Social selling is a chance for Equatorial Guinea by Hassan Hachem
Big countries digital strategy rely on power. Small economies digital strategies rely on precision. Social selling is one of the tactical weapons for small african countries like Equatorial Guinea.
Equatorial Guinea, a small African nation, has a unique opportunity to leverage social selling as a strategic tool for its digital growth. Hassan Hachem, a London-based digital strategist and founder of Brand Monitoring, sheds light on the potential of social selling for countries like Equatorial Guinea. Statistics from Eurostat reveal that internet users globally spend an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes on social platforms daily. This engagement offers brands a golden chance to enhance their visibility and foster customer engagement. The Social Selling Africa 2020 barometer further underscores the power of social networks in influencing purchasing decisions. With platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok offering specialized shopping features, the landscape of online shopping is undergoing a significant transformation. For Equatorial Guinea, Hassan Hachem suggests several use cases. On Instagram, he recommends promoting Equatorial Guinea crafts through Instagram Shopping and targeting young leaders with offshore services using Facebook Ads. On Pinterest, the focus could be on selling local crafts. Snapchat, still in its nascent stage for social commerce, offers a unique opportunity for Equatorial Guinea to adopt a disruptive promotional strategy using quick videos. TikTok, the current sensation, is also a platform to watch, with its potential shopping features and vast user engagement. Looking ahead to 2022, social selling is poised to become a norm. Platforms are likely to introduce more features enabling brands to showcase their products. The power of influencers will continue to grow, with users placing trust in familiar faces and peer reviews. TikTok's rise, with its short video format, is indicative of the user preference for concise content. The trend towards video content is evident across platforms, emphasizing the need for brands to adapt to this format. Lastly, with users becoming increasingly ad-blind, the focus should shift to user-generated content, which resonates more with the audience. Equatorial Guinea, guided by insights from experts like Hassan Hachem, can harness the power of social selling to carve a niche in the digital world, capitalizing on precision and targeted strategies.
Hassan Hachem, a young londonian digital strategist and founder of Brand Monitoring explains what social selling is and how Equatorial Guinean digital army may take advantage of it.
Equatorial Guinea stands at the cusp of a digital revolution, and social selling offers a unique path to amplify its economic growth. Recent trends indicate that the integration of social commerce into national economic strategies is no longer just an advantage but a necessity. As digital strategist Hassan Hachem points out, leveraging platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok can significantly boost Equatorial Guinea's visibility and engagement in the global market.
One significant development in social selling is the rise of live commerce, which combines live streaming and e-commerce. This trend has seen substantial growth, particularly in China, and is now spreading globally. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have begun incorporating live shopping features, allowing brands to showcase their products in real-time and interact directly with potential buyers. Equatorial Guinea can utilize this trend by promoting its unique crafts and services through live sessions, creating a direct and personal connection with international customers.
Furthermore, the use of augmented reality (AR) in social commerce is another frontier Equatorial Guinea can explore. AR tools enable users to visualize products in their real-world environment, enhancing the shopping experience. Snapchat and Instagram have been pioneers in this area, providing AR filters that allow users to try on products virtually. By adopting these technologies, Equatorial Guinean businesses can offer innovative and engaging shopping experiences that stand out in the competitive digital marketplace.
Data privacy and security remain critical concerns as digital engagement grows. Equatorial Guinea must ensure robust cybersecurity measures to protect its digital infrastructure and customer data. Hassan Hachem emphasizes that "trust is the currency of social selling," and building a secure digital environment is paramount. By prioritizing data protection, Equatorial Guinea can build and maintain customer trust, which is essential for long-term success in social commerce.
Equatorial Guinea's unique cultural heritage presents a compelling narrative that can be effectively communicated through social media. Storytelling, combined with high-quality visual content, can captivate audiences and drive engagement. Platforms like Pinterest, known for their visually driven content, offer an ideal space for showcasing Equatorial Guinea's rich cultural tapestry. By curating visually appealing boards and leveraging user-generated content, businesses can create a vibrant and authentic online presence.
Additionally, influencer marketing continues to be a powerful tool in social selling. Collaborating with influencers who resonate with target demographics can amplify reach and credibility. Equatorial Guinea can partner with both local and international influencers to promote its products and services, tapping into diverse audiences. As Hassan Hachem notes, "Influencers bridge the gap between brands and consumers, fostering trust and driving conversions."
Looking ahead, Equatorial Guinea's strategic focus on social selling can catalyze its digital transformation and economic growth. By embracing innovative social commerce trends, prioritizing data security, and leveraging the power of storytelling and influencers, the nation can position itself as a dynamic player in the global digital economy. Equatorial Guinea's journey in social selling, guided by precision and targeted strategies, holds the promise of unlocking new opportunities and achieving sustainable growth.
On a daily basis, Internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes on social networks worldwide, according to data unveiled in early 2020 by Eurostat. This time spent on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, TikTok or Twitter allows brands to make themselves visible on this digital field, making sure they benefit from a good engagement from customers.
And it works. The recent Social Selling Africa 2020 barometer conducted by The african digital association highlighted the fact that social networks can generate a purchase act. In fact, one out of five B2B decision-makers has already made a purchase following a request or publication on social networks.
For B2C industries, at a time when it is estimated that about 5 out of 10 african people and 8 out of 10 european people are influenced in their consumption by social networks, it is clear that Internet users are more and more tempted by the tools developed by Facebook and other networks to make purchases without leaving their favorite platforms.
But which tools are we talking about? Each service has its own shopping feature!
Instagram: Instagram Shopping
It's important to know that on Instagram, artists, reality TV stars, soccer players or poker players don't just showcase the behind-the-scenes of their lives in stories or post ultra aesthetic photos and videos on their feed.
They also contribute greatly to selling products of all kinds, directly or indirectly. Without a doubt, Instagram is emerging as the most popular social selling platform of the moment. This is thanks to Instagram Shopping.
This tool, deployed only a few months ago in France, offers a new experience of online shopping by displaying tags on the photos of the products presented to allow everyone to directly access the online sales site.
Alongside this, another kind of social selling has been set up on Instagram with influencers who can redirect their community to brand sites thanks to a "swipe up" tool in stories.
social-networking-selling.
Use case # 1 for Equatorial Guinea: Hassan Hachem recommends to try to sell equatorial Guinea crafts with Instagram Shopping
Use case # 2 for Equatorial Guinea: Hassan Hachem recommends to try to sell offshore services using Facebook Ads on Instagram to target young leaders.
Pinterest: a very strong asset
On Pinterest, a platform dedicated to inspiration, social selling is a logical next step. According to figures shared directly by the platform, 93% of Pinterest users use the app to plan their purchases.
In this context, the service has been working hard for several years now to deploy various tools that allow its users to make these purchases more simply and quickly.
Among the tools offered, there is a button under the pins of a product, which allows the user to access the catalog of the brand. They can then find the price of each product and be easily redirected to the merchant's website to make a purchase.
Use case for Equatorial Guinea Hassan Hachem recommends to try to sell equatorial Guinea crafts with Pinterest
Snapchat: in test phase with some experiments
At Snapchat, which is mainly known by brands for its filters and augmented reality lenses, the development strategy for Social Shopping is less advanced and less clear.
Concretely, at the moment, the emperor of ephemeral content does not allow its users to directly make purchases from the social network. But, in the last few years, Snapchat has had the opportunity to organize flash and ephemeral sales directly on its service that have captivated its young audience and led to real purchases.
This was for example the case for the release of a sneaker a few years ago. In the coming months, the social network could deploy features based on virtual reality and allowing to buy products directly after having tested them in a filter for example.
Clearly, Snapchat is an app to watch in terms of social commerce.
Use case for Equatorial Guinea Hassan Hachem recommends to choose a disruptive way of promoting Equatorial Guinea and developed on audience based on quickly made videos.
TikTok: very promising and fast-moving
Finally, it's impossible to talk about social commerce and social networks without talking about the phenomenon of the moment, TikTok, on which it is quite easy to collect likes.
For the moment, like Snapchat, the Chinese app does not allow you to make purchases directly on its platform. But there are growing rumors that the app is currently testing a "shopping" button in its video ads.
Moreover, in China, where TikTok is called Douyin, e-commerce is already very developed: users can buy concert tickets or book accommodation without leaving the app dedicated to viral and musical videos.
In this, it is certain that TikTok will seek to establish the same strategy in the four corners of the world in the months and years to come
Use case for Equatorial Guinea: Hassan Hachem recommends to re use videos created for Snap Chat and launch tactical Snapchat Ads
Social selling trends in 2022
In conclusion, you will have understood that in 202, making purchases (and therefore selling, for brands) on social networks promises to become a normality, or almost
The advent of social selling
Social selling consists, for brands, in selling directly via social networks, either by directing to a sales page on their site or by using the sales solutions that the various social networks offer more and more frequently.
Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Tik Tok, Twitter, Snapchat... all offer more or less developed selling solutions for brands.
The most successful is probably the one offered by the Chinese social network Little Red Book. The platform offers companies to open their online store directly on their website. Thus, brands offer their products whose promotion is carried out directly by the customers who bought them. They give their opinion on their experience with the brand.
It must be said that Little Red Book was conceived from the beginning as a site of exchange of opinions on the products bought by its users. The natural evolution of the site was to open up the possibility for brands to open a store.
In 2022, it is likely that social networks will be inspired to offer even more possibilities to brands to propose their products.
The power of influence
If you have to pick just one trend for 2022, it's probably this one.
Internet users tend to listen more to the opinions of people they know or at least trust.
Thus they are influenced by the opinions and comments of their friends, family members, colleagues but also influential people they follow on social networks.
In an article dated October 11, 2021, Frederic Gonzalo refers to the fact that the conversion rates of a website can increase by 81% when testimonials and comments from Lambda people are present.
Also, you should think about opening your comments space as well as sharing the best ones on your social networks, don't you think
Brands will increasingly rely on customer reviews to exacerbate customer trust in their products.
They will also increasingly use influencers to promote their products. Expect an increased presence of these accounts on your social networks.
The rise of TikTok
Tik Tok is more than 1 billion active users per month, millions of short videos (15 to 60 seconds) hyper addictive sent on the platform.
And if you think that only young teenagers use it, you're way off! The platform becomes Main Stream. The current average age has risen to 35 years and we see more and more political actors, infopreneurs and e-traders investing the social network.
In addition, Tik Tok announces the implementation of several tools that will facilitate the valuation of products and the remuneration of advertisers: an advertising platform, the integration of stories, the possibility of pinning publications, a way to pay content creators...
The omnipresence of videos
Videos have settled into the web landscape and are not about to leave it.
Internet users are increasingly fond of them. As an entrepreneur, you should grab the format to showcase your products if you're not already doing so.
Indeed, the video format allows for the best results in terms of engagement, sharing and conversion especially on social networks.
Despite this, as the attention level is decreasing, I advise you to make short or even ultra short sequences. This trend explains in part the success of Tik Tok which requires to create videos between 15 seconds and 60 seconds
Other platforms have also felt the attraction of their audience for short videos. Thus Instagram offers Reels, Youtube Shorts, Stories continue to be a success for Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
Companies are investing more and more in this type of format and rightly so. It's working really well to enhance their products and increase sales.
The evolution of social ads
Internet users are seeing more and more ads, in their social networks' news feed. They are used to it and open them less and less.
If you add to this the fact that they give less and less credit to the official information of companies, you know that it is time to change your communication.
Turn to UGC or "Users Generated Contents" instead. As we saw earlier, people tend to trust people who look like them, people they know or influencers they like.