Beware The Social Influencers.
Kylie Jenner is a 20 years old reality television star and a new mum. She has a fanbase that spreads across multiple platforms and they total to millions. When she posted a picture of her new born baby, Stormi, in February 2018, it broke a record as the most liked photo on a photo sharing application called Instagram. With 13.6 million likes, this photo displaced Beyonce’s pregnancy annoucement photo which held the record with 11.2 million likes. The third most liked photo on Instagram is that of football star, Christiano Ronaldo with his wife, at 11 million likes.
Breaking the record for likes on a photo is no big deal, after all, Kylie Jenner is the youngest sister of the globally famous Kardashian clan which has been on the spotlight for the past 10 years. Fame should be as ordinary as breathing to Kylie Jenner. She was born to be famous. The Kardashians have lived their lives out in the open and common sense should dictate that they are “just a popular” family or as others put it, they are an attention hungry clan, sometimes annoying.
Think twice. One post on Twitter from the youngest Kardashian in February 2018, in which she was expressing disatisfaction of an upgrade to the design of another social media application called SnapChat, caused the company to lose $1.3 billion worth of stock on the New York Stock Exchange. Whats interesting is that she had used another social media platform, Twitter, to vent her anger on the new design of SnapChat which she found as “good as dead” following the revamped user interface. Just that one tweet, SnacpChat Inc lost $1.3 billion the same day.
Kylie Jenner is an example of what is called a social media influencer, a person that uses social media platforms to reach out to a vast audience and can pursuade others by virtue of their authencitity and reach. Social influencers have establised credibility within a certain niche which could be industry specific or just lifestyle. The influencers are avid users of social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, just to mention but a few and they have millions of people following them.
While social media has been looked at as a total waste of time, there is an emergence of new marketing and brand empowerment strategies that are making use of social media influencers to give the product a connection to the huge fan bases that these influencers command. Studies have found that the influencers have a characteristically loyal base which is 16 times more likely to engage than paid mega media advertising. About 90% of consumers trust a peer recommended product or service, hence the use of influencers in discussiing product or service experiences has become critical these days where online reviews are very influential in making a desion to purchase a product or service.
The Michelle effect was a market movement of stock and revenue based on whose designer outfits the former first lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama, wore to a function. In fact, between November 2008 and December 2009, the 29 US companies whose clothes she wore apparently earned $2.7 billion because of her patronage, and even the share prices of European companies whose labels she wore rose by 16.3%. Ominously, 27 brands that did not get a share of the Obama limelight lost 0.4% in value. The power of social media influence.
The question that may be asked is; can social media influencers impact businesses in Malawi the same way these trends are appearing in the wesstern world? Should we really start to pay attention to social media influencers in Malawi?
Malawi is sitting at about 700,000 active Facebook users in a day, most likely these are cross cutting in other platforms which makes them a highly active base of technology consumers. With the high penetration of cell phones and wide availability of data services across the country, social media usage is on the rise in Malawi. Its quite rare to find a person that has never used WhatsApp application and yet they own a cellphone. The aggressive approach taken by the social media platforms in both acquisition of new users and retention of old users is hard to be ignored. Social media can no longer be ignored in Malawi.
Who would be classified as a social media influencer in Malawi? Sifting through some of the social media users in Malawi, i can see a few that would be described as influencers based on their ability to use and reach out to the local audience using social media.
There are a few things that would qualify one as an influencer which include high engagement, the influencer must be actively present on the platforms and engages with the audience. The quality of their content must be unique and in top notch style. Content from influencers must be signatured with unique presentation tactics and must be exclusively produced by the influencer and not copied from any other source on the internet. Finally, the influecner must match your brand mission and positioning.
Having said that, here are some of the influceners that I believe have shaped a niche space for themselves and should not be ignored in Malawi.
Charles Ulaya is famed for one thing on social media, healthy lifestyle living. He has created a following both locally and internationally, posts frequently about healthy living. His posts are very engaging and receive a lot of traction. Long live Ulaya Classics.
Stanley Kenani is a writer based in Geneva. His social media posts are thought provoking and cuts across different spheres of Malawian social economic fabric. He engages actively and appeals to mid-section intellectuals.
Patience Namadingo is a famous gospel musician who has found the power of social media to engage with his audience. He regulalry releases video clips that find their way into WhatsApp groups and other platforms. Using his wit and charm, Namadingo has reinvented his persona with a comic approach to his posts and this has become an instant hit locally.
Prophet Shpered bushiri is a brand, his social media usage by his team is world class. His facebook page is one of the largest in Malawi. His social media reach and engagement is hard to be ignored.
Finally, have you ever heard of this statement: Andu this and that? She is a social media influencer.