The Digital Marketing Story in Nigeria

How well do you know your onions?

I was opportune to train people on digital marketing, the basic. It was a very uplifting period as I love to give back to society in any way I can. There is nothing as uplifting as giving value to people who really want it and appreciate your effort. Teaching gives a feeling of a god, especially when you see your student use your teaching to make a better life for themselves and people around.

As much as we (Nigeria) have jumped on the bandwagon of Digital marketing, it is so evident that we, most of us, do not even know how to use/maximise this platform. Like a normal Nigerian, we take everything in and specialize in none, making some of us less competent in the field.

It’s also amazing when you see IT specialist try to write content. It is not their fault though; they have been made to believe that they can do anything ‘Digital Marketing’. They were not taught the different career parts in digital marketing instead, made to believe you must know every aspect of it. Yes you should have a basic knowledge of all aspect of Digital Marketing but to succeed, you must specialize in your strength and probably, the courses closest to it. For instant, if you are an IT specialist then content writing is not your forte unless, you take a special course on it. Likewise, if you are a writer, web design and graphic design will be hard for you to grasp unless you train specially for it.

This flaw has been revealed in a lot of social media experts’ communication. Mostly the hot-shops; they tell you they can handle all your digital marketing needs. You contract them and notice their strength in just one aspect while others, fail. Mind you, not only the IT specialist are at fault here, we have some ‘wanna be’ too who believe since they chat well on social media platforms, they have earned the title of ‘expert’.

They don’t even know what direction to take or how to create a strategy document to guide their communication. Budget is not even considered as they do not even know how to use excel funny, some do not even know how to create a presentation. Content plan is not in their dictionary so, their post are scattered and not well tuned. They do not understand the platforms and how to use them. They do not even understand what branding is about nor advertising so how will they achieve marketing?

You read a post about a celebrity exposing a nude part and it ends with a brand promotion’s hashtag. They will tell you, that is the way to push traffic; not knowing they are killing the brand cause the brand isn’t about pornography or nudity. The first line will be about the porn and then end with the brand’s deliverable(s).

You read gossip post ending with a tag for a brand and you wonder, how do they relate? Then when they want hashtag to trend, you see them copy and post the same copy written by one of them. So you have 10 handles communicating with the same copy; The copy has no weight. It has neither call-to-action nor any element of good copy. Most of them have no marketing background or talent and so cannot write to save a brand. Because they have a circle, they repost for their circle and make it trend. Thistrend isn’t good for the brand as it doesn’t engage the TA. 

I must confess though that some of these ‘experts’ have no training in digital marketing and are not even keen on reading up on articles concerning the career path they intend to take. They find it hard to construct copy and worst to manage crisis. They care more for the pay and not to build brands. This is why they can collect peanuts as fees, creating a problem for those who really want to work and build brands. Hence, Digital Marketing hot-shops find it hard to command good pay for their jobs.

It is sad that brands do not even understand the damage most of these post cause. They are only keen on how many followers the so called experts have on their handle and how many post they have posted. Not caring what kind of post. Some of these brands do not even follow up on what is happening, how well their marketing is going and how their brands are being positioned to the public. One of the reason is because they (brand managers) do not even understand the platforms and how to use digital marketing to promote their brands. They have just heard it is a way to go for brands of this age hence, they joined the queue.

The image of your social media marketer is very important to your brand. They must align.

For me, the worst case scenario is a Digital Marketing agency who claims they can build my online presence yet, they have none themselves. I ask, how can you build my online presence when you have none? It’s strange how we operate marketing communication platforms in Nigeria. It is stranger that brands allow themselves to be represented by people who probably know not what they do. They give a brief and pay without a proper strategy pinned down to show the direction. Everything is delivered by WOM then when they get the bad side of the coin, they go out and say Digital Marketing doesn’t work; the so called experts are just eating our money. Duh! You’ve just been served.

We must learn that training is very important in our line of business. Reading articles and attending workshops are very important. Building ourselves consistently is paramount. Most especially, specializing in a field we are competent in. Brand Managers too should have an idea of what Digital Marketing is and the different career path so they know who precisely they need and for what. Do not try to engage someone to do what two different people should do. For instance, you will see a job description saying he/she must be a graphic artist, content writer and web designer when these are different career path hence 3 different people.

I once had to correct a friend when he posted that he needed a journalist for his communication. Had to tell him he needed a copywriter not a journalist and explained the two to him and what he should look out for. We need to understand these job specifications to know the right people to employ or engage.

We need to do it right! 

Sue