You Can Use Your Social Media Channels to Empower Your Followers

Social media experts have been challenged to use digital channels to impact the society by disseminating informative and educative content that can empower their fans.

Olx Kenya country manager Mr. Peter Ndiangúi told a forum of the nominees for the fifth Olx Social Media Awards (Olx SoMA 2017) that online networks should be used as the alternative voice for the society by addressing communication gaps that mainstream media have ignored.

“Let us promote the responsible and productive use of social media channels to benefit the online community. We need to give them content that can empower them and enhance their social and economic status,” said Ndiangúi.

He urged the nominees to leverage the influential Awards to improve social media not only as a communication tool but also a platform for business development and job creation.

Olx Kenya, the online classified service, has been supporting the Awards to give young creative people credibility in the market by endorsing their work.

“We want to create a relationship with the online community as they are the most natural and core user of our platforms,” said Ndiangúi.

Statistics from the Communications of Authority of Kenya (CAK) indicates that among the most popular social media platforms in Kenya are Facebook with over 6 million active users, Twitter (1.7million), Instagram (2 million), LinkedIn (I.3 million) and Snapchat, which is estimated to have about 500,000 members and still growing.

Olx SoMA director and founder, Mr. Martin Muli, noted that corporate organizations are continuously tapping into the emerging digital trends to remain relevant to consumers and catapult their businesses to profitability.

Mr. Muli said the Awards are aimed at recognizing organizations and individuals who have used social media well in transforming the society.

“Winning an Olx SoMA Award gives one influence, respect and opportunity to up his or her rate card. When your influence is validated amongst your peers by the community that you engage, then your brand endorsement rates will resonate,” he said.

The Awards process is currently in the voting stage with nominees employing various strategies to win votes from their fan bases both online and offline.

The Gala Dinner will be held in Nairobi on June 23^rd, 2017 when winners in the various categories will be announced.

The list of nominees cuts across all spheres of life including sports, politics, entrepreneurship, fashion, lifestyle and entertainment industries. The theme for the Awards is Celebrating Five Years of Impact.

The annual OLX SoMA now in its fifth year has been Olx Kenya, as the title sponsors since inception in 2013. Other sponsors are Safaricom, Deloitte, Expose, and Vintage Concepts and Hennessy.