The Brand Evangelist

“The fear of making mistakes is what stagnates growth.” – Unknown

Looking back to my first attempt at blogging I remember I use to read about blogging and internet business from a Local Journal. I hoped that one day, I will start blogging too. But I was afraid to start, because I do not want to fail. I gave lots of excuses. I did not know anything about blogging (though I knew how to spell blog), plus my spellings and English was very poor. I was also AFRAID that I would not get an audience to read my stuff.

I had lots of reasons why I would not start, but I took the bold step and started. If you want to see my first attempt, it’s here (link).

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

I am not here to tell you about how to play it safe and not fail. I want to share with you how expecting failure and failing smartly and failing fast can help your business GROW.

The mbgeeks community is young, just a month old. Friday’s chat was the second we are having in the series of mbgeeks monthly tweet chat. This time we looked into the use of social media by African businesses and tech startups.

The conversation was a revelation of the needs and concerns of most users of social media tools for marketing their idea and business. We had Mark Kaigwa as guest during this edition, although he could not participate fully as he was in an urgent meeting. However the tweet chat went on fine.

Many businesses use social media to create awareness, gather opinions and insights, manage relationships with their existing customers, generate lead and lunch new products. what were some of the main highlights of the tweet chat?

We Started by asking What can businesses in Africa use Social Media for? Our guest was on hand to answer, his response;

“African businesses can use social media for 3 things: branding & awareness, customer communication and lead generation.”

We also had Mobile West Africa in the audience, who shared with us, what they use social media for, here is their take;

“We track exciting developments via Twitter & get in touch with people behind them; some will speak at future events.”

There were also more people in the audience with awesome contributions, that are basic highlights of the chat;

For social media to be successful in business, you must clearly define your target. And build up the network with the media! #mbgeeks ~ @nnenna

#mbgeeks SM [social media] is useful if you have it WITHIN. It is cheaper and efficient. ~ @waithash

Those are a brief insight into what we discussed. For more you can check out the hashtag (#mbgeeks) or the tweetcloud

From the conversation, I observed a few facts;

* Many businesses are still not sure how to leverage social media.

* There are those who already know how to leverage Social media, and they have decided to keep it in-house instead of hiring any Agency to Manage it for them.

* Most of those really using Social media may not be using any specific metric system or Apps, but they have some real life Measurable Goals they look at, like Retweets and engagement.

SUMMARY.

There is need for a conference that would bring together those who have been using social for a while and producing results with it. This would save businesses a lot of time they burn trying to figure it out all by themselves, or falling prey to the named SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERTS, who may only know how the tool works, but cannot scale it properly to deliver business success.

The conference should include those who have the understanding of Marketing fundamentals and business management, as social media is only a TOOL. The tool doesn’t get the job done, it is the person wielding the TOOL that get’s the job done.

Till such conference is held. You are better of with an in house monitoring of your social media ventures, read tips online, experiment and adapt what would suit your business. The fact that someone can use Facebook or twitter very well, does not mean they can do your social media marketing for you.

It is indeed a very wide subject, that is still undergoing study and experimentation.

How have you been using social media for your own business or startup? What has been your success and how do you measure it?

please feel feel to share with us in the comment section. We will be announcing the Theme for next month’s Twitter chat which would take place JULY 1, 2011, 12noon GMT [1pm Nigeria time]

Social Media for African and African Businesses and startups

Social is becoming the definition of our lives and existence. There is a touch of social in everything right now. With mobile growing ever bigger, it is keeping more and more people connected and engaged on the social web. This has moved many businesses to explore this opportunities and move to where the market is. However, it has been observed that most businesses are still in doubt of how to measure the success and benefits of social media as a business building tool.

There are examples of businesses who have taken the bold step and  have been reaping the benefit of using social media,

June 3rd (2011) would be time to  have our #mbGeeks monthly twitter chat. The Theme is; “Social Media in Africa for African businesses and startups.”

There is a growing concern among brands who would like to engage in social media as a tool for reaching out to customers and prospective customers. They want to know how to measure the success of their involvement in social media.

There are also the “EXPERTS” who complicates matters, by not helping business owners know exactly what social media is.

While working with some Small businesses here in Nigeria, I often get response that shows that more businesses do not have details on what kind of tool social media is. That is the reason I am writing this post. I would be exposing some gray areas of social media as a marketing tool as well as why you should beware of those parading themselves as social media experts. Come with me as I share with you.

“Never compare your beginning to anyone's middle.”

This was a tweet that came pass my Time line on twitter today and it contains some deep messages to me and folks who are starting on a journey (or who are contemplating starting a project).

Recently, I read a blog by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. He wrote about How to start, I would quote a few lines from what he wrote;

“It’s [STARTING] one of the most intimidating things. It’s the lack of starting that kills most tasks and projects. Procrastination is putting off the start. Your new venture gets put off because the START is too HARD.”

If you have ever found yourself lost joining a social network as a newbie, you are not alone. When I signed on to Facebook, I had same issue, when I signed on to Twitter it was the same story.

How did I find my way?

A friend showed me how to use twitter with the basics. The rest I pretty much figure out on my own. While exploring the social web, especially twitter, I noticed that the people who were getting things done and having fun while at it on twitter were formed into groups and communities. Breaking into those communities and joining the conversation can be very tasking for a newbie, you would agree with me. My solution is define who you are and what you want out of the social web and join a community that shares your interests.

I have been able to spot many communities here on twitter, some are formal, some are informal. They have provided an entry point and a means of joining the online conversation. We have the #usguys, a community of professionals who talk about social media, tech and how it can affect their lives and help grow businesses. There is also Tribber. Tribber is a group of bloggers who provide support for one another by helping each others message and posts go viral, you can join only by being invited by an already existing member. So, Tribber is exclusive.

Time would fail me if I go on to run through all the groups that are, as some are not even as formal as the two I have mentioned. If you take your time to observe you would see them from the way they form here on twitter.

We launched our community of tech lovers and friends on the 13th of May 2011 with Deborah Elzie as our honourable guest.

We lunch the tech community on twitter tomorrow.

It is going to be one of the most interesting and enjoyable ride you’ve ever had online. Either new to twitter chat or not, it is certainly going to be lots of fun and value adding to each participants.

Believing you have already read in details here what the twitter community of tech lovers is all about and the benefits attached to it, I am going to set the background for the lunch.

Background for the launch

Tomorrow, May 13th, 2011, by 12noon GMT (1pm Nigerian time and 8am EST) we would be having the Lunch of the community on twitter. We have an invited guest, her name is Deborah Elzie. she is with The Kuyu project team - The Kuyu Project is a digital literacy initiative aimed at teaching African youth how to fully utilize social media and other digital tools to effect social change in their communities to achieve their goals and objectives. She is also with Story spaces and AfriWiT (African Women in Technology). She has love and passion for Africa and tech.

I met her on twitter. Twitter is a wonderful tool for sharing and networking. this is what we are leveraging on with this new community we are forming and lunching May 13, 2011.