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Kampala, Uganda
Between 30th October 2012 to 30th April 2013, MTN Uganda official Facebook page has been followed by at least 40,000 new users.
Recent research by HiPipo.com revealed that at least 74% of MTN Uganda Facebook page fans are local followers.
MTN Uganda has in the last months executed a number of successful and highly interactive campaigns on social media such as the Uganda Cranes Africa Cup of Nations Campaign, and Magic Fingers among others that have been some of the main reasons for fast growth in number of followers.
Recently, MTN Uganda set record as the first brand in Uganda to reach 100,000 followers on Facebook. In celebration, MTN organized a fans party at Cayenne on 30th April that was attended by at least 500 religious MTN followers on Facebook.
“We need to embrace social media, the possibilities it brings and the challenges it presents in order to remain profitable and, most importantly, relevant in an ever increasing social world. At MTN, this is exactly what we have done and it is bringing us a lot of results,” Ernst Fonternel, Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Uganda said.
Read full press release below.
MTN Uganda’s Facebook page has set a national record becoming the first social media page in Uganda to hit and cross the 100,000 fans mark.
The MTN Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/MTNug, currently has over 108,000 fans with the closest follower at approximately 50% compared to MTN.
According to Socialbakers.com, Uganda has 584,000 monthly active users on Facebook, making Uganda the 102nd ranked country in the world.
Socialbakers.com is a user friendly social media analytics platform which provides a solution that allows brands to measure, compare, and contrast the success of their social media campaigns with competitive intelligence.
“MTN Uganda has the highest number of Facebook followers at over 108,000 which is almost 20% of the total number of Facebook users in Uganda,” Socialbikers.com states.
Facebook’s penetration of the country’s population is less than 2% and approximately 14% into Internet users in Uganda. Approximately 50% of the Facebook users are between 18 to 24 years old. In Uganda, there are more males than females using Facebook at 67% against 33% respectively.
MTN also has the second biggest number of fans on twitter in Uganda, at 9,244 followers and has received 12,713 video views on its YouTube page.
According to Ernst Fonternel, Chief Marketing Officer, using social media for business today is as important as learning how to use email for business 15 years ago.
“We need to embrace social media, the possibilities it brings and the challenges it presents in order to remain profitable and, most importantly, relevant in an ever increasing social world. At MTN, this is exactly what we have done and it is bringing us a lot of results,” he said.
Ernst explains that Social media has given MTN another opportunity or avenue to reach out and actually connect with its audience.
“There are no corporate policies and bureaucracies. These are real one to one relationships. We look at Facebook like a shopping mall, where people are living a virtual social life. Being present in this mall is one of the smartest moves you can make for your business, Ernst explained.
He said that MTN has received a big boost in uptake because it provides great and relevant content, and also engages and interacts with its audience in a manner that has led to building a great community that people want to be involved with.
“Many businesses face questions time and time again when it comes to customer service. But we use our social media outlets to answer those questions. By doing it this way, we have been able to highlight to our community that we are available. We have also been able to get other people within the community to provide answers and support to new members who have perhaps experienced similar issues themselves.” said Ernst.
MTN’s vision is to lead the delivery of a bold, new Digital World to our customers. MTN Uganda is embracing this vision through constant enhancements to its Data Network to deliver World-class Internet so that we can make our customers’ lives a whole lot brighter.
As part of the celebrations, we organised a party with 500 of our fans, as one way of giving back to the community that has supported us and made us the number one brand in the social space in Uganda. The party took place at Cayenne on the 30th April 2013 with much delight from our Facebook fans.
“We therefore encourage everyone to join our community and enjoy the journey as we strive to deliver this bold, new Digital World to our customers.” Ernst concluded.
Follow us on www.facebook.com/MTNug, twitter.com/MTNugandacare, www.youtube.com/MTNug and www.mtn.co.ug.
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About MTN Uganda
Launched in 1998, MTN Uganda is the leading telecommunications firm in country. Visit us at www.mtn.co.ug and www.facebook.com/mtnug.
About the MTN Group
Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a leading emerging market operator, connecting subscribers in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code: “MTN.” As of 31 December 2012, MTN recorded almost 190 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. Visit us at http://www.mtn.com and www.mtnfootball.com
