BY MOSIDI MOKAEYA
If you’re passionate about any subject and you have decent writing skills, blogging definitely could be an alternative career path for you.
This is according to South Africa based Social Media expert and influencer – Ashleigh Burton who was in the capital Gaborone recently.
Sharing experience from the neighboring country , Burton said indeed social media has over the years created very well paying jobs for South Africans.
In Botswana, 800 000 social media fanatics are estimated to be constantly active online giving businesses opportunities to make money through social media.
This is seen as light at the end of the dark tunnel for the unemployed online enthusiasts as bloggers are now in high demand. Organizations are now looking to pay social media influencers handsomely for participating in their marketing campaigns. The focus is currently on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Whatsaap.
“What excites me is one does not need to have a massive following on social media in order for big brands to notice him or her. Organizations look for authentic bloggers who have real interactions on social media and those are mostly people with not much of a following,” said Burton. She reiterated that as a blogger, finding where one’s consumers are and what they are looking for coupled with the right skill set can earn bloggers lucrative contracts with big brands.
Barclays Bank Public and Media Relations Manager Spencer Moreri said the bank is now heading towards being a digitally led institution. “It is now time we start working with the different types of local influencers to push the transition of our brand from Barclays to Absa and we are excited about the journey. Influencers can come in the form of partners in various marketing campaigns, an exciting job market for local social media fanatics to explore,” said Moreri.
Speaking at the Content Creators’ Forum hosted by Barclays Bank in Gaborone, Moreri gave examples of influencers who continue to earn a decent living from blogging. “People like Thabang Mjamaika Lowani are reaping benefits from spending time on social media platforms. He uses his comic talent to earn marketing campaigns which he gets an income from,” said Moreri. He further stated that advertising agencies look for different influencers to avoid using the same people for competing brands. “I appeal to jobseekers to seriously consider blogging because that is where most of the jobs are currently. Agencies want different faces for different marketing campaigns, to a job seeker this is an opportunity to earn a living within an untapped market,” he said.