Ivorian content creator, Awa Fanny, has said content creation is becoming a route to financial success for young African creatives, noting that social media is creating opportunities beyond traditional employment.
Fanny, who has built a huge following on TikTok through her lifestyle content, stated this in an interview with Saturday Beats.
“Content creation is becoming a real route to financial success for young African creatives. With social media, you can build an audience around your talent, develop useful skills and attract opportunities from brands and businesses.
“What starts as entertainment can become a career when you take it seriously, understand your audience and learn how to turn your creativity into something people and businesses are willing to pay for,” she said.
Fanny joined TikTok in 2021, primarily for entertainment, but began taking content creation more seriously between 2022 and 2023.
According to her, one of the biggest opportunities in content creation is the ability to turn an audience into a community that trusts a creator’s work.
“The biggest opportunity is that one’s audience can become a community that trusts what one does. When brands see that people listen to you and engage with your content, they begin to see value in working with you. That can lead to collaborations, campaigns and other opportunities,” she said.
Speaking further, she said the creator economy was not just about becoming famous online, noting that it was also creating jobs for people with different skills.
“The creator economy is bigger than becoming famous online. It is creating work for people with different skills. Someone can become a video editor, photographer, designer, social media manager or strategist because creators and brands need those services.
“I think that is important for Africa because young people can find different ways to earn from their skills instead of waiting for one traditional employment opportunity,” she said.