost of 4x4’s that are purchased every year by most organisations. The world business platforms have become very
consumer driven, hence the need for organisations to react and respond in ways
that consumers want all the time. The sheer volume of information available
today has dramatically altered the balance of power between companies and
consumers. As consumers have become overloaded, they have become increasingly
skeptical about traditional company-driven advertising and marketing and
increasingly prefer to make purchasing decisions largely independent of what
companies tell them about products. Thus there is no better point to start from
than using media which engages consumers in a social way but achieving great
business results.
Highlights:
- More than half of marketers
who have been using social media for more than 3 years say that it has
helped them increase sales
- More than half of marketers
with at least one year of social media experience were generating leads
using these channels
- 62 percent of businesses
with 10 or fewer employees agreed social media reduced marketing expenses
- 78 percent of participants
found that website traffic increased with as little as 6 hours per week
invested in social media marketing
- Overall, the percentage of
marketers reporting improvements has increased in all categories since
2013
Interesting and educative muchaha!
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