The OAP 101

We hear that word, 'brand' and the other phrase, 'branding yourself' a lot. Is it important? Of course. It is like asking if one should bother working or advertising. If you want to be successful and taken seriously in the media space, brand and branding are things you must be concerned about. How then do you brand yourself? One of the first things you must do, is define your brand. One of the first things i like to advise people to do is, when people think of you, what are the top 3 words you want them to associate you with? For me for example, i like to think that when people think of me, they think of fun, they think of unique and they think intellectual. That is the first exercise. Much as when you think of a Brandy or a Sean Tizzle or a Bonang Matheba, ask yourself what must come to people's minds when they think of you. This step correlates with the next one which is the 'Why'. What do you want and why? Say for example, what you w...

Hi all I am back with the OAP 101 podcasts and here is this week's podcast. Listen- To summarise, I spoke about branding yourself and why you need to, plus three things to remember. - Be yourself As an individual, you have a combination of nature and nurture that makes you different. This is what draws us to you. - Decide what you want When your name is mentioned, what do you want people to see? Much as if i were to mention Beyonce, Kaylah, even Gala (lol). What comes to your mind when these names are mentioned? In the same way you have a clear audio-visual identity for these names, you want the same for yourself. A little exercise- write down the top 5 words you want people to think of when they hear your name. - Consistently communicate this identity Now that you have your five words, it is time to communicate this to us. From your show, to your social media, to your presence, etc, let us see who you are. EXERCISE: Can you think ...

After i saw a direct message sent to The OAP 101 on instagram  from someone who was a bit frustrated about having gone for auditions but not getting the gig, i reached out to them and we chatted further. I had a whatsapp chat with them and laughed when i found out the 'auditions' were TWO previous auditions. Only. I say this because we hear of only success stories usually, and because of that, we do not realise how many times that person got told NO before a life changing 'yes'. Pull a chair! Let ME tell you about going for auditions; waking up early, queuing for hours, praying and giving it my best. And then getting rejected. Not once, not twice, not even three times. I have heard it all. From, the 'thank yous' that mean you won't be called back, to the, 'we really like you' buts, to the 'don't stop doing this' to the one i love the most- 'you are a bit short'. Lmao. I have had callbacks, try-agains, and 'we will ca...

You know him as DO 2 D TUN, super hype-man and radio host with Cool FM 96.9. The multiple award winning personality has no doubt earned his place as one of the well known and sought after on air personalities in Nigeria and it is no surprise that he is the first Man to kick off the ‘OAP takeovers’ by The OAP 101 project. ‘OAP 101’ is a guide for established, fresh and aspiring on air personalities. Media personality and the content queen, Tosyn Bucknor began recording diary type podcasts titled ‘OAP 101’ back in 2016. From there, it took on a life of its own with a blog, social media, and physical courses to come. Dotun’s take over kicked off with some simple words of advice- “while it wasn’t the most respected profession until now, our values tripled because we've made it a culture, a lifestyle, a force, a school to learn and be entertained all at the same time. I am proud to be an OAP and so you know, we are still one of the best multi-taskers”. His next post gives us...

Whether you like social media or not, chances are, as an on air personality, you will have to use it. Whenever i train or consult for on air personalities and it comes to social media, the one tip i s.h.a.r.e is- POST AT LEAST ONE THING DAILY. This is the simplest must-do if you want your social media popping because one of the reasons people follow or like posts is because of consistency. We want to know that when we come to your page, we see something new so give us something new daily. When you first start with that one post a day, you can then increase your number of posts. I like to do 3 on facebook, instagram and google plus with a little more on twitter. Don't forget to follow OAP 101 on instagram  and twitter  for more tips!

Hi all. I do hope your week is off to a great start. Mine sure is. I feel very productive today and i have been able to do a few of my to-dos before 12pm which means i can count this as a productive day for sure. Today i wanted to touch on a question i get asked a lot in varying ways. The summary is- how do i get on radio? You can listen to the OAP 101 podcast here where i go in depth with different tips. While the podcast gives different tips, i am tackling one tip- starting a podcast. When people ask me about how to get on radio, i advise them to get a podcast first. Why? - Podcasts are relatively free and easy to begin. With your phone and a host platform like Soundcloud for example, you can start broadcasting to the world. - Starting a podcast and working on it regularly will train you for when you do get on radio. And thirdly - You can start gaining a following which means you become more attractive to potential employers. If you do want to start your podcast...