Nairaland Founder Seun Osewa was mentioned in this interview, so I believe it deserves a front page.

Happy reading!

When you think of Nigerians, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? There is a high possibility that it’s the number 419, fraud or endless emails promising to give you access to a fortune if you only put up a few £1000 to assist an exiled Prince or government official.

My heritage is Nigerian, however I've spent my entire life living in London. I have no accident other than a London one and unfortunately no language other than English. As a business owner, I’ve long suspected that my obvious Nigerian heritage (I’m black and I have a Nigerian name) has been a hindrance, especially online. Like any community there are good and bad individuals. So let’s hear it for the honest Nigerians, the majority.

This series of interviews has been inspired by my Twitter connections with progressive business owners in Nigeria. The aim is to showcase some young, dynamic and fast growing Nigerian businesses using social media. It’s hoped that this helps redress the balance by creating a more realistic and positive image of the Nigerian business community.

Bidemi Ojo of Kiko-Ni-Mimo Group

Q1 Tell me a bit about your background
How did you get into social media marketing?

My name is Bidemi Ojo, I am a Business & NGO/Non-profit Consultant, Entrepreneurship Advocate, IT Professional, Social Entrepreneur and the Executive Director/ Co-founder of Kiko-Ni-Mimo Group; with about 5 years Professional Experience and 14 years Business Intelligence.

Kiko-Ni-Mimo Groupis a start-up profitable Social Enterprise and an Enterprise Support firm focused on serving the comprehensive needs of clients with its pool of products and services.

I have an IT background; I have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, Nigeria. I started my professional career in 2009 working with a Lagos-based Telecoms company as a Network Engineer/ IT Consultant to clients of various sizes including banks, and other large companies.

My journey into social media marketing started in 2012 by offering next-to-free services to start-ups owned by friend’s relatives. We generally create accounts on popular social media sites (Facebook andTwitter) for them, growing their followers and posting relevant content frequently for them. Some of our earlier clients were Non-profits; we frequently cover the community outreaches organised by them or their allies and post on their social media accounts.

After that, we began social media marketing for small businesses based on referrals. We created new accounts for them and posted catchy adverts to promote new products/ services for the client and followed-up to convert into sales leads.

Q2: How long has your company being running?

Our company was founded in 2010 and has since been undergoing constant upgrade with new projects coming up regularly. Our company currently has offices in Lagos and Ogun State.

Q3: What services does your company offer?

KNM Consult where I am the Managing Consultant caters for businesses in the area of Strategy- Marketing Plan including Social Media Marketing, Business Diagnostics & Planning; Brand Development & Web design as well as Corporate Social Responsibility/ NGO Strategy Implementation;

Human Resources- HR Strategy, Manpower Planning, Recruitment, Selection & Exit Management, etc

And Finance- Seed Capital, Growth Capital, Follow-up services after finance

Q4: What is trending on social media in Nigeria?

#NigerianStartups #SurulereStartups #ibuildNigeria #StartupsAfrica

Q5: What type of businesses use social media in Nigeria?

All types of businesses in Nigeria use social media especially those run by young people who are enlightened. In Nigeria, being on social media is like a trend everyone loves to be part of. However, a good number of them are not harnessing their full potential on social media.

Q6: Are there any home grown social media networks Nigeria?

Yes, there are a couple of them. The most popular is nairaland.com- owned by a young social entrepreneur, Seun Osewa. It has over one million users and visits per day and has been running since 2005.

We also have , , etc that operate more as job search websites.

However, some churches have decided to start social media websites such as yookus.com- owned by Christ Embassy and has been running since 2009 and bereedeemed.com- owned by the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

Q7: What are the main social media platforms used in Nigeria?

It has to be Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is mostly used by all and sundry mostly to connect with long lost friends and relatives than for business purposes. Meanwhile, Twitter is widely used as a business tool to network with people of like minds and also a political voice for government officials and political activists. It has been observed that Twitter is still being under- utilised as several entrepreneurs are still battling with how to take advantage of its benefits.

Q8: Nigeria has a global reputation for internet fraud, has this caused you any difficulty?

Yes, it has caused me difficulty on a number of occasions especially when my yahoo mail account was hacked about 2 years ago and up till now I can no longer access that e-mail account. That e-mail account was opened in 2001 and I have used it regularly to transact business.

Also, while engaging in a chat with people all over the world on social media and they discover that I am a Nigerian, they end the chat immediately, and as such I have lost countless opportunities.

Q9: What sort of companies use social media marketing Nigeria?

Companies that run by enlightened young people will normally market via social media due to its lower cost instead of old media (TV, Radio, Newspapers). Thus, their target markets are people of their age grade and socio-economic status.

The big companies that are run by 40-year olds and above rarely market on social media; they only maintain a social media presence because it the trend at this time. Most of their marketing is done through old media and by referrals from offline networks - friends and business club membership.

Q10: What are your top three social media marketing tips for small businesses in Nigeria?

1. For those that are not on Twitter it is advisable to join Twitter, create a decent profile that is universally acceptable and business-like e.g. Social Media Strategist and ensure that they follow as many people as possible with similar profiles and they will follow back.

2. They should link their Facebook and Twitter accounts together; that ensures that whatever they post appears on both platforms simultaneously.

3. They should post catchy contents that are very short and concise and ensure that they include a link to their website and tweet at influential people with huge followings on Twitter. Also, it is wise that they make use of the # tag to create topics or associate their messages with a trending # tag topic so that their advert message can be viewed by as many that search for that particular # tag they have adopted. Many have used this method to hold world press conferences, business network meetings on social media.

Source
http://www.eelanmedia.com/an-honest-nigerian-bidemi-ojo-of-kiko-ni-mimo-group/

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