Featuring Enoch Weguri Kabange
In this episode of Colours of Social Media, we sit down with Enoch Weguri Kabange — a seasoned marketing consultant with nearly a decade of experience helping tech-enabled and real estate brands grow through content marketing and inbound strategy.
[0:00] When something else you know is changing, sometimes you feel like it's there. It's there to cause conceptually how you knew it in your mind is changing.
[0:07] SEO is misunderstood. Let me just put it out there. Looking at modern SEO, what role does content marketing play? So if you've been hearing that SEO is dead, this episode might just change your mind.
[0:24] Today I'm joined by Enoch Weguri Kabange, a dynamic marketing professional who spent nearly a decade helping tech enabled and real estate businesses grow their ribbons through content and inbound marketing. He's one of those people who doesn't just talk about SEO and content.
[0:47] In this conversation, we'll unpack why SEO is far from dead, how content marketing has evolved, and what small businesses and marketers need to be doing now to show up, rank, and convert without breaking the bank. Whether you are running your own brand or managing campaigns for clients, this episode will give you clarity and action points around SEO, content, and organic growth in 2025. So this is Colorful Social Media podcast, the podcast for digital marketers and business owners who believe in digital marketing.
[1:38] I'm your host, Enoch Robopo, a peer junior. If today is your first time listening to an episode of this podcast, consider subscribing on YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, or wherever you are listening from, and it's the only way you can support this show. And if you're a long time subscriber, consider sharing this episode with your network to spread the message.
[2:01] Now let's get into the conversation. Enoch, let's start with this. I want to know what brought you into search engine optimization and content marketing.
[2:12] In a way, I would say is serendipity because up to my first year of the university, I never actually knew much about marketing and more so about digital marketing. I didn't really have an idea there was something as digital marketing. But what really brought me to blogging and then to digital marketing was when I started reading somewhere in SHS, I got interested in nonfiction books. And I would read all of these books read that poor dad, think and go rage, all of these things like the way things that I was reading all over the place. And the more I read them, I felt like, okay, people needed to understand they needed to know the things I was reading from these years. So naturally, I started sharing, I was creating quotes, I was posting there, I was creating broadcast on WhatsApp, and I was sending to my friends. But like they always say, your friends aren't always going to be interested in everything you're interested in. Maybe in some aspects it may align, but I felt like I needed a bigger audience. I needed a broader spectrum of people who were interested in what I was reading, what I was listening, what I was consuming, right? So naturally, I gravitated towards social media from there. And as I realized that quotes were very short, they are not long, right? They don't allow you to provide enough context to the message. So I sent the blogging, I created a WordPress site, and I was happy.
[3:46] I was writing things, right? And I was sharing it all over the place. But you go and look in your dashboard and like, Charlie, no, one week is gone. And it's just, it's just one, one view or two views, depending on how aggressive I was with sharing and bothering people to go and read. It wasn't even marketing, it was just like, they are great about the whole thing, right? Charlie, have you read my post? What do you think? Like, I was just bothering people, I mean, to like, to that extent. And I felt like, okay, I needed to up my game, and actually to be able, instead of going to people, to be able to attract people, because to some extent, marketing is not just about being loud, but being able to deliver a message that attracts people. So I started looking into things like SEO, keyword, and keyword research. And for me, I struck gold when I knew about keyword research, right? Because from then, I was able to figure out, okay, this book I'm reading, based on the keyword research, this is how people try to find that information, right? So I was able to optimize my content for that.
[4:50] And from there, I started picking up, eventually became a small media brand that I grew for a couple of years. Yeah, that tactic will come to that later in this conversation. And that is actually the being of this conversation. But before that, I want us to clear this, this out.
[5:09] Marketers, you are fun, you know, putting out jagons and abbreviations. I'm not here to do that. SEO inclusive. So if, let's say you get a new client, and this client, you start reaching the gospel according to SEO to this client. And this client asks you, what does SEO entails? How are you going to explain SEO to this client? Okay, so I refer the clients to SEO 101. And SEO is misunderstood. Let me just put that out there. When you see SEO, it sounds very technical to some people. Yeah. For people that I talk to when I talk to people who are non marketers.
[5:58] If you are a search engine optimizer. Yes, even some marketers here SEO and they are like, oh, no, this is not something I can do, right? But self engine optimization, as the abbreviation goes, is basically optimizing your content or your brand to be visible on search.
[6:17] Now there are a couple of search engines, but we all know that when you pick up your phone, Google is everywhere. But there's being there like that go and there are several ones, but Google is the biggest one. So it means optimizing your contents, right, to show up for relevant results on Google. So when someone picks their phone and searches for okay, restaurants near me, or house near me, you want your business to pop up, or you want your services to pop up.
[6:45] This is basically SEO. Now behind this, there's a lot, right? And I know we'll go into details, but that's the entire concept of SEO being visible on search.
[6:56] The topic of this conversation, SEO is dead. Now looking at how things are going, why are people saying SEO is dead? In my experience and the research and I mean, it's now becoming common knowledge that SEO is being disrupted, right? And this is because of search. And this is also because of AI. So it's sort of like a cascading effect. Since the advent of GPT in 2022, people have been using chats to search for things that they will run. They will probably have gone to Google to search. And publishers are panicking. They are feeling like, okay, if people are not using Google anymore, then how do we get discovered? That means that if you can optimize to be shown on Google, then that means that you are not optimized to show on chat.
[7:57] If you are not optimized to show on Google, then that means that SEO is dead. Because if SEO means optimizing to appear on Google, and you've lost Google, Google is no longer in the chain of search. Now, that means that SEO is dead, right? I think that's the huge misconception that is dead. But if you look at consumer behavior, you will notice that even before AI disrupted search, TikTok disrupted search. So here, right? Now there's research in other jurisdictions showing that about 40% of Gen Z's would rather use TikTok to search for things like restaurants and other things, right? So you see that it's not just being disrupted. It's changing, it's evolving, but it's not actually dead. So when something else you know, it's changing, sometimes you feel like it's dead. It's dead. Of course, conceptually, how you knew it in your mind is changing.
[8:57] And you feel like it's not dissolving, so it's dead. But as consumer trends go and marketers update their knowledge and AI settles in, you realize that it's just a different way of SEO.
[9:09] It's not actually dead, but it is a different way that we need to upgrade, we need to upskill to be able to save our clients better. So would you say AI is having a bad impact on search?
[9:21] I would say for now, marketers are struggling. If you are doing SEO, you know it's not easy. And for most people who are using quick hacks to optimize their sites, they really suffered over the past couple of years because with each and every update, people were panicking, right? And I wouldn't say it's naturally bad because you cannot say evolution is bad, right? Can we say that the fact that we evolved from certain species and we are not humans, we as humans are bad because we evolved from we cannot really say that. But the thing is that we usually don't like seeing as people, we like the routine, we like the setting. But as evolution and life is so continuous to show us, we can't always have things that we want. We have to adapt or die. So considering the way we were using blogging to get quality lead, if not even quality lead, leaves at least.
[10:25] Eyeballs. Exactly, eyeballs. Do you think it's still an effective strategy in 2025? We're the advent of AI because right now, if I want to search something, I don't go to Google for Google to pop out links for me to go and read. I can't just go straight to HRGPT, any of the LLMs and just put my questions there. Therefore, I'll get the information but I won't click through. So is it an effective strategy if I want to get lead?
[10:57] Yes, it is. So the SU has largely been reliant on Google because Google through their own capitalism has become the biggest player in search. So naturally, we ignored the other channels.
[11:13] It was very difficult to see a publisher or a site or a business actively optimising for Bing or even Yandex. Yandex is such an old school. It is. You hardly saw someone. It didn't mean the channels didn't exist already.
[11:35] But we just don't see the potential, right? It's not there. But now that Google is facing, and it's not just Google, other traditional forms of search are facing an attack from AI.
[11:52] A natural step to take or the natural question to access. Where are these eyeballs moving to? Because the eyeballs are not, they are not going away. They are there. They have this move and it's consumer behaviour changing. Now research shows that some are moving to TikTok, some are moving to YouTube. And you can see even Google now promoting more YouTube videos in search, right? Because video and vertical content has become a big thing.
[12:21] It's now part of life. Everyone needs to have a video strategy. And this has been in the trends for a very long time. It's now been fully realised in the past couple of years, but it's been in the trends for a long time. And as early as 2020, servers were saying voice is going to be the thing. It didn't work. But it's still coming with AI charts. We are seeing a comeback, right? We are seeing a comeback. So I'm not thinking about this in terms of, okay, Google has suffered some damage. So what do we, we are done, right?
[13:00] I'm thinking of it in terms of the eyeballs have moved and they've moved to a different channel. They are moving to TikTok. They are moving to YouTube. They are moving to Type GPT.
[13:11] And personally, I've been able to discover Ghanaian businesses using Type GPT. Right. So eyeballs are moving from Google to say Type GPT, right? And even with the eyeballs moving from Google to Type GPT, if you look at the data, it doesn't support that they are moving.
[13:30] It supports that they are using them together. Yes, I'm right. Because about 99% of Type GPT users don't go to Google. And that's 99. So wow, they're still a long way. So it's a change in channels.
[13:44] People are now testing with different channels. So you need a multi-channel strategy to your SEO now. It's no longer, okay, let's optimize keywords. Let's optimize them for Google.
[13:54] Google says we should have self-confidence. Yeah, you have headers, tags and all that. So we are going to do lots of things. Yes. It doesn't mean that if you do all of those now, it's going to work. No, right. Now there's an extra layer. And I think as the conversation goes on, we'll get there. Now there's an extra layer. You need to optimize for several platforms, if you really want to rank well for on the chat, for search, right? And even another concept I've been thinking about is that the models we interact with are being trained on data.
[14:28] Yeah. And this data is generated by everyone, every one of us, right? From the children online to the adults online. Every demographic in the consumer spectrum, they're online and they are posting content. They are posting content. And all of these data is going back to train these models, right? So this multi-channel strategy that I'm talking about, it clearly shows if the data is being picked from different channels, then it helps you to optimize on different channels. Because even some old man cannot tell you where a particular piece of information that GPT spit out. Yeah. Right. So you need to do your best to make sure that you have to show up. Yes. Looking at modern SEO, as in searching your optimization for 2025, what role does content marketing place? The reason why I'm asking this question is that you are heavy on content marketing. And I know that. It's my tweet. It's my tweet. I have to say it.
[15:31] Exactly. And you are good at it too. So I want to know why. What role does it play, you know, if you are combining these two together. Like I said, the beginning of the conversation, I mentioned that Sage was evolving. And from how I'm seeing things, Sage is evolving into these animals with content marketing. Now, back in the day, content marketing was multi-channel and SEO was just a single channel. Right. I've already explained how the Sage channel dynamics are changing here. And if you want to look at it, if you are not optimizing your content on every channel for Sage, then by extension, you are doing content marketing. Ah, right. Right.
[16:22] So we are reaching a point where SEO and content are just right. If you want to win on SEO, you need to up your content marketing. Let's break into some myth here. I mean, businesses start the moment you go and preach the word of SEO to them, they expect results. So what are some of the misconceptions that businesses brings to your table the moment you start working on SEO with them?
[16:58] The thing about SEO is that, as most people would tell you, it takes a couple of months. Unlike paid media, where you could create a landing page or a payment page and promote it, and you start getting some clicks and those clicks convert. Right. Unfortunately, organic doesn't work that way. You cannot create content today and expect it to make money to the earth. That said, it doesn't mean that you cannot create content today and not make money.
[17:31] Right. It all depends on how you are promoting it because one of the misconceptions of SEO, and this is not even a new thing, right? People think when you create a site, you are done, and you put like from two, three blog posts there, you should be ranking for all the relevant keywords.
[17:54] And that's not even a new thing. It doesn't work. You can't create service pages and expect them to rank. You need to build it over time. So as a marketer, you need to know the tools, the channels, and the strategies to apply these on the objectives. Right. If you are looking for a somewhat long-term content strategy, you can rely on SEO. That's where you already have some revenue coming in and you want to invest in another channel like SEO. Right. But if you start SEO today, you should have... You should be expecting results today. Right. You shouldn't be expecting results today. Some would create their blogs or their SEO strategy and they promote it through paid media. Now for me, that may be good if you have like other offerings on your site that are like blue efforts. Yeah. You have email marketing in place to capture the leads, to nurture them. Right. Other than that, just go with a very good optimized landing page and some good creatives and run it. So like I said, every marketer knows the channels to use. They know the strategy to use depending on the objectives. If you need results today, you can use paid media, run some ads, optimize them, do some AB testing. You get the best performing ad and you move on from there. But for sustainable marketing or future proof, right? Because in the instance, content seems expensive to produce. Right. This podcast that we are producing is content.
[19:39] Yeah. Right. Me and you spend our time here. You have spent the vast majority of our resources putting all of this together. Right. But if I tell you, do you know where you are going to get your otherwise? No. You got to. And it's content. But surprisingly, someone who see this video, some six months from today and who say, oh, you have very knowledgeable in this thing. I mean, let's talk. And you talk and before you realize there's a deal out of it. Right. So some of the things that self strategies are not, are not easy to track in terms of ROI. Yeah. Right.
[20:22] But for SEO, I think depending on how you set it up, you can be able to track a lot of the ROI. Some of it will leak. Yeah. Like it always leaks. But because it's fully online and it's organic, you can track. Right. But you have to pay it up with other channels. Right. Pay it up.
[20:43] Have a good CRM that's tracking everything so that you can watch where everyone is coming from. Even if they take six months to buy, you can understand throughout six months where they came from. Right. And there we go with the job. Oh, I don't know. I don't even know what to say.
[21:17] Okay. You know, let's, I mean, from what should I say? Yeah. What I'm getting from you is that if you have a strong brand, I mean, you've been in a game for the past, let's say for the past five years, you've been getting a lot of, you know, revenue from customers and all that. Then it, it might be advisable to, you know, save some of the funds to SEO. Because right now you are not readily expecting revenue for your business to be sustainable. But then if you are starting from, you know, afresh, right, you just started the business. Of course, you need revenue to sustain the business. So the advisable that you have to invest in SEM. Yeah. That is search engine marketing instead of SEO search engine optimization. I get it. Yeah. Also. All right. Now again, let's get more practical this time around. What practical ways can small businesses utilize if they want to, you know, obtain organic leaves? The strategy would be SEO and content marketing.
[22:31] What are the practical ways can they utilize? So by the use of code. Okay. Content and SEO are now right. Right. And this has been a long time coming. Right. When Google started emphasizing EAT, experience, expertise, authoritativeness and transworthiness, to some extent they were looking for reputation. Yeah. Yeah. And you mentioned brand. Brand is the reputation right of a business entity.
[23:05] So like I said, search is evolving. It's not just optimizing for Google guys. This day you see TikTok videos on Google. The person didn't have to publish a blog. They didn't have to create a website by creating a TikTok video. They ended up on Google. If you want to even get better results for Google, particularly, try their own products, YouTube. Right. And you're likely to appear there.
[23:35] And with a phone, a phone has a camera. It has a microphone. You can make some content. And just rush it out there. So you can start there. For me, that's what I would say. Because as an entrepreneur, you start with what's in your hand. There is this principle called bed in hand principle for entrepreneurs. You start with the bed in your hand, not the bed on the tree. On the tree. Right. So if you are starting, you don't have revenue. You don't have any seed capital. You don't have some rich. What do you have in you? Some rich auntie or uncle coming to find you. Use the beds in your hand. Forget the ones on the tree. So that's what I would say when it comes to that. Use what you have. And as you grow, you'll be able to afford different diverse. You can't even perform this, right? Yeah. Testing is part of marketing lots.
[24:29] In my experience, in my experience, you will hardly get buy-in for testing because it's expensive. Yeah. People want, they want revenue. Yeah. That's about testing. Great. Like, but the testing, what are we going to do for? You get a point. So start with what you have as you grow and you have some disposable income. Marketing is always an investment.
[24:51] That's what I would say. That's what those businesses don't yet know. Marketing is always an investment, especially when you are testing. Yeah. Right. Because you can use widespread assumptions and strategies that work for other people. But you become truly confident in certain strategies only after you've seen it for yourself in your own business. Yeah.
[25:13] Right. So some entrepreneurs can tell you that I'm bullish on this. And for the next 10 years, I'm not going to stop doing this. I may test something else to see if that one too has some potential, but they will never stop doing something because they knew that that's the one that is bringing like 80% of their revenue. And they will never leave it because they've seen it.
[25:34] It's not something that someone told them. And that's why testing is important. This episode, just like any other episode of Colours of Social Media Podcast is produced by Builders Studios and recorded at Tribo Mark Studios 13 Asiko Street, Tontre Hills, Accra.