WhatsApp is the new pot of gold for Ghanaian marketers

pulse-ghana admin

February 6, 2018 12:33 PM

WhatsApp tops the list as the most active social media platform in Ghana opening up the opportunities for innovative online marketing

There is a growing online market for businesses and many marketers are targeting the social media platforms to boost the online presence as well as increase sales.

In 2017, e-commerce sales worldwide were estimated to have hit $30.3 trillion and the number is expected to increase proportionally with the increasing internet penetration.

According to a study by Altimeter in partnership with HootSuite, organizations use social media to measure brand awareness, customer insights, and also gather competitor intelligence, grow loyalty, and lower operational costs. Consumers are also skipping the traditional search engines and going straight to social media for their online purchase searches.

A Global Web Index’s study of 50 thousand internet users aged 16-64, revealed that almost every internet user can now be reached via social media. Ninety-eight percent of these users say they are visiting or using social networks each month and 78 percent of the internet population aged 16-64 are networking with a mobile device.

The Hootsuite report reveals that social media is now the best avenue to reach internet users in Africa and other parts of the world with 42% of digital consumers using social networks to stay in touch with friends and create business relationships.

On an average, Ghanaians spend 2 hours and 56 minutes on social media with WhatsApp as the most active social media platform. This suggests that businesses will now have to look for innovative ways of sampling WhatsApp users and establishing business relationships with them.

Facebook follows closely with a 28% activity level meaning, it will be unprofitable to do business in Ghana without a Facebook presence.

YouTube, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram follow in that manner with Twitter at ninth place with a 6% activity level among Ghanaians.

With an internet penetration of 35%, 5.6 million of the 10.1 million internet users are active on social media which leaves marketers with technically one option; exploring the social media perspective for business growth and profitability.

pulse-ghana admin