Makmende - Kenya's First Viral Campaign, OFFICIALLY!

The question has been asked by many. Is the Makmende wave the first viral online topic in Kenya? The answer is YES! WITHOUT A DOUBT. Having been the 67^th HOTTEST SEARCH on Google on Monday at 5:00 pm local time, there is NO DOUBT IN MY MIND that it’s the biggest ever online phenomenon in Kenya. Data available also indicates www.makmende.com had HALF A MILLION hits in just 96 hours and jumped from number 4,000,000 in popularity worlwide as of 12 hours of release to just #476,024 as at 24^th March 2010.

What’s more? It has even been featured on the famous the US online WALL STREET JOURNAL by Cassandra Vinograd

If that is not phenomenal, then tell me what is.

And now every businessman is asking ... how can you cash in on the Makmende phenomenon? That’s however the WRONG question. The RIGHT question is, what lessons can businessmen learn from the Makmende Phenomenon?

Well, what about an Invaluable Lesson on The Power Of Social Media?

Lets roll back to how all this started. Just A Band looked for a character from yester-years that they were sure people from that age would remember. That’s why they used the catch phrase, Makmende is back.

Which of course led to curiosity for those who didn’t know who he was.

Then the video was put on YouTube after which links were put on twitter. The people who know Makmende of course rekindled old memories. The people who didn’t know Makmende went online, back to their friends on twitter to ask who Makmende was. That started a trend on twitter.

Soon, traits of Makmende started emerging. First, they were just recycled chuck Norris facts but soon, it caught on and Kenyan being the creative populace they are, new and outright witty lines emerged. That’s what lit the fire. It became a competition on who would tweet the best Makmende line.

Next came the curious cats. The clueless lot who knew nothing about Makmende at the time. The more they asked about Makmende on twitter, the more fun those who knew had at their expense. This created a hunger that spread like fire. And to fill this hunger, the few consistent Kenyan bloggers started blogging about him. And soon some people who know the power of online social trends built a site and spread it virally through twitter and facebook. Time was on their side actually. The phenomenon was growing during the weekend when fewer people are online. But come Monday and people went back to the office, all they could see on social media was Makmende.

And where do they go for information on Makmende? On Google and other search engines. The information about him was scanty so anyone who wrote anything about him quickly got crawled and listed by Google. Meanwhile, the information was still spreading and people started Googling for Makmende lines to outdo their friends. They visited twitter and Makmende.com which were by far the two biggest sources of Makmende one-liners at the time.

The result?

Makmende became the BIGGEST KENYAN TREND on twitter ever; the Website got a whopping amount of traffic in a matter of hours that other websites take months to accumulate and the name Makmende became the hottest Kenyan search on Google ever at number 67 worldwide on Monday.

In conclusion?

There is A LOT you can learn on how to use Social Media Networks to market your business or build brands online. And I know for a fact some of the Internet strategists and best internet marketing minds in Kenya that witnessed Kenya's First Viral Sensation are about to release a FREE Ebook called THE MAKMENDE PHENOMENON: The Power Of Social Media In Kenya. I have already read it and believe me, the information is a treasure for business people and basically anyone who wants to harness the power of online marketing in Kenya. The release date will be announced (hopefully) before the end of the week.

Esther Arunga can make a GREAT president.

They say celebrities are like stored fish. Unless they are kept cool, they start to stink. And I think Esther Arunga has been out of the fridge for a few days. Evryone is up in arms right now saying she is nuts coz she said she wants to run for political office. I however think she can make a good vice president. Actually, I think she can make a GREAT PRESIDENT. Why you ask?

1) I'd rather have a moody President than the dumb one we have. If brains were dynamite, the current one wouldn't have enough to blow his nose.

2) We will get loads and loads of GRANTS from women lovers like Berlusconi, Zuma and others. Obama will surely visit.

3) I think we can use a President who swings as opposed to one who limps!

4) She can call a Press conference and make sense while still insulting people. Bure and mavi ya kuku is overated now!

5) She said she wants to be a VICE not VIRTUE president. If someone wants to become a VICE president, why stop them?

6) I have never wanted to see any of our past leaders naked. She can make me run home to watch news.

7) She can handle a problem head on. Not like Kibaki who goes to open a beer factory when the country is in a crisis! And even requests for cheaper beer! Mlewe msahau shida zote. LOL.

8) She has acquired the one thing that turns any ordinary person into a great Kenyan politician. A big well publisized scandal, and a well choreographed denial.

So, there you have it. The political declaration was what I found interesting in the whole press conference.

But if sympathy was what she was looking for when she called that press conference, she wont get it from me. She can however find it in the dictionary somewhere between shit and syphyllis.