The digital sector has become essential today and it concerns all walks of life because social networks are omnipresent. Influencers, brands, businesses, etc. all are into creating content or paying someone to do it.
Awa Claudine, better known as Miss Digitale on social networks, gives us the impression that creating content is easy and fast, when the reality is quite different.
For those who want to start creating content and make a business out of it, she gives us the steps to get started!
From Awa to Miss Digitale
Awa Claudine is a social, curious and very creative young Senegalese, who has been creating content since 2020 and also a TV presenter with her own 100% digital show, on the Fashion Africa channel.
Awa started working very early: at 16, she was a hostess, then a model for 6 years from the age of 18. In 2017, she created a digital agency called Fingerprint with a classmate, which marked her entry into the digital world. Subsequently, she created content on her personal account before being noticed by Adama Paris who offered to make it a concept on television.
Today, she supports several Senegalese companies and brands in the creation of content and their digital presence in general with her company Miss Digital and Co, in addition to her career as a TV host and photo model.
Her path
After graduating from Lamine Gueye high school (Bac L2), she did a degree in business communication before taking a one-year break to do a master's degree in digital but did not find the training complete enough. She preferred to study and learn on her own directly in the field. Her training in business communication only concerned traditional media such as radio and TV, but for everything digital, she is 100% self-taught.
“I started young, at 20, it was difficult to be respected. We had to be listened to by older business leaders, make them trust social networks and trust you to manage their accounts. Also, we had to make them understand the potential of the networks that they did not find important.”
She also took the risk of working with small businesses, so with people who did not necessarily go to school or had any training, but who have a successful business.
"They don't understand what you're doing, yet they want to and they know they have to do it but they can't tell you why. So you have to educate your clients and explain your work to them. »
Why go into the digital world
A classmate had sent her a youtube video that talked about digital. Fascinated, she spent the night watching videos on the subject and how social networks work. The potential is obvious to her: there was a lot to do in this area in Senegal, but there was not enough supply. Communications agencies have long been here in Dakar but not like today where everyone includes the digital aspect. With her classmate, they decided to create a structure to help small businesses and brands gain visibility, because ads are very expensive on TV. This service costs much less and offers many possibilities.
The digital sector
Far from being saturated, the digital sector has really just taken off because at the scale of the Senegalese population, it is only recently that people discover and learn to use digital tools and really took an interest in them.
"There are a lot of companies but if we manage to personalize ourselves and not have the same offer as the others, I think that everyone has their place."
The major advantage is to find your way and be free. You don't have to go to the office, because you can work from anywhere. There is also this aspect where you can express your creativity.
"In a company, there are specifications to follow, but in digital, you can create your own way of doing things, you don't have to follow a specific way. No one can say 100% how Instagram or Twitter works, so it's up to you, as a professional, how to succeed in helping your customers. »
Steps to get started in digital
Training
You have to educate and inform yourself first. There are a lot of coaching everywhere today. But you also have to be careful because there are a lot of "gurus" and coaches on social networks, especially on YouTube, who don't necessarily tell the truth.
"I made that mistake. When I started, I trained on Youtube but I took everything. You have to know how to adapt the information to your market. What an expert will say, for example, about a technique that works on Facebook, may only concern his country but will not work in Senegal. So you have to learn but always test. »
Funding
With a computer and a phone, you can already do a lot.
«When we launched Fingerprint, we started with 10,000 fr cfa to sponsor the page and make an ad. »
However, it is imperative to have a good phone that can take great photos. Because people are now used to seeing quality images. So, to get into the market and start creating content, you have to invest in a good phone.
Create Structure
«The mistake that people make in the beginning, and that we made as well, is prospecting.»
The best way to start is to take yourself as your first customer: everything you want to offer future customers, such as creating a community or working on their brand image, etc., you have to do it for your own structure and be the perfect example of what you offer. Once you start having customers, you can finally register the company in Apix, have your NINEA etc, because there are some customers who will ask for it.
Business environment and pricing
The price is the hardest thing to set when you have a business. To calculate the best price, you have to take into account your charges first: it can be transport, the telephone plan to call customers, the internet, etc. and don't forget to pay yourself, which happens often to entrepreneurs. Also, do not be afraid of being too expensive.
"It's never expensive, you just have to find your target".
The ultimate advice
“At first and for quite a while, I lost all social life. »
To avoid this, you have to organize yourself and have one day off every week. Even if it is not a social moment, for your health, it is important to have that. When you are an entrepreneur, you always have this energy to work all the time and surpass yourself. But breaks are important for entrepreneurs to see where they are and where they are going. So you have to have the discipline to have breaks, even during during the day.
Also, remembering to communicate with the people around you, even for 10 minutes a day, is important so you won't be totally disconnected.
Finally, you have to accept the fact that it is a huge workload with a hellish pace behind which awaits you, despite the image that social networks seem to send back.
The Future of Miss Digital
In the future, Awa Claudine wants, through her Miss Digitale platform, to transmit her knowledge.
The objective will be to offer training, and provide a framework where people can come and learn how to create content and manage social networks.
