Showing posts with label Digital Marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Digital Marketing. Show all posts

On The First Ongala Music Festival Heaven Shed Tears Of Joy.


Dr. Remmy Ongala was undeniably a Tanzanian music icon. He was a well-known musician in East Africa since the 80s and was deeply mourned when he passed on in 2010. It is said that when he passed on, his bongo beat music was played on Tanzanian radio stations nonstop. He was so popular that an area of his home district in Dar es Salaam was named after him.

It, therefore, came naturally for his daughter Aziza Ongala to want to do something for her Dad. In an interview, she had at an online radio show called Underground pride , Aziza said organizing the festival is something she felt she had to do.

Early this year she decided this would be the year to commemorate her father. So she set everything else aside to focus on curating the festival. And I think I speak for most when I say she did an awesome job.


The Main Stage

Ongala Music Festival was a 3-day music affair. It was held in Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam at Malaika Beach Club from the 23rd to the 25th of August. Twenty of us traveled from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam in Dar Lux, a bus company which also happened to be a sponsor of the festival. They had such impeccable customer service, super comfortable seats and an awesome movie collection to keep us entertained during the 16 hour trip.



It was a surreal experience to travel with some of the Kenyan artists that were scheduled to perform at the first Ongala Music Festival. Other than the good vibes they emitted during the conversations, we also got serenaded by some smooth guitar tunes and improvised songs.

Staying at Malaika beach club meant we had access to the beach anytime we wanted. So while the rest of us enjoyed the warmth of the morning sun while in the tents and lengthened our sleep, some of our friends went out jogging on the beach.


On the first night preceding the main event, we had DJs and a few Afro-Fusion artists play music on a mini 'Nyumbani' stage next to a bonfire. One of the DJs only played old school reggae music on vinyl and we were so thrilled that we started dancing under the stars. People took turns to rekindle the fire everytime it tried to die down. We threw dried palm tree leaves into the fire in turns like we had a schedule or something.


The Mini 'Nyumbani' Stage

Our tents were pitched a stone throw away so circumstances forced us in on the fun. But who is complaining? Unless you were a log, I don't see how you could sleep with all that feel-good music playing in the background. No wonder we stayed up till around 4 a.m most nights. It mostly depended on when the DJ would say enough is enough.


On the second night of the festival, it rained. This was something no one had expected so it threw many off balance. My theory is this: Remmy must have been moved to tears by what Aziza, his family, and friends had organized in his memory. Therefore, the Tanzanian skies joined Remmy in solidarity.

Due to those showers of blessing, the show ended early. The next day, the East African artists performed with an extra oomph. No one was taking anything for granted, neither the artists nor the audience. We were more than grateful for the clear skies and for the opportunity to be part of the first-ever Ongala Music Festival.


Papillon on stage

Goosebumps would run up and down my body when different artists went on stage. From Fadhilee to Mandela and then from Papillon to Swahili Ally just to mention a few. It was electric performance after electric performance. Occasionally, some of the audience members would get touched and jump on stage to cheer the artists on by dancing on stage. One even went up to help Fadhilee wave a flag in solidarity with Bobi Wine, a Ugandan musician, and politician who was arrested in his country.



I got to attend a couple of workshops at the festival too. The first workshop I attended was on music management facilitated by Liberian born Raphael Benza. It was eye opening and shed light on how artist management works and how people like me who are interested in helping artists boost their online platform can join the team of the many people behind artists' success.

As my first time in Dar es Salaam, Ongala Music Festival was a wholesome experience. Other than it being a chance to enjoy rich East African music, you also got a chance to be on vacation, learn about music and new cultures, make new friends, have fun and be happy. Just like Remmy Ongala would have wanted.

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How to Easily Start Your Fun New IGTV Channel


A few months ago, a local village in the awesome Kenyan movie Supa Modo created an action film to raise the spirits of a lovely young girl who was terminally ill and living her last days. Just like these very unlikely film creators, I think very soon we will all be video creators. And now with the simplicity and the intimacy that comes with watching a vertical video on your phone through IG stories and IGTV I am more encouraged to continue thinking so.

I mean if a picture is worth a thousand words then a video should be worth hundreds of thousands if not more.


I am writing this because one of my readers asked me to, after reading my previous article on some

interesting facts you should know about IGTV. 

I am slowly falling in love with the platform and have even made a few videos on my personal IG page to prove it.


Welcome to My Channel 🙂



It is ridiculously easy to create an IGTV Channel. And if you already have an Instagram account then you are just a few steps away.



Step 1: Ensure that you have updated you Instagram app and can see the IGTV icon at the top bar.



Step 2: Open the IGTV icon or app, click on the settings icon on the right hand side of the screen and select Create Channel.



Step 3: When you select Create Channel you will be welcomed with the screen below. Click next and follow the prompts.



Step 4: On the final slide after clicking next a couple of times, click on Create Channel and you are done!




Notice below that the settings icon is now replaced with your pages icon.




Once you click on the icon with your profile picture on it, you can upload a video from your camera roll using the plus button.


Like I said, it is quite easy to start your channel and become a video creator too. In the next blogpost I will be sharing some tips on great phone apps you can use to add music and text graphics to make your IGTV channel a lot more spicier. Please note this is what I have experienced and researched so far. The possibilities are endless on how IGTV is bound to evolve. Until next time let's keep exploring with IGTV.
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7 Quick, Interesting Facts You Should Know About IGTV.



By now I'm guessing you've heard about IGTV, and maybe watched some videos on it. If not, not to worry: you are about to learn some very interesting facts about it. For starters, as the name suggests, IGTV simply stands for Instagram Television - a television for the mobile generation.

Here are 7 more things you need to know about this new Instagram update.



1. IGTV is like Instagram's YouTube for mobile.

The main difference is that its videos are meant to be shot and edited vertically. That means the end result will not force the user, which is you and me, to rotate our phones in order for us to enjoy the experience.

2. Its focus is on awesome phone user experience.

More and more people are going online on their phones today than they were a decade ago. Plus it's also getting cheaper and cheaper to do so. We do not need statistics to prove that; the evidence is everywhere, from your 5-year-old nephew who can find and launch a game app on your phone to your 80-year old grandpa who texts you using WhatsApp.

It was very prudent of the Instagram team to come up with IGTV because the future is mobile and the future is here. User experience is always key to online businesses which are keen on making a good impression on their users. 

It would be great if we all took a leaf from Instagram's bold move to make the right kind of changes to our own brands. I, for instance, will be launching a more user-friendly and mobile responsive website soon, so watch out for it.

3. It is downloadable and updateable.

IGTV comes both as a standalone phone app and as a video section on the main Instagram app(once updated). Now, I bet I am not the only one who often runs out of space on my phone. The fact that they thought of people like us is just super. All we need to do is update our Instagram app and voila, we are well on our way to creating our very first IGTV channel.

4. It has a clickable link.

If you have been using links on your Instagram business page bio, you know how hard it is to get people to leave their feed and open your profile to click on it. I am speaking for those of us who are yet to reach 10,000 followers in order to be able to use the swipe up feature in our IG stories.

On IGTV, the playing ground is leveled for brands and businesses, whether they have less than 1000 followers or more than 10,000 followers. Now anyone can add a clickable link in the description of their IGTV video. How cool is that?

5. IGTV supports longer videos.

Instagram stories is said to have been started in order to prep users for IGTV. If you have used Instagram stories, you know how annoying it gets at times because you can only upload 15 seconds of a video at a time.

At the moment, you can upload a maximum of 60 minutes if you have a following of 10,000 and above, and a maximum of 10 minutes if you have a following less than that on IGTV. Whichever way you look at it, that is a major improvement from what we are used to. This is even said to be subject to change in the near future to allow us to post a limitless amount of video time.

6. IGTV can share videos directly to WhatsApp.

We all know the vast number of people using WhatsApp today, I mean even our grandparents use it. Thanks to this upgrade, you will be able to share your IGTV videos outside of Instagram to any Facebook-owned platform - that includes WhatsApp and Facebook itself. This ability to easily share videos from IGTV will just continue to blow up the impact the platform is bound to have on the future of video consumption.

7. Instant video playback and a feature that remembers where you left off.

This means as soon as you open IGTV, videos will start playing. If you happen to leave the video for a while, you will also be able to be directed back to where you left off in order to finish watching the video.

If you are a content creator then it would be wise to make your video super interesting, informative, short and sweet. That way people will watch it till the end and you will leave a great impression that will make the same people watch out for your next videos.

Before I go, it is important to note that IGTV will give creators a chance to showcase their creativity in an environment that is free from advertisements, since the platform is currently not showing any. If you're interested in the future of video consumption, I believe this is the time to join the platform in order to learn and grow before it gets saturated and advertisements start showing. It is also said that just like YouTube, the platform will also develop a way to compensate its content creators. I hope these quick facts have given you the confidence to start your own IGTV channel.

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The Incredible Events That Led To My All Expense Paid Trip To India.




It all started like a joke; I mean the idea of an all expense paid trip to incredible India. And not for a few days or a week, but 3 months. It sounded too good to be true.

"Wendi, I bet you are applying," a friend teased on our way home from the digital marketing training we were doing by Kuza Biashara. I nodded and smiled.

I had decided that if I was going to go through with this application, then the least I could do was stay positive. That meant belittling the little voice in my head that whispered doubtful thoughts to my mind.After a couple of internal debates and consultation with family and friends, I applied around May this year. 

Immediately after the digital marketing training, I got a day internship at Securex Agencies ltd. And  in the evenings, I would go for free creative entrepreneurship classes courtesy of the Go Downs Art Center.

With all these things to do, I totally forgot about the application. So it came as a pleasant surprise when I received an email towards the end of my creative entrepreneurship classes informing me that I had been shortlisted for the position.

The position was on digital marketing and the interview was scheduled on the same day as the graduation, at 1p.m.My graduation presentation ended a few minutes past 1pm, and I further delayed a bit to watch Sarah of Sama Paints make her presentation. So I ended up a little late for the interview

The graduation took place at the Crowne Plaza in Upper Hill and before it started, I had gone to talk to the guy in charge of booking rooms to ask if I could get an empty room later during the day to do a Skype call in.

The guy I met was very pleasant and although he left early for the day, he made arrangements with the person who took over after him so that I got a room. It was 1.30p.m. when finally I settled down for the interview.

There were around 5 people on the panel from Nairobi, Kenya, Chennai, India and Geneva, Switzerland. My current supervisor in India who was the main interviewer, noticed how tense I looked and asked me to breathe and relax.

I apologized about the delay and mentioned that I was just about to graduate seeing that I was yet to receive my certificate and I had left some of my classmates giving their presentations.

The interview went pretty well and weeks later when I was just about to finish my digital marketing internship at Securex Agencies, I received an email letting me know that I passed the interviews. 

Soon afterwards, I started receiving emails from International Trade Center, the sponsors of the initiative dubbed SITA (Supporting Indian Trade and Investment for Africa) regarding my travel preparation. What seemed like a really big dream ended up to be an experience that is currently shaping my career path as I write this, in ways I never foresaw. 

A year ago I shared how my interest in digital marketing started , and I am encouraged by the comments that keep streaming in a year and some months later. 

See, a dot may seem insignificant  on its own until you add a few more next to it and voila! I am a pointillism (dotted artwork) artist and I have an intimate relationship with dots.These dots are very silent at times and thus they are used to going unnoticed; yet without them something will be incomplete. Pay attention to the dots in your life, the precious moments that turn your life around, don't let any doubtful thoughts come in the way between you and your next dot.

"You cannot connect the dots by looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in the future." Steve Jobs.

It has been a while since my last post, which has been a period of my life that will  remain engraved on my mind as part of my many dots. I am back though so stay tuned for some crazy experiences and beautiful artwork from India among many things. Until next time.

AA
Wendi Mutisya
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Building Digital Footprints





"When you are on a lonely path, make sure you leave a trail so no one ever feels lost on that path"
 by Sriram Bharatam CEO & Founder of Kuza Biashara.

Are you a trail blazer?

Last year I actively embarked on a journey. A journey towards social media and digital marketing. I shared a bit of my experience  here with you.

However, at some point I felt overwhelmed and my social media activity tanked. This is because my efforts to boost my online presence did not seem to pay off. It also felt lonely because I had not identified someone who I could journey with.


#SheGoesDigital Team

2017 came with it's share of blessings though. Along with other 49 ladies. I got shortlisted as a beneficiary of a free social media/ digital marketing skills training by Kuza Biashara. In partnership with International Trade Center.

The selection process was very rigorous and it was  humbling when I received a congratulatory email. On our first day we were told that we had been selected out of an applicants pool of around 600 ladies. That, proof enough that many people are embracing Digital and Social Media Marketing as potential career paths.

I am very grateful to Kuza Biashara for the opportunity they granted us. I finally got to meet like minded people who were experiencing similar challenges. True to his words,Sriram had left a trail behind so that we would never feel lonely on that path again.

We are now spoiled for choice on who to pick as accountability partners. In addition to that Kuza Biashara is willing to support us, even after the training as we continue working on our digital marketing endeavors. 


Thank you Sriram

I did not pay attention to how many days were left for the training to end so when it was announced that it was coming soon. My heart sank. I will really miss the #shegoesdigital team.

The sessions were so informative, interesting and engaging. Special thanks go to Paul Hughson the awesome trainer that took us through a huge percentage of the trainings. His attention to detail and ability to draw examples globally and locally was impeccable. 



Paul


One exciting topic we learnt from Paul was Phygital Marketing. Phygital marketing combines popular trends in physical marketing and digital marketing.

Imagine doing your shopping while waiting for your ride home. Tesco now known as Homeplus banked on Korea's busy lifestyle.They brought virtual stores where the people were. Which was at the subway stations.

The only requirement was to own a smart phone. This is because they would need to use smart phones to shop by scanning the QR code of the images of the items they wanted to purchase on posters stuck on the subway walls.

The online purchase would then be delivered to them once they got home. As a result online sales increased tremendously.




Another store that has really worked on it's phygital marketing is Amazon. So cool!

Then there was James Keru the guy who cheered us on. He was the instructor that engaged the most with our content. Commenting on everyone's posts, after we created blog posts and wrote articles on LinkedIn

His words of encouragement and tips on how to improve will go a long way.  My take home from Keru was that it is better as a blogger  to write one article well than to hastily write many low quality ones. His success on Kuza Biashara's  blog also set a great example. It was evident that he actually did what he preached.

Since this is an Art and Tech blog. I will be sharing some of the tips I learnt during the training here with you so stay tuned. You could also subscribe to this blog so that you can receive updates on new posts directly as they come.


Keru

We all need the ability to communicate effectively and build rapport with our online audience. That way they will be more receptive when we introduce a new product or idea to them. This is where Avni Shah came in. She introduced NLP  (Neuro Linguistic Programming) to us.

We all looked forward to her exciting sessions. She always kept us engaged. The sessions revolved around concepts such as building rapport, eye patterns and perceptual positions just to mention a few.

These concepts are very important for anyone who talks and deals with other human beings, which is all of us. Just be careful when we meet and I ask you a question.

There are specific eye patterns that can help someone tell if you are lying or trying to recall a past experience. Alternatively you could try extend your blinks so that I don't tell if you are lying 😉. I will really miss Avni and her fun sessions.


Avni and Mariam (a fellow trainee) during one of the sessions

 Social media is facilitating online communication in a big way. Which is an important thing in this age where more and more people want to be their own bosses. and even more want to build their personal brands.

The sessions during my time as a Digital and Social Media Marketing Trainee at Kuza Biashara taught me many things. I can only mention so much on this post.

However more follow up posts are coming soon. So stay tuned, better yet drop your email address on the subscription box on the far right side of this blog for updates on new content.

Special thanks also go to Mugure, Vaines,  Esther, Julius, Cleopatra, Stanley, Yvonne, Chris and my fellow ladies for your awesomeness. You are all gems in my life. For all those who organized this training directly or indirectly we are grateful and we will always remember the sacrifices you made for us. Lots of love from me to you.

AA (Auspicious Art)
Wendi Mutisya
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