Facebook investigates SA market - from a distance

The site currently has 2.5 million South Africans actively using it, with 1.5 million of those accessing the site via mobile devices. In total it serves 2.7 billion page views to South Africans every month (only Google serves more). Active users are users who have accessed the site within the last 30 days. South Africans average around 25 minutes on the site every day. Facebook currently claims to reach 5% of the SA market and 53.5% of South Africans online.

Numbers jump

Globally, these numbers jump to 400 million active users, with a 100 million of these accessing the site via mobile. Users upload 5 billion pieces of content every week, exchange 2 billion chat messages daily and generate 60 million status updates every day. Incredibly, the Facebook game Farmville has 80-90 million active users. In case you wondered why productivity just plummeted back to earth at your office ahem...

Facebook has 12 million active users across Africa and Johnson says Facebook views SA as the leading online market and rising star in Africa. He believes the country holds huge potential both in terms of user growth and commercial potential. Facebook wants to be ahead of the curve as competitive broadband prices drive up market penetration even further and faster.

With 60% of local Facebook users accessing the site via their mobile devices, it is obvious that the site will be competing for mobile engagement with services such as MXiT. Johnson admits he has heard of the service but hasn't tried it himself as yet. It puts a bit of a damper on any spin that Facebook is seriously engaging with this market over the short term and Johnson admits his group's relationship with locals is still in an "exploratory phase".

Stripped-down version

Facebook is currently developing a stripped-down version of Facebook mobile called Facebook Zero, which is expected to provide users with significant savings in bandwidth. Some analysts predict carriers will offer users Facebook Zero pre-installed on mobile handsets as a free value-add.

Johnson would not commit to a launch date or even confirm that the project has been given the thumbs up but it would theoretically up the growth potential for the service across the developing world.

At the recently held Habari Media Digital Symposium, Johnson offered marketers five tips for engaging with Facebook users:

1. make it social (two-way and engaging),
   
2. keep it simple,
   
3. develop a conversational calendar (enhancing engagement over long term rather than focus on short term),
   
4. forget old metrics as with social media sales intend and transaction can probably not be tracked, and
   
5. finally - think differently.
   

It's about marketing

Johnson also emphasised that standard banners don't work and are not allowed in the Facebook environment. It's no longer about advertising, it's about marketing says Johnson, and brands need to become part of a conversation and add value to online activity if they wish for successful engagement with consumers.

Marketers can join www.facebook.com/facebookadsAfrica for updated statistics and case studies. Follow Trevor Johnson on Twitter at @UKTrevor.