Some Nigerian financial institutions such as Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc, and Fidelity Bank Plc have adopted strategic and massive usage of social media influencers as part of measures to drive their ongoing Rights Issue and public offerings, aimed at meeting the new capital requirements set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Social media is becoming more influential, and leveraging influencers aligns with current technological trends in advertising and marketing.
A review of the banks’ marketing strategies for their respective share offer revealed that Access Holdings leveraged the social media space the most.
Access Holdings, the parent of Nigeria’s largest bank by assets, Access Bank, is employing influencers to promote its N350 billion rights issue.
Segun Adams, a Lagos-based analyst, said influencers are now major drivers of consumer preferences in a smartphone-dominated world.
He said, “These banks are tapping into the social media space to attract investments from retail investors who may not be familiar with the complexities of the equities market.”
Between 1952 and 2024, Nigerian banks have undergone 11 phases of recapitalisation. However, the growing adoption of social media has transformed how consumers respond to investment opportunities.
Many finance influencers have posted about Access Bank’s rights issue on social media platform X.
Recently, other X personalities with significant followings have also posted about the rights issue, indicating a paid X campaign. Only accounts with over 10,000 followers have been involved in this campaign.
Hashtags like ‘#AccessTheFuture’ and ‘#InvestInAccess’ have been used across tweets, signifying a Twitter marketing campaign.
An X user identified as MzLayde, who influences for brand said, “I love the intentionality of Access Bank in the banking space.
“Roosevelt Ogbonna, the bank’s MD at the Nigerian Exchange Limited talked about how the bank is focusing on economic power continent where the real banking profit is instead of fully dwelling in weaker places.”
For GTCO, Cobhams Asuquo, a Nigerian Musician released a three-minute audio titled ‘A slice of orange’ in July. This song speaks about the holding company’s offer and its benefits.
Since the release of the song, the #sliceoforange,#InvestinGTCO, and #GTCOPublicoffer, have been the trending hostage attached to the song across all the group’s platforms.
According to Datareportal, out of 103 million internet users in Nigeria, 36.75 million used social media in January 2024.