African blog awards open

Entries to the 2015 African Blogger Awards are now open to all African bloggers, Instagrammers, Twitter influencers, and YouTubers with the competition expanding this year to include Facebook pages and profiles.

Launched last year, the African Blogger Awards are the only pan-African event that measure online and social influencers’ reach and influence through data analysis.

The inaugural African Blogger Awards in 2014 set the benchmark for the discovery of truly exceptional African content creators and their unique story-telling approaches. We are looking forward to seeing the progress made by entrants participating in this year’s event for the second time, while discovering new talent across the continent,” says Mike Sharman, co-founder of the African Blogger Awards.

Five overall awards for Africa’s Top Instagrammer, Top Twitter Profile, Top YouTuber, Top Blogger and Best Facebook Page will be awarded to entrants who stand head and shoulders above others in these categories.

An additional 36 sub-categories including: Lifestyle, Travel, Finance, Entertainment, and Technology and Gadgets among many others are also available for a diverse range of bloggers to enter.

With over 520 entries from 26 countries in 2014, we’re anticipating close to 800 entries from independent publishers communicating to more than 60 million Africans across the continent and beyond,” says Murray Legg, co-founder of the African Blogger Awards.

The Awards also give brands and the marketing industry an objective measurement of the most relevant online and social influencers to include in their campaigns, making sure that they achieve the greatest possible impact for their marketing spend.

There is no cost to enter, but entrants, if they haven’t already, are required to register their blog, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook Page or YouTube profile (or a combination of these properties) on Webfluential (Facebook Page entrants will be required to apply via a Twitter account). This platform scientifically measures the reach, resonance and relevance of social influencers on these platforms with over 1000 active, legitimate followers. Evaluation of each entrant will be managed primarily through Webfluential on the following metrics:

‚Ä¢ Reach measures the size of an influencer’s audience (following) per social media network.

• Resonance is a measure of how widely the content that an influencer shares reaches outside of their own community.

‚Ä¢ Relevance is a measure of the response from the influencer’s community in the form of likes, comments, retweets.

Any entrants who entered into the 2014 awards will need to update their profiles on Webfluential, as all participants and winners will be measured on the platform’s latest analytical metrics.

Entries for the awards close on 9 April 2015 at midnight GMT+2, and results will be announced on 5 May 2015 via the competition’s Twitter handle, @African_Blogger, from 11h00 GMT+2.

Winners in each category will receive a web banner announcing their achievement that can be personally leveraged through their social networks, and a commemorative trophy.

All bloggers, Instagrammers, Tweeters, Facebookers and YouTubers who are permanent residents of any African country are eligible to enter the African Blogger Awards.

* Follow Gadget on Twitter on @GadgetZA