Africa is witnessing a surge in digital entrepreneurship, driven by Facebook which has become a haven for content creators to showcase their talents and generate revenue.

My Afrika Magazine journalist Charmaine Brown (CB) had an exclusive chat with the popular South African- based Zimbabwean young couple that has made waves on social media by creating engaging content that chronicles their love story namely Tytie and Kiki (TT).

The couple’s social media engagement has rose to incredible proportions, with thousands of people eagerly waiting for every fresh development in their content creation project.

CB: In brief, can you tell us about yourselves and what inspired you to become content creators as a family?

TT: I am known as Tytie but I was born Better Kudakwashe Madhuyu (21) in Gweru and my wife Kiki was also born Kylie Tonsani (18) and we now reside in Cape Town, South Africa. We started dating long back and that time I created social media content then later on my wife featured on this other skit and we saw the public enjoying it thus how we began creating content as a couple. It’s not like we became content creators out of desperation even if getting employed was tough but you know a lot of people out there are very talented and they do not have time to create content hence fortunate enough we enjoy doing that and it’s very paying.

CB: Can you describe your creative process when approaching a new content creation project?

TT: The first step in our creative process is idea generation. We brainstorm together as a couple and combine our unique perspectives to create content that resonates with our audience. One may also take lead as a way of collaboration throughout the process.

CB: I noticed a lot of people enjoy content coming from couples, how is it working with your wife?

TT: I enjoy working with my wife because she is me and we are one flesh therefore she is the one who can understand me better. She is more than a friend and we blend which is different from working with someone because they may get content elsewhere and leave so that’s why we don’t do collaborations with other creators, we enjoy creating content as a couple. We also produced a music video titled: Rudo Rwako and I enjoyed the process whilst working with my fiancée.  

CB: How do you ensure your content remains sensitive to audience reactions and the current media landscape?

TT: We make use of language and tone that aligns with the audience. You need to work very hard to get paid and by that we ensure our content stays current by regularly updating and responding to feedback from the people.

CB: How do you manage social media feedback, we see sometimes the audience respond negatively and positively?

TT: We do not care what people say because we know what we want, we know our struggle and we discovered the journey of content creation because these days getting employed is hard and you have to make ends meet by finding something else to do. We do what we love and we do not mind negative comments because at the end of the day what we want is to provide for our families and that’s what is important because we don’t live for people.

CB: You are doing a good job by doing advertisements (Ads), saw the one for Patmac Organics therefore how is it advertising for companies at the same time creating content?

TT: Yes we do Ads for some companies and the only challenge we face sometimes is if a certain company fails to meet our budget, those are the one’s that go on our social media platforms and start to comment negatively dissing us. Normally, we mainly rely on creating content because it pays more as compared to Ads.

CB: Do you face any challenges as digital creators and if any how do you overcome them?

TT: I think it’s now normal for us to face challenges so we just create content and post. We ensure every day we post something because every day we receive both feedbacks negative and positive so what’s important is for us to create content and get paid.

CB: What advice can you share with upcoming content creators?

TT: My advice is that if you want to become a digital creator, you have to FOCUS. Bear it in mind you are not doing this to be respected or loved by people but you are doing this to get PAID because a lot of people want loves and likes. Many people will engage you telling their views on which type of content you should create however as an upcoming digital creator you need to follow Mark Zuckerbag’s rules and regulations not someone asiri muridzi we Facebook. Also don’t copy what others do but be CREATIVE and UNIQUE.