#OAP101 Hashtag it!

What is your favourite hashtag to use?

Hashtags are an important part of living and dealing on social media. Whether as a way of joining or starting a conversation, they help your posts (and therefore, you) to be seen.

Improper use of hashtags however can do more harm than good. For example, if you break one of the hashtag rules, you may find people skipping over your posts, and a platform like Instagram could even 'shadowban' you, making it hard for your posts to be discovered.

What are some of these Hashtag sins?
- Putting the 'hash' key in the wrong place. Always #OAP101 and not OAP101#
- Using too many hashtags. While on Instagram, you can get away with up to 30 hashtags, on Twitter and Facebook, you want to do fewer tags; maybe 1 or 2, 3 maximum.
- Putting them all over the place. While it is okay to sometimes hashtag a word in the middle of a sentence, it can make your captions look clumsy. Instead of a sentence like, 'This is the #OAP101 #blogpost for #today', write the sentence first, THEN place the hashtags below or after the caption.
See an example here.

Now that we have covered some of the sins, what makes for a great use of a hashtag?

1. Unique hashtags
You need a unique hashtag for your brand, like how we have #OAP101. I also have #ShopTosyn and #TosynBucknorDaily.
This one is simply for your brand and you can ask your followers to use it for posts they want you to see or repost

2. Relevant hashtags
Apart from using one or two unique hashtags (if on Instagram), you also need a hashtag that is relevant to the post you have up. In this instance for example, I definitely need to include '#Hashtag' and perhaps '#SocialMedia' in my post.

3. Popular Hashtags
Be careful with how you use popular hashtags because if you use them just to get your post discovered, it can actually be worse for you. If people feel you're using hashtags indiscriminately, they can ask for your post to be removed from that particular hashtag, and like I mentioned above, some platforms will penalise you for it.
Popular hashtags vary from region to region so a quick Google search can show you top hashtags to use.

Another tip is to place your hashtag correctly.
For Facebook and Twitter, write your caption, then place 1 to 3 hashtags at the end of the caption.
On Instagram, to make it neater, write your caption then leave some space before including your hashtags as shown above. You can also simply put your hashtags as a comment on your post.

I hope these tips help.

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#OAP101 Neutral and Detached or Passionate and Opinionated?

Welcome to another #OAP101 class.

Today I would like to talk about something I have seen debated fiercely.
Most radio trainings (and indeed, broad journalism trainings) insist that one be IMPARTIAL and NOT HAVE AN OPINION.
For example, you read the news? Keep it neutral and just present the news. Don't react, and read news you agree with in much the same manner as you would news you disagree with.

The truth is, after all is said and done, people still look to the 'experts' (in this case, news anchors, journalists et al) to be credible and unbiased.
Having said that, radio and 'talk' has changed a little with more emphasis now being put on PERSONALITY of the hosts. For example, you have a Wendy Williams, an Ellen, a Steve Harvey... These 3 have clear and distinct personalities and never leave us in doubt as to where they stand.

So what is the conclusion then?

I think good radio depends on knowing who you are exactly on the show.
As a news reader, or a moderator, you must stick to those guidelines of being fair and impartial. When it comes to radio or television hosts though, I do not know that people knowing where you stand on an issue is a problem AS LONG AS you can still be impartial or at least, fair.
Let me give you an example with sports presenters.
The best sports presenters have a team they support but still give professional analysis of games, stats and results.

What do you think about this question?
Should a Radio Host be completely neutral or can they have opinions and express them?

#OAP101 4 Ways to Stay Fresh and Credible as a Media Host

Hello fresh, aspiring or established media personality,
It is a beautiful new week and I am writing this, sipping my tea, and thinking about how to keep being fresh and credible.


The truth is, there are 2 things you want to avoid on this journey- being thought of as stale, and being thought of as fake, as in, a source of fake news.

Some of the ways to stay fresh and credible are:

- Verifying your Sources
This is one of the most established tenets of journalism and I still get surprised when even interns or students on Industrial Attachment feel comfortable presenting me with stories, or worse, going on air with stories based on, 'People say...'

Investigative Journalism even has higher standards but whether you went to media school or not, as with life, so with news- check, recheck, double check.


- Consuming Different Kinds of Content
If you are into Music, you can still get some content from Sports. If you love News, Fashion may surprise you.
By watching and listening to other kinds of content, you stay updated and easily adaptable.



- Checking out Trends
Social Media platforms are making things a lot easier for us these days as they have things like 'Explore' (Instagram), 'Trending' (Twitter) and more.
A simple daily glance at online trends can help ensure you keep up with what everyone is talking about.


- Gisting with People
Sometimes, just a good kickback with people provides a world of fresh news, stories and talking points for you.
By listening to them and enjoying what they say, you get an insight into what people are excited, worried or lackadaisical about.
This can help you immensely.


What do you think of these tips? How do you stay fresh and credible as a media host from your end?
s.h.a.r.e with me.

P

How I Went Back to School on Friday courtesy the British Council

What is school without a face beat? Face beat by Makeup By Mogizzie

On Friday the 3rd of November, I went back to school, all thanks to the British Council.

I eagerly applied for the Media Workshop organised by the British Council when I found out about it and was happy to have been accepted. It was a Capacity Building Workshop that held at Radisson Blu between 9a.m and 4pm. We started on time... that was impressive. And not only that but the facilitators ensured each course was covered within the time frame allotted to it. It meant we were able to wrap at 4pm as planned.

The workshop covered various courses including Conflict Sensitive Journalism (Lauratu Umar Abdusalami), Collaborations in the Media Space, (Peter Okwoche), Online Content Optimisation for Journalists (Abasiama Idaresit), and my personal favourite- Personal Branding for Journalists.
The course on personal branding was taken by Lampe Omoyele from 141 Worldwide and Lucent Consulting Company and touched on what a brand was, why it is important to brand yourself, and things to consider when doing so. I asked a question about how to brand yourself when you have different interests and he advised me on that directly.

With Lampe Omoyele

During the full workshop session, we also took a test and worked the room asking people questions like, "Do you sing in the shower?" and "Have you ever stroked a lion?"
(Yes and No for me in case you are wondering). Harry Itie of TVC and Emeka Okocha of NothingToDoInLagos were also at the event and we caught up on what we had been up to.

After tea-breaks, classes, networking, lunch, questions, answers and pictures, we received our certificates.

It was a great learning experience with the opportunity to learn something new (especially for Child Protection and Coverage in the media), and also to re-learn things I knew before (like effective use of Social Media as a Journalist).

#OAP101 Define Your Brand! Here is how, and why!

We hear that word, 'brand' and the other phrase, 'branding yourself' a lot. Is it important? Of course. It is like asking if one should bother working or advertising. If you want to be successful and taken seriously in the media space, brand and branding are things you must be concerned about.

How then do you brand yourself? One of the first things you must do, is define your brand.

One of the first things i like to advise people to do is, when people think of you, what are the top 3 words you want them to associate you with?

For me for example, i like to think that when people think of me, they think of fun, they think of unique and they think intellectual. That is the first exercise. Much as when you think of a Brandy or a Sean Tizzle or a Bonang Matheba, ask yourself what must come to people's minds when they think of you.

This step correlates with the next one which is the 'Why'.

What do you want and why?

Say for example, what you want is to be the most popular media personality in the world. That is a start. You may want, like say an Oprah or an Ellen, to change the world one show at a time. The important thing is to define the what you wants and for you, the 'whys'. Why do you want these things?
My friend told me once that she was encouraged to pursue her line of work because when she was growing up, she saw a lady on tv that looked like her so she felt if that lady could do it, then so could she! When i heard that, i decided i was able to better define my own goals. I realised i wanted to be successful so that some girl could look at me and be encouraged. And i was determined to do it my way- natural hair, melanin popping, tomboy chic and all.

Now that i have shared mine, think about, and share yours with me below.

The final tip i have for you is listing what i like to call 'usps', i.e, Unique Selling Points.
Out of ALL the people in the media, why YOU?

Finding what makes you different will help you not just for yourself, but also for brands to work with you.

All these tips and things i have mentioned require honesty. Can you now honestly take some time out to answer this and then define your brand?
You can s.h.a.r.e with me or send questions privately via my email or a dm.

#EventWednesday A Week of Weddings, Jidenna and Fooooood

Last week was a full week for me. It was a mix of weddings, premieres, red carpets and foooooooooooooooooooood.

The week technically started Kunbi's wedding since I was there till Monday morning anyways.

Kunbi of April by Kunbi had a fairytale wedding and it was fun dancing all night.

The dancing continued on my radio show with old and new music. Imagine playing all those songs you danced to five, ten, fifteen years ago!

Kel (yes, Kelioooooo) also came on the show to exclusively premiere her brand new song, "Act like you Do", a 90s inspired song. Kel made a promise to me (on video) that she is back, and isn't going quiet again. Okay o!

Vera of Verastic.com, a blogger, content creator, mother and speaker, was my other guest this week, bringing us tips on blogging and niche blogging in particular for my Tip Thursday show. I learnt a lot, including having fun with things you love, even if it's niche you do.

On Thursday, it was 'Jidenna' live with Aurelien, and our friends, Benita and Jonathan. I enjoyed my goofy red carpet interviews with Bolinto for 'On the Carpet' (remixed 'Classic Man'), TraceNaija and Chuey of Pulse Nigeria (danced for him). Jidenna was funnnnn! The full set was enjoyable, even if 'Classic Man' still got the most buzz.

Buzz Friday was too much fun, with Makida and I doing the most; including a 'not Teyana Taylor' video via snapchat. (Don't look. Okay look. No don't).

*sigh*.

I'm eating doughnuts right now so I guess I can't ever hope to be like Teyana!

I can make music though, which I did, with a date with Sess.

And speaking of dates, I had a lovely dinner date with some (powerful) women in media, including Arit Okpo, Toke Makinwa, Lamide Akintobi, Olorisupergal and Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi. Dinner was with Mich ( Google ) and Teju ( Google Nigeria).

See? Full week right?

#OAP101 How to Schedule and Create your Content

Hello lovelies! I have this week's edition of 'OAP 101 Podcast' ready and this week, have i got tips for you! Get tips on 'Scheduling and Creating Content' for your radio, television and other shows. I give you practical tips, lace it with examples and a lot of giggling. Lol. Please check it out and then let me know if you have questions or comments.