Growing one’s social media following requires patience and tenacity.

A discipline that 30-year-old social media star Witney Ramabula has had to apply in growing her following that she says is still on a rise. 

Ramabula is currently sitting on 2.8 million TikTok followers, 240,000 on Instagram while Facebook clocks in 81,000.

“I honestly did not plan a social media career but I was just merely curious. I remember deciding to join TikTok after seeing one viral TikTok circulating, I just don’t remember what it was. I saw its watermark and how fun it was, and the curious me wanted to find out more. My videos were private for a while after I joined but I would just post them on my WhatsApp status,” she says. 

Ramabula joined TikTok in 2019 and recalls her first video being a lip sync.

“I had no idea what I was doing. I remember having short purple braids,” she says laughing. 

But it was her catwalk video that blew up and gained her the popularity that she enjoys today. 

Her love for music prompted her to take more of such videos, where she would sing along to the latest jams, or recreating humorous meme videos.

But through it all, TikTok sensation always aims at creating videos that are suitable to the niche following that she has been able to garner. 

“I try not to box myself but I am also very aware of what my people like. So I try to give variety.”

Her fame has also afforded her an opportunity to work with prominent brands that secures her the bag.

She was also a runner up for the People's Choice Awards in 2021 and was also nominated for Nickelodeon award this year.

Before TikTok and being a full-time influencer, Ramabula worked as a senior financial administrator for an IT company in Joburg. 

“I always tell people that I am not a billionaire yet, but I am able to take care of myself as well as my family financially because working a nine to five meant that my money would be depleted quicker.

“Social media has really changed my life and of many of my peers that I see securing the bag. Ordinary people like myself have become game changers by just being ourselves. That is essentially all I do, staying true to ourselves without any pressure from society.

"There was once a time while growing up when we believed that social media was all about the glitz and the glam only. You know, fancy lifestyles and all, but TikTok has taught us that we can be ourselves authentically and still make a living,” she says.

Ramabula was raised in a strict and loving home in Venda, Limpopo, and lived with her grandmother, aunts and uncles.

She now resides in Gauteng after moving here to complete secondary education at Flavius Mareka High School in Saulsville in Pretoria. After that she went to Tshwane South College where she studied for a diploma in financial management.

She plans to fulfill her deepest career desire as an interior designer, but she admits she must first study for it.

She says she is having lots of fun with her social media career.

“Patience is the key thing here. Just enjoy the journey, give quality content and have fun.”

malibaa@sowetan.co.za