This week witnessed ZBIN making a regional history, setting new records in terms of digital marketing. Earlier during last week, we had written about Facebook Boosting and we are sure that most members just read the article in passing without much analysis-perhaps it sounded too academic or theoretical! Anyway the good thing is we decided to go an extra mile and showcase our skills on digital marketing and the results are exceptional!
On Saturday afternoon, we decided to find out whether we can promote a legitimate ZBIN program to Non Zimbabweans and covered the following countries:
- Botswana
- South Africa
- Malawi
- Lesotho and
- Swaziland
We had 24 hours to promote our product/service using social media using no budget. The results are outstanding, your favourite forum went viral with more than 1500 likes in Botswana and 800 comments. No doubt a record for a Zimbabwean organisation with no presence in that country. Malawi had more than 700 likes and 800 comments, Lesotho had 120 likes and 110 comments. South Africa had 300 likes and 350 comments. Swaziland had 50 likes and 40 comments.
Outstanding results and we believe we have set a new regional digital marketing record in terms of marketing in the region within 24 hours. As the country pushes for exports this is what researchers and scholars should be concentrating on-are you able to sell or promote a product or service beyond Zimbabwe’s borders? Are you able to speak the language of foreigners, be part of them and convince them to support of follow you?
We hope to see competitions on digital marketing being promoted by organisations supporting business in Zimbabwe, we hope to see a lot of noise on digital marketing because this is the way to go in a fast changing economy! If we are to promote exports then we need to research on markets, analyse trends and involve everyone.
Regional Expansion
We are excited with the addition of new members from South Africa, Malawi, Botswana and Swaziland, we have created groups for them where entrepreneurship information is disseminated and business discussions conducted. In August we will be visiting Malawi and Botswana to conduct training if all goes according to plan. Adding 1000 Malawians, 800 Tswana Nationals, 100 Lesotho nationals, 500 South African nationals and 50 Swazi nationals makes us a truly regional platform.
We hope to replicate the ZBIN model in the region so that we have different trusts opened in all the countries where we have members. This is our target for the remainder of the year so that more Southern Africa citizens can have access to business information for free and take advantage of the emergence of the digital economy.
Facebook Live Updates
We continue to use the Facebook Live facility for information dissemination, analysis and capacity building. We had a South African citizen becoming the first citizen from Mzantsi to carry out an update on a Zimbabwe business forum. The information she shared is relevant to Zimbabweans and South Africans as well. A great way to connect the region on a digital platform and sharing inspirational stories and giving advice that helps thousands of others. We are looking forward to having Tswanas, Sotho and Malawian nationals participating and spreading the gospel of entrepreneurship to their nation and the region as a whole.
ZBIN will carry out a live on ‘How to register a company in Zimbabwe’. We will cover why you should register your company and discuss the advantages of doing so. Be sure not to miss it. Our volunteer based in Canada, Ms Irene Samambwa has promised to do a live that discusses living in Canada, the cost of living, education, weather and all issues you may want to know about the wonderful country of Canada, do not miss this one again this week.
Opportunity Alertness, Opportunity Framing and Opportunity Pursuit
Do expect an article on opportunity alertness, we will cover various ways of identifying opportunities and will do this with a focus on regional countries because we have done this for Zimbabwe. So expect opportunities identification articles covering Botswana and Malawi.
Online Newsletter
We had been developing the online newsletter and will resume publication during the week. The newsletter basically summarises all business posts of the week and provides indepth analysis of business issues and covers trends in Southern Africa and beyond.
We wish you are blessed week and hope that whenever you see someone talking about markets the first word that comes to your mind is digital markets. Whenever someone says he or she is an expert on digital markets, ask them to beat the small regional record that we set. It is by beating the record that the region can competitively develop
The future looks bright with Digital Marketing for the SME sector and we have a number of initiatives in our laboratory which we are working on which should help inspire a lot of members on the forum.
