Digital Marketing Penetration in Africa

Digital marketers in Africa hold the key to growth of the industry, as a result, it is of uttermost importance that they do everything necessary to develop themselves and to keep abreast of the rapidly evolving Digital marketing industry. They also must be able to pass that knowledge across to the rest of the business community. Training, therefore, forms an important part of the strategic development of the digital marketing industry in Africa. 

The urgent need for skills development brings to the fore, why the digital marketing industry in Africa requires the support of corporate stakeholders to kick-start the sector. A typical example of such corporate involvement is Accenture's exemplary gesture of opening a center in Malaga, Spain in June 2016, to help its European clients develop quality digital marketing content at speed and scale, and with a mandate to create 150 new jobs in a space of two year. 

This new facility was made up of highly skilled and growing team of front-end developers, designers, copywriters, and content managers who specializes in accelerating the production of digital marketing content from banner ads and social media posts to websites and videos for marketing organizations, as contained in an Highbeam report.

Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing is growing rapidly in Africa and it provides great opportunity for businesses in the continent to take full advantage. It is apt and appropriate for Businesses and those willing to invest in Africa to start including Digital Marketing in their corporate marketing strategy for them to truly benefit from this great and new opportunity that Africa offers. Consumers are beginning to show interest and entrepreneurs are now more aware, and are now gradually embracing digital marketing. The Digital Media Marketing industry in Africa is showing great signs of growth, and will potentially leapfrog to limelight in just a couple more years.

Ecommerce has a very high growth rate of 200%, and it has continued to change radically, retail business models across all industry segments, and according to the States Department of Commerce, the revenue derived from ecommerce revenue in 2020 reached $4.13 trillion. The Nigeria ecommerce sector is equally having a positive showing  A report by Statista shows that ecommerce user penetration rate in Nigeria is 31.4% in 2020, while revenue is about $5 million in the same period, growing at a rate of 14.1 percent (CAGR 2020-2025).

In a recent Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) report, it shows that the number of internet users in Nigeria increased by 14 percent in May 2020. Despite these strong indications of Internet access and increasing number of mobile phone users, the entry of Digital Media Marketing into the Africa economy has not shown commensurate improvement yet, and the growth process has rather been powered largely by mobile technology.

This slow entry is caused because of two main reasons; firstly, the slow introduction of technology. Most parts of Africa are not industrialized, and every new technology has to be imported using extremely scarce foreign exchange, and this is responsible for the high cost and late introduction of the relevant technological support required to drive the sector, such as computers, Internet connectivity, software applications and related products. The second reason is inadequate knowledge and relevant skill-sets by digital marketers and influencers to boost learning and training of SMEs. 

“Technology is a key area for economic growth in Africa and mobile phone penetration demonstrates that there is a large untapped consumer market on this Continent…, and it is clear that the time for mobile and digital solution has come, which makes this a really exciting market right now.” - Mike Berry. 

What is Digital Marketing? 

Definitions vary but Mike Berry defined it as “reaching out to an identified audience with a targeted marketing message via the web and Mobile media to conduct profitable business”. Digital media marketing strategy, can be define as an online marketing process created to ensure that its implementation produces the desired results. Digital media marketing strategy is defined by Blog.hubspot.com as the series of actions that are going to help you achieve your goals using online marketing. Benefits of Digital Marketing

Scalability: 

 
Digital Marketing campaigns are such that anybody, with even the lowest budget, can engage in Digital Marketing. Developing a Digital Marketing strategy will help improve the chances of achieving the better results. 

Variability: 

 
Digital Marketing provides a wide range of channels that helps to promote your brand. Social Media presents a number of options such as Facebook and Twitter. There is also Content Marketing, E or even building brand awareness via banner ads and lead generation via Google AdWords.

Measurable: 

Digital Marketing provides tools that enable merchants track sales, and campaign, traffic source and audience can track Sales, which allow you to determine the leading and most effective campaigns.

Internet Penetration 

On a global scope, there are over 1 billion websites in the world, and search engines are the path through which all the over 3.4 billion Internet users worldwide can access these websites, making about 54% of the world population, and a staggering 94% of buyers conduct online search for product information before making a purchase. Countries in Africa have continued to exhibit increasing acceptance of the Internet, and as a result we have started to see commensurate movement in the direction of the provision of various complementary supportive technologies such as telecommunication networks, Internet and Mobile service providers. 

Kenya has a population of 44m and 80% of them use the Internet daily. The numbers of people who have access to the Internet are 49%, which is 21 million of the population. The number of smartphone used to access the Internet is 44% in 2016, and the number of people who use desktop computers to access the Internet 17% (Google Consumers Barometer). 

The population of South Africa is 52m, 63% make use of the Internet, and that 32 million of the total population of the country. The number people using smartphone to access the Internet is 64%, while those using desktop computers to access the Internet as at 2016 reached 17%. The use of Social Media is 71%, and those who use it to check email is 33% and another 64% use the Internet most often for search. 

Those who access the Internet in Nigeria reached 107 million, making 62% of the entire population of 173 million. At a glance, Nigeria stands out as the market with the most Internet users in Africa in terms of numbers and almost doubling Internet users in both Kenya and South Africa combined. The country has a large number of vibrant youth populations, and 77% of those who access the Internet frequently, fall within the age bracket 25-34 years, and when looking for information on upcoming purchases 85% of Nigerians consumers rely on various connected devices, including smartphones.

Mobile penetration 

The Internet is the single largest and most accessible marketplace in the world and about 90% of this market is dominated by mobile phone users, which makes up about 3.4 billion Internet users worldwide. Data from wearesocial shows that about 84% of active social media users globally, also use mobile phone. The predominance of mobile phones in both social media and search engine optimization are indicative of the critical role mobile devices play in search engine ranking and in the digital media marketing industry.

According to Mike Berry, Africa has high mobile presence, which is the technology needed to support digital marketing. The rate of internet penetration in most African countries comes from mobile devices. Mobile devices, especially smartphones remain the most used device to access the Internet in Africa, and by far exceeding the number of desktop computers used to access the Internet. In Kenya - 44%, South Africa -69% and Nigeria - 67%, smartphones lead other devices respectively. 

The number of people accessing the Internet over GSM mobile networks in Nigeria has now reached a staggering 32.3 million as of February 2013, as against 30.9 million in 2012, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission. Mobile devices are the most used mean of connecting to the Internet. 

Social Media Marketing 

In 2020 the number of unique mobile phone users reached 5.19 billion, at 67% penetration rate. Social networking is one of the most popular online activities with a high user engagement rate and an increasingly expanding mobile sector. As of the end of 2016, Facebook was reported to have 1.86 billion monthly active users, making social network giant the current market leader in terms of reach and scope, this is according to Statista. 

The growth of social networks, the flourishing mobile devices retail market in most African countries, and the high population of people using social media have continued to drive growth of the digital marketing sector in Africa. 

Social Media marketing has become a veritable form of marketing for businesses and individuals, and the fastest most cost effective tool for sharing of content, photographs and videos with customers. It has effectively diminished the application of traditional communication methods such as facsimile, cable and photocopying machines, particularly for informal communication.

What is Social Media Marketing? Social media marketing is the process of creating attractive content that encourages followers to share with friends and connections, and thereby generate leads to the website of the brand for the purpose of increasing sales. The Journal of Business Research suggests a new definition of Social media marketing as thus: Social media marketing is an interdisciplinary and cross-functional concept that uses social media (often in combination with other communications channels) to achieve organizational goals by creating value for stakeholders. 

Social media is the most used content marketing channel and it is the most used channel, rated 93% rating, followed by LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Use of Instagram increased from 24% to 29%, while use of Google+, SlideShare and Pinterest recorded a decrease. Blogs, infographics, video, eBooks etc. are some of the most used content type in 2020 (Content Marketing Institute).

Conclusion

Digital marketing is the new frontier waiting to be conquered, and advertising and digital marketing companies looking to invest in Africa have a great opportunity to make a bold entry now, investing early and seizing the vast potentials countries such as Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria avail.