From trying to launch a sustainable career in entertainment, Tunde Ednut stumbled early on the power of social media and began to tailor his brand to take advantage of it.
In the Nigerian corner of the social media world, very few accounts on Instagram command as much of an audience as Tunde Ednut does. Currently boasting over 1.9 million followers on the platform, Tunde Ednut is one of the most followed Nigerians on the platform. He currently charges at least N100,000 to post an ad on his page, one of the highest rates in the industry. But how did he get here?
From trying to launch a sustainable career in entertainment, Tunde Ednut stumbled early on the power of social media and began to tailor his brand to take advantage of it.
Tunde Ednut originally started out as a graphic artist before travelling to the UK to chase a better life. It was in the United Kingdom he first got into entertainment as a comedian. In 2007, he had been invited to perform at the Dynamiks Awards, a huge youth awards at the time. His performance at that event caught the eye of Femi Amusan, head huncho of the UK-based Black Nights Entertainment crew, who then invited him back for some performances in the UK.
Unfortunately, the comedy hustle never really took off and Tunde was running out of options in the UK. The Kogi State native decided to venture into music and came back to Nigeria to pursue that dream (some reports suggest that he was deported, but this has never been confirmed). He soon released records like “Catching Cold,” the remix of which features Dr. SiD and is the biggest song of Tunde Ednut’s musical career. He also released other songs like “Philomena” and “Jingle Bell” which featured M.I, Falz and Lynxx.
Like his comedy career, his music career never really took off either. But in trying to promote his music (sometimes in unethical ways which he has admitted himself), Tunde Ednut had stumbled on a different money making tool – social media, Instagram to be specific. In a 2014 interview with HipTV, he admitted to trying to promote a song via his social media pages but he wasn’t getting the engagement he wanted. He decided to create a ‘viral’ moment by posting another person’s pictures and acting as them. Soon there was outrage on the social media streets with many people wanting Tunde’s head for catfishing.
With this understanding of how the audiences behave and what it takes to go ‘viral’, Tunde Ednut soon began to post odd videos and random, loosely curated comedic content on his page. Gradually, along with his frequent controversies, his audience began to grow and grow, up to the point it’s at today. From trying to launch a sustainable career in entertainment, Tunde Ednut stumbled early on the power of social media and began to tailor his brand to take advantage of it.
These days, Tunde Ednut himself stays away from the spotlight. He currently resides in the US and there is very little information on him on the Internet. He doesn’t make public appearances and hasn’t been granting any interviews. The only thing that we are sure of is this: Tunde Ednut makes a fortune from his Instagram account. We wish him all the best.
