TikTok plugs adding magic to businesses

If you thought TikTok was all about dance challenges and lip-syncing, wait till you meet young Kenyans earning thousands by informing others where to shop at a bargain.

It is all packed in the power of video. Someone records a video right from outside the building where a seller’s shop is located. Think of a shop located somewhere on the fringes of the fifth floor of a building in downtown Nairobi. The video shows you the way to that shop, the goods on sale and their prices.

All that is condensed into a video lasting a minute or less, sometimes voiced by a narrator, and posted on TikTok.

Through such videos, businesses that were facing closure have been resuscitated after getting swarms of customers. Others have expanded and opened new branches.

Welcome to the world of plugging, where a growing number of young Kenyans, called plugs, are making a fortune by helping retailers spread the word about the products they are selling — and where they are selling from.

Armed with rate cards and with armies of loyal followers, the plugs are redefining advertising as the world knew it. By engaging in a blend of influencing and marketing, they are knocking doors into a new vista in business.

When Lifestyle spoke with three TikTokers engaged in the plugging trade, the common thread from their experiences was that there is a great potential in that market — if one is patient enough to grow in it.

Cynthia Kalunda

(Kalunda the Plug)

Boasting 370,000 followers on TikTok, Kalunda is on top of her game when it comes to plugging. She will post about shoe deals in one video and smart watches in another. Jewellery in one video and suitcases in the next. All that served with generous doses of her most used phrase: “my loves”.

For the former makeup artiste who makes a living out of plugging, and who says it will take some “very handsome” compensation to leave plugging and get employed, life is about delivering customers to businesses who hire her to post about them.

“Anyone that follows me is a ready buyer,” she says when asked whether she understands how influential she has become.

“I think I’ve marketed for shops that were on the verge of closing down. When I did my thing, people showed up for that business or those businesses and they were able to make sales and remain in business; they’re even opening new branches,” she says.

“People line up, some are even fainting in the shops. It’s crazy. They run out of stock (and start) selling stocks for their neighbours.”

All this started when she was working as a makeup artiste. She had gone to Kamukunji in Nairobi to refill her monthly supplies when she decided to make a video about the products there and what they cost.

“People were amazed and wanted more,” she says. “So, I kept on going to the different stores that I knew were offering great deals.”

She was doing all this for free until she got a message from someone who asked her how much she was charging.

“I didn’t even have a rate card. I didn’t know how people do it,” she recalls. “I think I found a couple of plugs in the industry. I tried to engage with them, but they weren’t so open.”

Nonetheless, the enquiries made her realise that there was a business potential.

“I saw a gap in how businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, struggled to reach their audience effectively online. There are so many great products out there that go unnoticed because they aren’t marketed the right way. And I realised that with the right storytelling, engagement, tactics and pricing strategies, I could help brands attract more customers while also giving buyers access to great deals,” she says.

As she continued posting, her followers grew. And so did her influence.

A wife and a mother of a three-year-old girl, Kalunda’s days run up to 12am because of the work she has to handle.

“My days are so chaotic, so I have to be in very comfortable wear, like the way I’m wearing today (T-shirt and jeans). I can’t do makeup because I sweat a lot being that I’m up and down. I think in a day I can go up to like 16 floors,” she says.

When she is not meeting with clients to discuss the strategy for marketing, she will be shooting videos. The editing happens at night after she gets home at around 9pm.

“I sleep at around 12am because when I get home, I have to edit videos. Even though I have an editor, I have to do the voice-over and polish the content. I sleep at around 12am or thereabouts. I wake up latest around 6am or 7am,” she says.

So, what happens if she posts a video and it doesn’t bring in customers as expected? “I have to even redo the video because sometimes…the video doesn’t get the engagement I was hoping for,” she says. “We have a motto that we have to give you the value of your money back.”

She adds: “So, if we have to keep on redoing, re-strategising, even 10 times, we have to make it work.”

She is so happy as a plug that she won’t consider getting employed.

“Right now, I don’t think I can take up any office job unless the compensation is handsome. And I don’t even know how handsome enough is handsome,” she says.

In fact, she is now an employer.

“I have a whole team helping me manage my social platforms,” she says.

“I’m working for my own dreams. Something is happening. You can see the transition, you can see the sweat finally turning into something tangible.”

Previously, she had been job-hunting, and has even sold Sim cards outside the Kenya National Archives in Nairobi where “I quit the second day”. She also sold phones and at one point applied to be a contact centre employee.

With her plugging business booming, her future plans are to start an e-commerce platform “where people can access the best deals from trusted businesses”.

“Of course, I’ll be collaborating with different businesses,” she adds. “Ultimately, I want to be the go-to plug for high-quality, affordable products; basically expand my influence and work with bigger brands.”

One of the biggest problems she has faced is impersonation; where people call themselves “Kalunda the Plug” and reply to comments under her videos. She has noted that they are most active at around 1am when she is asleep.

“They come and start commenting, replying to every comment with contact information. I have screenshots of all these people. They do it at night,” she says. “Always make sure that the person calling themselves ‘Kalunda the Plug’ is me.”

She insists on written agreements with her clients, and she has been helping others seeking to join the business.

“I have even forced my friends to join this field because I feel like there are so many opportunities,” she says.

Mary Njoki

(Plugs by Njoki)

Imagine posting a video about buying curtains in Eastleigh then inadvertently creating a hit with more than a million views.

That is what happened to Njoki in 2023. And it was the genesis of her channel, Plugs by Njoki, which has 79,000 followers.

What made the video a sensation, she believes, is the fact that the curtains were going for Sh90 per metre.

“Sh90 per metre was crazy then,” she says. “From that video, I was able to get a lot of clients asking if I can do the same video for their shops. And one of the clients that called back was actually the guy that I bought curtains from.”

Whenever someone asked how much she charged to plug, she mentioned Sh4,000. This was until Kalunda reached out and advised her to revise the rates because “you’re making a lot of money for these businesses”.

“She really assisted me to open my eyes, for lack of a better word. I think that is where I created a rate card.”

Her proudest moment as a plug is when she helped a new business thrive. It was opened by a businesswoman called Jane in Nairobi’s Stage Market.

“She knew that she wanted to go the TikTok way, but she didn’t know how to. So, she came across my post from Stage Market, she liked it, and she called me. Then we started working from there. So, when I was working with Jane, we did one video a week. I believe that I have contributed a lot to her growth because now she has even opened another branch,” she says, adding that Jane chose to sell something different from what is typically sold at the market and succeeded.

Njoki is employed, though she works remotely. Profits from her plugging have helped her start a cosmetics shop in Nairobi. She has one assistant who helps her make her videos and edit them.

Markson Juma

(Jumah the Plug)

Jumah got into plugging when a friend challenged him to use his social media presence to sell shoes. The friend ran a shoe shop in Nairobi and promised to give them to Jumah at wholesale prices if he found buyers.

He started posting shoes then started getting enquiries from people who wanted to know what else he could offer.

Inadvertently, he found himself in the plugging world, having initially been running Oren Entertainment TV, a content creation firm.

In January 2023, he started his plugging channel, which grew up to more than 300,000 followers before it was suspended out of what he says was malicious action by competitors.

“You know, there’s war everywhere, even online, there’s war. Someone can see you say you are doing more work than them; so they can use someone to do that,” he says.

His new plugging account, Jumah the Plug, has 3,600 followers—and he is a big believer in organic numbers, not buying followers and likes.

Through his account, he posts about many businesses but his specialty is the fashion sector.

“I’m focused on fashion; shoes and clothes,” he says, adding that he however won’t turn down any offer because “it’s a business”.

He says that the earnings from plugging and his online content TV are enough to sustain him.

“I’m doing great. I cannot complain,” he says.

He has a team of about five people for his plugging adventure. His main work, he says, is discussing terms and scope of deliverables with clients.

“I go there and discuss with the client about the payment and whatever, then I can just send my photographer and videographer to take the video,” he says. “After the videographer does his thing, then he will come back, we edit. There are those who review it to see it’s well; it’s okay. Then there’s that one who posts as they monitor the account.”

Jumah believes that some shops struggle with informing customers where they are located. One of his best experiences is when he helped a client re-establish his market after his mall was renamed.

“Previously it was called Magic, and it was renamed to Royal Palms Mall,” he says. “Immediately he converted the name to Royal Palms Mall, that guy went for almost three days without any sale. So, he was wondering what was happening.”

After Jumah did a video of the business, and explained the change, buyers came in in droves.

“We did a video without even a payment. There wasn’t any agreement. I just told him, ‘Let’s just try this.’ We did that and within the following two days, the guy made some sales he never even expected,” he says.

The trader would later pay him Sh20,000.

“I just received an M-Pesa of Sh20,000; for one clip less than one minute long,” recalls Jumah. “He was like ‘You cannot understand. You did a great job and you helped a great deal.’”

Jumah believes the plugging market is growing because of a growing demographic of Kenyans who do not want to waste time window-shopping and comparing prices.

“The person does not even step outside of their gate. Their food is delivered; their clothes are delivered. So, that person is just relaxing, using their phone. You will find out that you are helping that person as a plug,” says Jumah.

eondieki@ke.nationmedia.com