Social media Influencers in Nigeria have come a long way, from social media to content and other areas of online marketing. The role they play and the influence they exert on online users cannot be overestimated.

In Nigeria, the social media space has seen the rise and fall of several influencers; however, there are a few that have stood the test of time. In no particular order, here’s a list of 7 top social media influencers in Nigeria.

1. Funke Akindele
Although she is an actress, there is something about her that makes everything she does go viral. With several millions of followers on her social media pages, she can exert influence on as many people as she wants.

Her popular TV series, “Jenifa’s diary” led a majority of Nigerians to deliberately speak the way she does in the comical drama series. A brand with keen business eyes would gladly pick her to be their social media influencer.

2. Linda Ikeji

After recently launching her own social networking site, LIB, Linda Ikeji is in the face of most Nigerians. She is an Award winning blogger, millionaire and advocate of #selfmade women.

She has been crowned media queen several due to her specialty in local and international gossips, celebrity news and latest trends. Her blog is probably th most visited in Nigeria on a daily basis. www.lindaikeji.com

3. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Author of best-selling book, Half of a Yellow Sun, Ngozi as she is fondly called is a force to reckon with. Her latest feat being the popularization of the phrase “we should all be feminists” which featured in Beyoncé’s single “flawless”.

The media space has seen much of her in recent times because of her outspoken nature on issues related to gender.


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Technology Platform for Digital Influencer Marketing

Influencer.NG helps brands tell their story through the Nigeria's top influencers, such as bloggers, vloggers and social media influencers. We develop and manage creative influencer marketing strategies to effectively spread out your brand’s story and reach millions of people worldwide.

Want to start an Influencer Marketing campaign? Get inspiration from these 5 brands in Africa

While it may seem easy to slap on any celebrity on your product in the name of promotion, doing so hardly ever turns out well for your brand stature. The proper, most-rewarding way to deploy influencers is more a science than an art.

At a basic level, there has to be a connect between the brand and the influencer. On a deeper level, the brand wants to ensure the audience segments of the influencer are the same ones it’s interested in. Another component of the influencer alchemy is the voice and tone of the influencer. Does it align with the brand’s and the ongoing campaign? If these components don’t align, it can leave brands further estranged from their audience.

Some brands in Africa have gone down the previously unbeaten path of influencer marketing and provide useful templates:
Deezer

Vodacom joined with the music streaming app, Deezer - part of their strategy - to increase Deezer app downloads by using influencers to drive conversation about music, entertainment and the Deezer app. They recruited ten influencers across to create content around why this app was relevant to their audiences. South African artist, Da Les, was a key influencer in the campaign.

Using paid media, those stories spread to nearly four million music lovers and that sparked over 11,000 engagements. Through influencer marketing, Deezer achieved their objectives with more than 15,000 app downloads within the campaign period.
Intel

The Intel #InsideOut campaign created product awareness around new two-in-one devices and the new Core M Processor. Working with eight social, photography, tech, music and entertainment influencers created an influencer campaign across online and offline media.


Influencers created content and worked with a production team to create video content that cascaded into a YouTube Series. Other content expressions became the glue that integrated the campaign across print, digital and radio. In the end, the campaign reached over 9 million people were reached online and more than 40,000 engagements garnered.
Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola launched its “Taste the Feeling” campaign coming off the success of its previous “Share the Feeling” and “Share a Coke” campaigns. With the theme song originally done by Avicii, Nigeria acts, Tuface, Darey, Yemi Alade, etc, made a remix to accompany an ad that portrayed the multiplicity of a relationship between a boy and his big brother. Leveraging the star power of local music acts, brought the campaign home and emoted the nostalgic feeling the campaign hoped to. Furthermore, employing influential figures tapped into fanbases inclusive in the TA who might not have shown interest for Coca-Cola. Just like every other Coca-Cola campaign, “Taste the Feeling” was a hit amongst consumers.

MTN

To launch Pulse - MTN’s budget friendly, millennial-focused call/data bundle, MTN debuted a short movie and hit track “406 Na D Code” featuring Falz, Skales and Tekno. The hilarious blockbuster-esque ad gathered millions of views across multiple platforms. Despite the success of this Online, MTN recruited Don Jazzy to spearheaded the #ItsWhoWeAre conversation to further promote Pulse. It garnered over 20million impressions in less than 2 hours.

Remy Martin

One Life, Live Them. The message of the campaign was simple: don’t be defined by the one thing that you do, but all that you do. Influencers like Falz the Bahd Guy, Noble Igwe, Shina Peller, Zainab Balogun, Alibaba, and Japhet Omojuwa helped the campaign reach the nooks and crannies of Nigeria's Social Media, and increased thirst for the premium brand.

How are you engaging influencers to push your brand message? Drop us a line in the comments.

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