“Jeffrey: What mean is… we’re not accustomed to the kind of change… you have to deal with in the publishing industry…. as potential investors, how can you put our minds at ease?
Charles: Well, this company’s been around for six decades
We’ve always been competitive with the larger houses
We’ve even managed to lure away some of their heavy hitters
Jeffrey: And how have you done that?
Charles: We have done that by having an appetite for hard work…
Kelsey: … and by believing that what we do is for the greater good… And we participate in the change… We are not the company that we were six decades ago… or even six months ago…
When I became publisher six months ago, I immediately hired a social media strategist… because that’s really the only way to stay ahead of the curve now.
Jeffrey: Everyone says social media , but how does that actually translate to better business?
Kelsey: People expect access and transparency… I post book lists and stories to my Insta every day…
Accessibility and transparency build trust… which means as a company, we’ll have more success in launching new authors… and that’s how it translates to better business…
In the spirit of transparency, we need your money…”
– Younger
In one of the more instructive moments of the television series Younger, a seemingly simple exchange about publishing reveals a truth African SMMEs can no longer ignore. When investors ask how a legacy company survives disruption, the answer is not nostalgia, scale, or pedigree—it is adaptability, hard work, and, critically, social media.
The dialogue is telling. A company with six decades of history admits it is no longer the same business it was even six months ago. Markets changed. Audiences shifted. Expectations evolved. The response was decisive: hiring a social media strategist not as a cosmetic add-on, but as a core business function.
What this exchange exposes is not merely a change in tools, but a change in mindset. Social media is not treated as publicity; it is treated as an instrument of institutional survival. This distinction is vital for African SMMEs.
Too often, entrepreneurs say, “I’ll focus on operations first; marketing can wait.” That logic belongs to a bygone era. Today, marketing is operations. Visibility creates value. Narrative is currency.
In Africa—where many SMMEs operate in informal or semi-formal markets—marketing plays an even more fundamental role: it formalises presence. A consistent digital footprint creates legitimacy where infrastructure, paperwork, or historical reputation may still be developing. It signals seriousness, intent, and continuity. It tells the market: we are here to stay.
Social media’s power lies in its ability to collapse distance—between producer and consumer, brand and community, idea and adoption. Entrepreneurs no longer need billboards or full-page adverts to be seen. A smartphone, clarity of purpose, and disciplined storytelling can achieve what once required vast capital.
But discipline is key.
Social media marketing is not random posting or noise. It is strategy expressed consistently. It requires understanding one’s audience, articulating a clear value proposition, and repeating it with authenticity. As Younger illustrates, daily storytelling builds familiarity, familiarity builds trust, and trust drives transactions.
Marketing is also not self-promotion; it is education. It explains why a product matters, situates a service within a broader social or economic need, and connects a business to the lived realities of its customers. In societies shaped by inequality and historical exclusion, this explanatory role is essential.
Crucially, social media does not speak only to customers. It speaks simultaneously to suppliers, partners, employees, regulators, and investors. It becomes a living archive of a company’s philosophy and credibility. Transparency reduces friction, shortens the trust curve, and accelerates decision-making.
There is also a generational reality African entrepreneurs cannot ignore. Africa is the youngest continent in the world. The future customer, employee, and innovator is already digital-first. To neglect social media is to disconnect from the very demographic that will determine long-term relevance.
Across the continent, SMMEs are the backbone of our economies—innovators, job creators, cultural carriers, and community anchors. Yet many still treat marketing, especially social media, as an afterthought or a “nice-to-have.” This is no longer sustainable.
Social media is not about vanity metrics. It is about access, transparency, and trust. Today’s customers—from Lagos to Johannesburg, Nairobi to Accra—expect to see the businesses they support, understand their stories, and engage with their values. As Younger reminds us, accessibility builds trust, and trust unlocks growth.
In environments where institutional trust is fragile and competition is intense, social media becomes the great equaliser. It allows a township fashion label to reach global audiences, an agribusiness cooperative to tell its sustainability story, and a creative entrepreneur to build a following long before securing traditional investment.
Marketing, therefore, is not manipulation; it is participation in change.
The myth that good products sell themselves no longer holds. Markets reward visibility, consistency, and narrative clarity. Social media humanises commerce, turns customers into communities, and transactions into relationships.
It is also an investment signal. Just as investors in Younger demanded reassurance, funders and partners increasingly view digital presence as a proxy for credibility and readiness. Neglect signals stagnation. Strategic visibility signals ambition and growth potential.
At Brandhill Africa, our work across sectors consistently shows that brands are built long before balance sheets reflect success. For African SMMEs, social media is often the first, most powerful branding infrastructure available—cost-effective, scalable, and immediate.
The message is simple: if you are not telling your story, someone else will—or worse, no one will hear it at all.
African SMMEs must abandon the false choice between building the business and marketing the business. The two are inseparable. In the modern economy, invisibility is vulnerability.
And in the spirit of transparency: investment follows belief. Belief follows trust. And trust, in today’s Africa, is built one authentic post at a time.
In an era defined by speed, openness, and constant reinvention, African SMMEs must do more than survive. They must participate in the change. Social media is not the future of marketing on the continent. It is the present.
Tujenge Afrika Pamoja! Let’s Build Africa Together!
Enjoy your weekend.
Saul Molobi (FCIM)
PUBLISHER: JAMBO AFRICA ONLINE
and
Group Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Brandhill Africa™
Tel: +27 11 759 4297
Mobile: +27 83 635 7773
Physical Address: 1st Floor, Cradock Square Offices; 169 Oxford Road; Rosebank; JOHANNESBURG; 2196.
eMail: saul.molobi@brandhillafrica.com
Website: www.brandhillafrica.com
Social Media: Twitter / Instagram / LinkedIn / Facebook / YouTube / Jambo Africa Online / WhatsApp Group / 101.9 Chai FM