By the end of this article, am sure you’ll have the desire to be the most powerful influencer in Kenya.
It’s quite sensational the way social media is creating a huge buzz every day in Kenya.
Each day we are introduced to new figures in the socials, each coming with a different wave of taste.
It’s clear today that being popular through social media is the agenda of every Generation Z or more so retirees who are free.
One thing that we both forget is that social media comes with both love and hate. The moment your star picks up, a number of keyboard warriors will always rise to attack you from all dimensions.
Personally I hate being close to social media, specifically the Kenyan social network space.
Unlike me I know, you have undivided feelings, whether should you become in the limelight or not.
Well, worry no more, you are not me that’s why am here to help you get a clear picture of how to get started as an influencer in Kenya.
Most influencers in Kenya are celebrities that we all know and always consume their content almost every day.
Njugush, Akothee, Nameless, Jalang’o, Abel Mutua, Kate Actress, Erick Omondi, Crazy Kennar, Sauti sol, Churchill mention all of them, they are all influencers.
One thing that you always forget is that before these influencers reach where they are now, they have had a journey that they always don’t bring it often in the limelight to us.
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Why call them influencers and not celebrities?
The world of advertising is changing rapidly and most brands demand their products to reach wider market with the advancement of technology.
Initially we used to call them celebrities because of their inspiration and how they used to make our lives feel at ease.
However, the narrative has been changing in the last few days as most of these celebrities began being approached by brands to market their products.
According to statistics, at least 70% of generation Z have preferred buying products from influencers than traditional celebrities.
The traction in influencer marketing in Kenya is building up and you ought to realize how brands are really investing in this.
Through their content and engagements with their audience, they began influencing consumer purchases and accelerate more sales for these brands.
However, a generation of new celebrities has been sprouting over the years, an influence that has been impacting a great deal to the generation Z and slowly fading the other group.
And that’s how the narrative changed from being celebrities to Influencers.
Think for a second, why do brands such as Infinix, Oppo, Chrome, Johnny Walker and Samsung use celebrities on their posters, banners and advertisements?
We often get influenced by recommendations of products online nowadays before we buy or have the desire to interact with the product.
You can influence too. Do you ever feel that 100% concentration feeling from your peers whenever you are interacting with them? Can you convert the same online using social media?
Are you still there? Okay.
Here let’s now delve into the specifics of becoming a powerful influencer in Kenya, with just a few steps.
Identify your Niche.
Assess your skillset, strength, creativity and how you can bring a difference in what you want to do.
Whether its lifestyle, Fashion, Politics, sport, athletics, comedy, Tech, Gossip. Among others.
The importance of identifying a niche for yourself is to cut through the noises already in social media.
When we began, we mentioned that there is a lot of social media buzz in Kenya, and trying to make your messages/content be noticed, you need to cut through the noises perspectival.
An example to this is;
You remember the famous “Ugali Man”. From his short clip, that showed masculinity and power got him a number of lucrative deals such an ODI bet brand ambassador.
His background was in fitness and doing his content, the main aim was to reflect on the power someone needs before hitting the gym. (Niche)
If you despicable food culinarians you can invest more on creating quality and tasty recipes that would advance you as an influencer.
Know and understand your audience.
After identifying your niche, the next important thing is knowing the preferences, choices and tastes of your target audience.
You can segment your audience in terms of age, gender, demands, geographical location etc.
You need to understand that, by becoming an influencer and your aim is to win more brands you ought to know how to measure your engagement performance.
These can be done easily by measuring some of your Key performing indexes (KPI) that will you level up on your engagement.
This is an important aspect that you need to invest on even before you start off generating content.
Make your profile be in sync in related social profiles for the sake of your audiences.
For example;
You can’t be a comedian on Facebook and an inspirational figure or politician on Instagram.
That won’t even work for you when brands want approach you.
Brands look for uniformity of content to employ you as their content creator or brand ambassador.
Often in Kenya, an influencer is interactive in one or two social platforms. You can’t level on all the social media platform and be perfect in all of them.
Apart from building up an interactive profile and bio, you need to choose where your strength is fully and actively build up on it.
A study by Geopoll shows that, most influencers are building up on Facebook before going to other social platforms.
However, Tiktok has been growing exponentially and I can’t deny you to try there.
Develop a character of using business accounts.
WhatsApp business is here. Have you interacted with it?
That’s one of the few ways social media content is shifting into social commerce in Kenya.
If you really need to be a paid influencer in Kenya, you need to turn your selected platforms into business accounts.
Whether its Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok and YouTube.
The main reason behind this is because business accounts align more revenue benefits for you than personal accounts.
Create valuable content and engage with your audience.
Social media needs more than 100% aggressiveness.
Therefore, you need to generate valuable content that quality and easily consumable by your audience.
Sometimes video’s work better than images and a vice versa of the same is true.
Am sure you have interacted with memes?
Tiktok is slowly beating YouTube because of the short videos, and that’s why you must have noticed other platforms are building on short videos too.
Therefore, it would be wise enough for you to curate your content in line with short videos. Make sure they are simple and interactive.
In summary…
You need to work hard.
You must develop a discipline demanded by your social platform in order to become an influencer in Kenya.
Many people try to become influencers and end up dropping along the way because of the demands mentioned above.
But am sure you have what it takes to become the next popular influencer in Kenya. Therefore, if you haven’t started and you have the passion, start!
If you have already started continue building up on what you have, create quality content and always remember to measure your performance online.
3 months is a very short time for you to become the most sorted influencer of digital content creator in Kenya.
For more inquiries on how to become an influencer in Kenya easily kindly don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected], Tel: 0708 088 114 or visit our website www.twiva.co.ke.