WABC: WEST AFRICAN BLOGGERS CONFERENCE—THE FULL REPORT

The second edition of the #WABC held on the 22^nd & 23^rd of January, 2016 —an event for bloggers nationwide—was a huge success. Thank God I was there live (I even invited a friend self).

The 2-day event held at the Banquet Hall, Beckley Hotel, Isaac John Street, G.R.A. Ikeja, Lagos will not be soon forgotten in the annals of the attendees as it essence meet the expectations of the bloggers and aspiring bloggers present.  Thanks to the some of the sponsors: Smile 4G, Spectranet, MTN, Google Nigeria, Spaneck, Reckitt Benckiser, Tripple A Outdoor, Fidson amongst others.

Day one of the conference had the convener, Mr. Cyrus Ayo Oyebade, a digital marketing strategist and an advertising practitioner, as the first speaker. Mr. Ayo spoke extensively on the title “My Passion, My Business”. According to him, “Your blog is your business which is a combination of your ideas, contents, work, originality and money”. He defined business as an economic activity which is related with continuous and regular production and distribution of goods and services for satisfying human wants. He also defined a Product as anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a need. Thus, before a product can come to play, there must be skill-set, information, event, location, idea, solution and information involved.

He encouraged bloggers to always come up with great content, stating that their content must be seen as a product that can propagate their brand. In his conclusion, he highlighted some revenue channels for bloggers like webinars, advertising network, eBooks, freelancing, premium content OPR, affiliate marketing etcetera.

The second speaker, Mr. Abdul Salam from Google spoke on Online Measurement with emphasis on Google Analytics. According to him, there is need to analyse the value of your blog, know your audience and why they visit your site and why they leave. He said, you must be able to measure your audience acquisition, their behaviours, life time value etc.

Some of the critical points we must also consider, as given by Abdul are:

-          Comment on blogs: This he said measures loyalty, engagement and commitment from your readers

-          Segmentation: There is need to segment your high network and low network audience and conversions

-          The most important thing for any online business is that of data. 

According to Abdul Salam, data is everything when it comes to google analytics. So the question is: Do you have a google analytics on your site?

-          Signups, RSS fields, subscriber list etc. is a conversion. RSS fields are small tools that retrieve information on your website.

He also encouraged every one of us to sign up for the Analytics Academy platform by Google to learn more about Google Analytics.

The 3^rd Speaker, Bunmi Babs @lavomine emphasised on the importance of social media to drive traffic to your blogsite/website. According to her, “As a Blogger, you are only as rich as your sources/content. Hence, in gathering your audience, social media is key”.

The 4^th Speaker, Mr. Segun Ogunlana of Afriprenuer told his social media story, his journey as a social media expert and blogger. As an engineering student back then in school, he said “In this age and time, technical advancement is key if you want to go global as a blogger”.

Mr.  Oluseyi Fasugba, the 5^th Speaker spoke extensively on Blogging and Journalism- the difference factor.

In his thoughts, he gave some salient point below:

-          You can’t be a blogger if you don’t have the skills to write.

-          Blogging is largely a platform for expression of opinion. Thus, the need to carve a niche for yourself.

-          There are 3major aspects of Journalism: Print, Broadcast and online.

-          He also talked about the laws in journalism, the gatekeeper’s role, the process, the importance of choosing as catchy headline and deadlines in broadcasting, what to overcome, the language barrier and the ability to communicate effectively. 

One crucial point he made was that Journalism is the same globally in concept and delivery beyond the challenges. He therefore advised we bloggers present to consider enrolling for a course in journalism as it will add a lot of advantages to us as a blogger.

Beyond the speakers’ sessions, we also had interactive sessions, question and answer sessions that engaged both the participant and the facilitators. We also had launch provided by some of the partners. MTN Nigeria, one of the Key sponsors for the conference also gave out goodies bags to everyone. It was such a long day of informative, entertaining and networking experience.

The Day 2, began with the senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Anambra State, on Social Media, High Chief Ifeanyi Aniagoh of ifeadinmesi.com.

He shared his thought on the need to blog responsibly, stating that the more you share your experience on social media, the more you grow and expand your network. “Don’t put bad news or porn content in the bid to draw traffic to your site. It takes a click to reach millions on Social Media (SM)”, he advised.

He dared to bloggers to see themselves as a journalist. “Celebrate yourselves. Write about people’s success stories. If someone around you is doing exceptional, publish it. In fact, it is high time we need bloggers/cyber space dwellers who will be more interested in promoting our cultural content”, he said.

The 2^nd Speaker for the Day 2 #WABC, Mr. Adebayo Owolabi, a Regional Advertising Practitioner and CEO Tripple A Outdoor, spoke on Praparing a Business Plan, as bloggers and business men and women. He said for bloggers to be top-notch in their field and their blog to be most sought after for online advertising like Linde Ikeji’s blog, there is need to draw up a checklist, which will include amongst other things the legal aspect of a business, the need to partner or not, specification, risk aversion, investors attraction etal. He also took us through the elements of a good business plan, the monitoring tools to mention a few.

The 3^rd Speaker, Mr. Oladimejo Oduyebo of Fidson, also took us on the journey of branding and the need to understand brands. The following are brand definitions he cited:

“A brand is the intangible sum of a product’s attributes: it name, packaging, and price etc. History, its reputation and the way its advertised” –David Ogilvy, Author of Advertsing.

“A brand symbol is anything that leaves a mental picture of the brands identity” –Leo Burnett

“Brand is the sum total of how someone perceives a particular organisation. Branding is about shaping that perception” –Ashley Friedlein, President, E-consultancy

He defined brand perception as a mental creation that helps a customer to understand a company over another. Brand perception is owned by customers not brands. It doesn’t matter what an entrepreneur thinks his brand promises. Brands are built by consumers not company.

Other points are stated below:

-          Social media is a strong emotional connection, influencer of consumer perception and deliver brand reinforcement by means of relationship building. The strength of today’s communication lies in the spin of social media

-          Brands that use social media platforms (SM) get about 89% increase in brand exposure

-          Samsung have over 42m Facebook fans and 11.4m twitter followers.

-          GTB has gathered over 3.5m followers on Facebook and 500,000 twitter followers. As at present, GTB is the most respected brand in banking in Africa.

The Main Actor’s Personality…What makes a good blogger include but not limited to the following:

·  Good Writing Skills

·  Sound and unique content

·  Trendy and IT savvy

·  Strong relationship management

·  Knack for details

·  Depth in SM

·  Ability to manage success

In his last words, he expressed his deep concern for bloggers and they “why” they are still poor. According to him, some bloggers are poor because of their lack of depth, trust, and most essentially their contents are not genuine. He therefore, advised bloggers to start blogging to celebrate other brands rather than publish erroneous and scandalous information about them.

The next speak, Mr. Stephen Akintayo, CEO and Founder of GText Group and SME House, took us on the ways to make money on blogs, one of such are: product reviews, affiliate marketing, ebook publishing, product selling, webinars and consulting.

Mr. Stephen also emphasised on the need to always create free/promo offers, engage your audience, stating that it helps to increase your marketing funnel and expand your income base. He also emphasised the need to also say thank you in a special way to customers, this, according to him will boost your customer loyalty and sustainability.

Also, we had Mr. Taiwo, a Digital Marketer from Google who shared an in-depth and practical thought on SEO 101 and Tips for Web Managers.

And lastly amongst other in-house speakers, we had the Convener, Mr. Ayo Oyebade on board again this time to share his thought on how to create a niche for yourself a blogger. He defined a niche as a specialized market, focused with unique needs.

“Niche=Stand out from the cluster=focus.

He also shed more light on passion in lieu of talent as a sustainable tool for bloggers. According to him, using Linda Ikeji as a critical example, it takes passion, focus and dedication to make money from blogging, as you don’t start blogging today as start making money tomorrow. Making money from Google Adsense isn’t child’s play, it requires consistency and richness of content, and this to a large extent requires lots of time and dedication, he said.

End Note: One of the things that made the event memorial was the well-organised networking session among the bloggers, and OMG, MTN’s goodies bags really added spice to the event, plus the photo sessions with the facilitators and delegates. Oh, how can I forget that I also won the special package for the next “Expected” Speaker on board to share his success stories in the next edition (the first picture above will justify my claims)—Be on the lookout for me next year hopefully if am still in the country. *winks*

Exponent Samuel Adu
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