Let us get to meet you. Tell us about yourself and your background
My name is Nwamaka Ophelia Patrick, I hail from Enugu state though most of my life was spent in the West where I schooled. I am the founder of Voice for Kali Foundation, a foundation that advocates for the right of Persons Living with Disabilities. I am a certified teacher from the University of Ilorin and currently a Social Media Specialist.
At what point in your career did you realize the values of social media as a major catalyst for business growth?
I am a certified teacher and was teaching in a secondary school, earning a very meager salary which could hardly take me till half of the month. I have always been social media savvy and you will most likely find me online most of the time. While teaching, I used social media to market other people’s businesses and got some profits from doing this. I created an oil perfume brand called the King’s Myrrh (branded after my son whose name means King), it was while doing this I realized that online, one can be right about anything. Social media has made it in such a way that many are cashing out millions monthly without even having a physical shop or office. So, I decided to resign from teaching to help busy business owners harness the full financial power that social media holds.
The media world is very wide and keeps evolving, what are the existing value chains that an aspiring media manager can leverage?
The media world is indeed very wide and trends keep changing. As an aspiring social media manager or a social media manager, you must stay flexible and stay aware of social media platforms trends. You must be able to change with the change
To run a business in your kind of profession, there is always a need to create a new customer experience for your clients. What special feature stands you out as a media facilitator?
Well, I used to call myself a content queen for a reason. As a social media specialist, I pride myself on my storytelling capabilities. I tell brand stories with ease and my clients enjoy this special side of me with passion.
Being a social media manager comes with having some professional norms and values, what skills would you advise an aspiring media manager to have?
In the social media world, content is king. As a social media manager, you have to acquire content creation skills except you want to pay others to do it for you which will not be that advisable. Content creation is a very important aspect of social media. Everyone does it but some people do it better. It is a skill I will advise every aspiring social media manager to acquire.
Social media can also be a source of negative vice in society, how can the government use it constructively to further build the country?
Well, if the government will listen to the voice of the people, it will be best for them to hire good and capable hands who will be in charge of social listening and work with the info gathered. Social media is a viable source of public opinion, they need to use it to find out what the people want, what they are saying and try to work with these.
The employment gap in Nigeria is significant and there is a current awakening of young people in acquiring skills. Are you involved in any activity that can help bridge this gap?
Of course, I am. I have trained close to 150 people on content creation between November last year and today. I am currently coaching some young adults on how to become social media managers and to take their financial liberty into their own hands
What are your professional goals and what should Nigeria and the world expect from you?
In the next five years, I will own my own media outlet where I will be able to employ enough young people while at the same time training some others. I have a lot to offer to society and this is just one of them.
You can narrow it down to your own experience