Mercy Obidake is a Nigerian blogger, journalist, a PR strategist, and the CEO of MO Media, a company with the vision to inform, educate, entertain, and impact society.
She shares her inspiring journey of building a successful media company from scratch. From overcoming challenges to achieving milestones, Mercy opens up about her experiences, insights, and lessons learned along the way.
Mercy Obidake shared with Today Africa about her entrepreneurial journey.
Tell us more about yourself?
My name is Mercy Obidake. I’m a blogger, a journalist, and I’m also a PR strategist. I also manage and influence for brands and I create content online. So basically that’s what I do.
What inspired you to venture into blogging and what problem did you have in mind to solve?
I’ve always loved to report news. I’ve always loved to tell stories. And I think I’ve been able to achieve that dream. So maybe not in video content for now, but in terms of articles and writing text, I’ve been able to achieve that.
And the problem that my blog has been able to solve, my blog has been able to provide authentic and timely news reporting in the entertainment industry. There’s a lot of bloggers and a lot of pages that tend to put out false information about celebrities, false information about trending stories on social media.
And I think I’ve been able to solve that problem by providing authentic news on my platform. There are some people that will even say, if Mercy Obidaka does not post it, I know this news is not true. So I think I’ve been able to solve that problem.
What were the challenges that you faced in the beginning and how did you overcome them?
When I started, my major challenges were visibility, growth for my audience, audience growth and monetization. I wasn’t visible because, you know, I was just starting and I started from scratch and it’s not as if maybe a celebrity or someone recommended me or something.
I just opened my page. Like my Facebook page currently has over 1.3 million followers. And I can still remember when I started that page many years ago. I think that was 2019 when I started that page from zero.
I could remember when I’ll be the only one posting, I’ll be the only one commenting, I’ll be the only one liking. It was that terrible. So there was the problem of visibility and also the problem of audience.
There was no audience at that time. People didn’t know me. People didn’t know my blog. Also monetization, I could stay for six months, five months, several months. And that was when I would get one advert and the advert would be like maybe 5,000 naira.
There was no money coming in at that time. So that was my basic challenges; monetization, audience growth and visibility.
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What strategies did you use to grow your page from 0 to 1.3 million followers?
People ask me these questions a lot, especially upcoming bloggers. And sometimes I’ll be like, there was no film trick. Let me use that word. didn’t use any trick.
It was consistent despite the fact that I didn’t have followers or I was posting with time. I started learning about SEO, that is search engine optimization. So I started making use of keywords.
Like maybe if I want to make a post of Ini Edo, let’s say Iniedo’s wedding, I will use hashtags. And before I knew it, people started seeing my post and people started following. But I think one of the reasons why I was able to gather a lot of followers was consistency.
I was consistent and I’m still consistent. I make sure every day I show up. Even as when I started, there are days that we don’t have data. It was bad to the extent that I’ll start begging people for data. Please, can you send me 100 Naira? Can you buy 200 Naira data for me?
Despite my situation at that time, I was consistent. I was showing up and I did not stay, I did not remain a dummy. Like I did not remain like someone who doesn’t know what she’s doing. I had to push myself to learn skills that are relevant for my business.
I had to learn how to use hashtags, the right hashtags, the right keywords. And with time, I started getting that visibility. Monetization and everything just grew.
How has the Nigerian economic environment impacted your blog and your business?
Economic situation in Nigeria is currently a big discussion and it has impacted my business both positively and negatively. Now I’m going to start with the negative impact.
First of all, the cost of data because I run an online business. So the cost of data has impacted my business negatively because it’s too high. And sometimes we spend a lot of money buying data.
Sometimes you buy data of 20,000 Naira, it will not last for even one week. So the cost of data is extremely high.
Another challenge has been electricity. Currently, the cost for prepared units is so high that people cannot afford to have 24 hours light, especially people in band A, like us. So electricity and data, that has been the negative impact.
Now for the positive impacts, most people tend to get entertainment and relaxation when they come online to view content and go to blogs, especially entertainment blogs. So that has also impacted my business positively.
Like when people want to relax, when they want to take their mind off the economic situation, they just come to our blogs and they laugh, they watch content, they read news, good news, bad news, whichever one. But it has impacted my business in that way, positively.
What other services do you provide outside these services that you previously mentioned?
These are the major services that I provide. I manage pages for some brands. I also help them to grow their followers, to grow their audience, and give their business more visibility.
I come up with PR strategies also for some companies and help them to be visible online. But I intend to do more. I intend to go into podcasting very soon. And I intend to go into film production and just to expand in the media space.
So it’s not just going to be about news blogging, social media management or PR. I intend to do more to create more content in the online space.
Are you the only one offering all these services or do you have a team working with you?
I have people that work with me, but they are basically online. Like we don’t have a physical office? Everybody who works online, people that work with me that help me to do most of these things. I have people who help me with news publishing on the website. I have people who help me with page management. So it’s not just me, I have a team.
How has AI impacted your blog, your business and how do you plan to stay ahead?
AI has improved blogging, it has improved content creation, AI has enhanced productivity, and it helps me.
Now let me relate it to myself. Sometimes I can write an article, for example, and I can take it to an AI app and I tell AI to help me proofread and check this article, all the grammar, sentences, is everything correct and AI helps me. AI enhances productivity.
There are some people who say AI has come to replace bloggers, AI has come to replace human work and all that, but it’s not true. AI just helps you to improve your productivity. It helps you to create faster content, better content. It refines your content. I think that’s a better word.
Because you can actually make mistakes and AI can help you. But there are some things AI cannot do. So you still have to have that idea. You still have to be able to create an idea to suggest, to create, to plan. Then AI helps you to enhance it.
And how do I intend to stay ahead? I’m already doing that combination. Like I said earlier, sometimes I write an article and I take them to an AI app and the AI helps me to refine it, points out things that might be wrong, grammar, spellings.
So I’m already doing that. I combine my storytelling skills with the use of AI to enhance my productivity.
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As a kid, did you ever envision yourself running an online business or you had other plans?
Like I said earlier, I’ve always had the passion to report news. I’ve always been passionate about storytelling. It has always been there. But I didn’t know that I was going to have my own organization because my company is fully registered.
I didn’t know and I’ve employed people over the years. So I didn’t know I was going to be able to do all this. Like you said, maybe it’s the economic situation. Yes, somehow I will agree to that initially because when I left school initially, I wanted to get a job with an organization, but the job wasn’t forthcoming.
And even the ones I saw, I didn’t find fulfillment in them. So I told myself, I can write and I had a friend then that even told me, Mercy, you’re very good with writing and you know how to tell stories.
Why don’t you start a blog? And at that time, I didn’t even know it was something that I was going to put food on my table. That was what the person told me, why don’t you just start a blog? And that was how I started.
Because at that time, I was already out of my job. So I was like,okay, let me just start a blog. And that was it. So growing up, I had the passion to do what I’m doing now, but I didn’t know it was going to be online. Neither did I know that I’ll be in a situation whereby I’ll be the boss or employ people.
How do you keep and manage your business and your team?
I think it all boils down to finances and budgeting. So I’m not a heavy spender. I plan my finances very well. I know what is coming in at the end of the month and I know what is expected to go out.
And I know people I’m expected to pay. I will not like a situation whereby I will owe my employee. Because we’ve seen that a lot of times when employees of big brands come on social media and start dragging their employer that they are owing them salaries and all that.
Right from time, I’ve always been someone that plans my finances. I’m very good at that. I budget very well. So I know what is coming every month. I know what is expected to go out.
So I don’t spend beyond my limits. I know what I’m taking. I know what my employees are taking. And I know what is coming in. So I think proper financial planning has been able to help me despite the economic situation.
And proper financial planning has been able to help me keep my team, help me pay as I’m supposed to pay their salaries and all that.
How do you balance your work, running MO Media with other aspects of your life?
Like you’ve said, working remotely is not the way people think it is. People feel that because this person is at home, this person is resting a lot. But it’s not true. I would say people that work remotely, they work even more than people that work on sites.
Because when you work on sites, you know that, okay, your work is just from 9 – 4 or 8 – 5, whatever. But people that work remotely, sometimes we work from like 5:30, I’m already up, I’m looking for what’s trending. I’m already going through my inbox to see if anybody’s sending me a story or something to publish.
Then at night also by 10 o’clock, the same thing. But I still try to balance it. I try to balance my work. I make sure I prioritize what I know I should prioritize at a certain time. Like if I know that I’m going to be working from maybe 6 o’clock to 2, I know that before six o’clock, I know I’ve done what I’m supposed to do, my house chores and all that.
Then by 2 o’clock, I know that I am resting till 4 and nothing is distracting me from that or I’m spending time with my family. So priority, for remote workers, you just have to prioritize. You know what you are supposed to do at that time and you just do it.
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How is your business doing today and what does the future look like?
My business is doing great. Like I said, when I started, there was no visibility at all and there was no money coming in. My business has done a lot for me. Like I didn’t know that there were certain things I was going to achieve or obtain, get, buy.
But my business has helped me to achieve them. And so my business has grown and it’s still growing. And I have a target and I know what I want. I know where I’m going and I haven’t gotten there yet. So I’m still pushing. I’m still, I’m still working.
And the future looks great because like I said earlier, I don’t just want to be known as a blogger or a news publisher. There are a lot of things that I would love to do. I would love to start podcasting. I would love to create more original content online.
And I would love to go into fame production, media production and all that. So the future looks very bright. It looks promising.
What are some of the key lessons you have learned in your journey as entrepreneur, as a blogger, and as a business owner?
I’ll relate it to my own business. One of them is consistency. I’ve learned that showing up every time builds trust and credibility.
For example, if someone is selling and I know that that person comes to the shop every day and at any time I can leave my house and go to that person’s shop to buy whatever I want to buy.
So that’s just the way it is with blogging and consistency. People know that no matter what, Mercy is going to post news for us today. She’s going to post one funny video for us on our blog. So consistency is one thing I’ve learned.
Also authenticity, I’ve learned to be authentic with the news that I publish, with my reporting. Sometimes I look at some blogs on Facebook that are just starting, they are posting fake news because they want likes, they want comments and it doesn’t last. That’s the truth.
You might get it very fast. You might even start making money from it. Facebook might give you monetization and all that, but one day you will lose it and people will not trust you.vYou’re not building a reputable brand.
So basically what I’ve learned so far, consistency, authenticity, and networking. These are the basic three lessons I’ve learned. I’ve also learned good planning. Financially, like I said, budgeting, good planning, prioritizing was important. These are lessons I’ve learned so far in my journey as an entrepreneur.
What advice would you give to others who are about to start their business, especially women?
I would advise them to look inside of them to know what they are passionate about. What are they passionate about? What is their purpose? That would define the kind of business that they should do or go to.
That’s why you see some people today they are selling bags, tomorrow they are selling wigs, next tomorrow they are selling milk or sweets. They don’t want to stick to one thing. Why? Because there is no passion, there is no interest in it.
But when you are passionate about something, no matter how difficult it is, you will always still want to do that thing and with time you will succeed. So first of all is passion, purpose before success.
Then they should not just stay the way they are. They should learn new skills that are relevant to their business so that they can grow. Now, a lot of digital skills are very important for business owners so they can learn a lot of digital skills. So that’s my advice to those who want to start a business.
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