Inside sensational Victoria Kimani’s relationship with social media (exclusive)
Social media has become irreplaceable for millions of people in many ways. It has become a platform where individuals and organisations share their content, data mine and leverage their followers, engage with different audiences and advertise/market themselves at a cheaper cost with a wider reach.
The same can be said of sensational American-born Kenyan musician Victoria Kimani, who has used social media to promote her music and brand as a beauty and fashion ambassador.
She has managed to turn her social media platforms into a direct line to her audience, allowing them to share her new releases, behind-the-scenes content and personal stories in real time. This has endeared her to fans who are helping her to consolidate her presence in the competitive music industry.
Speaking to Nairobi News about some of the positives she has experienced from using the social media platform, she said.
“It has been extremely positive for my brand. There is a lot of ‘payola’ in content and you know, to get on some platforms, you have to pay this, you have to basically – excuse my language – but you have to kiss this person’s ass* or just really send baskets. And now you can just post it. Just upload it yourself and a million people can tune in; which is probably a lot more than whoever you begged or whoever gate-kept you from some of these traditional media. There are gatekeepers in that and using social media bypasses all that,” Ms Kimani began.
She largely sees social media as a positive tool in her world, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t encountered challenges with it – which sometimes leaves her questioning herself and what she’s doing with her life.
“There are challenges that come with that but I don’t see it as a negative. Now that everyone has a platform, there’s a lot of pressure to post more, to be seen on it, to stand out on it, and that’s where I tend to disconnect because then I have to go back to my roots and say ‘OK, why am I doing this in the first place? But I don’t see it as a negative, I see it as a positive challenge because here I am thinking ‘man, I just edited a nice reel and it’s really cool’ and then someone comes along with some crazy editing skills and basically drops a film on all of us. It makes us want to go and figure out this app, what did they use to get it to this point? If anything, it’s like iron sharpens iron…so it’s a challenge, but it’s not a negative for me at all,” Ms Kimani added.
Like Ms Kimani, millions of artistes continue to grapple with their love-hate relationship with various social media platforms. But at the end of the day, it is all about an artiste creating buzz, driving their music streams and influencing trends to maintain their presence in the music industry.