Over 60% of consumers say their favourite influencers or celebrities can motivate them to buy a phone brand

The Issue

An earliest example of influencer marketing would be Nancy Green who became the face of the popular ready-made pancake mix Aunt Jemima in 1890. She was the face of the brand until 1923, when she died unexpectedly in an auto accident. Josiah Wedgwood also designed and gave a tea set to the Queen Charlotte of England back in 1760. One could argue that the queen was an influencer since Wedgwood’s gesture positioned his brand to be royalty-approved and in a luxury class of its own. Wedgwood products still enjoy the same reputation till today. Another old favourite is Tony the Tiger, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes mascot. Initially designed in 1952, Tony also became animated and was used for commercials. He withstood copycats and a variation of him is still used today on cereal boxes.

For nearly 50 years, at a time when smoking was still acceptable to many and advertising permitted, the Marlboro Man was familiar and popular as his face represented masculinity and toughness to many. By 2010, Facebook and social media began showing its face and rise in popularity. Amazon was one of the first brands to leverage this opportunity, encouraging its customers to use Facebook to display not only their joy, but their gifts. Recommendations from friends and family and Facebook notifications about upcoming events like birthdays and anniversaries woke up the rest of the marketing community to the power of social media influencers.

In today’s marketing, brands have an active presence on social media with scope for improvement in content, engagement, and influencer marketing (IM) strategy. The best brands leverage a more coordinated multi-platform marketing approach, making full use of each platforms’ unique features. On Instagram, there are posts, stories, hashtags, and competitions to emphasise brand experience, with paid media to target relevant audiences. On YouTube, tech influencers review and highlight key selling points. Brands can also share videos and reviews on Facebook to raise brand prestige and paid media to target relevant audiences.

A Statista survey reveals that Instagram users are distributed globally by age, with users between 18 and 24 years old accounting for 30% of the total users, and users 25 – 34 years old accounting for 35% of users. Hence, around two-thirds of global users are young people, which means that Instagram is very popular among millennials. 90% of millennials trust online reviews as they trust friends and family, while friends’ opinions directly lead to the purchase decision of 80% of consumers on social media. Besides, millennials have higher disposable income and consumption levels, which become a top priority for influencer marketing. A study by Twitter and Annalect indicate that 40% of Twitter users are guided by tweets from influencers leading to direct purchase.

With the popularity of the internet, the introduction of a new class of ‘celebrities’ or influencers have forced marketers to adapt to this new reality. Because of their reach and influence, these influencers wield enormous power when they review products, brands, or just talk about a service or a product. Some major influencers in Nigeria include Fisayo Fosudo, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, Noble Igwe, Tunde Ednut, Kayode Abass, and Japheth Omojuwa. These influencers have built a large and loyal following on social media and are now leveraging on their platforms to promote brands, causes, and ideologies to their thousands of loyal and dedicated followers.

The Question

As at June 2020, there were over 196 million active mobile phone users in Nigeria. Several studies have highlighted the factors that influence purchase decisions, including brand, convenience, dependency, price, social influence, product feature, and social needs. A recent market study in Asia provided evidence that social influence, product feature, and brand image have significant positive impacts on the smartphone purchasing decisions while convenience, dependency, and price were statistically insignificant.

On the other hand, a 2019 study by Culture Intelligence from RED revealed that features, brand reputation, and price were the most important factors for Nigerians. This assessment is supported by a study in Ethiopia which highlights consumer’s value price followed by mobile phone features as the most important variables. While 78.57%  of respondents between ages 26 – 35 years have been exposed to communication materials from social media mobile phone campaigns, more than half (60.38% ) of respondents, say they have never been influenced to buy a phone by a social media campaign.

However, there is a steady increase in the use of influencer marketing, which begs the question of its effectiveness for phone marketing. From Infinix (Davido), Xiaomi (Teni the Entertainer), Tecno (Wizkid) to Samsung (DJ Cuppy), there are many entertainment, lifestyle, and tech influencers lending their voices and platforms to mobile phone brands looking to increase market share and improve stakeholder relations. Through online interviews and focus group discussion, we engaged our national focus group (NFG) on how their favourite influencers  impact their phone purchase decisions.

However, there is a steady increase in the use of influencer marketing, which begs the question of its effectiveness for phone marketing. From Infinix (Davido), Xiaomi (Teni the Entertainer), Tecno (Wizkid) to Samsung (DJ Cuppy), there are many entertainment, lifestyle, and tech influencers lending their voices and platforms to mobile phone brands looking to increase market share and improve stakeholder relations. Through online interviews and focus group discussion, we engaged our national focus group (NFG) on how their favourite influencers  impact their phone purchase decisions.

What The Streets Are Saying

On a probability rate of 1 – 10, we asked if members of our NFG  would consider buying a phone brand if their favourite influencer was a brand ambassador. 33.3% selected the highest probability rate (10), 8.3% chose 8 while 33.3% went slightly above average (6). Asked what factors motivate their phone purchase decisions, 41.7% selected pricing, 33.3% said pricing while 25% said product campaigns on social media platforms. 8.3% chose reviews on tech blogs while another 8.3% said recommendations from friends and family.

The data reflects that while pricing remains a determining factor in improving customers’ purchase decisions, influencer marketing can prove to be effective – when selected influencers have the relevant content and can retain consumer trust, which ultimately impacts purchasing decisions. With emphasis on brand trust and expertise, consumers place a lot of weight on the recommendations of influencers because they have either established trust with their community or are viewed as experts. Influencers’ expertise on social media is not a new concept, but influencers have scaled  their expertise into a way to impact consumer buying behaviour.

“For phone brands, or any other tech product, an important factor that drives purchase decisions is expertise and how much brands can capitalize on it”, said an expert. “Selling becomes more powerful when perceived as recommendations – 71% of consumers are actually more likely to make an online purchase if others recommend the product or service. In other words, recommendations have a significant impact on consumer buying behaviour. A study found that 5% of influencers offering product recommendations were responsible for driving 45% of social influence. By building a community and establishing trust within their unique niches, influencers have positioned themselves as an excellent resource for consumers looking for product recommendations – either we like it or not”.

As the market continues to evolve, an important element is the rising presence of Generation Z, a growing group of consumers. In Nigeria, 1 out of 4 Nigerian belongs to the group, and they account for about 25% of the population. For most of them, there is no reality without the Internet, and the world is made up of technology marvels that supersedes geographical constraints. They require a completely different marketing approach, since, among other things, they only pay attention to pay attention to messages from persons present in it who they trust. Therefore, in the new market situation, more companies are taking advantage of alternative methods of influencing consumers’ attitudes and decision-making processes in favour of their brands or ideas.

Insights on What The Streets Are Saying are drawn from data collected through in-depth interviews and surveys with our 500-member consumer panel spread across the country, including 100 culture insiders, who are all leading thinkers and doers across media and marketing.

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