Nigeria has 29.3 social network users. This figure is projected to grow, reaching 36.8 million or more by 2023. This is a massive leap in numbers from only about 16million social network users in 2016.
Having been declared as a mobile first nation with over 184 million active mobile lines as at December 2019, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) website, Nigeria has over 80 percent of its internet users on at least one social media platform as a result of easier access through mobile devices.
As a result of this rapid growth, social media is seen to be creating more online businesses and has become a crucial aspect of most businesses today.
Experts are of the view that social has become business globally and Nigeria is starting to realise this and adopt these business trends on social media. They say that it is more likely for people to visit company and retail websites by clicking on advertorial links on social media and be more interested in things being discussed on social media platforms.
Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne who gave a presentation on ‘social media businesses’ at a Nerds Unite forum said; “77 percent of people use their mobiles to discover products and services online, 60 percent of social traffic to retail sites originates from Facebook so it is indeed generating significant revenue for some businesses and 85 percent of all orders from social media come via Facebook.”
“When you look at the younger generation and the reach and valuation of some of these social media companies then you will know that they are more than just platforms where you connect to your friends to share jokes, pictures and messages,” Opeke said.
In the past few years, social media has been steadily growing in popularity and apart from individuals setting up businesses and marketing goods and services on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram most corporate organisations have also increased their social media presence in order to connect with and sell to the general public.
Research data from statcounter.com shows that Facebook takes 49.8 percent of the social media market share in Nigeria while Twitter has 24.38 percent, Instagram has 11.26 percent and YouTube had 2.19 percent of Nigeria’s social media market share from January 2019 to January 2020.
Online statistics show that internet penetration in Africa has seen rapid increase in the last one year and Nigeria leads the way with the highest number of internet users, Facebook users and active mobile subscriptions.
Opeke said that the sales through social media keeps rising and half of social media driven purchasing happens within one week of sharing, liking, tweeting or favouriting a product.
“I get all my customers and sell all my products via Instagram and Whatsapp. With an active social media page and customer referrals, I’ve been able to turnover profit for my online retail business without having a physical store offline,” Chidinma Nwobodo, CEO of @shop_bodelle on Instagram told BusinessDay.
The total social commerce sales at the end of 2014 was about $20 billion and 2015 end of year report saw about 50 percent increase to $30 billion for retailers worldwide. This number is believed to have multiplied in 2020.
“Africa is a vast continent with millions of people. It possesses a huge market potential for trade and investment. A huge opportunity for growth and improvement and our youth are beginning to rise up to explore the power of ICT and social media to create a new lifestyle for themselves. As we all know, IT offers a tremendous opportunity of job and wealth creation. Building the value chain that will deliver these end results should become the collective responsibilities of many players across the world,” Peter Jack, the former director general of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), said a few years ago.
Jumoke Akiyode- Lawanson
