{"id":459,"date":"2026-07-08T22:43:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=459"},"modified":"2026-07-08T22:43:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:43:49","slug":"social-media-as-the-new-market-mix-by-ugochukwu-abia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=459","title":{"rendered":"Social Media As The New Market Mix, By Ugochukwu Abia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In recent years, social media has become more than just a platform for chatting and entertainment. For many local business owners, it has become an important tool for promoting products, reaching more customers and increasing sales. With platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and TikTok, many entrepreneurs are finding it easier to grow their businesses without spending much on advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unlike traditional methods of marketing, social media allows business owners to showcase their products from the comfort of their homes. They can upload pictures and videos, interact with customers directly and even share their business locations, making it easier for people to find and patronise them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many local marketers believe that one of the biggest advantages of social media is the opportunity to reach a large number of people within a short time. As more Nigerians spend time online every day, business owners see digital platforms as an effective way to attract new customers and keep existing ones informed about their products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Obodo Shadrack, a businessman, said he mostly uses WhatsApp and Facebook to promote his business because that is where most of his customers are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;About 90 per cent of the people I know use WhatsApp and Facebook, so it is easier to reach them there,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>READ ALSO: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=363\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"363\">Japa: Why Many Nigerian Students See Their Future Beyond Nigeria<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to him, building customers&#8217; trust has helped him grow his business. He explained that whenever customers complain, he listens to them and tries to solve the problem. However, he warned that online marketing also has its risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Not everyone who contacts you online is genuine. Some people are looking for who to scam, and I have been a victim before. Business owners should always be careful,&#8221; he advised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Obijuru Favour Chidera, a final-year student of Business Administration at Delta State University, Abraka, also shared how social media has helped her business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said TikTok has made it easier for her to reach her target audience without paying for advertisements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I post my products every day and go live regularly. I also create content and sometimes offer discounts to attract customers. Consistency is very important if you want your business to grow on social media,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>READ ALSO: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=339\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"339\">The Dark Side Of Isolation: Another Silent Death In Abraka<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Oshevire Gift, a 200-level Journalism and Media Studies student at Delta State University who sells clothes, social media has become the foundation of her business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t have a physical shop yet, so I advertise my clothes on WhatsApp. Most of my customers come from there, and my sales have improved since I started promoting my products online,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gift admitted that there are still challenges, especially poor network service and the high cost of mobile data, which sometimes make it difficult to advertise consistently. Even with these challenges, she believes social media marketing is more effective for her business than traditional methods of advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The experiences shared by these business owners show that social media is changing the way local marketers do business. Although challenges such as internet connectivity, data costs and online scams still exist, many entrepreneurs believe that consistency, honesty and quality service can help them build successful businesses through digital platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>UGOCHUKWU ABIA is a 200-level student of Journalism and Media Studies at Delta State University, Abraka. He is passionate about feature writing and enjoys telling stories that highlight business, entrepreneurship and issues affecting everyday people.. \u00a0He can be reached via email: divineabia120@gmail.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In recent years, social media has become more than just a platform for chatting and entertainment. For many local business owners, it has become an important tool for promoting products, reaching more customers and increasing sales. With platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and TikTok, many entrepreneurs are finding it easier to grow their businesses without [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"iawp_total_views":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[44,59],"class_list":["post-459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-viewspoint","tag-finance","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=459"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions\/463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}