A Social Media Analysis of Zimbabwe's Dairy Industry: Dairibord, Kefalos, Dendairy and Prodairy

The largest dairy company that has endured the test of time is Dairibord. It is innovative and finds ways to survive the harsh economic conditions it faces. Over the years, Dairibord Zimbabwe Private Limited has faced competition from other companies that have entered the dairy industry, including PRODAIRY , Kefalos, and Dendairy . In this episode, we examine the social media analyses of these four competitors in the dairy industry.

The data used in this analysis was collected over 105 days, from June 23 to September 5, 2024. We analyzed the five most popular social media platforms in the country: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Followers

Facebook is the most used platform by these dairy companies, as it is for most people. Dairibord has the largest following on Facebook with 105,000 followers, while Prodairy (Revive) has the smallest following with 9,700.

All four companies have a presence on Instagram, with Dendairy having the largest following at 5,926 followers. Kefalos has 4,243 followers, and Dairibord has the smallest following on Instagram with 439 followers.

On LinkedIn, all four companies have a page, with Dairibord having the largest following at 8,137 followers. Dendairy is second with 2,078 followers, and Kefalos has the smallest following on LinkedIn with 204 followers. However, on Twitter, Kefalos has the second-largest following with 1,202 followers. Dairibord leads with 7,054 followers, and Prodairy is not present on Twitter. Unfortunately, none of the companies has used TikTok to connect with their audience.

Posting Frequency

This is where things get interesting. On LinkedIn, despite all four companies having a presence, even Dairibord, with 8,137 followers, only posted once in 105 days. Dendairy also posted only once during the same period. While this doesn't necessarily make Dairibord and Dendairy better, Kefalos and Prodairy didn't post at all on LinkedIn during this time.

On Twitter, Dairibord made 27 posts, and Kefalos made 11 posts. Dendairy has a Twitter presence but didn't make any posts during the data collection period. Dairibord's Instagram posting was even less active than on LinkedIn, with no posts. However, Dendairy was somewhat consistent on Instagram with 60 posts.

On Facebook, all four companies tried to post, but consistency was an issue. Dendairy made the most posts (63), followed by Dairibord with 27 posts. Prodairy (Revive) and Kefalos made the same number of posts, 19, during the same period.

Engagement Score

The engagement score is calculated by dividing the total number of likes for all posts by the number of posts made. A lower score indicates lower engagement. Given the posting frequency, it's only meaningful to discuss engagement scores on Facebook and Instagram.

On Instagram, Dendairy has the highest engagement score at 8.55 from 63 posts. Kefalos has an engagement score of 5.71, and Prodairy has an engagement score of 5.

On Facebook, we have two engagement scores: Likes-based ES (ES1) and Comments-based ES (ES2). To calculate an overall ES for Facebook, we average ES1 and ES2. While analyzing Prodairy's Facebook likes, we found two outliers: two posts with 903 and 1,200 likes, respectively. These outliers skewed the overall engagement score to 130.26, which isn't a true representation of Prodairy's Facebook engagement.

Therefore, we used the trimmed mean method to calculate a more accurate engagement score. We arranged the data in ascending order, removed the top 2 and bottom 2 data points (10% of the 19 posts), and calculated the engagement score of the remaining 15 data points. The trimmed ES for Prodairy on Facebook is 26.13, which is a more accurate representation of its engagement.

Dairibord and Dendairy have the highest overall engagement on Facebook, with scores of 40.56 and 36.

Commentary

This is one cluster that does not take social media marketing seriously. From Dairibord, I expected better, to be honest. They seem to be performing well on the ground and have survived the test of time. I expected them to have a vibrant social media presence, but alas, I was surprised.

This group of companies tells themselves they have good products, which might be subjective. Dairibord has a number of products that are performing really well. Kefalos rides on Cortina ice cream and cheese sales, Prodairy's cash cow is Revive, and Dendairy is trying to push sour milk, fresh milk, and yogurts.

They all do not even have a strategy. I am sure they do not have social media managers. It seems like they’re run by some interns or some people in the marketing department who just created the pages for the sake of having them.

The problem with companies that are recording high volume sales and pushing traditional as well as conventional marketing tends to be an attitude towards social media marketing. Their point is, 'We are doing good already, why should we focus on that?'. Also, another thing that most people get wrong is that they think social media marketing is only for selling, which is what they are actually doing. But well, that is not the only reason why companies should prioritize social media marketing.

Which brings me back to something I always say: The Marketers Association of Zimbabwe is not doing much justice. It is supposed to be letting companies know about the importance of social media marketing, not just preaching to its members only. Short courses for directors, executives, etc., are crucial.

Coming back to my dairy companies, they all need a do-over. They need strategies, they need new blood, and they need to be serious because they are not! They don't have content. Let's just say, they all have nothing to talk about