Social Media Platforms as Emerging Export Marketing Channels: Opportunities and Challenges for Ebonyi State Agri-Exporters

Social media platforms are rapidly transforming agricultural marketing across West Africa, with a new generation of "agripreneurs" leveraging digital tools to increase incomes, share knowledge, and access markets. In Benin and Côte d'Ivoire, WhatsApp serves as market intelligence, Facebook functions as a commercial showcase, TikTok operates as a training platform, and Instagram enables product promotion—practices that effectively fill gaps left by formal agricultural systems. This study examines the opportunities and challenges associated with social media as emerging export marketing channels for agri-exporters in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining a survey of 297 agri-exporters across the three agricultural zones of Ebonyi State with key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, mean scores, and chi-square tests. Findings revealed that WhatsApp (78.5%) and Facebook (65.3%) were the most widely used platforms. Social media enhanced market access by reducing information asymmetries (mean = 4.12) and enabling direct buyer-seller connections (mean = 3.98). However, significant challenges persisted, including poor network connectivity (61.1%), high data costs, inadequate digital literacy, and limited rural electrification. Women constituted 47.3% of respondents but faced disproportionately higher barriers to platform usage. The paper argues for an integrated approach combining social media engagement with cooperative structures to enhance export market intelligence. Social media platforms offer a low-cost, accessible pathway for Ebonyi agri-exporters to connect with global markets.