Woman on top – Fhatuwani Mphaphuli

At 27, FHATUWANI MPHAPHULI, is already living in the future as head of search at CBR Marketing. She wants you to join in.

Fhatuwani Mphaphuli’s initial dream was to pursue music, her first and foremost passion. Getting into the digital space was pure chance. “I wanted to become a musician and a music producer. I even studied for it, that’s how serious I was,” she explains, adding that she looked for an alternative when she couldn’t find employment in the music industry.

After job hunting for a few years, in 2010 Mimi, as she’s affectionately known, took the opportunity to work for a digital company as an intern and that’s where her love for all things online began. “When I started at SEO, the world of digital was also starting to grow – particularly in Africa – and all the things I learned there made me love the space.”

Mimi says one of the things she loves about digital is its instant accessibility. “The reason it has grown so fast and is continuing to do so is that we live in a generation of instantgratification, and because digital caters for that, it’s a winner.”

After her stint as an intern she needed to feed her new passion, so she put her singing career on hold indefinitely and looked for another job. “I knew that I was on to something and I couldn’t let go of it,” Mimi chuckles.

In 2015, she joined CBR Marketing and started working in the search team. “We’re the team that makes sure that each time you type something on Google, you find the various links. That’s what my department does.” Mimi rose from being senior search specialist to the head of the search team in just a year. She says: “Online search is very process-driven and it can get too structured. We avoid that. We get to know our clients and understand their objectives – and then tailormake campaigns specifically for them.” She says data analysis is about understanding statistics, knowing what people are doing online, and really understanding your client’s audience. “For some clients, you may look at programmatic buying, but that may not work for another. It’s always about the individual client.” Mimi, whose primary focus is to market brands online, says that as much as the digital space is growing, some brands are being left behind. “The truth is that digital is taking over traditional forms of media, like print and even broadcasting. An example are TV ads; people would rather watch shows on catch-up so they don’t see adverts. But with digital marketing, we’re able to customise them so that they go to the desired target market.” The 27-year-old, who finished high school and went straight on to study a music diploma, has always felt that passion and happiness mattered more than a steady income. “I always had the mentality that I’d rather be broke and happy than be making money doing what I don’t love. That was a young person’s mentality – not knowing that I could have both.”

Her life right now is a far cry from the life of a chartered account that her father had wanted her to pursue. She’s glad she followed her heart instead. “My parents wanted something

steady for me, but even with all that they also supported my music career. In fact, it was my dad who bought me my first guitar when I was 16.”

Choosing her own path has taught Mimi a huge lesson: “Always go with your own flow; it may be unpopular but you’ll be okay and figure it all out along the way.”

Part of her love for digital, she says, is its possibilities for the future. “If Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and Twitter could come about and change lives so much, one only wonders what’s next. I want to be part of that growth.” Her one wish, she says, is to go to Silicon Valley in the USA where the South by SouthWest festival for technology and interactive media takes place.

Even though her music career didn’t work out, Mimi hasn’t given up on it. “I have seen a lot of musicians who don’t know how to put themselves out there. You can do so much more digitally, especially with sharing platforms like SoundCloud. I don’t need a record company to distribute my music; I can do it by myself.”

As the highly-competitive digital industry grows, Mimi says brands should aim to have strategic positioning and understand what platform suits their market.

“With every one of my clients, I tell them what’s big in South Africa digitally right now. The first thing is every brand should have a strong digital presence. That means having social media pages and websites. Companies should also capitalise on videos to market themselves. Clips shouldn’t be too long, but they appeal more to the South African market” she explains. “If you’re not part of this new media age, you’ll be left behind. Get on that horse as quickly as possible. Everybody is online, and those are the people you’re trying to sell to.”

Mimi also touches on just how technology has infiltrated our daily lives, including things like online dating being the fastest growing of ways to meet people, as well as shopping. So everyone should be plugged in.

“It’s time we accept that digital is the future and understand that even though traditional media is working, in a couple of years you will struggle if you haven’t learned how to live well online.”