There was a time (especially from the mid 90’s to the mid-00's) when the statement ‘Zimbabwe is ten years behind technology’ was common. The grew out a realisation that the latest technological developments took a long time before they were fully grasped by the people of Zimbabwe.

However, it would seem that Zimbabweans on the social front have taken great strides in keeping up with the latest technological trends. They are using the latest gadgets, apps and popular social media websites and seem to be keeping up just fine.

The story seems to be different when it comes to Zimbabwean entrepreneurs who are lagging behind. Most of the Zimbabwean businesses are invisible online i.e. they do not have a digital presence. Could it be that some of these businesses are run by people who ‘are not into technology’?

The majority the businesses that have websites and/social media pages are not using these effectively to grow their businesses. For example, some businesses can go for more than 3 months without putting up a post on their social media pages i.e. they do not keep their fans engaged. Such businesses seem to lack the need to grow their social media and use social media ads to widen their reach.

My assessment suggests that the bulk (over 90%) of websites by Zimbabwean entrepreneurs are pretty much ineffective and they do not contribute to the growth of their mother brands. Many sites do not have the information that clients are interested in (eg you find the company homepage filled with information about the company instead of using that space to highlight the goods and services provided, as that is what the client will be more interested in). Most websites are not tracked to see where traffic is coming from and neither are the websites advertised on Google. These and other reasons show that entrepreneurs are ‘still behind technology’ when it comes to their digital presence
management.

WHY IS DIGITAL PRESENCE IMPORTANT?

There are many advantages of being visible online as a business and I will discuss some of them briefly below. Today people are turning to Google when they want to search for information and when they want to buy goods and services (just look at the number of times you use Google when you are online.

An effective digital presence will ensure that your website and/ social media pages show up when people search for related goods and services. Eg if you run a restaurant, you want your brand to pop up when one searches for restaurants in your area so that they can bring you business.

An effective digital presence will also mean that you can carry out cost-effective advertising campaigns online. You can also keep your followers engaged through your digital presence as well. So, for these and other reasons, you should want your business to have a digital presence even if you are not into technology.

In conclusion, I would like to pose this question to you; Are you keeping up with technology as an entrepreneur?
In my next blog post, we will be looking at why digital presence is especially important for owners of small businesses.

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