Today on LinkedIn, Fru Sheila Chi, a young lawyer made a post on clauses to look out for in a contract and I found that really valuable. I said to myself, this is the kind of content which will position her as an authority. If she starts producing content to help people through the legal process of acquiring land in Cameroon, she will help more people avoid scams. She will make herself an authority of land acquisition and be able to monetize her knowledge of the legal procedure
Now, this reminds me of a time i made a post about breastfeeding for working moms and was contacted by a Nigerian to give a talk to her community of women on how to balance breastfeeding and work. After a series of conversations,I ended up with 50,000NGN after a 3 hour class and even had people asking if i had a book or course on this subject. Mind you, 50k is what some of my colleagues have as monthly call allowance for sleeping in the hospital atleast 5x a month.
Now, where am I driving to? On this internet, in the midst of fun and socializing, as a personal brand or business you need to produce content which answers the questions your audience have. In that way, you build an authority and you can make money just from what you know.
There are times I have looked for some answers and I thought, why are the experts on this subject not telling us or producing content about this. If your content everyday revolves around come and buy ohh, it becomes monotonous, boring and annoying. Do you think we like money leaving our pockets? People hate being sold to so, sometimes, sell indirectly by answering some questions.
Let me give examples of what I am talking about. Note that, I can Google this but answering these questions will position you as an authority and then you can charge for this knowledge in many forms. (I have deliberately left medical professionals out cuz we are planning a whole training on on that).
These are some examples;
- Lawyer: What should I include in a partnership deed? What should be in a non-disclosure statement? What can I do to a copy cat? What is a cease and decease letter? (Did I even call that right?), what legal process do I follow if I am raped? What should I look out for when buying a piece of land? How do I know land ownership document is fake or genuine?
- Accountant: How can I manage the books in an easy way as a small business? Is there an app I can use which can manage my figures? What apps do I use to derive my invoices and connect to my books such that once I issue an invoice, it records and i dont have to do it manually? How can i track sales, expenses? How can I manage my personal finances? Should I open different accounts, can I split my account into different purposes? La Marj is an accountant who is doing great in monetizing accounting. Another accountant I have seen making millions is a Nigerian who owns Accountinghub.ng. She simplifies accounting for small business.
- Do you work in the Ministry of small and medium sized enterprises and help businesses register their enterprises? Tell me how I can verify if the name I want to adopt is already taken considering not all businesses are online in Cameroon? How much does the entire process cost? What should I look out for to avoid falling prey to scammers who defraud SMEs in the name of registering their businesses? Same thing for human resource personnel: can you tell us what disqualifies CVs you receive? How can we optimize our CV for the ATS?
- Car dealer, mechanic etc: Can you help us review some cars available in Cameroon? What car parts can we easily find? How should I as a starter assess a car before buying? What car will you recommend for someone with say 5million frs, 10 million etc? What should we look out for or who should we go with when buying a car generally?Where can we get these cars you are recommending? (Tell us about your shop now)
- Website designer, graphic designer etc; Ataubo Mbakwa asked a question about comparison of a wordpress site or website build from scratch with codes? That is a question I have asked so many times and got different answers. Why are website designers not telling us? How much should I budget for either websites? What qualifies as a great website? How do I choose my brand colors? Etc
- Fashion designers, clothes, shoes sellers: Yes, we have seen the dress, it looks good but where am I wearing this to? Sometimes, give us dress up ideas too? E.g 5 style ideas for a casual night out, 10 ways to wear this scarf, 5 ways to style this shoe, 8 fashion ideas for a date night (you can use your clothes). The worst is just selling us clothes lying on beds.
- Phone and gadget sellers: Yes, we have the phones, they are original, and we have seen the prices. Now,can you help me make a choice. I watch atleast 5 videos on phone reviews before buying a new phone. If you sell phones, once in a while can you do comparison using different criteria? If you are looking for great camera, use this, if your priority is space, use this etc. Why should I get techno over Samsung? Go ahead and debunk myths about certain phones. For a long time, I hated apple products cuz i heard they are hard to use and you buy all the apps you use until someone explained to me. There are questions your customers are asking everyday, come and answer it for us please.
- Catering services and food vendors: Sometimes, tell us how we can make our food healthier. Can you review certain ingredients once in a while? Why should I use this brand of rice and not that one? If I have a certain disease condition how can I modify my cooking process? How can I manage cooking as a working busy person (one point her eis outsourcing which is a service you offer) etc
I can go on and on but, who d read that long thing gang will come for me. I am writing from a customer perspective and hope the experts like Javnyuy Joybert will throw more light.
Personally.i derive my health content on my page More Than Just an MD, Mt-Jam Health from questions patients ask in my office everyday. For 1 person who asks, there are 100 other people who dont know the answer.
We are under exploiting content, leaving money on the table in the name of, Cameroonians are not online.
Hope from today we start taking content creation and knowledge monetization serious to build our authority and make more money online. Have a happy Sunday and fruitful week ahead.
What is your area of expertise let us give you some content ideas?Dear Fans, Friends & Family,
- Dr. Ngwashi Christabel