Jacwich earns from online marketing

Joining University was her dream but even after completing a course in social work and social administration, Modesta May Jacwich was no stranger to the song of job scarcity among graduates and youth in Uganda.
She dreaded moving from office to office in search for jobs. Her initial idea was to venture into the creative industry as a model and an actress. However, Jacwich later became an influencer who earns from social media.
She promotes brands, individuals and products via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram among other social media platforms.

Many who have always interacted with Jacwich, refer to her as a go- getter, who is determined to take on opportunities at her disposal.
During her first year at Makerere University in 2018, she joined Twitter just like any other social media platforms for entertainment. At the time , she did not know that this would turn out to be her source of living.
Jacwich reckons that one of the tweeps sent her a direct message interesting her in making money on Twitter, an idea she welcomed with open hands. She notes that her business mentor was already involved in social media influencing, which helped her to grasp some concepts and tips.
“He was willing to help me learn. He had many influencing gigs and he wanted to bring me on board” she adds.

The Business
Her interest was catalyzed by her love for social media and she was glad to earn while having fun. She says the more she worked on other people’s gigs, the more she learnt. She later started advertising as a digital marketer and an influencer to attract willing clients.
“My job is to talk about a brand, product, service or an individual on behalf of the owner in a positive way. The idea is to create an online community and have meaningful engagements online on behalf of the brand or product owner,” says Jacwich.
Influencing is the new form of advertising and marketing aimed at tapping into the numbers on social media platforms, who in the end can pick interest in a product or brand.

Considering technological advancement, mobile devices and a digital era, many companies are opting for online marketing as opposed to traditional marketing.
Jacwich says sometimes she has to be part of what she is influencing in order to interest others in the product or service. For example, sometimes I post a selfie purporting to be drinking an energy drink in order to influence my followers into buying the same product. We normally use a light language, and fun and engaging messages to market,” she adds.
Jacwich is making a killing out of her hustle. She says she is currently the official Twitter manager of three companies in Uganda. What started as a joke, today has created many networks for her and earned her money which she uses to cater for her bills.

She, however, says her pay is determined by what her client needs and the budget of a particular client. Her clients meet her data costs before any transaction is made.
Jacwich says her best paying gig was when she was part of a team influencing Coca Cola products. She says some of the companies she has done online marketing for fail to meet their financial obligations.
“I spent data on a team of influencers and at the end of the day we were given a bottle of minute maid and the pay master disappeared” she sadly notes.
Talking numbers, initially, she had created a following of nearly 10,000 people and her account was hacked and brought down. She currently boasts of more than 19,000 followers on twitter which she uses to get more clients.
Jacwich says digital marketing and influencing is one of the businesses that need less capital. She is however quick to mentions that it requires proper planning and discipline.

“How you project yourself on social media determines the type of clientele one gets. If you are a war monger who is focused on say political fights, you will attract clients in that category. If you act sane, reputable brands will come your way,” she adds.
She says any serious influencer should own a good quality smart phone, tab or laptop to smoothen work.

Model and actress
Besides online marketing, Jacwich also works as an actress and a commercial model. She says the art industry has enabled her to network and also star in movies such as The Last Tragedy -Samuel Kizito’ s Kemi and she is also among the cast of a predominantly female driven film on Human Trafficking dubbed Asiya The Last Queen.
Inspired by Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks, Jacwich is a commercial model whose career begun in 2018 and managed to get a spot on Gala Model management in the runway house project. To her, modeling is her side hustle as she aspires for more in life.