After my last column on digital trends in e-commerce I was contacted by several readers. Here I want to share the story of two Omani influencers, hoping to inspire more youth in Oman to find creative ways to embrace entrepreneurship.
The first email was from Mahfoudha, a 27-year-old graduate from Sultan Qaboos University. She has multiple social media accounts and she is particularly active on Twitter.
However, her income is primarily generated on Instagram, where she has attracted more than 100 thousand followers over the past five years. She shared with me that every month there are approximately 20 businesses contacting her for a “shoutout”.
A shoutout is a popular form of advertising on Instagram, where influencers like Mahfoudha, during their daily stories or through a post in their feed, openly promote a certain product or service. Mahfoudha told me that she started doing shoutouts for RO 10 when she only had 10 thousand followers.
Now she can charge up to RO 100 for multiple shoutouts for the same brand. Although Mahfoudha did not disclose the amount of money she can make in a month, with a simple calculation we can guess. She might have managed to generate an income similar to a full-time office job.
The other story is from Mustafa, a 21-year-old Omani with a diploma in media. He lives in Nizwa and posts videos about cars on this Youtube channel. Although his videos are in English, his primary audience is in the Middle East.
However, he shared with me that his channel also receives a substantial amount of views from the US. Mustafa also mentioned that through the monetisation structure of Youtube, he can earn up to RO 250 per month.
His channel is just a hobby, as he works full time in the public sector, but he wishes to transform his hobby in his profession in the next two years.
The examples above show that social media has reached a degree of popularity that rewards those willing to invest the time and effort. Producing good content is essential for the survival of any social media account or a Youtube channel.
However, some struggling accounts can at times be a source of income too. In fact, some influencers might have lost passion for their channel and they might be willing to sell it out at an affordable price. This is called “flipping accounts”.
Through third party escrow services, anyone can buy a popular Instagram account or a Youtube channel, inheriting all of the followers.
They can then monetize through shoutouts like Mahfoudha, as part of Youtube monetisation system, or even reselling the account after polishing it and revamping it.
But not all that glitters is gold. Many accounts have fake followers and purchasing them would not bring any value to the new owner. Therefore, if you found this article inspiring, be aware of the risks as well as the amount of work needed to transform your story into a success.
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