Leverage Digital Media for Sustained Business Growth – Experts at Lagos Digital Summit 2021

Leverage Digital Media for Sustained Business Growth – Experts at Lagos Digital Summit 2021

The 2021 edition of the Lagos Digital Summit (LDS) underscored the importance of digital media in accelerated growth for both individuals and brands. The eponymous event was held on Friday, November 26, 2021 at The Zone Tech Park, Gbagada, Lagos.

Themed “Digital Media as a Tool for Business Growth,” the 5th edition of the Summit gathered stakeholders from different walks of life to deliberate on the pertinence of a digital strategy and why organisations can no longer assign it a bit-part role.

Keynote speaker of the Summit, Group Managing Director of Rage Media, George Omoraro, in his address stressed that firms and individuals should take full advantage of the digital space despite the obvious challenges. He maintained: “What stands you out as a brand is the ability to filter through the noise and still be heard. Everyone is talking but a brand still needs to say something distinctive that will grab attention.

“Content takes up a life of its own and tells a story, but we need to be careful enough to ensure we take charge of controlling the narrative. Creating industry-specific content, utilizing laser-focused geo-targeting for adverts, posting consistently are trusted and tested templates for success.”

On the need for brands to differentiate themselves from competitors. Omoraro noted: “Today’s consumer is always-on; we’re more interested in low-friction and immediacy. We do not want to go through the stress of queuing up. The mindset of consumers in the digital space today is to have needs satisfied quickly. Therefore, the job of the brand is to engage with them in that matter and provide services to consumers in the way they want to be served rather than just taking a one-fit-all approach. This is the only way to get satisfaction and referral as a corollary. It goes to show why companies like Amazon, Uber and the likes build their businesses as middlemen providing convenience for the end-user.”

The event featured two panel sessions comprised of entertainers and members of the formal business community. The composition of the first panel had known faces such as Tolani “TolaniBaj” Shobajo; Debo “Mr Macaroni” Adebayo; Imoh Umoren; Naomi Mac; Collins Teke and moderated by Elsie Godwin.

Discussions encompassed a wide range of topics including registering a brand name in the consciousness of the target audience. According to former Big Brother Nigeria housemate, Tolani Baj, there is a wide range of techniques to go about this and hers was done using one of such. “I set about integrating my name TolaniBaj into the consciousness of people by putting it the caption of all my posts. That way, people already got to know and predict what my caption will be and that was how I integrated the name into the minds of people before fame,” she noted.

On the question of the formula to fame, respected filmmaker, Umoren quipped: “There are two parts to attaining fame. The first, you only need to do something crazy without a lot of talent, while on the other hand, you can be differentiated for your skillset. CKay and Kim Kardashian are both popular but for different reasons.”

The panellists were unanimous in their agreement of digital media being more than just social media, and the fact that choosing platforms to focus on based on one’s target market is a better strategy than trying to be everywhere at the same time.

According to On-air personality and Voiceover artist, Collins Teke, he found success when he chose to focus on a channel (YouTube) as it appealed to his audience more than others. On her part, singer and the Voice Nigeria finalist, Naomi Mac, advised content creators to be strategic, intentional and have structure to succeed in the digital space. Popular actor and activist, Mr. Macaroni, maintained that all Nigerians needed to tap into the potential of the digital space was an enabling environment.

The second panel session involving members of the corporate world did not deviate from the previous in regard to format and substance. Moderated by technology entrepreneur and TV host, Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata; Founder/CEO, Rolad Properties, Dotun Oloyede; Editor-in-Chief/Director of Content, Pulse Nigeria, Ben Bassey; Co-founder, PennyTree, Ayo Ogunlowo; VP, Growth Marketing, Terragon Group, Oti Ukubeyinje and Editor, BusinessDay Weekender, Lehle Balde.

According to Bassey, the allure of digital media lies in its ease of measurement. “One of the advantages of digital is that you can actually track everything. If it’s working, you can measure it and if it isn’t then you will also see it. The goal of most campaigns is conversion, and most platforms have analytic tools,” he said.

For Ogunlowo, the impact of the digital space can be felt in the number of opportunities it has created. According to him: “There are so many jobs today that people never knew they could build a career out of such as SEO Specialist, UI/UX designer, Social Media Influencer and the likes. The universality and the remoteness of these jobs lend themselves to people holding multiple jobs with platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork.”

Balde and Oloyede agreed that digital media enables businesses to reach audiences that they might not otherwise reach offline and since brand perception is usually formulated online, it has become an extremely important part of marketing strategies these days.

The Convener of Lagos Digital Summit and Managing Partner at Mustardels Media, Adetona Adewale Akeem a.k.a iSlimfit, in his welcome address reiterated that the event was borne out of the desire to create a platform for learning, networking and collaboration amongst digital media enthusiasts and practitioners in Nigeria and promised that it will keep getting bigger by the year.

Creative Director at Expoze Nigeria, Ademola Adetona in his closing remarks thanked the sponsors and speakers for their contribution and engaging discourse that helped magnify LDS cause in the best possible way.

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