Social media business in Africa, Technology ,

A map showing Sub Sahara African countries

Exactly five years ago today,I embarked on a oneweek journey to Africa for the first time in my life after getting aninvitation to attend an ICT event.Back then,social media was non existent in thecontinent but today more that 10% of Sub Saharan Africa population are everydaypart of 175 million Twitter users worldwide and over 50 million Africans are partof Facebooking population.Just to refresh your mind,over the last decade, manycompanies have invested in enterprise instant messaging and virtual team spaceswhich has led to the development of what many are calling social mediabusinesses.

A social media business is one that leverages theopportunities created from consumer-side models such as Facebook and Twitter totackle business challenges. With a social framework, an organisation is able toempower its sales force, discover new ways to identify expertise, and establishdeeper levels of trust with its customers.As I celebrate the fifth anniversaryof my first trip to Africa today,there are many successful stories from the subSahara Africa where the use of social media and social technologies has becomeessential to marketing and branding.

Africa has over 17 million Twitter users

In these emerging markets, social media isradically reshaping the way businesses compete.Social media has helped conversationsbetween the retailer and its customers are fast becoming public and trackable,which adds discipline in the way the company responds to queries.This hashelped the organization to create a consistent online voice, which in turndevelops consumer trust and advocacy over time.One of the big question thatlingers in mind is whether the region is ready for social media businessgrowth.While I cannot deny the growing impact of social media in our lives, thequestion many have asked me is if businesses in Africa ready to evolve intosocial businesses.

A 2010 study indicates that 19% of workers inAfrica today use instant messaging for work. However, much of what we hadenvisioned in the past years as going "enterprise social" was often amishmash of disconnected, siloed solutions that led to information security andcontent ownership issues. Furthermore, in Africa, take-up of social media forcorporate branding and customer engagement has been lacklustre. Another 2011 studyhas found that only 8% of the top 500 African companies have an active corporatesocial media presence.The same study also revealed that information-pushing, asopposed to stakeholder engagement, has been the primary use of social media inAfrican businesses.

Facebook has over 50 million users in Africa

Unfortunately today, social media remains oftenan afterthought as opposed to a key component of marketing and communicationsin Africa. A company in the continent is likely to use its Facebook page toinform its fans about one-off online contests and giveaways like has been thecase, but that would be as far as where the engagement ends.However,socialmedia offers huge opportunities for organisations to take business to the nextlevel far beyond publicity generation via a few tweets on microblogging siteTwitter or Jaiku.

Using social media and technologies insurface-level marketing activities does not turn a company into a socialbusiness.There must be a strategic approach and conscious decision to use theseplatforms and content to connect people and information, make innovationaccessible, and demonstrate clearly to customers that the company is reallylistening to them.The portal serves as a social networking hub that encouragesstudent interaction, collaboration and feedback, helping to drive studentinvolvement and create a holistic learning environment.Given these globaltrends, ignoring or refusing to participate in the social transformation is nota viable strategy for any government or organization. Even in organizationsthat impose a blanket ban on social media activities due to security reasons,enforcing control is often difficult, since these can be easily bypassed withthe use of 4G phones and Tablets like iPad and Galaxy.

A photo showing iPad 2

Some,have taken the opposite and are banning useof social media within their organizations and institutions.Rather than Africangovernments or companies and is some cases Universities and colleges pretendingthat social media does not exist and run the risk of obsolesce orconfidentiality breaches from ignorance,they better be more prudent and embracesocial media in a controlled and secure environment that fosters informationsharing amongst authorized employees.Organizations should also considerextending their networks to bring customers into their social connections.Thereis no doubt social media represents a fundamental shift in the way businessesinteract with their employees, stakeholders, and customers around thecontinent.