From PC screen to TV screen

January 21, 2013 by Who's Who of Southern Africa 

We’ve launched our first television advert!

We’re very proud to announce that Who’s Who of Southern Africa recently launched the company’s very first television advert. The clip was conceptualised and developed in collaboration with Cape Town based ad company bitterbean.tv . There are two versions of the advert showing on local DSTV channels, and a third version is showing at South African airports. The adverts are showing on various DSTV channels, including MNet, KykNet, Mzanzi Magic and AfriMagic.

Catch them all on our YouTube channel.

Visit www.whoswho.co.za to find out more about this hyper-local online reputation management and networking tool. 

Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

September 20, 2012 by Who's Who of Southern Africa 

So you think you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Sure, it’s great to be a leader and to make your own decisions. But do you have what it takes? There are many things for an aspiring entrepreneur to consider.

Creating a business takes a considerable financial investment, a lot of time and many, many hours of hard work. Your starting point is therefore to ask yourself if this is really something you can see yourself doing for the next years. As mentioned on entrepreneur.com, there is a big difference between wanting to be able to make a living doing something, and the actual chance it’s going to work out.

Follow the leader

Are you a leader or a follower? Are you comfortable directing a team of employees? It is very likely that you will be hiring staff at some point, even for a starting business. Keep in mind that leadership skills are a part of making it as an entrepreneur. Good leaders make good entrepreneurs.

Money matters

How do you manage your money? There are really only two options: either you make it through the initial stage and get to build on your investment, or you don’t, which will be the end of your business. An entrepreneur knows how to handle uncertainty, and knows finance through and through.

Do what you enjoy

Seek out your talents and let your interests decide where you will go with your business. It’s all about distinguishing yourself out there, and what better way to do so than by doing something that you love and know everything about?

Business time

Your business plan is your bible. A solid business plan takes into account and analyzes as many different situations as possible. This is where your keen insight and experience with corporate and finance come into play. Formulate your goals and most of all, how and when you are going to achieve them.

Know your customers

 Yes, the start-up of a new business is a hectic time. But the fact that your business is small scaled has its advantages. It allows you to get to know your customers, for example. In the corporate world, most customers are just some file on a computer. Work on a personal experience for your clients, they will be sure to appreciate it.

It’s all about creating a competitive advantage: something that makes you preferable over your many competitors.

Invest not only in your business, but in yourself

Keen entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for ways to improve themselves.  This means you should keep cultivating yourself, your talents, and your interests. In other words: go to conferences, take courses and read books on relevant topics.

The best advice to anyone that is an aspiring entrepreneur is arguably: ‘Know thyself.’ It takes certain skills to be an entrepreneur. Being honest to yourself about whether you possess these assets is the very first step on an exciting road to building up a business, or choosing a career path that better suits you.

 By Laura Macek, Journalism and Content Intern at Who’s Who

HOW TO BE A FREELANCER (PART 3): Social Media Consultant

September 14, 2012 by Who's Who of Southern Africa 

Social networks play an increasingly important role in the corporate world. They are used extensively to recruit employees and to build, achieve and maintain brand awareness. In this third and final part of our series, we take a look at a profession that has arisen from these developments: the freelance social media consultant.

Neil Schaffer is regarded by many as a social media guru. His blog provides some excellent advice on how to start up a social media consulting business.

Where to get started? Build your credibility. You need to know your social networks through and through: their mechanics and also their different uses and purposes. Each network site has its own characteristics and therefore can be used for different purposes.

Your own online presence of course has to be impeccable. This means that whoever is researching you should have no trouble finding you online. You, your blog and your reputation: the internet has to know about them.

When starting up your business, begin by working for friends and family. Your network should not only exist online, but offline as well: get to know the other professionals in the community. Another useful tip that Schaffer has to offer is to do your first few jobs for free, to get the feel of the industry and build up expertise and a positive reputation. As with the other two freelance jobs that we have discussed so far, the process of building up a client base is essential for your business.

You will need a marketing strategy that can adapt to different situations, and this is where your unique views and knowledge of the social networks come into play. It is about distinguishing yourself by having something substantial and new to add to social media strategies. Whether you will be working for individuals, businesses or organizations, the key is to fall back on your own experience and insights with which you have created your strategy, in combination with adapting the specific situation you are working in.

Being a successful social media consultant depends on several skills. You will need sales skills to pitch and sell to companies, communication skills and an in-depth knowledge of how businesses work. It is not enough to have a healthy Facebook account and a substantial amount of followers on Twitter. Finally, it’s not only your knowledge of the technology that counts. The message itself is of course equally important. As an aspiring social media consultant, you have to be passionate about marketing.

Concluding this series, we can say that freelancing jobs have in common a need for self-discipline, a waterproof business plan, and an extensive network.  Treat your activities as a business and be professional about what you do. Happy freelancing!

By Laura Macek, Journalism and Content Intern at Who’s Who

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