In my 12 years of creating lifestyle content for mobile platforms, this is the first time I've had the opportunity to have content distributed in a mobile content store in Africa. We've had content in other countries like Southeast Asia, India and Europe, but presenting and marketing multicultural and Black content in a Black country has been nothing but special.

Created by the Chinese company Afmobi, Palmchat is almost the number one social and dating app in Nigeria and two other African countries, with 80 million active users on the platform and another 60 million users in the Palmplay store.

One thing I've learned over the years is, regardless of country, young people all over the world love cool lifestyle content such as fashion, music, food and good stories. Creating ads using African American models displaying beauty and Black pride is something our Nigerian audience can surely relate to and has shown interest in.

Being of the same race as people in African countries has definitely made things easy on the marketing front us, and the constant activity we've gotten on our posts is proof that we have more things in common than not. Being an African American and truly not knowing my African roots, I love looking at the profiles and pictures of users who engage our brand's posts. The cities and villages they come from, their fashion styles, reading their interest and just looking at their faces warm my heart each time I get a notification.

As emerging markets continue to have a thirst for content, along with the development of new mobile platforms, agencies must tap into these emerging markets as a way to further their client's brands by having a presence on these new platforms. There are so many more platforms that offer a vehicle for promotion and brand awareness.

It's the wild wild west for users on multiple platforms like mobile phones, video game consoles, streaming platforms and social apps. Are ad agencies and marketers able to change their thinking at the drop of a dime, to put their client's brands in the face and hands of millions of cord cutters, millennials and other non-traditional renegade users and viewers. The new game is content at any time and any place, wherever users are — and trust me, that's a lot of places.

Traditional media platforms will never really go away, but mobile marketing ad spending and viewing are set to outdo not only traditional media, but desktop as well.

Marketers need to focus on mobile-first strategies and know how to reach their audiences. Mobile is more than just the Google Play Store and iTunes. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of mobile content portals, streaming platforms and app markets globally that have millions of subscribers that get what they want from these boutique outlets. It's like, why shop at the mall when I can get what I want from a specialty store.

It's no secret where millennials and cord cutters are. The question is, are marketers ready to get down to the task of open thinking and creating organic strategies that fit into this new ecosystem?

khaliph young

Writing since November 2018 · 1 story contributed