Netflix has announced the introduction of a Made in Africa collection – a curated list of African series, films and documentaries – to celebrate Africa Month and demonstrate Netflix’s commitment to Africa and the African creative community. The collection includes over 100 titles of content from across the continent including Netflix originals like South Africa’s hit series “Queen Sono” as well as previously acquired films like Nigeria’s “King of Boys” and “Wedding Party.” Netflix’s “Made in Africa” initiative builds on the foundation for its plan to continue highlighting African content and culture by properly introducing the world to all the continent has to offer in the creative world. Among Netflix’s new African Originals content is its second South African series called “Blood and Water,” which follows the story of a teenager who discovers shocking secrets about her family’s past whilst trying to navigate life at a South African high school. The collection is available globally at netflix.com/madeinafrica (or can be found on Netflix by searching ‘Made in Africa’ or ‘Africa Month’ or ‘Africa Day’) and will make it easier for members who love African stories to find something great to watch. It includes over 100 titles – including older licensed films and shows as well as Netflix Originals like Queen Sono, which debuted on Netflix in February, and Blood & Water, which will premiere this month.  The collection includes critically-acclaimed films and series like Jerusalema; King of Boys; Lionheart; Mokalik; Oscar-award winning film Tsotsi; Uncovered; The Wedding Party; Tjovitjo; Castle and Castle; The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind; Azali; Potato Potahto; Joy and more. Members will also see major international films and series that were either predominantly or completely filmed on the continent, such as Holiday in the Wild (South Africa and Zambia); The Red Sea Diving Resort (Namibia and South Africa); Troy: Fall of a City (South Africa), Beasts of No Nation (Ghana), Blood Diamond (Morocco, Sierra Leone and South Africa), and documentaries, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Ivory Game and the Oscar-nominated Virunga. “This Africa Month, we’re excited to celebrate African stories and storytellers. This collection includes Queen Sono – our first Netflix original series – and as well as films like Catching Feelings, Chief Daddy, 93 Days, Merry Men. We hope that by making these ‘Made in Africa’ titles easily available we will help ensure they are watched Around the world” says Ben Amadasun, Director of Licensing and Co-productions for Africa at Netflix’.  If you love African stories then you're in for a treat. The Made in Africa collection is now available on Netflix at netflix.com/madeinafrica.

Google will launch Shopping Ads in Nigeria to make it easier and faster for shoppers to find and purchase products online, while also improving their transaction experiences. “We are excited to be launching Shopping ads in Nigeria. Shopping ads include photos and prices to help consumers find the products they are looking for and enable advertisers to reach consumers who are looking to buy,” reads a statement by the Industry Manager, Google West Africa, Adim Isiakpona. Google claims that through Shopping ads, online shoppers will be given a range of product alternatives to choose from and also an opportunity to make informed decisions. Additionally, shoppers will not just see text ads as they search for products, they will also see photos of the product, price, the title and store name, reviews, and more. Google Shopping ads, now available in 94 countries, enables merchants to work with Comparison Shopping Services (CSS) – a website that gathers product offers from online retailers and sends users to the retailers’ websites to make a purchase – to advertise their products. On Google Shopping ads, Google stated that support is made available for advertisers to list their products in multiple languages, while for those who sell and ship products to multiple countries, their product prices will be automatically displayed in the local currency. To create a Google Shopping ad, you’ll need to send Google your product data through the Merchant Center and then create a campaign in Google Ads. This campaign will be used to create ads on Google and around the web where potential customers can see the products you are selling. Google Shopping ads will use your existing Merchant Center product data, not the keywords, to decide how and where to show your ads. It will use the data of the product you submitted when signing up to the Merchant Center to match a user’s search to your ads, making sure it shows the most relevant products. With the impact of smartphone penetration on online commerce in Nigeria, social media/tech platforms are continually looking for more preferable solutions to dominate the mobile market. Africa Business Pages: Promoting Trade To And From Africa Africa Business Pages, the leading B2B portal, has also introduced a dedicated Online Store which showcases products offered by its advertisers. This enables African buyers to reach out to suppliers and wholesalers and request for a free quotation. The Online Store at Africa Business Pages promotes wholesale trade to Africa and enables African buyers to search for compare prices of various products before making a purchase.  

Google has released a new search app called Go in 26 African countries that would allow users to search the web faster, even with slow Internet connections. It will partner with pan-African wireless carriers such as MTN Group Ltd. and Vodacom Group Ltd. to preload the app on some of their low-end devices. The internet giant has also adapted the voice function to work better on slow connections, even as basic as 2G networks, according to Google Africa Chief Marketing Officer Mzamo Masito. “Weak data connectivity, high data costs and low storage space often make it hard for people to get the most out of the internet,” he told reporters on Thursday. “Google Go is built to handle these challenges.” U.S. tech giants see Africa as a relatively untapped market for smartphones and services such as web search and social media. Over the last few months, Google has been releasing lightweight operating “Go” systems of its popular apps for less capable phones including Gmail and Google Assistant. Last year, it launched YouTube Go in Nigeria, an “offline first” version of the video sharing platform, allowing users to preview and download videos, rather than stream, and essentially save on data costs. The app’s release is part of a recognition of how high data costs, inadequate digital infrastructure, geographical locations, and scarcity of content in local languages keep many Africans offline. By 2020, there will be 535 million unique mobile subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa, up from 420 million in 2016 – a subscriber base that is growing faster than any other region globally. Internet bandwidth capacity is also growing fast while mobile broadband connections are set to reach half a billion by 2020, becoming the driving force behind innovation, financial inclusion, and access to services ranging from solar power to education, and insurance. Younger consumers in sub-Saharan Africa are increasingly demanding quicker internet speeds and cheaper phones to go about their business, while MTN and Vodacom see the digital space as their fastest-growing market. The new app will be available in 26 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and will be pre-installed on all Android Oreo devices. The company also plans to make it available in other emerging markets, including India, Brazil and Indonesia. Africa Business Pages (africa-business.com), on the other hand, is also offering free listings for African businesses. You can list you company by registering here.

The world has gone digital is a term we hear far too often nowadays, but it’s not exactly true. It is true that the world is transforming, but there is an increasing distinction between those who are leading the change and profiting from it, and those who are falling behind and missing the many opportunities.  So what does digital transformation really mean to business?  Digital transformation is based on a beautiful two-way street – you provide your customers with the information, content, products and services that they want, when they want it, and how they want it. They, in turn, appreciate the relevant, seamless experience you have given them and keep coming back for more. We call this standout digital engagement, it means that by delivering rewarding, optimised, contextual experiences, you can increase conversions, page views, and engagement. Africa Business Pages has a digital presence that spans over 25 years and is one of the leading B2B portals for African businesses. The Africa Business Pages has accumulated consumer data over 25 years and has the advantage of a comprehensive database of African buyers – segmented by location and business activity. Digital Marketing in Africa If you work with digital marketing or campaign management, you probably have some clear goals for your digital presence: increased engagement, conversions and website page views, with content that works on any device. Specially so in the African market where buyers are looking for specific products to meet the growing demand  in their region. As a result, this is an exciting time to be in digital marketing – there have never been more opportunities to provide outstanding experiences for your customers. At the heart of your digital experience is your owned media: your web and mobile sites. When redesigning or rebranding, however, there are a few challenges that need to be overcome. One basic challenge is time. Another challenge is coordinating several marketing activities across diverse systems, channels and markets to provide a seamless experience for users. Ideally, you would be able to easily develop content for campaigns, landing pages and social media and launch it across several channels with a single click. And have the system figure out what is most relevant to each visitor, which would convert leads faster and drive more prospects down the funnel. Leads Generation Service: Business Leads from Africa Africa Business Pages has launched a special Lead Generation Service that gets you upto 10 business inquiries from African buyers everyday. The special packages offered let companies target specific countries and audiences in Africa based on their products and services. Starting package costs as little as $550 per month and guarantees a minimum of 10 business leads from Africa every day. You can also try the service for Trial Period of 7 days for just $35. After the trial period, if you are happy with the results, you can continue with the plan of your choice. The Africa Business Pages offers three plans to suit the requirements and budgets of various companies. These include: Silver Plan : US$550 per month (inclusive of all advertising expenses) Gold Plan : US$850 per month (inclusive of all advertising expenses) Platinum Plan : US$1,100 per month (inclusive of all advertising expenses) The digital marketing team at Africa Business Pages uses various online marketing verticals like email marketing, Facebook marketing, WhatsApp marketing, content marketing, banner advertising, email funnels as well as Featured Listings on Africa Business Pages to nurture and capture relevant business leads for your business. B2B Portals It would be great if you could sit in your chair and use your mind powers to make all of your campaigns magically align around the world. And simply by touching your fingertips together you could sense what your customers cared about, and understand why they continued their journey – or went away. The trouble is that technology that is supposed to help us achieve this – in some small way – can be difficult to manage, and the data it produces hard to analyse and quickly act on. The role of B2B portals like the Africa Business Pages can never be underplayed as they are recognised by Search Engines as useful hubs for information and therefore enjoy a higher search engine ranking – providing you with a direct link to your target audiences. In an ideal situation, you would be able to distribute content and promotions to the right channels, at the right time, to the right target market. After you publish the content on high ranking B2B portal like the Africa Business Pages, you would be able to easily respond to the campaign metrics – changing and tweaking the content so you can increase conversion rates and decrease the cost of leads. This is what agile marketing is all about. Reach African Buyers Digitally Create, orchestrate and optimise campaigns in real time. There are three elements crucial to any successful campaign – audience, message and timeliness. There are solutions like Featured Listings on the Africa Business Pages that enable you to launch new campaigns within hours of identifying a new opportunity. By advertising on Africa Business Pages, you can easily target audiences, create personalised experiences within your campaigns, and engage visitors in mobile, social and email channels. Once ready, your campaigns are instantly pushed out across channels – web, mobile, social, email and instore kiosks, and you will begin collecting insights on campaign performance and visitor engagement. Improve paid search conversions and organic search placement. For most businesses, organic search traffic is crucial to acquire new traffic and a cornerstone in an inbound marketing strategy. While most marketers know SEO, they struggle to achieve their organic acquisition goals. Once again, Africa Business Pages comes in handy here by providing you a readymade SEO platform that helps you reach African buyers across various digital channels – web, mobile, social, email and B2B WhatsApp groups. Africa Business Pages content is built around the visitor, and is inherently search-engine friendly with reusable content that attracts interest. As a leading content hub for Africa, the Africa Business Pages provide genuine value to the visitor, and built-in tools for marketers to optimise copy for better visibility and reach. Africa Business Pages offers automate content marketing to drive loyalty and engagement. Regulat email newsletters sent to registered users of Africa Business Pages offers excellent inbound email marketing once a lead has been acquired. Undoubtedly, email marketing is the foremost channel for lead nurturing, as well as an important component in customer loyalty programs. By sending personalised, high-converting and timely emails, Africa Business Pages ensures that you get the desired results from their email channel. With Africa Business Pages dedicated digital marketing campaigns, we have fused together all the parts you need for a successful email campaign: compelling content, precise targeting and profile management, and the authoring and automation tools that let you focus on the message instead of the mechanics. Digital Marketing Plans Africa Business Pages special Business Matchmaking program automatically presents content relevant to each visitor, and uses machine learning to optimise content presentation based on the behaviour and interests of the visitor. Personalised content offered to users at Africa Business Pages helps advertisers achieve on average a 19 percent uplift in sales when using Africa Business Pages digital . At the same time, it is often time consuming and costly to create a multitude of content assets, text and image variations, and target them to the right audience. Africa Business Pages Business Matchmaking program makes this process easy – it derives insights from each visitor’s behaviour, helps marketers select content for personalisation, and delivers actionable metrics on the performance and behaviour of different audiences. The digital marketing team at Africa Business Pages helps you to achieve better business results through time-tested inhouse digital marketing activities and by employing latest techniques like pixel marketing and other digital marketing methods to target specific customers and customer segments. Advertising in African Markets Digital marketing is not only about the opportunity to grow revenue, acquire new customers, and keep current customers loyal – it is also about streamlining operations. Africa Business Pages has a dedicated digital marketing team that has proven skills to increase operational efficiencies drastically, by reducing time spent on experience management, authoring and running campaigns, efficiently supporting internal operations, and connecting into back-end business systems. As digital marketing and digital commerce usually involve several different systems and environments, the digital marketing team at Africa Business Pages is well versed with all environments and ensures optimal performance and offers shorter response times. By hiring the digital marketing team at Africa Business Pages to reach African buyers, you can instead focus on creating experiences for your customers, not on complicated infrastructure and processes. And since global scalability is built in, you don’t need to worry about traffic peaks, new markets or changing needs – the Africa Business Pages platform is always on, and always ready for customers.

Africa Business Pages B2B networking group. Join now at https://chat.whatsapp.com/Hh6sOcfcAw2BdW5PCtyyfS   From 2016 onwards, WhatsApp has emerged as one of the fastest growing networking apps as well as a media platform in Africa. For most Africans, WhatsApp is their main social media platform, overtaking even Facebook. According to recent reports, more people in Africa use WhatsApp, not Facebook, to communicate with each other and share information. People all around the world use WhatsApp to connect with small businesses they care about – from online clothing companies in India to auto parts stores in Brazil. But WhatsApp was built for people and we want to improve the business experience. For example, by making it easier for businesses to respond to customers, separating customer and personal messages, and creating an official presence. Although WhatsApp has not released any official data about its market position in Africa but it seems to be eager to tap into the growing popularity of WhatsApp in Africa – evident from the recent launch of a dedicated standalone app called WhatsApp Business which targets small businesses. WhatsApp Business is currently just for Android users who dominate market share in emerging markets. It is estimated that 80% of small businesses in Brazil and India already use WhatsApp Messenger to reach their customers. WhatsApp Business features include business profile, messaging tools such as quick replies, greeting messages and away messages, metrics and a verified business account listing. “Our new app will make it easier for companies to connect with customers, and more convenient for our 1.3 billion users to chat with businesses that matter to them,” WhatsApp says. Customers won’t need to install new apps as messages sent from WhatsApp Business will be received on WhatsApp Messenger as usual. Already, over 500,000 users have installed the app within two weeks of being rolled out. A quick check showed the app which was rolled out initially in the UK and US on January 18, is now available in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. “It is a nice move that WhatsApp is going all-in for small businesses even though Africa’s big companies would also jump on the WhatsApp Business train as part of their digital business outreach,” said Chris Alagboso, an Owerri-based Nigerian media entrepreneur. While several early users of the new app in Nigeria said they were impressed, they observed that several important features that small businesses need are still missing such as receiving payments and the possibility of finding potential customers with a service similar to Facebook’s Sponsored Posts. WhatsApp rise has caused tensions with some of the mobile network operators as its success has eaten into the traditional voice and SMS revenue structure since the app enables users to make voice calls and text messaging for relatively low data costs. But the upside of WhatsApp’s popularity is that it is likely partly responsible for the continued rise in internet use particularly with smartphone take-up. For example in Zimbabwe, one of the few countries to provide data, WhatsApp alone was responsible for nearly half of all internet traffic in the country in 2017. In Nigeria, both e-commerce startups and traditional retailers in local markets have been experimenting with reaching their customers on WhatsApp, usually targeting popular WhatsApp groups or building broadcast lists. Africa Business Pages has always been leading the brigade in terms of embracing new technology to reach new audiences in Africa and already has a dedicated WhatsApp Business Group that helps African entrepreneurs connect with businesses worldwide.  You can join the https://chat.whatsapp.com/Hh6sOcfcAw2BdW5PCtyyfS