Today, we share and consume a lot of information in a digital format of some kind. Bloggers make up one of the most rapidly growing voices and mediums for breaking news, valuable market insights, pop culture and op-eds, and they’re often the first to introduce us to trendsetting styles and unique brands.

Why is blogging so popular? Well, it’s an easy-to-read, genuine perspective, communicated in a style that is unique to the author — generally; it’s colorful, opinionated and unfiltered. Most people now consider blog posts to be the closest thing to a personal recommendation, and since we assume that there is generally no ulterior motive for a blogger to write the piece, readers consider a blog post at face value.

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Singer and entrepreneur Banky W covers the hot new edition of Y! Magazine – the ‘Power to the People’ issue that profiles the energy, passions, and activism of young Nigerians over the past few months.

“Across the world, the balance of power has turned over,” said Chude Jideonwo, Y! Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief. “Beyond the Arab Spring, the Libyan revolution and Occupy Wall Street and the way that young people every from Europe to Malawi are driving the conversation, what anyone who is paying attention will notice is that power has truly changed hands – people movements and pop culture have begun to play an even greater role than politicians and government, and those are the kinds of issues that Y!chronicles.”

In the cover interview, Banky W speaks exclusively and candidly about his battle against cancer, his activism, and entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

“When I was about to be operated on by a doctor, he cancelled while I was right there on the operating table, because he was nervous about how far it had spread and if he was expert enough to deal with it,” Banky W recalls in the cover story. “I think that’s when it set in on how serious it was, because we then had to go from one referral to another trying to find the specialist who could operate on this particular strain of cancerous tumours. It was arguably the scariest time of my life.”

This 8th edition also features an interview with 10 of the nagtion’s brightest young people in the online space – including Linda Ikeji, Wale Adetula of The Naked Convos, Nmachi Jidenma of Cp-Africa, Ladun Liadi, Ike Orizu of MyTruSpot, Ediong Umoh of NigeriaNewsDesk, amongst others.

The magazine also features a recap on the major trends from and post the #OccupyNigeria protests this year with features, first person narratives, a full photo album covering Lagos, Abuja, Calabar, Ghana, South Africa, London, and the United States.

“And of course, as usual there is a delightful mish-mash of sights and sounds from pop culture across the country,” continues Jideonwo. “There are reviews and interviews on television, radio, music, music, theatre, hangouts, events, and an exciting fashion spread.”

This edition also includes an exclusive interview with Member Hembadoon Feese, the young woman who survived the August 2011 bomb blast that tore through the United Nations building in Abujaa feature on the LifeHouse in Lagos, which just closed down, as well as features from across the country from Akure to Jigawa.  It includes an ‘Everyday People’ feature with five road-side beauticians and an exclusive interview with the Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga.

Y! Magazine is the flagship of the Y! brand which, through pop culture, focuses on issues that affect and concern the informed and engaged young Nigerian. While focused on its vision to be the most influential contemporary culture force in Nigeria, especially for the upwardly mobile young person, Y!’s mission is to inspire thought, provoke action, and stimulate growth.

Y! magazine is available with distributors and bookstores across the country, campus representatives across Nigeria, and all House of Tara stores in 22 states of the country. Details on this and subscriptions are available on http://www.ynaija.com/where-to-buy-y/.

As part of the pre-awards activities for its Season 7, The Future Awards Central Working Committee has announced The Online Media Business MasterClass for July 25 in Lagos, Nigeria. The MasterClass is for young people who want to run online media businesses in Nigeria and are looking for practical steps and guidelines.

“With success models like BellaNaija, LindaIkeji, YNaija, and others, young people are now taken in by the power of new media to influence conversations, drive agendas, inform, and entertain at the same time,” says Chude Jideonwo, who is executive director of The Future Project. “A passionate set of bloggers and young people who seek to build a career in social media have since emerged; what they need now are the skills required to build a reputable – and most importantly, profitable – new media brand.”

Themed ‘So you think you can blog?’, the full day interactive session will feature the facilitators sharing knowledge and information about running a media business in Nigeria; emphasising the opportunities, challenges, and strategies; especially in the peculiar Nigerian environment.

The training scheduled for July 25 in Lagos, is set to be a memorable experience for bloggers and new media entrepreneurs as the facilitators constitute some of Nigeria’s finest, influential, online personalities.

Facilitators at the MasterClass are Linda Ikeji (Creator and Editor, Linda Ikeji Blog), Chude Jideonwo (Editor, Y!/YNaija.com), Noble Igwe (Publisher, 360Nobs.com), Cheta Nwanze (Chief Information Officer, DailyTimes), Japheth Omojuwa (Editor, Omojuwa.com) and Ediong Umoh (Curator, NigeriaNewsDesk), who will share how NigeriaNewsDesk became the fastest breaking news service in Nigeria from its base in Calabar.

Topics to be treated include The Talent for Blogging, How to Drive Your Numbers, Building an Online Personality, Location is Irrelevant, Getting Your Technology Right, and Standards Still Matter.

The Future Awards Online Business MasterClass holds on July 25 at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos with a registration fee of N2,500. Interested participants should visit www.ynaija.com/onlinemasterclass to register or call 08022226712.

The MasterClass is organised as part of The Future Enterprise Support Scheme (TF-ESS); a platform designed to equip young people with adequate Business and Creative skills to succeed in their chosen area of profession. TF-ESS is one of the programmes of The Future Project.

Red Media, a communication company launched on July 1, 2011 with a focus on Public Relations, Youth Marketing, Street Activations, and New Media, in a press briefing recently, announced activities to commemorate an impressive year in the industry.

The company’s heritage over the past six years covers services for clients across a wide spectrum including Government, Oil & Gas, Financial Services, Technology, Development, Social Services, Entertainment, Fashion & Style, Education, and Celebrity Brands. Last year, the company formally moved out of its erstwhile company RedSTRAT, with two of its directors coming together to build the brand Red Media, still driven by its spirit of excellence and its heritage of seven years.

“Red Media stands at the cusp of a new direction for media businesses for two reasons: first, we are headlining a new model that combines a strong marketing communication business with media content ownership, and in a new media space defined by ubiquitous new/digital media platforms,” explained Adebola Williams, a Partner in the firm. “We are one of a very small community that has deep experience with both traditional media and new media and understand how brands should integrate both spaces.”

Red Media has an impressive base of A-list of clients that have included Etisalat, Google the Nigeria LNG, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Nigerian Idol, amongst others. Other clients have included TRACE Urban, Moet Hennessy, the British Council, the Federal Ministry of Youth, Enough is Enough Nigeria, Kasuwa, and the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

Activities to commemorate the anniversary include the Red Reception to celebrate the firm’s clients and associates, a thanksgiving service, the launch of a new group website, amongst others.

“We have not done this alone,” Adebola Williams is quick to note. “We are exceedingly grateful for the incredible support we have had from the Nigerian media across traditional and new media portals.” He added.

“When people ask what it is that has been responsible for this string of successes, we say it’s really simple,” Williams added. “We are all about Return on Investment. We are doers. We don’t just talk; we actually get the job done, again and again – and we are thankful for a year of consolidation. We keep moving!”

Red Media is the communication subsidiary of the Red Media Group, which is a network of premium media companies including Y! (www.ynaija.com_) with a prominent development affiliate called The Future Project, owners of The Future Awards (www.thefuturenigeria). More information is on the website www.rednigeria.com.

For the third year in a row, The Future Awards, referred to by the World Bank as ‘The Nobel Prize for Young Africans’, is searching for the most brilliant young minds in Science, in addition to its yearly search for the brightest minds in Technology.

“For many years, what we have done is try to mirror the breakthroughs that young people have made in different fields and to sustain them,” said Chude Jideonwo, who is Executive Director of The Future Project.  “In keeping with our ‘Tear down these walls!’ campaign this year, we are looking for the brightest young minds driving innovation and impact in science and/or technology with innovation or invention – through the category Innovator of the Year – Science and Technology.

The awards website explains the broad criteria for this category: We are searching for young people across science and technology (especially Information Technology) who have furthered the boundaries in these fields in terms of research or activity. There are a critical number of young Nigerians who are advancing impressive, practical innovations that can compare with the best around the world. It will help if there is some kind of recognition or institutional buy-in for that work, and the work should be available for inspection.
“We are also beaming the search light on service,” Jideonwo said in explaining the Excellence in Service categories. “We are looking for young people in governance and the corporate sector whose work shines bright in driving effective, professionalism and impact, with integrity and productivity.”

It will be recalled that, in 2010, Ify Aniebo won the Best Use of Science (also the biggest prize, Young Person of the Year) award for her ground-breaking work in malaria research, and in 2011, Debo Olaosebikan won the award for his work on developing the world’s first electrically operated Silicon Laser, a project supported by a $6 million grant from the United States Department of Defense. In the same year, Tolulope Iroye won the Best Use of Technology award for the ‘Magic box’; a device built to allow you control your electronic gadgets, for example, your TV from anywhere with your mobile phone as well as control electricity or mobilise/immobilise cars from anywhere in the world.

Nominations for the 2012 awards kicked off on the 29^th of May and will continue until this Saturday, June 30. Town Hall Meetings have been holding across the country, including in Lagos, Rivers, Anambra, Adamawa and Abuja. Nominees must be Nigerian citizens and must be aged 18 – 31. To nominate for this category, please go to www.thefuturenigeria.com.

Other categories for the Awards this year include Best Use of Advocacy, Actor of the Year, Best Use of New Media, Entrepreneur of the Year in Media/Communication, Entertainment, Technology and Fashion; Designer of the Year, Innovator of the Year – Education, Creative Artist of the Year, Journalist of the Year, Magazine of the Year, Musician of the Year, Music Producer of the Year, On-Air Personality of the Year (Radio), On-Air Personality of the Year (TV), Excellence in Service – Journalism, Corporate and Government, Screen Producer of the Year, and the biggest for Young Person of the Year.

Nominations end at midnight on June 30 (two days away!).

ABOUT THE FUTURE AWARDS

Referred to by the World Bank as ‘Nobel Prize for young Africans” and “the biggest youth Awards in Africa” by the London Metropolitan University, The Future Awards continues to be the most influential and popular youth platform that identifies young people who have excelled at their work and by so doing inspire others, celebrates their achievements, and showcases them as role models to inspire a generation of Africans to believe in themselves and the future of their countries.

With outreaches to Ghana, Ethiopia and South Africa, The Future Awards has been described by respected leaders as “Africa’s biggest youth event” and in six years, has produced 126 winners and over 1,000 nominees. Our mission at The Future Awards is to inspire leadership and build enterprise.

The Future Awards presents winners and nominees from diverse backgrounds: from female farmer Mosunmola Umoru to internationally acclaimed author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, NASA scholar Tosin Otitoju to 1-second power change over inventor based in Ajegunle Otejiri Oghogori; Ndidi Nwuneli of LEAP Africa (MFR) to Dustbin Estate Advocate; Tolu Sangosanya. The last winner for Young Person of the Year, was Rolex Award winner and farm technology entrepreneur Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu – this is a critical mass that are positioned as leaders and whose collective influence can change the leadership equation for an evolving nation.

Rapid Blue Format and Optima Media Group (OMG), the organizations behind the hugely successful Nigerian Idols TV show which has graced our TV screens with outstanding entertainment for two seasons, have brought the 6-year-long, globally popular “Got Talent” Franchise to Nigeria. The debut season of what will be known as the “Nigeria’s Got Talent” reality show will last from June to December 2012 whilst auditions begin from the 4th of July 2012. Thousands of talented Nigerians of all ages and sexes each bearing a unique talent will troop to audition centres located across the country, to audition for a chance to be the next Susan Boyles, Diversity, or Bianca Ryan – performers who have received worldwide acclaim and super star status courtesy of the “Got Talent” franchise.

Speaking about this new entrant into the Nigerian entertainment space, Mr. Rotimi Pedro, Managing Director of Optima Media Group enthused, “The group puts Nigeria on the world map again, side-by-side with countries like America, France, and India who have bought into the ‘Got Talent’ franchise; which is one of the fastest growing in the world. Through the franchise, we are glad to be able to provide a worldwide platform for raw, unique, and dynamic talent in this country and at the same time present the worldclass entertainment which is our trademark. Amongst the significant features of the show is that it gives an opportunity to talented amateurs or unknown performers, with the results being decided by an audience vote. There is no age restrictions for contestants on the show. Anybody can audition with any talent.”

Speaking on Airtel’s sponsorship of the Nigeria’s Got Talent reality TV show, the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of Airtel Nigeria, Deepak Srivastava said the telecommunications operator is committed to driving its brand vision of being the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians by passionately creating credible platforms that celebrate and reward young, talented Nigerians.

“Airtel connects Nigerian youth to their friends, fun and life aspirations. Nigeria’s Got Talent is essentially a platform to fulfill our mission to enable Nigerian youth to have the best of fun with their friends while also fulfilling their life dreams. Our youths are very talented; they have delivered great music, great acting and have achieved a whole lot in other endeavours like sports and even in academics.  And that is why Airtel is here to demonstrate its commitment to such lofty goals,” said Srivastava.

For Evita Mousalli, COO Cool, Wazobia Info Radio stations who are the official media partners “It is exciting that this show finally comes to Nigeria. It’s a franchise I have followed since inception and for us at Cool FM it’s huge and we must be part of it. So we are excited to take the news of Nigeria’s Got Talent across Nigeria with all our 11 radio stations and counting.”

In this debut season, a panel of three reputable judges will be faced with the daunting prospect of identifying unique talents to face the viewing public who will decide, in a series of semi-finals and final shows, who most deserves the chance of stardom. Nigeria is the only country on the African continent, with the exception of South Africa that has been able secure the franchise.”

The “Got Talent” franchise has produced many notable performers in the last couple of years.1st runner up of Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 Susan Boyle’s debut album became the fastest selling UK debut album of all time, selling over 3 million copies in the U.S. This is the sort of platform which OMG, through “Nigerian’s Got Talent” hopes to give many budding and equally talented performers in the country.

The franchise is one of the fastest growing international franchises, closing the gap on other successful franchises such as ‘The Weakest Link’, ‘The X Factor’, ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’, ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ amongst others. OMG is excited to close the gap and be a springboard for the many talents across the country.

There’s a catch-22 in social media for those whose job it is to stay active and informed. On one hand, you have to constantly update Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and Foursquare; slowing down on any of them can hurt exposure though the various ranking systems (such as Facebook EdgeRank) associated with them. On the other hand, you have to keep them somewhat diversified to both cater to the specific personalities in each as well as give a valid reason to be followed actively on multiple channels. Why would people follow your Google+ updates if they’re just carbon copies of your Facebook posts, for example. It’s not just the “heavy update” channels that cause challenges. YouTube, Pinterest, Flickr, Tumblr, blogs – they all require different types and frequencies of attention to keep them relevant as well.

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The Central Working Committee for The Future Awards has announced three special-vehicle sector Town Hall Meetings in the month of June – in the build up to August 26, Nigeria’s biggest youth event, The Future Awards 2012.

The Town Hall meetings will be hosted by popular culture event Taruwa; Conversations for Change, which is an organisation for young professionals committed to nation building, the British Council’s Creative Enterprise Series and Lagos’s Co-Creation Hub, which has become a model for involvement and convergence with technology.

“This is yet another innovation from Nigeria’s most respected youth platform,” said OhimaiAtafo, who is chair of the CWC. “The idea is to have town hall meetings targeted at the broad sectors that the awards is interested in. You will remember that this year’s categories were segmented into Innovation, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Entertainment, and Excellence in Public Service, and these town halls are focused on these.”

The town hall meetings are focused on generating the best nominations in the various categories as well as stimulating purposive discussions about growth and depth in relevant sectors especially for young people.

The CC Hub Town Hall Meeting is focused on such categories as: Innovator of the Year (Science & Technology), Innovator of the Year (Education), Entrepreneur of the Year (Technology) amongst others.

Themed ‘Hope and Courage’, the Taruma meeting is focused on such categories as Creative Artist of the Year, On-Air Personality of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year (Entertainment) amongst others.

The ‘Conversations for Change’ meeting is focused on such categories as Excellence in Service (Government), Excellence in Service (Journalism), and Excellence in Service (Corporate).

There will also be a meeting with the Creative Enterprise Series held in conjunction with the British Council to focus on such categories as Designer of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year (Style), amongst others.

The events hold on June 22, 24, 26, and 27 respectively. These meetings will complement the usual town hall meetings across the country’s geo-political zones. The Future Awards will visit Abuja, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Ife, and Awka.

The Future Awards Season 7 was launched on May 29 with the theme ‘Tear Down These Walls!’ For a full list of the award categories and other information about The Future Awards, visit www.facebook.com/thefutureawards or www.thefuturenigeria.com

The Awards proper hold on August 26, 2012. Media Partners include Channels TV, TV Continental, Wazobia FM, Nigeria Info FM, BellaNaija, LindaIkejiBlog, 360Nobs, Premium Times, NET, and Jobberman. The Official Media Partners are Y!, Africa Magic, and Cool FM.

ABOUT THE FUTURE AWARDS

Referred to by the World Bank as ‘Nobel Prize for young Africans” and “the biggest youth Awards in Africa” by the London Metropolitan University, The Future Awards continues to be the most influential and popular youth platform that identifies young people who have excelled at their work and by so doing inspire others, celebrates their achievements, and showcases them as role models to inspire a generation of Africans to believe in themselves and the future of their countries.

With outreaches to Ghana, Ethiopia and South Africa, The Future Awards has been described by respected leaders as “Africa’s biggest youth event” and in six years, has produced 126 winners and over 1,000 nominees. Our mission at The Future Awards is to inspire leadership and build enterprise.

The Future Awards presents winners and nominees from diverse backgrounds: from female farmer MosunmolaUmoru to internationally acclaimed author ChimamandaNgoziAdichie, NASA scholar TosinOtitoju to 1-second power change over inventor based in AjegunleOtejiriOghogori; NdidiNwuneli of LEAP Africa (MFR) to Dustbin Estate Advocate; ToluSangosanya. The last winner for Young Person of the Year, was Rolex Award winner and farm technology entrepreneur NnaemekaIkegwuonu – this is a critical mass that are positioned as leaders and whose collective influence can change the leadership equation for an evolving nation.

The Managing Partner of Red Media Group, Chude Jideonwo has been invited as a speaker for the Creative Enterprise Sessions (Lagos 5.0) holding on June 27, 2012, to speak on the topic: The Future Awards as Case Study: Where Pop Culture and Development Meet.
The Creative Enterprise Session is a monthly interactive networking meet-up in Lagos that features over 500 entrepreneurs and would be entrepreneurs in the creative world. Also speaking at the event are Azu Arinze, Founder Yes Magazine and Ese Oraka, Consultant for Law Allianz.
The event will be between 10am to 1pm at the British Council Conference Room, 20 Thompson Drive, Ikoyi.

Whether you’ve owned your own business for years or you’re in the beginning phases of launching your startup, you’ve likely heard a lot about “building your brand.” But for many people, the whole idea of branding is a bit confusing. In fact, “brand” may seem like nothing more than a modern day business buzzword that people throw around to sound like they know what they’re talking about.

However, branding isn’t just another piece of silly business jargon. In fact, your company’s brand is essential to building long-term success. That said, I’ve lined out the following steps to help you understand what branding is and how you should go about defining your business’ brand.

Step 1: Define What Matters to You.

Before you can build your brand, you need to sit and decide exactly what values matter most to you and your company. These could include anything from fast customer response time to higher quality products to guaranteed services. Whatever these values are, you must define them from the start and purpose to never do anything that goes against them. By stating your values and sticking to them, you have completed the initial step to figuring out exactly what your brand is—you’ve also helped your customers begin developing that initial connection. However, something worth considering: should you ever compromise those stated values, your customers are sure to notice.

Step 2: Identify your niche and start carving.

It’s been said, “Go niche or go home.” Now I’m not sure who exactly said it, but whoever they were hit the nail right on the proverbial head. Your brand relies heavily on what niche you have chosen to operate in. in other words, you have to define the niche in order to know what customers to target for brand building. And incidentally, the smaller the niche, the easier it is to target your marketing efforts and the simpler time you have becoming an expert (big fish, small pond trumps small fish, big pond).

Step 3: Differentiate yourself in both word and action.

No matter what niche you end up settling in, it’s highly probable that you aren’t the only business living there. Everyone has competitors. So the next step in brand building would be differentiating yourself from them. In other words, what makes you different from the others in the eyes of your customers? You can achieve this through both words and actions. First, try to use different language in your marketing materials than your competitors. Otherwise you’ll end up sounding just like them and no one will be able to tell you apart. Secondly, differentiate through action by offering something different—be it a guarantee, a new twist to the product, or something else. Whatever you choose, just make sure it adds value to your product; value that goes beyond that of your competitors.

Step 4: Rinse and repeat.

Now it’s time to perform over and over again. Once your customers start to connect you with consistency, you’ve accomplished the final phase of building your brand.

Articles from: E.Releases (written by Mickie Kennedy)