One of Nigeria’s celebrated producers, Michael Collins popularly known as Don Jazzy, is known as a social media fanatic, and the reasons aren’t far fetched.

Don Jazzy said social media has helped him and his brand, SMD really carve a niche for themselves in the music industry.

Being a shy person and not an excellent public speaker, the social media  power of communicating directly with fans, thereby making him find a way to come up with creative ways to use social media to engage fans

1. Don Jazzy being shy, it gives him room to appreciate his fans.

I think it was a way to let out so much appreciation bottled inside me. There was no other way for me to let my fans know how much I felt about their relentless support for me and my team. There was no other way because I am not a fantastic public speaker plus I have camera shyness. When I started using Twitter, I quickly realized the power of communicating directly with fans. Ever since then I have been finding creative ways to use social media to engage fans.

2. He is a multi tasker, does his work and also does his tweets himself.

Yes I do it all by myself spending an average of one hour a day. I don’t think anybody can handle my personal social media platforms like I do.

3. He prefers twitter because it enables him connect and communicate with specific audience simultaneously.

I use Twitter the most. It has a uniquely fluid way of allowing one to communicate with all your followers and specific followers simultaneously. Most recently though, Instagram has become a great platform to visually communicate with our fans. We rely heavily on Instagram hashtags to see how fans are consuming our songs.

4. Social media has really helped his brand, the SMD.

Social media has evolved into an important component for myself and the label. In total, we reach over 6.5 million fans daily. We use social media to announce new songs from which we get real-time feedback. With real-time feedback and sentiment analysis, we can sense if a song will be a massive hit record within a few hours. Without social media, this would not be possible.

5. Social media has helped his fans consume his music more.

It is pretty much more digital now across platforms that include YouTube, iTunes, SoundCloud, Spotify and MyNotJustOk. But at the same time there are still CD users in Nigeria so we can’t write that off just yet.

6. To build a brand/name in music industry.

I would find a way to stand out in social media as I showcase my talent. You don’t need a prophet to tell you that social media is the fastest place you can get noticed today. Don’t be in a hurry to get a million fans in a day. As long as you are doing something right, your fan base will grow daily even if it’s 10 new people that you convert each day. Before you know it the right person will notice and the rest will be history.

7. Carving a niche in the industry requires moving with the trend and following what happening in the digital world.

Artistes will have to adapt to whatever model the market dictates.  I think streaming services are very compelling but until we solve the internet data issue, streaming services will have a tough time gaining traction in Africa . To give you an idea, when we release music videos on YouTube, we have to provide a download link to save users with limited data plans from having to re-stream in the future. I believe once a majority of the population can get access to more data cheaply, the Nigerian music industry will grow massively in the digital space.