Please read carefully through the detailed description below and let me know if you are convinced that you can meet high expectations in this role.
The project I want to develop is a text and video blog. The theme of the blog is: Africa is magic...and other random thoughts.
What do I mean by Africa is magic?
- Contrary to widespread belief, wonderful things are happening daily in all corners of Africa
- African talent can compete with anyone, anywhere, anytime (business, culture, sports, arts, music, movies, Internet, science, social activism, political activism, academia...)
- In many African cultures, people have found a healthy balance between work, life, family and society despite challenging economic conditions
- Creativity is off the charts in many areas, with people creating a lot out of very little (often using recycled waste products)
- Innovation is also high in more modern fields like technology, web, health sciences, etc.
- Africa is perceived as the next big thing for many savvy investors and we will showcase people/events/companies that make these investors believers
A few facts about my project:
- The blog will start off as bilingual with English and French versions
- My day job and non-stop travel doesn't allow me to handle this project by myself and still have a regularly updated blog
- I need an researcher/editor for the English version
- I need an researcher/editor for the French version (possibly same person as English but not necessarily)
- Researcher/editor should be knowledgeable about Africa, positive about the continent and already doing interesting things online
- The researcher/editor(s) will not be featured or showcased on the blog and will not hold any ownership rights on any intellectual property or revenue generating activities
- I am not the NY Times so the payment should be affordable for an individual
- They always say it's hard to make money from a blog so what I'm proposing will allow one or two talented writers/bloggers to make some money from blogging
- The blog will also draw on submissions from visitors/readers of their "Africa is magic" story, video, photo, etc.
- The blog will feature interviews of people who are helping to make Africa magical
- The researcher/editor(s) will need to be interested in the theme and good with Internet research in order to discover "Africa is magic" stories, videos, etc. online for inclusion in the blog
- It will start as a text blog and gradually the video content will increase
- I intend to be featured in many of the videos as a "presenter"/on air talent
- I am aiming to reach (gradually) at least 3 posts per week, 1 of which is video
Additional support which may be required (could also be done by another provider):
1. Identify 5-10 blogs with a similar theme (not necessarily about Africa) and use them as best practice to recommend layout, content, structure for the blog (the ambition is to be the best Africa-related blog in substance, form and following)
2. Create social media 2-way ecosystem for the blog (facebook, twitter, digg, YouTube, Dailymotion, LinkedIn...) all fed by the blog and vice versa
3. Identify free ways to promote the blog
4. Identify fee based ways to promote the blog in a cost effective and targeted way
Depending on the stage of the project and the scope of work, I expect your time commitment to be around 5-10 hours/week.
I look forward to your (specific) reply. I need to be convinced of your alignment with the theme and your mastery of social media.
Contact Information:
For submissions: apply here