 Welcome back, welcome back. This is still PesDeVibes. Why in the morning? And we are on to a fast segment of the day, Sport on Tech, where we are going to talk about social media management. How exactly can you make the most out of social media for your business or for your brand? That's what we're going to talk about. And for that conversation, we have been joined by Juan Kimani Patrick, who's the CEO of the Callistic Group Limited. Most welcome, Keawani. Thank you so much for having me. I'm glad to be here. And this, I have just come to the knowledge that this is not your first time, so I don't know what you like, so I can put it in. That's what I mean when you're a G. When you're a G. Thank you, auntie. Thank you. All right. So tell us a little bit about what you do before you even get into the talk break. Well, my name is Kimani. I run a company called the Callistic Group Limited. We are a brand communications agency. And brand communications is the intersection between public relations and branding. But our services fall under three categories. We have solutions in public relations. We have services in brand strategy and design. And then you have digital and social media, which I believe is the center of our conversation today. Yeah, exactly. That's what we're focusing on today. So let's start with why is it important to have, why is social media management important in the first place? Well, before we get into social media management, it's basically social media. And we are living in a technologically advanced and accelerated world where you need to put yourself out there. And the good thing is we have had people like Mark Zuckerberg who have created platforms for us. We have Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok and all these platforms. And basically they're social networks where you create an account, get to connect with the people you went to school with, people in different spheres of, you know, of life. And anywhere people converge, there's definitely a lot of things that they want to do together, not just post pictures, videos and all that, but also they'll find a commercial value into it. They'll find a social value into it. Some will build their businesses there. Some will drive their social interests there, that is for the people who are into community-based organizations, they want to drive their agenda. If you're a politician, you want to grow your ambitions there and drive your influence. But at the same time, if you're a professional, you want to showcase your expertise through that leadership, sharing industry-based content, industry-based advice and such kind of things. And basically when you're posting that content, when you're looking at who has commented, who has liked, who has said what, who has shared, and at the same time looking at what others are posting and all that, that's what we would call social media management. You're actually managing your profile on that platform. So it's really important, if you put an account out there, it's really important for you to look at the kind of content that you share. You ask yourself when you will be sharing, exactly what you will be sharing, looking at what people are saying about what you're sharing, responding to them. Basically that's what management is all about. What management is? There's that only limited to those that have a brand or have a business that they are using social media to promote, or is it also for people who are just using social media for the social benefits of it? The truth of the matter is everybody has a brand, whether it's personal, business or both. So the moment you are born and you start growing, you already have a personal brand. There is Ayyeta, the media personality, the Ayyeta, the lady who she aspires to be and all those things. So you have, even before you get into business, you have you as a person. How do you want people to perceive you? What do you want them to know about you? What do you stand for? I mean that is what you want people to know. Do you want people to know you as these very serious journalists who shares only business content, but it's also fun, or you want people to just know you're a humorous person. Inasmuch as you may not be teaching people anything or driving any agenda, but probably you could be using it to share memes and people will be coming to your Facebook account to read memes or see funny videos. I mean, they will associate you with that. So everybody has a brand, whether it is personal or business and it is your responsibility to manage that brand and manage the whole aspect of that brand on how exactly you want to be perceived, exactly what you want people to know and associate you with. And basically, whether you know it or not and you're listening or you're watching this conversation, it is a perfect moment for you to understand that you really do have a brand and people are watching and following and seeing you. Okay, so everyone has a brand, we have that clear. Yes, that is clear. That is clear. And what do you get to benefit from it, from managing your social media? What are the benefits? Well, let me say this, when you open an account definitely, whether you just wanted to find out how LinkedIn works or how Facebook works or what TikTok is all about, the fact of the matter is you're putting yourself out there for people to discover you. So whether you like it or not, people will discover you. There's quite a lot of times, almost every day I meet people and they're telling me, oh, I see you on LinkedIn, I see you on Facebook, I remember that video posted, I remember this comment you made somewhere. So you really do not necessarily have to post something, but the moment you like something, the moment you comment on something, the moment you share something, any interaction you make, there is this saying that internet never forgets. So people can see you. So I mean, the biggest benefit is people can see you. And you're able to say, you meet someone in KwaGround, Tuna Samanga KwaGround. If you go to KwaGround, you will be able to associate with the person you, you see on the internet. So that is one of the key benefits, but also if you're in business or you're building a personal, seriously building your personal brand in a particular area, definitely it gives you an opportunity to showcase who you are, showcase what you care most about, showcase your expertise, and drive whether it's business, promote your products and services, if you're a content creator, you promote your content, whether it's free or paid, you are able to put yourself out there. So it gives you an opportunity to build your brand, to grow your agenda, to also at the same time make income and also make an impact. Because if you share content that people can learn from and respond to questions that people have, I've seen a lot of people doing that, you're making a change and an impact in the community. Okay, so there's something else apart from money that people get and that's the impact. Before we even get to the income benefits that people get it for their businesses. Well, we're talking earlier off camera, you said you don't really believe in content creation as people have it now and it's the in thing that people are getting YouTube channels and everything. Why is that? Well, to make my point clear, I didn't say I don't believe in content creation. What I really don't support is you're there as a young youth, you've gone to the University of Nairobi which is just here and you've graduated or whichever college you went to. And I mean, the fact is there's mass layoffs everywhere. So if there's mass layoffs anywhere in the world, definitely the jobs available are very limited and we are living in a very competitive world. So you've graduated, no job for you and you think now it's time for me to create content. I've seen a particular content creator, I don't want to mention names. I've seen so and so create content, they have huge following, a lot of viewership on YouTube and they're getting branded endorsements, they're making an income from ads that are running on their videos. And then you just sit yourself out there and say, well, I have a phone that has a camera, why can't I just venture into this? And you're venturing into it number one, out of frustration. I don't have a job so I can create content. And then you're like, I've seen so and so has, is making money from this and you want to start and then start making income tomorrow. But if you sit down with that person, they'll tell you. I was, I mean, let me be honest, I was watching a video from Crazy Kenai yesterday and last night and he was saying he started his content creation journey in 2017. That is over six years ago. But when you look at him, he has over 900,000 followers, he's shooting content in and out of the country. I mean, he is like making it big in the content creation world. And you want to start today and you want to get into his level for getting the amount of work that he has put in, the number of years that have passed for him to get where he is. So, and what happens is you find people are starting content creation business and then they get frustrated down the line because I mean, they're not getting the income they were thinking they could make. So it's really important if you're getting into a particular type of business, whether it's content creation, whether it's selling shoes or dresses online and whatever, that person is so doing that, just try to reach out to them and have a conversation with them and ask them exactly what they did to get where they are and then ask yourself, how long am I going to be in this and how much am I willing to invest? Not just about money, but also the time and the commitment and how strong you are in overcoming challenges because challenges will be there and there will be very many, you have to eat them every morning for breakfast. How can you withstand that to be able to get to the level of that person that you really look up to? Okay, makes a lot of sense. Now, speaking about businesses who are learning to make income and use social media to promote their businesses, how, what are some of the best practices to implement while using their social media? Well, every business has a brand and need to have a plan. So the key thing, like we spoke of camera is when you're setting up your business, one of the key things that I really advocate for is come up with your brand strategy. How, what kind of business are you planning to set up? What kind of a brand are you planning to build? What are the values of this business? What is your vision? What is your mission? What is the voice that I want to use while communicating? And voice, I don't mean male or female. You're talking about the style that you use to communicate. What will be your distinctive brand colors? What will your logo look like? How, what are the kind of different templates that you will be using for different types of design? And that will help you to make your brand distinctive so that when you get into the social media, you ask yourself, what exactly is my goal? Is it brand awareness? Is it managed reputation? Is it generate leads which lead to conversions or even run conversion based campaigns? So you really need to be very clear exactly where you're getting into the social media platforms. If you're a business, not just setting up a social media page without really knowing exactly what you're going to get out of that place because some businesses, let's say for example, you target corporates, really will you get a lot of leads or customers from these social media platforms? But you need to have those platforms active so that you can be able to communicate and tell the people exactly what you've been up to, sharing your testimonials, sharing studies just to showcase what your work is all about. Let's say you run, let's say you're selling shoes, I mean that is what a lot of you that are doing or you're into content creation, you take very nice photos, you do really good shoots for weddings, you may want to look for customers on this platform. So you have to ask yourself, what exactly is my goal? Am I doing this for brand awareness, for people to get to know me and what I have to offer? Or am I doing that plus now letting people know exactly what we have done for other people and at the same time asking yourself, am I doing this also to be able to get more clients from this platform? So you have to have a clear goal, a measurable goal that you will be able to say over this period of time, this is what I'm looking forward to get so that you're able to track your progress day by day. And then when you set that goal now, you have to come up with a content calendar because social media is all about content creation, whether it is photo, whether it is designed graphics, whether it is both still or motion graphics that is videos or graphical videos, or it is just written content. You have to come up with content that resonates with your audience. So you have to come up with a content plan and a content calendar that will guide exactly what you will be posting, when you will be posting, and even the type of content you will be posting. But at the same time, you have to consider which content you will be posting in which platform, which content is good for your business on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on TikTok, on X. You have to figure out all that before you get yourself out there. Okay, now that you've mentioned the different platforms that are there, do we have social media platforms that are best used for certain businesses than others? Let's say someone who's into, I don't know, someone who's in media, then Instagram would be the best platform, then someone who's into some serious stuff, then Facebook will be a good platform for them. So what happens is, when you look at these platforms that are there, LinkedIn is known for professional connections, and most serious people are on LinkedIn, but these people are also on Facebook. Facebook is one platform that encompasses all. You will find all manner of people on Facebook, and you can achieve all goals on Facebook. But when you go to Instagram, anything that is visual forecast, or more visual forecast in terms of photos, you will really do well on Instagram. Let's say, for example, you are in photography, you are into catering business, or you're a restaurant, you won't showcase your meals and all that. You will really do well on Instagram. But at the same time, you can create short videos for Instagram reels, or put them on TikTok. And at the same time, you can do the same for Facebook. When you come to LinkedIn, you can do that leadership kind of videos. You want to educate people on a particular issue, you want to promote a particular ad, short clip, 30 seconds, five minutes, and that people can really learn from or get to discover about your product or service. But most importantly, what you need to ask yourself is, who is my target audience for my business or for this thing that I'm doing? Then you do your own research and ask yourself, where are these people most likely to spend their time? When you figure out where they are most likely to spend their time, whether it's Facebook or Instagram, or whichever platform, then you ask yourself, what kind of a campaign am I going to to run on that platform? Like for example, if you look at us at CalStik, what you do is, we use TikTok for brand awareness. You will find us dancing, posting some other types of videos. We never sell anything on TikTok, but a lot of people have been able to discover our brand on TikTok. But when you come to Facebook and Instagram, we are able to promote what we do as a company. We sell there, we are able to tell people, this is what you've been able to do for this particular client. We share case studies on Facebook and Instagram. When you go to LinkedIn, we share that leadership content. Every Thursday I host a live LinkedIn podcast where I interview peer-to-peer conversations with other entrepreneurs, asking different questions on building businesses. We share articles every Tuesday on LinkedIn. But now we also mix content that we post on TikTok, the one that we post on Instagram. You also cross-post on LinkedIn some different times. So you also ask yourself, you have to ask yourself, which content do I promote on which platform and what is the goal? Because you can have a variety of goals and then one platform will push your goal, one particular goal and the other can, the other platform can push the other goal. Because I mean, all platforms are important. You need to only know which platform do I use for which benefit? Because I mean, these platforms are free. Okay. Yes. Before we get into the tools that are there and how to maximize on them, there are people who usually say, and it's interesting that it's mostly, is it right to take is, or take is that do coding and everything. They're not very active on social media because of probably their nature. Some people who are introverted prefer not to be on social media. So how important is it? For them, it really doesn't market them, they're fine, how they are. So what will you say on that? Let me say this. In this accelerated world, we are in the technology space, almost everyone is coding something. So when you look at the people that have your capabilities, they are quite many. So the question is what will make you different? If I'm looking for a software developer, and I have close to 100 of them that are interested to join my company, and all your capabilities are the same. I mean, all of you can do what I'm looking forward to be done. What will make me choose you and not him? And that is why you find organizations are increasingly looking at your social media activities when you apply for a job. I would be more than willing to hire somebody who has a learning ability, may not have so much fine-tuned skills, but they have the learning ability, but at the same time, they have been promoting their work on this basis. Because definitely it means when they come on board, they will be able to help us sell the brand through social media, through their own platforms. Then somebody who just come, they know how to code, they know how to design, but they know nothing else. Nobody knows they do it apart from themselves. So it's really important to even increase your marketability to just go out there, just find one platform. Tell people what you do. Tell people how you solve problems. Solve people's problems. Give advice, because that will help you have a competitive advantage. I mean, if somebody is looking for work at Y-254 and you have the same capability, I mean, the company will go to the person who has more followers, because the moment they announce that they will be hosting a show at Y-254, the station has gotten more viewership from these persons, followers. I mean, I would hire somebody who has 10,000 followers who are constantly engaged or somebody who is just has 500 followers, but never tells them anything. I mean, the world has changed. You have to put yourself out there in your work. Make people know what you are all about, not just you. Okay, so make sure you market yourself regardless of what you're doing. Yes. All right, so now, social media tools. What are some of the social media tools and how can businesses and people maximize on them? Well, we have Crowdfire. We have Hootsuit. These tools help. We have Pro-Social and quite many others that help you to manage your content. Scheduling, especially for people who are busy or have a lot of platforms to manage. So these platforms helps you to, when you come up with your content calendar and you come up with the content itself and the posting schedule, you can use these tools to post your content, manage all your pages in one platform, and be able to look at the analytics and look at how your content is performing. Okay. And how important is it to look at the analytics just to do a review of how it's performing? The most important bit of analytics is just what I mentioned. You need to know how your content is doing. Remember we say before you get into social media, you have to ask yourself what goal you have. So you have to go back and ask yourself what are the results that have driven? We set this goal. How far are we on this? And then plus these analytics will be able to tell you which content is performing much better than the other. And then it will guide you to know when you know which content is performing much better than the other, you will know where to invest your time, which content you're going to produce more. Because at the end of the day, there's no need of producing content that is not performing in any way. Okay. Yes. What about other strategies like such engine optimization and the like to make sure that your content really gets out there and gets engagement? So you build engagement over time. And when you talk about such engine optimization, you're talking about websites, not just social media. Immediately what you talk about such engine optimization is if today I build a restaurant and I do not put a signage that says this is a restaurant, nobody will know what it is. And if I don't tell people this is a restaurant and I don't put my word out there telling people I opened a restaurant or I opened a grocery store. I mean, nobody will get to know. So how the internet works is when I build a website and we actually do build good websites at CalStick, if you build a website and just leave it there, nobody will ever know that you have a website. So what happens is you create an amazing website that is user friendly, that has really good content, that is optimized in terms of structure, in terms of industry keywords. But also you have to submit your website to Google, to all such engine platforms that are there. And that is why you find most people complaining, I have an amazing website but it does not show up on Google search. On such results pages. So what happens is when you create a website, you have to tell Google, I have this website, show it to people. So what happens is if I go to Google because it's the one that we mostly use on such engine and I search something, what I'm doing is I'm telling Google, this is what I'm looking for. Go out there and give me the best results. So Google uses what we call crawlers. So crawlers go and search millions of websites that have been submitted to them and they bring results based on exact keywords, much or exact phrases, much, keyword concentration and all that. So what happens is once you submit your website to Google, then you submit a site map. A site map is a list of all links on your website. Then the next thing about such engine optimization is there is the technical SEO and that is how your links are structured. What your links are saying because technical SEO really plays a very important role when doing such engine optimization or making a website visible. So you have to optimize them with the industry keywords exactly what your users are looking for. And at the same time on your every website page that you create, you have to ask yourself, for people to discover this page, what exactly will they be looking for? For example, if today you look for, you go on Google and search PR agency in Kenya, PR agency in Nairobi, CalStik will appear on the first page as the first result. And the reason is we asked ourselves what exactly will people be looking for and we want to show up for them because basically what you talk about such engine optimization is, we're saying show your people, your potential customers are looking for you, for what you are for on the internet. Show up for them. So you ask yourself what kind of words are they using to search on the internet? That is what we call key ones. Then what kind of phrases are they looking for? We call that key phrases. Then use that, tailor your content, make sure there is a concentration of them. But at the same time, make sure your content is making sense. You don't want to just put words all over. So you find a way in which these words, the keywords, the key phrases are part of your content on that page. And then there's something we call, if you're using a search engine optimization plugin, like for example, Yoast or RankMath. There's something called keywords. So there is a place you put your meta description. The meta description is basically that snippet that appears under every search result on Google that tells you a little bit more about that page. So make sure that meta description has your keywords and or key phrases in it. And at the same time, you have set your own keyword that you want it to rank much higher. And that will really help in your search engine initiatives. But also there's something called search engine marketing. That is your marketing yourself on Google. If you search anything on the internet, there's some results that has on the left-hand side, written ad. Those are people who have bought keywords. They want people who are searching for, let's say, properties, land for sale in Rourou. You want, you have a property that you're selling in Rourou and you want people to come to your website. So you buy search keywords and you want when people search, you appear on the first page of Google and then Google will drive traffic to you. But also most importantly, you might do all those things. But if your website, people are not able to find what they are looking for on your website. You're going to have very high bounce rates and you're not going to convert anyone. So when you're doing all this, you also have to factor in the user experience of your website. But also you have to make sure that every page you create is sales ready. Because at the end of the day, if you create a website page, I mean a website has so many pages, but every page you create, there's definitely something you're telling people. And there's an action you want them to take, whether it's book an appointment or insert the details to make a purchase, make sure they call to actions, very well outlined, and that people do not have to be redirected. You better have somebody coming to your website, spend five seconds and they have made a purchase or they have contacted you. Instead of somebody coming and spends two minutes looking for what that thing that brought them there and they end up even not leaving you with their email address. I mean, you will have done zero work. Okay. Yeah. So you need to be very intentional in everything that you do in terms of social media management. Exactly. It's all things digital, not just social media, because websites are part of digital, not social media. Okay. Yes. All right. What about the use of hashtags in social media? How efficient are they? Well, basically hashtags helps you track everything that has been posted under that name or under that phrase. Basically that's what hashtags are used for. Are they efficient? Well, they're efficient, but people overuse them because this is what happens. If for example, somebody is doing a research on let's say content creation in Kenya. So they'll search content creation in Kenya and probably on Twitter there's a hashtag content creation. So every post that has been posted under that hashtag will appear. I mean, that's what the role of hashtags is. Yes. So you can use a particular hashtag, but it is not popular. Definitely people will not use your content. And you can use a hashtag that is popular, but your content gets no engagement because when you use a particular hashtag, when people click on that hashtag, content that has more engagements, if it is on Twitter, currently called X, the tweet that has, I don't know now whether it's called a tweet or an X. Twitter and X. So the one that has more engagement in terms of likes and retweets will definitely rank higher than the one that has zero. Yes. The key thing here is yes, use hashtags, but make sure in your content plan, create content that is shareable, create content that people want to engage with. Not just content because before using this hashtag, let me use this, let me use it. If people are engaging with this content, let me create this type of content. You have to ask yourself, what do my users want to read and learn? And let me tell you, I mean, it's really simple. People share content that they may find educative. If you find an educative post, you will be tempted to share it on your platform because you want to show people, quote, unquote, you are also smart. I mean, that is the whole reason people share. Or you have found it funny and you want to share on your platform so that people can find you funny, think you are funny and also laugh in the process. I mean, that is why people share memes. I found a meme that is so funny and I don't want to laugh alone. I also want people to see that. I also know, I have a sense of humor. So you have to ask yourself, my audience, what are they most interested in? Then create content with that in mind. They will like it, they will comment to it, they will tag their friends and they will share it. Okay. Yeah. Before we finish this conversation, how do you handle negative comments on social media, especially if it's a business? So there's three things to that. Three A's. The first one is to acknowledge the comment. I mean, the comment is there, you can see it. You have to acknowledge the comment and then the second thing, the second A is you have to assess it. There's two types of comment. There is comments that have valid concerns, valid feedback or valid inquiries. There are other trolls. So you have to ask yourself, what kind of a comment is this? Is this a valid customer, a valid, a real human being, or is it just a troll? Then the third A is to act. So you have to ask yourself, how do I react to this? If it is a troll, you can just delete or just do away with it or block the person. But if it is a real concern about your business, maybe it is a customer who is not happy, you have to ask yourself, what kind of feedback do I give? And you need to ask yourself, this feedback or how do I address these person's concerns? Do I address it immediately, replying to their comments or going directly to their inbox or both depending on the intensity? And this is where reputation management and crisis management and stakeholder engagement comes in. You have to engage, and that is why every organization needs PR people. Most organizations overlook that, but you need a PR person to be able to advise you. This is what this user has said. How do I respond to it? Is it a direct comment? Do I inbox this person? Do I reply to the comment, inbox or call the person or even visit this person? You have to acknowledge the comment, assess it, and then make a decision on how exactly you're going to respond to it. Because part of the mistakes that people make is overlooking some things and probably thinking replying to a comment or just anyone in your office replying to a comment. And then now that blows up everything. And now you are trending right, left and center because of the feedback that you gave. So when you look at a comment, especially negative comments, you really have to engage the relevant people with the relevant know-how on stakeholder engagement to know exactly how to respond to a particular issue as it comes because it can make or break your business. All right, great. Finally, as we close now, you will give people, what can people find you if they need your services and just before that, tell us if someone wants to take something from this, what are the key things that they are supposed to go with and you can direct them directly? Well, I think I've only got in the last question. And where can people find you? As Kimani, I'm available on the internet, just search Kimani Patrick on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn. On all platforms, I use Kimani Patrick. You can direct message me there. Our office of CalStick is Dica West Center, Fifth Floor, Suite 5 or 7, or you can just PR agency in Kenya. You will find CalStick and you can be able to get in touch with us. Our website is very well optimized. You can be able to send us a message and we'll get back to you within 12 hours. But if you get anything from this platform, the key thing is you have a brand, whether it is personal or business, and you have the responsibility of promoting this brand. So make sure you take the initiative to get to those platforms that you created and decide which platform first to start with, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or TikTok, where most of the people that you want to resonate with you or your personal brand and then start creating content there. It could be simple posts, it could be questions and answer sessions, it could be articles, it could be just updating them. But let people know who you are, what you do and what you stand for. Because whether you know it or not, you have a brand and you have a responsibility to make yourself and other people benefit from it. Thank you. I love that. You have a brand and you have a responsibility to make sure that you have a responsibility to make sure that people... People, you and other people benefit from it. Benefit from it. Absolutely. Thank you very much for your money and sharing great insights. I appreciate it. With us, that has been Kimani Patrick, the CEO of CalStik Group Limited, talking to us about social media management. I hope you've taken something from it. We're going to take a short break and then we'll be back with some entertainment. Stick with us. Thank you.