Featuring Maame B. Kokuro
Join host Enoch RobotBoy Appiah Jr. in this insightful episode of Colours of Social Media as he sits down with Maame Boakyewaa Kokuro, a digital marketing expert with a sharp eye for strategy and content that connects.
[0:00] It's not like it's bad for you to call yourself a digital marketer. You need to know it all, but you need to be a master of something. Should we continue to provide value?
[0:09] All there is to do is that we can provide value at the same time selling on social media. There is a difference between promoting and selling.
[0:19] Selling is one aspect of promotion. And because people make sense, people mix even promotion with marketing. From Bildx Studios, this is Colours of Social Media, the podcast for marketers and small business owners who believe in digital marketing.
[0:36] I'm your host, Daniel Cropot-Boy Appiah Jr. On today's episode, we are joined by the brilliant Maame B. Kokuro, a digital marketing expert with a sharp eye for strategy and content that connects.
[0:50] With years of experience helping brands grow online, she has built a reputation for crafting campaigns that don't just make noise, but actually bring resource.
[1:02] Maame brings a thoughtful, data-driven approach to everything she does. I'm excited to dive into her journey, her insights, and what's next in the world of digital marketing.
[1:15] Let's get started. So as I already said, I feel like I know you at the same time. I feel like I don't know you. So can you start this episode by telling us a bit about your journey in digital marketing?
[1:31] Okay. So like I said, my name is Maame B. Kokuro, but many people call me Maame Kaya because I work with Kayais. Now I have MBA in marketing and I've done HND and I've done degree in marketing as well.
[1:48] It's like my journey has always been the business field. So even HHS, I did business with elective mass. Then I went to do HND in marketing. Then I went to WEC in the marketing field with Cleansing Ghana Limited, where I was on as a contract worker, as a salesperson, to bring in sales.
[2:11] Anyone who knows me knows I love marketing. And marketing aspect of sales, selling. I love the selling part. So I work at Cleansing doing selling.
[2:25] So I remember those days, it was just a project by Water and Sanitation for Urban Poor called WhatsApp, where they were doing a project bringing in potable toilets.
[2:36] Yeah, I remember that Kofi Abua. Yes, yes. So Kofi came to meet me there as a comes person. And I was in the role of sales customer experience.
[2:48] And I was supposed to bring in clients. I remember my first target was to bring in 50 clients, because it was something new in Kumase. Like, why do you say that you want people to put toilets in their homes?
[3:03] And they didn't know the idea. And mostly when we talk about the toilet, people don't think about the facility, but toilet is the facility. And so it was something that they didn't.
[3:12] So what I did was I recruited some Zungo boys. I love to play with boys ever since I was younger. So I recruited some Zungo boys because of the neighborhood we were in.
[3:23] And they gave us a period of one month. I gave the guys a period of two weeks. I trained them and then we went on the field. And within three weeks, we were able to deliver the numbers.
[3:34] And they did love me. So by then, I was working for a research company called TNS, Research Markets and Services. And I was actually called in to come and assist with the work that they were doing.
[3:48] But when they saw that I was able to do the work, they pushed me to join Clean Team. Yes. So that was 2013. And then I went to join Clean Team as a territory sales manager.
[4:01] Then I went through customer experience. So I was doing sales sales. I remember at a point we had some sales experts all the way from US. WLP Sales Consortium and they also came to do an intense sales market.
[4:16] And that's where I learned about decision intelligence, marketing techniques and selling and all that. And I love selling anyway. From what you are saying, I mean, all the direction is going towards selling, selling, selling.
[4:31] I love selling. I love sales strategy. I love to think and I want to be in your head. Yeah. If you've done marketing, you realize that when you go to school, one of the courses is behavioral aspects of marketing.
[4:45] And you have to be in the head of the customer. The customer. And so I love to be in your head. I love talking to you and watching your actions and seeing that, is this person going to let me close the sale or the business?
[4:56] Yes. So at Clean Team, I was able to hit my target. Then I went through the operations and it was at Clean Team that I went to do my degree in marketing as well.
[5:08] I wanted to finish the marketing phases. So around the line, I realized that yes, I love selling, but selling is just one aspect of marketing.
[5:16] Yeah. So I would want to really understand the marketing aspect. How can I make sure that instead of just focusing on the product, I'll focus on the whole brand and I'll be able to set and strategize.
[5:31] It's like creativity. I love to create. So how do I sit and create something and then push somebody to go and now bring in their selling? How do I do that?
[5:41] So I went back to school and I did my degree in marketing. By then, I was a mother. So I was going to school. I was doing weekends and then it was great.
[5:54] I was going on weekends, 6 a.m. to sometimes 6 p.m. and all that. And when we were graduating, I was the first among the first. So all the first class students.
[6:07] And I was the top of all the first class students that garden city investing. Then I knew that, yes, I want to be the marketing. But around the time, I had found my passion also to support that is the headquarters.
[6:22] And so I was trying to combine doing the marketing and going into NGO. And I had gotten an offer to go and do a five-week course in civic education.
[6:34] Yali, West Africa Leadership Project at gameplay. It was going to be a five-week course. But where I was in my company, there was the decision and they were not okay with that decision because there was also going to be a major change in the business and all that.
[6:54] So I had it wasn't something I wanted to do around the time, because like I said, I was a mother and all that, but I had to resign. But then by then, people knew me to be a mommy.
[7:07] You need somebody to help your sales team. Mommy is there. You need somebody to help you with your marketing. Mommy is there. So I resigned from Clinton and then I went for the course to come back and start the career project.
[7:21] And then around the time, I found Happerspace. Now, Happerspace used to organize a monthly community program called the Kumasi Entrepreneurs Community.
[7:32] And they bring together experts, enthusiasts in the entrepreneurship field and all that. So it was once a month. And when I started going, I started meeting new people.
[7:44] I started learning and everything. Then at Happerspace, they also had the Kumasi Tech community, then the Kumasi WordPress community. And when I went, I was like, what is tech?
[7:55] What is WordPress? It was something that they explained to me and I said, okay, I want to be part of the Kumasi Tech community and the Kumasi WordPress community.
[8:04] And I joined that. So I started going for their meetings again. Then I started learning how to do their back end editing of websites. Then the Kumasi Tech community also started, oh, so there is something, I am somebody that loves social media, naturally.
[8:22] I was learning my marketing, like anything marketing I do. So around the time, I was doing small, small sales training for agencies, JC Rice, and some small, small brands that are some organizations who are coming to come and do sales training for their staff and all that.
[8:40] I was doing that by the side. But then I also would put my staff on social media, which was naturally me. For me, I was just putting my staff on social media.
[8:53] My church, by then I used to go to CCC in Kumasi. They had noticed that I was very active on social. Yes, by then we had moved to Asia, our own building.
[9:06] And they had noticed that I was active on Twitter. And then through Ganathink as well, because we would go for back end, they would say that we should tweet.
[9:15] I think around the time too, I had joined, through Kofi Yeboah, I had joined Ganathink. So we would go to church and they would see that the preaching, I was posting snipers on my Twitter.
[9:29] So the media team at my church reached out to me that when we come to church, they would want me to tweet. So I was sitting with the media team.
[9:37] And so going to join the Kumasi Tech community, I was very, very happy. And Harper Space was like a home because I got to know Albert and Gijun.
[9:47] We're all from the same hometown. They were so welcoming. They were ready to teach me. And I asked people to describe me with one word and they said that you're a persevera.
[9:59] I was like, okay, wow. So I'm somebody that if I come here and I want to get something, I'll get it. Unless I don't want to. I remember at Clinton, they said that if you want Mami to do something for you, for you to know that Mami will do it.
[10:15] So first day, I will do it. Then later, I will come and do it. Because mostly I would want to see what everybody is doing, see how I can make my difference to make a statement.
[10:26] I think it's the marketing thing. Okay, we are all going here. I will go. But I want to make sure that when I reach there, everybody will notice that I am there.
[10:37] Yes, I am. So I was doing the social media. I was doing the marketing and the tech community. They were teaching me everything. They were that time.
[10:49] You don't have to use AI, coding, back end, whatever, all those terms. And I had told them that I wanted to do the career as well. So Harper Space was like, why don't you be coming to Harper Space?
[11:04] And then you can be learning whatever that you were doing. And they had programs that they were doing. So they had code for girls, which they were doing for second cycle schools.
[11:16] And I was part of the project. I was learning and I was also part of the Harper Space team. And then every week, every month, what was helping is that the commercial tech community, when they meet, they will pick one thing and they will teach us.
[11:33] So if it was coding, I remember CSS class or something, they would teach us the back end, everything. And so WordPress community will meet and they would teach us something.
[11:44] So I was learning and I was putting everything I was learning online. So at a point in 2018, so before then, 2017, I started a radio program on Capital Radio.
[11:59] It was called the Enterprise Moment with Wachua. I wanted to interview brands and industry experts on the entrepreneurship journey in Ashanti region, especially.
[12:11] And I started this as just a fun thing on a WhatsApp platform. And then they said, oh, why don't you take it to radio? And so I got a partnership with Capital Radio until we're not getting enough funding for the show.
[12:26] So I took it to YouTube. That one too, I got tired because I have to finish. I have to edit it. I got tired because I needed money. I have a son and all that.
[12:39] No, no, no, no. I needed money around the time. Luckily for me, half a space was looking for a bronze lead around the time. And then they called me.
[12:49] They said that we see you what you do on social media. We see that you are also very good with marketing. You've come to mentor. You've come to do trainings for some of our programs.
[13:00] So why don't you come and lead half a space? And I can proudly say that when I go to half a space, I was half a space is one of the oldest halves in Ghana.
[13:10] I think it's the second oldest hub in Ghana. But around the time, they didn't really have a social presence. And other people didn't know half a space.
[13:17] They knew Albert. They knew Gideon. But they didn't know half a space. But they had trained a lot. If I mentioned some of the halves that the people came through half a space, it will shock you.
[13:30] So we have with the academy, the CEO was a manager at half a space. Then he went on and then he set up with the academy. The fab hub also started.
[13:44] She started an NGO. And then later on, she also started. So some of them actually came through some programs that half a space had. But when you mentioned half a space, you couldn't.
[13:55] So I made sure that I was putting the half a story out there. I was managing the website. So I was writing blogs every month. And then I was managing the website.
[14:06] I was managing the social media. And I remember those times, the funders were Indigo Trusts, which is a foreign company. And they came to Ghana one time.
[14:16] And in a meeting, they told Albert that, you see, we now see you people on social media. And then Albert tend to me. I remember that moment very well.
[14:26] Albert tend to me say that it is thanks to this lady right here. So I was with half a space and I was doing this. And I didn't even know it was the guitar market.
[14:36] So if you know me very well, I don't call myself a digital marketer. And I always laugh at people who say I'm a digital marketer. And they are always laughing at me.
[14:45] I say, for me, my journey started on social media. So I am a social media marketer. Wow. You can call me a social media strategist, but don't call me a digital marketer.
[14:55] Is it interesting? Yes. I mean, there's a clear contrast here. A lot of people prefer calling them a digital marketer, especially if they have the full stack experience by you.
[15:08] You are setting yourself apart, as you've already said. Yeah. You're a social media marketer. All strategists. All strategists. So I realized that.
[15:17] You see this craze that came where everybody would go and learn something small and they would go, oh, I'm an expert. So show me the digital marketing aspect.
[15:27] I sat down. Like I keep saying, I always want to look at what everybody is doing. And then I would want to take myself out and let people know me for that.
[15:37] Yeah. Now it's not like I can't do all the other aspects of digital marketing. I teach it. Yeah. Now, I actually love teaching it by doing the work because that's what brings me the money.
[15:49] I teach it. But then everybody was like, I'm a digital marketer. I'm a digital marketer. So, okay. But digital marketing is very broad. How do I set myself apart that GIZ, British Council, Mastercard, YouTube, Happerspace will see me and say that if you need this, go to Mami.
[16:10] Yeah. Because if everybody's a digital marketer, who do we go to? Yeah. I told somebody that, you know what? Digital marketing has various elements.
[16:20] Pick one aspect. If it's content, learn about the others, but focus on one and let people know that when we mentioned Mami, what will come to mind?
[16:32] I recently had an engagement with Generation, the occurrence cohort of this one. And the way, you know, Lamente, there's a lot of people in the industry now.
[16:44] I mean, those who have been in the game since last year cohort and they also got to graduate. So what is, I think this question Sarah already asked me, what is, I mean, how are they going to fight for this kick?
[17:00] That is the, how many, I mean, are they going to get clients to work on? So I just advise them, have a niche for yourself. Then go towards that because digital marketing is broad.
[17:14] You just have to find a niche for yourself. Then you work towards that. Exactly. You see, one thing that some of them are not getting is that the movement, it's not like it's bad for you to call yourself a digital marketer.
[17:28] You need to know it all, but you need to be a master of something. If you look at the current trends with regards to digital marketing, aside influencer marketing and the AI, social media marketing is one of the key things.
[17:43] But you see the mistake that many of them make is that they think social media management is social media marketing. Right. Tell me. Marketing is not management.
[17:54] Management is just you going to go and post something online. The fact that you have posted something online doesn't mean you are marketing. Interesting.
[18:03] No. Marketing takes into focus your target audience. It takes into focus your personalization, tellering the copy so much that if the person who is reading it or listening to it hears it, they will think you are talking to them.
[18:22] And they will think that you are talking to their needs and you have value for that. So if whatever you are saying is not bringing value to me and it's not speaking to me, you are just posting, you are not marketing.
[18:39] And that is the difference between a profile and a page. And I think Mark and all the other CEOs of social, those platforms sat down and realized that this is what can happen.
[18:51] And that is why if TikTok has a profile and they have a business page, Instagram has a profile and they have a business page. Facebook has a profile and they have a business page.
[19:02] LinkedIn has a profile and they have a business page. The difference between a profile and a business page is that your profile can be used to post, but your business page should be used to communicate.
[19:14] If you come to my office, when they see this, they should forgive me. So the marketing department at Happerspace, or everybody at Happerspace, say that one word or one phrase from Mami, that design you have done, is it communicating?
[19:31] Is it telling a story? Because I'm always fighting the graphic designer. I'm saying that, you see, it's not about the beauty of it. For me, when I come and you've written a copy, when I come and you've designed something, it has to communicate.
[19:49] And it has to communicate to me differently from how it communicates to you, because we have different needs. And that's then from the fact that I'm a salesperson as well.
[19:58] And I learned the Deque selling process, which is decision intelligence. That means that if you are saying something to me, if I say the beauty in you, if you read it and you say the beauty in you or the beauty, okay, I've talked about this, I don't know how to read, undo it and say the other things.
[20:20] But the beauty in you, when I read it, if I'm reading a copy with an ad and a creative and the beauty in you glows, when I read it, I'll smile.
[20:31] You see, automatically I'm smiling because the beauty in you glows and seeing a picture of somebody, a female or a male, that may be skin and maybe the hand is there and smiling automatically.
[20:44] I'll smile. So if it's a cream, a body lotion, it's speaking to me. But if you just come and put anything there, the beauty in you glows, but the skin is not glowing.
[20:57] And the person is not smiling. And then you've given a generalized statement. You are just posting, you know. And that is one of the mistakes that these small brands are making.
[21:08] They think that, oh, we say that we are in the era of social media. We are in the era of social media. So let me post. Please, don't just be posting.
[21:16] Be selling. Every minute is selling. Even as we are here and as we are moving around, whatever that we are doing, every step of the way we are selling, whatever we say we are selling, I go out there, how did people forget my name that I'm called Naomi and started calling me Mame Kaya.
[21:36] I got the Mame Kaya all the way in Nigeria in 2018 because I went for a UNSDG program and I introduced myself as Mame the Kayaie. And everywhere, what's your name?
[21:51] Oh, my name is Mame. I'm the one that works with Kayaies. And then they started calling me Mame Kaya. So right there, I remember I was 18 December 2018.
[21:59] I made a post on social media. Henceforth, I'm called Mame Kaya. And that is it. And everywhere I go, I'm called Mame Kaya. I was in Kumasi and somebody called me from GIZ office.
[22:15] There is going to be a program and people are looking for digital marketing. And somebody in the GIZ says, oh, I've met a lady. She's in Kumasi.
[22:23] She's called Mame. I've forgotten the other. And then there is this Nicholas Mann, he's an European. He said, oh, me too. I'm so a lady forehead.
[22:32] She's called Mame Kaya. But I don't know if he's the same lady. Ah, is she with her perspective? Yeah, she's with... And that's how I got a contract two years ago with GIZ.
[22:42] Let's focus on selling on social media, right? I mean, it has... Most people preach that you should provide value to your audience. What do you think?
[22:54] Is it... I mean, should we continue to provide value? Or there is a way that we can provide value at the same time selling on social media? If you are not providing value, you are not selling.
[23:09] If you are not providing value, you are not selling. If you are not providing value, you are not selling. Yes, because what is selling? Selling is me...
[23:19] There is a difference between, you see, there is a difference between promoting and selling. Selling is one aspect of promotion. And because people mix it, people mix even promotion with marketing.
[23:34] Yeah. But let me just do this. There is the marketing, then there are the four P's. The four P's and the marketing. And the marketing. And it starts with the products, the price, the place, and the promotion.
[23:50] And in that promotion, there is what we call the promotional mixes. And one of them is selling. Right. So the fact that you are promoting doesn't mean that you are selling.
[24:04] Like, I don't even know how to say it. So social media marketing is one aspect of promotion. So marketing is the bigger picture. Selling the colour of social media, right?
[24:20] That's the name of the show. The totality. Now, the totality of the show, you are marketing it. And we are asking you, now, the product is the talk.
[24:32] Let me put it that way. The product is the talk. How are you selling? Where are you delivering it? Social media, online, right? That's the delivery channel.
[24:39] Is there a price cost to it? Not really. But then that's where you are selling. Now, how are you going to make people know that there is a program like that?
[24:48] For me, I am going to use personal selling. That means that you are going to go to individuals, whether you are doing cold calling on phones, whatever to do it.
[24:57] Oh, no, I will not do that. I will create flyers. That's also a promotional strategy. Oh, I will not do that. I will use social media. That's also there.
[25:05] Oh, I will not do that. How are you advertisement? And advertisement means that you are going to pay money. Now, people will say, oh, I'm advertising on social media.
[25:16] Are you paying money? Are you paying money? It's not collecting money from you. From you. Please. So those are some of the things that the startups are doing.
[25:27] Oh, mommy, I've been advertising on social media, but I'm not madam. Are you just promoting your business or you are advertising? Let us know what you are doing, right?
[25:41] So I think because we are not really clearly getting the differences. And that is because now all the platforms want you to advertise. They just don't want you to come and promote.
[25:51] And before you'll be able to advertise very well, you need to know the act of selling. You need to understand. So how do you go about it? And I'll come back to this.
[26:03] Understand who you want to sell to. And make sure that anyone that you want to sell to, when you've segmented them, you have a message, a positioning message for each one of them.
[26:17] If mothers like myself who are busy and you want to sell, I run a grocery shopping service called Kaya App Groceries. And when it comes to our customer segment, we have busy mothers who are entrepreneurs.
[26:30] We have busy mothers who are corporate workers. The message we will give to the busy mothers who are entrepreneurs is different for busy mothers who are corporate workers.
[26:39] It will shock you to know that the busy mothers who are entrepreneurs don't care about you washing their vegetables and all that. You can buy it at the market price and bring it to them.
[26:52] But the corporate workers prefer us to clean and bring their things to them. Some of them want us to blend, add the auxiliary services to it.
[27:04] So even though I'm selling convenience to the two, that's the value. The value is convenience. So what are you selling to that person? I'm selling convenience to each one of them.
[27:16] The difference is that the convenience I'm selling to a busy mother who is an entrepreneur is totally different from that convenience I'm selling to a busy mother who is a corporate person.
[27:28] And two days ago, my boss Gideon made a statement. I think that was yesterday when we were coming back from Slovenia. He said that value is not a matter of money.
[27:40] Value is not a matter of money. Yes. The fact that the face value, the face value is not the value. We were talking about the fact that somebody went to buy stuff for me and the person had to add 10 cities to it.
[27:54] And I was saying that, OK, I've taken it. Now dash me money. And the person was telling me that, you know, at that time I gave you that 10 cities and added it to the things I bought for you.
[28:05] The value of that 10 cities is much more than the money I would even give you right now. Because if we didn't have that 10 cities at that time, you wouldn't have gotten the things we got for you.
[28:17] So the value of that 10 cities is much more than any other money I would give you right now. So value is different from the face value of things.
[28:27] So yes, on social media, you need to be selling value. If you are not selling value, you see, yes, in Ghana, if the thing is not high price or it's 9.9, they think that, but you see, your customers are not really looking at the price.
[28:45] It's a known fact. And Brian Tracy said it in his book, Psychology of Selling. People buys because of emotions and people buy now because of you.
[28:58] Enoch, people are going to watch this because it's Mama Kaya. Definitely. People watch the show before with Alice because of Alice. People watch because of you, Enoch.
[29:09] So it's about your personal brand as well. It's about you. How well have you sold your self-position yourself? What is the value that people think that they will get from you?
[29:19] I always make sure that anytime anyone meets me, no matter what, they take something away differently of value that they can add to their selves or their business.
[29:33] We haven't reached 20 minutes of this episode, but we are taking a lot from you. That means we're closed. And it's so funny. The question is that is my that I want to ask.
[29:47] I'm not even thinking about it. We will do part two. This will be part two. But, I mean, let's talk about the audience segment. You may mention about audience, I mean, how you were able to segment your corporate bias from, you know, busy mobs.
[30:04] Yeah. In my place, if I want to segment because the product is a digital product, I put out a lead form. And in the lead form, I ask the same question is based on the product that, I mean, yeah, the product that I'm selling.
[30:18] So if you choose these products, then I know that, okay, this person wants the product. So if I'm pushing an email to him, I'm selling that product to the person.
[30:27] Now, looking at your product, Kaya. No, grocery. Kaya have grocery. Kaya have grocery. How are you able to segment, you know, busy mobs from corporate mobs, corporate bias?
[30:44] Okay. So we make sure that it's not just, we have other customer segments. So we have other, the two. Now, what we do is that we have a WhatsApp platform.
[30:58] And each day, you see, we can't just have, we've not reached our level where we will have one WhatsApp platform for just busy moms and everyone.
[31:07] But we make sure that within the week, when you are creating your content, you are serving each of them. Right. So if Mondays, that's why I'm saying that even before you put out a copy or you put out a post, you should have a target in mind.
[31:24] So maybe Mondays and pasties, my target, I'm targeting because it's a digital, because when we're doing, those times when we're doing traditional selling, you could say that Mondays, I'm going to these type of customers.
[31:37] And you have a list, you are giving a target. Sometimes you have to call them, code calling and go to them. But this is a digital world. You can't say that I'm creating a platform just for these people.
[31:47] So what you do is your content, your content calendar comes to play. You have to understand that, okay, for Mondays and Tuesdays or for Mondays and Thursdays, I'll make sure that the content that are going out is going to save these kinds of people.
[32:01] Because on your social media platforms, on your data platform, you have various categories of segments and you need to make sure that you are satisfying all of them.
[32:14] So you need to use your content in order to do that. And that is how we have done it. So we realize that one of the current segments we've gotten recently for our busy corporate presence is what a product we call Donkomi.
[32:37] Now, you know that in marketing, we have the promotion, Donkomi. And we realize that when it comes to, and these busy people are the corporates.
[32:47] They are not mothers. Most of them are not mothers. They are just young corporate workers. Their money is not that much, but they want foodstuffs with let's say just 300 cities foodstuffs, 250 cities foodstuffs, and they don't want to spend, but they want value.
[33:06] They want fresh foodstuffs and all. So we created the Donkomi. Now, the Donkomi basically is that in a week we identify the food items in season, put some together, shovel shovel, and present it to them.
[33:20] That's okay, this week with 150 cities you can get this item. And that one is currently is our number one selling product. And this is going for the corporate busy, should I call them millenials?
[33:34] Young ladies. Even the men. So we have the men in there and it's selling purely on TikTok. Like for about two years now, two to three years now, we've been getting most of our leads from TikTok.
[33:53] Like 90% of our leads from TikTok. For two years now. And all that we've been doing is social media marketing, posting consistently, posting, creating stories behind the posts.
[34:09] Not just posting, there is a story. So we are showing them how we are packaging all this. We are showing them the process. We are showing them behind the scenes.
[34:20] Going to SCC, going to send the things from Kumasi to Accra. The story doesn't necessarily mean you are writing a story, but then you can take them along the journey.
[34:30] Taking them along the journey. That's the story. We are letting them know that. You see, people are tired of the fake things. I remember those days that I used to work for Bruntz.
[34:43] I had this client and then he would say that, oh, I don't want, he was a catcher at Temma and he had a restaurant and I was like, oh, send me some videos of the behind the scenes.
[34:54] Not just after. Oh, I don't want people to see that. I'm like, don't you know what is selling? That is what will sell. He says, no, people will see that we are turning the soup.
[35:08] And I'm like, people want to, people want, now it's a social, you see, the same with social. Social is engagement. The social path. Yes. And that is what is selling.
[35:21] So, please, let them see, even let them see you. That you are the one doing it. And when we started doing that, it started working for him. So, we have been purely using, even though we post on the other platforms, you know, sometimes we post that don't call me product and then comment and I want to join the group because we have a group for Temma.
[35:43] We have a group for Accra. We have a group for Ashanti region. Keep Coast and Taccrad. And I want to join your group. I want the don't call me.
[35:50] I want the don't call me. Yeah, I mean, I see why it is working here. People like exclusivity. Yeah. I'm part of this VIP group. And we only get this from Amekai.
[36:01] Exactly. And then it's about the personalization, which is a trend like now in the guitar field. People want you, in fact, it has always been there.
[36:11] See, I don't know how you've done like traditional sales, but those times when you go out to go and sell. And then you tell them to wait. I think this is new and you are the first person that is going to buy it.
[36:32] And we just designed this for you. You see personalization and being to the person feel there is this kind of prestige that you taught about me.
[36:43] Even in a love relationship when your boyfriend or your wife is coming home and they said, oh, today I did this for you. Like, ah. It's not true.
[36:57] That's why they say that salespeople are liars. Talking about trends. What trends have you realized happening on social media? At this point, I wanted to focus on social media.
[37:12] How trends you see working on social media that small businesses can pick it up. So one of the trends that I've seen, one of the easiest is about video content.
[37:24] Please. Yes, the videos are selling. Do the videos. You don't have to. Yes, you need to get a good phone and all that, but just put. You see, I've seen some of the worst videos getting trending.
[37:45] Video quality. No, and yes, it is trending because there was a story, right? So videos are selling. Stories are selling, getting people into the story and making them part of the journey.
[38:01] They are selling and then there is this thing about influencing. There is a lady on TikTok and then a young guy. I'm going to talk about the two of them.
[38:11] Now, this lady, what she does is that she just comes on TikTok and she says, please, I'm looking for people that does. I'm just going to use color.
[38:21] I mean, looking for people who are into let's say podcasts. If you know any one of them, tag them in the comment section. You see, you want to go and tag your business.
[38:30] Of course, I want to go and tag my business. Everyone wants to go. So people will be tagging and the more you know how they say is the engagement and then it pushes and then she's getting ads from that.
[38:42] And then there is this young guy. He says he's 14 years and he's an upcoming IT guy. Then he goes to learn some stuff online and then he comes to just teach it in a very simple way.
[38:57] Sometimes he's teaching how to maybe set your data and all that. You know, our mothers and all that are on social are on TikTok, especially. I am doing a project for GIZ.
[39:09] It's with WINS consult. It's called the DTEC project where we are training. I have eight mentees and we are training hairdressers like people in those MSME services that's for them to adapt the guitar skills.
[39:29] And if you see some of the videos that we are teaching them to make in some of the guitar skills, it will shock you. They should just take a video of their shopping all that's posted because they're consistent.
[39:40] Happy Spaces also do a project called Radio for Digital Adoption campaign after that and went to the market and there is this woman that's in the market race course market.
[39:48] Everybody is called TikTok madam. I went to check on their social media. She has full ways. She has a lot of full ways and I realized that you know what she does on TikTok every day she sells beats.
[39:59] She just do a video of her beats and post. She doesn't add caption. She doesn't add hashtags. But then she post consistently. Like every day she post like I think three or four times.
[40:10] She say madam, this is all I know. So what we want to do to her is to teach her that she can add a voiceover and then she can add put her number or say I can't do a voiceover.
[40:26] So I taught her when she goes how she can clean her lens and everything and then she will just add a voice. It was hey, what's she mad you? And she was very you see these are some of the trends or is the videos the personalization and the fact that people are making use of their things around them and telling the everyday story.
[40:46] No fancy equipment. No fancy equipment. Just that when you have those ones too. Yes, especially for people that are really going to creative arts and all that if you are looking for the big brands and all that.
[41:00] But for the small MSME that you want to grow your business which is where my interested which is the people I'm hoping that they would see this video and watch and then they will know or if you are an organization you are looking for somebody to come and train MSME's those in their very raw areas and all that.
[41:21] What I tell them and what I teach them is that is the simple things for them to get known. For somebody to say are you looking for somebody that is good with podcasts creating videos talk to Enoch.
[41:36] Are you looking for somebody that can make your hair? Oh, I've seen somebody online talk to this person and we are teaching them simple things as WhatsApp marketing using their status.
[41:46] So those are one social media is about the influencer marketing not any fancy influencing people around you using them is about creating the content the consistency of creating that content and then the video marketing those are the key things in social media that is working and then for those in the upper class yes the AI tools are working they are working don't yesterday it wasn't yesterday that Canva did the acting two days ago two days ago now Canva is heavily AI yes so you don't have to worry yourself to do a lot of these things if you are up and coming creative, personal digital marketing I'm a social media strategist How do you go about drawing a digital marketing social media marketing strategy?
[42:50] So this is the simple steps I will give you first of all know who your customers are understand who am I trying to sell to this problem I say that I have solution for who is this problem targeted to once you understand you come up with the strategy that works for them to some of them because I also come from the marketing field I always talk about the fact that marketing is not just all about social media marketing because for some of them it's not even about the social media some of them maybe your strategy would be to call them like it could be phone calls yes phone calls and all that so yes so understand who your customers are feedback get the feedback for me then know who they really are and then find out what works for them research is very very key when it comes to our field in it and because you are not seeing them they don't see they are not you are not seeing me I will not see you so they don't even understand the emotions behind your so understand that then you come up with what content can I create that would resonate with them so you have your target audience you have your message that you want to create with the message and then when you are creating the message don't just create the message that's a generalized message create a message that resonates with the person and I always say this I learnt it when I was a trainer for the META META Blueprint courses there was one example of those times Obama and Michelle Obama when Obama was going for presidents and they said that Michelle would go out and campaign and there was a lot of backlash but they didn't understand so they brought in a PR expert who was like okay now put Michelle's videos on and turn the sound off and let's see something now when they did that they saw that Michelle was talking all right but the actions were too much and it was like she was aggressive so what they did was they were like it was because of that so if you realize most presidents and most celebrities they are taught even how to move their hands and all those things so make sure that if you are doing videos we've talked about the fact that videos are trending make sure that your videos are designed for sound off on social media let me talk about this on social media one of the key things is that before a sound will play it's on sound off especially on META it's on sound off so it catches your attention and you want to play unless the person has made certain that the sound should come off yes so set your video for sound off and see that without even the sound will this still communicate doesn't make sense yes so that is also one of the keys so you know your target you know the message that you want to give to them that target audience you put together the strategy whether you are going what the strategy has to do with the channel you are going to use how you are going to put everything together and the platforms you are even going to use and all that and then you are good to go and then when you do that don't just post and then or promote and then leave it hyperspace people will tell you when they make a post I go back did you monitor and that is one of the mistakes they are doing they will post their thing and they leave they don't respond they don't they don't check in they don't analyze it and all that you can have a social media strategy where you are not going back to go and check if somebody commented go and respond to it because you know the good thing is that I have a strategy where if I have three responses I will not respond to them the same day I will respond to one today two days time I will respond to the other the reason being that the moment you go and respond again it reactivates the post and so for yes and so for all those who have come to like or reacted with or commented it will show on their feed and on the feed of their friends again so sometimes you'll be there and somebody some old post be somebody will go and comment on it again and you realize that oh people now have started reacting to that post again they ask yourself how did this happen that is how the system that is how the system you need to increase the life cycle especially for posts that you know that this post you know when your post is doing well they even tell you that this post is doing well and you can do this so that is one of the key strategies I use you have a lot of comments on your posts okay that is fine make sure that you have a plan in place to respond gradually so you can today you can go and react to all of them so that you they feel that you've acknowledged then you take your time every two days or three days then you will respond to it and for the one that you feel that oh this is a good lead go to the person's inbox don't waste and go and say that come into my inbox the attention span is 0.05 now it has actually reduced to 0.12 because as I open my phone and I'm reading it another thing is coming and you want me to come and respond to it no it's not it's not possible so when you are drawing your strategy draw your strategy to be to what I call the back-to-back strategy back-to-back strategy means that if I'm targeting you and I've put together the content and everything and once you come to react I should be able to come back to you and in Kumasi there is a business there he says that business is not business until you come back tomorrow that's right and that is the back-to-back strategy that I tell people a lot that's good that's good I'm called you right all right so let's talk about and you've actually alluded to some of the mistakes I believe your work at HAPA space you know gives you the opportunity to work with startups yeah and small businesses you know coming up so what mistakes do these small businesses make that you think in your own opinion they shouldn't be making moving on okay the first thing that the first mistake they make is a myth where they think that marketing is magic marketing is magic is it not?
[49:52] it's not I think I've written a blog about it on my LinkedIn before please magic is that is magic marketing is not magic you see one of the things I learnt earlier is even for marketing for a character to be built or for you to be known it takes 90 days 60 to 90 days and that is why you see that they're big brands if they have even a program in three months or six months they start posting and creating the awareness because it's a you know their marketing strategy you can use the ADA model tell me about the ADA model before you go change it so the ADA model has to do with awareness so your strategy around that time you want to create awareness about your brand so you are bringing in let's say you are creating ads or you are creating promotional activities that will make people aware that color of social media is coming up or like what you do for each of your episodes so you are letting people know oh this is so you are doing did you know you're asking some questions that will get them to be thinking to know that oh color of social media episode 13 is with this person take notes so that is awareness then when you realize that the awareness is people are now getting to know you move into the interest how do you get their interest that one too you can use questions you can use some excitement you can use some tidbits to get them to be interested to click and that is what some people do the clickbait for interested to click so and the D is hey wait decision at this point you want them to make a decision and choose you that you are the best choice so this time around if there is a this is where you are talking about the value that they are going to get so even the information that you have to put out there now you are going to if it's color of social media you are going to use some of the tidbits that were said the key things that you know that are valuable that will pick their interest so mostly the interest and their decision goes hand in hand because at this point if they are interested then they are going to make a decision right because at this point they are checking should I listen to color of the answer or should I go and listen to another digital marketing digital marketing what why should I so they are comparing and contrasting so you need to be putting out information that will get them to tune in to yours oh I would suggest 30 minutes for hours the full 30 minutes you are going to learn right from where it goes to at this point if you have people who have watched your previous episodes and all that you are sharing it for I think one of the reasons why I watched one of your episodes you used to do something I think you've stopped you used to use something that I think you had the WhatsApp group and people who had watched your previous episode you would I think you made them do audio or something and you were sharing it across on LinkedIn I've forgotten but it was a good strategy because it was like actually I was picking something from what they said so you were doing this like if this week they watched it I think you made them share that feedback and you pick that feedback to continue promoting it and I think for one of your episodes it was something that the person that watches said he got and I went to click on it by then it was podcast let me tell you yeah I actually love that execution it was from the platform that was you know execution of audio no ankle yes it was when I bought ankle so right now you can't comment with audio people comment with test so right now I just do that test but then I loved it yeah so I can just pick the audio and it makes it so like the person and then you added it to the promotion and you were sharing it around and one of them the person talked about what they got from it and it made me actually go to watch that so that so you see when it comes to the interest and the decision it helped me to make that decision and the last one is was advocacy so but when for nowadays some of them can happen in a period of 24 hours and all that but marketing is no magic and marketing draws on consistency and being able to communicate your value in diverse ways and then being able so the mistake they make is like I've mentioned some of them they think that posting is just about selling when you post them is that it's selling no posting is not all about selling they think that social media is not really it's not ish it's not ish and it's not marketing but they should understand that social media marketing is a full marketing on its own the same way at first you would go around and do the tradition and go and talk to people you need to see your social media as your digital store if you are not seeing your social media platform as your digital store I'm sorry for you because the same way you have a shop a physical shop and somebody is working and they will see how the setup is and everything it will attract them to come inside this is the same way you have to go about your digital platforms you see there is a lady called Rashida on social media second skin she sells ladies it's not just ladies but she sells a lot of injuries and all that you know that she has the bill marketing a bill don't call me don't call me and sometimes in even her promo and now I've realised a lot of TikTok people are using I don't know if they pick it from here but now they also I've been told my girls to go and do it for our don't call me distance like she will bring she'll put her stuff and then she will start so the first thing you hear is the bell ringing and then she will start talking and this is something you see something that we've been doing in local markets mirroring traditional markets to online no wait marketing right traditional and the digital they are marketing they are the same what we are refusing to understand and utilise they have to make and so you need to find ways to digitalise the local things that we were doing when you are today when I was coming and I was passing through the zone going to Laguna as I was passing through the woman were like oh mommy I have these shoes coming by and they will usually throw it so that you will see how it fits on you sister see you are beautiful this will fit you I was walking I was like little bit about me I know these things I know these things but this is the same this is carry this and go online yeah drink it online drink it online and the mistake they are trying to make traditional marketing and social media marketing these things it's like we are fighting we are not fighting is the same so those are some of the mistakes they are doing and another mistake is that they are not taking the feedbacks well they are not being consistent with their content somebody will post today and the next post is about next three months one year they don't even go there to go and check it's not done anywhere and then they don't understand the back end they are just seeing the face value of please if you the same way you have a traditional shop and after three months sometimes you analyze hey I say are they buying stuff they are not buying stuff these customers it's been a long time they came to buy from us and everything all these things also go with our social media marketing you need to understand they are all part that's why I use the word marketing and I don't use the word management management just have to do with the posting going to check and all that but when you want to do the marketing then you are thinking of the customer you are thinking of what you are putting there and you are thinking of the feedback what I call the back-to-back strategy if you are not doing all of that then it's good yes it's going to be very difficult and they are not getting it and please you don't need to speak in English speak your local dialect there are people that understand you and you see you don't have to be on all the platforms oh even me I'm not please cut in fact blare my face here because I've worked for but you see now the truth is TikTok is selling especially in Ghana because we are in Ghana that's why I'm talking TikTok is selling for people it's selling no people don't know TikTok is selling no matter the language you are speaking in Ghana TikTok is selling Hausa She Fancy I wait TikTok is selling and I've seen it with my real Kulu Kulu eyes I have seen and I recently I saw that mom she sells cloth and I think she comes life on TikTok every day also and she's selling her clothes online on TikTok and she's sitting in her chair and the clothes are there and then she'll open it then she'll tell a bit of history about the cloth and you know what she's making sales right there if you want this so people want it they take a picture then they pay and then she will put she will write it on the sheet and put it and then she has other people in the shop and this is going on every day when you go on TikTok people are on life I know people all the way at Cape Coast who are selling a household appliances and they are it's not like people don't have the same appliances in a crowd they are delivering to a crowd that's right they are delivering to Cape Coast some places hey all that they are selling please don't joke with social media don't joke your WhatsApp WhatsApp status don't joke with it it is one of the richest places you can ever make sales your WhatsApp status when you go out when people take your number take their number make sure they have saved your number me I will do that make sure they have saved your number so that when you post something they will see it so those are the little little little mistakes that they are doing and they will just be putting things out there sometimes they will not give you any explanation they it's like they want the other people to think to think for please we are that era is gone that era where you customers think for you now we are in the era where you have to in fact it has always been there but we've not taken it serious you have to think for the customer and that is what is happening let's end with some final thoughts and advice if you are to start this journey like 2025 what advice would you give yourself?
[1:02:03] if I were to start this journey in 2025 one of the key advices I'll give to myself is not to rush not to rush yes so when I come in and I say oh I'm not a social media marketer I know this it means I have seen it and I've done it and I realized that I needed to take a break I also started with I'm a digital marketer I'm this and that and I wasn't ready to learn I think also because I was coming from a marketing perspective and if you remember those days on Digi Clan the graphic designers were there they were the marketers to where they were like hey they don't understand us and all that no I wouldn't have done it I would have take your time as a startup especially a female go into this field and then understand the nitty-gritty of the guitar marketing understand everything have knowledge on all of that and then make sure that you pick the ones that are of interest to you and master in it and then another thing that we take for granted is continuous learning these are field you can't sometimes somebody will put something on Digi Clan and I will immediately go and google hello and it's so funny you don't even want to ask meta AI in the group because people perceive you that you are good so you have to be continuously because I realize that every second they've changed something especially meta and every second something is changed like the LinkedIn issue that I posted or like me because now I'm not in mainstream social media marketing and I'm doing the trainings I've not even checked that LinkedIn now they are clamping down yeah I know that for LinkedIn and the same as Facebook you need to have a profile before you can create so for other projects even for projects we did last month we created a profile for the business for the project it's called Uniqabs and then we created the business page out of it because they will let you create an email now this one we've created an email as I'm talking to you now on my laptop the account is there I'm posting on the laptop but if you click on the link I gave you you can't see the page continuously learning continuously learning and I found that that on Instagram now a lot of changes have come if you even want to check on your accounts and everything the accounts they are putting things together so if you don't continuously then you go and make a mess of yourself and the most embarrassing than anybody a strategy I've called myself I think social media strategy so if I go and make a mess of myself I'm going make a say oh but like you know me you know that I'm good at social media so if I'm not good yeah instead I know but don't go and do that but on a more serious please continue learning if you can even find 30 minutes of your time just give it to AI and so AI what is the new thing happening now in digital marketing?
[1:05:33] What is the new trends and all that in Ghana and all that and then just pick one or two before you sleep so that at least you can become embraced and all that and then network network right leave your mark wherever you go by the time you leave there let them know you that Enoch day when it comes to podcast you need to talk to Enoch when it comes to this because we are all fighting for the same spot not in a bad way but it's true we are in Ghana here go to TikTok and go and see now do you know that Sam Rush and the other big agencies I have come on TikTok and they are teaching and the Indians have taken over TikTok especially if you are in the digital marketing now their content is all you are seeing and the kind of content they are making the kind of things they are teaching we are in Ghana with limited resources so please network yourself engage make good use of your LinkedIn forget about them that they are saying that hey LinkedIn people are like go and lie some if we are lying to go and lie some yes because it's something that I get a lot on Facebook and especially for the females and it's actually affect a lot of females I was supposed to be a mentor on the Etrana on Generation but by then I had got to UNDP project so I just but then I go in there to go and do portfolio training for them and I remember they asked those questions and all that so I just want to put if you are a female as long as you are not lying and put in there and then go on LinkedIn there are platforms I think you've even invited me to join some of your platforms on LinkedIn they are training platforms digital marketing platforms and it will shock you people ordinarily you cannot engage with they are there they are sure you can comment on it and they see you and it's also on LinkedIn that I got an opportunity as it comes it was on LinkedIn so go write it but yeah I'm talking about everyone may really I'm not saying you are lying but the things you put there to if you don't take care a business who would want to engage you so it's precise concise makes sense direct to the point then you put it all there then they know that it is you and don't forget to always be sometimes be adding your pictures not just pictures that you are smiling and you have done this I call them the actionable pictures that is what we want to see we don't want to always be seeing your face like this so when you post a picture like this make sure you're posting if you talked about you did the training make sure it's not just a group picture where you are standing with them make sure we are seeing pictures where you are also training somebody those are the things that have sold us and sold me I mean I'm gonna let you go but then before you leave I want us to tackle the continuous learning right what blogs or baby books would you recommend for up and coming you know social media marketers to read if they want to I mean you're talking about continuous learning truthfully I don't have books right what mainly I do is that I just google them like I said now that AI is there I just ask myself what are the new things that are happening today mostly mostly before I sleep I do that what are the new things happening in the digital marketing world today that I need to know and one thing I realised that once you've been doing that and you are active they are able to understand you yeah they create a memory yes and they are able to give me that that is what I do but then if you are a digital marketer one of the key things I will ask you to do is that go and learn about oh there is this book on selling I've forgotten the name I'll get it and then I'll give you give it it's actually an amazing book on selling I'll add it to the what do you call it the description yes you see I know that they say that digital marketing digital marketing but please have basics in marketing as well when you have basics in marketing it helps so read books from Brian Tracy read books from Richard Branson he also has some amazing books on selling and then this particular person I'm talking about his books on selling are amazing read them read marketing books itself understand the basics of marketing when you understand the basics of marketing you will not mix marketing with advertising or marketing with promotion why?
[1:10:53] we won't do it again all right thank you so much as you said this will be a two-part episode I'm not cutting anything out today this will be a two-part episode and I'm truly truly grateful for heating to Sarah's book thank you too I appreciate that you made me come and talk talk talk which is what I love to do this episode just like any other episode of Colours of Social Media podcast is produced by Builders Studios and recorded at Tribal Mark Studios 13 Asiko Street Tantra Hiyosukra