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Cape Town - Only two weeks after its launch, WeChat micro jobbing platform M4Jam (money for jam) saw massive jobber uptake, while early partners reported promising returns on their campaigns. But now the jobbers want more work.
In the news:
- M4Jam dishing out cash
- New programme lets you earn cash with your smartphone
- Birth of micro entrepreneurs
Hosted on WeChat, the micro jobbing platform allows companies to allocate simple micro jobs to thousands of “jobbers” across the country to complete on their smartphones, and pay them via M4Jam and MTN Mobile Money.
The micro jobs, which allow companies to engage directly with the end consumer, range from filling in surveys for market research, to confirming points of interest for mapping, to merchandising audits and brand activation.
M4Jam launched on August 11 with 100 000 micro jobs. Within two minutes of going live, jobbers were snapping up work. In the first 24 hours, 7 404 jobs were completed. By day 10 over 50 000 jobs were completed and jobbers had bagged R641 782 in their e-wallets.
‘Response overwhelming’
“The response from the public has been overwhelming”, said Andre Hugo, chief jammer and co-founder of M4Jam.
“South Africans have shown that they are eager to make extra money on M4Jam and the brands that launched with us are thrilled with the response,” he said.
“They’ve reported an over 98% approval rate on certain campaigns. There are lots of new, different jobs launching in the next few weeks and we’re looking forward to working with more businesses to help them cut costs, while empowering people across the country to earn extra cash”.
TomTom’s jar of jam
TomTom, one of the M4Jam pioneers, saw early signs that the platform solved Tom Tom’s past crowd sourcing challenges when it came to verifying points of interest.
TomTom Africa MD Etienne Louw said: “We have attempted to crowd source data in the past, with varying levels of success, and we are both stunned and impressed with the 98.9% success rate and the volume that we have achieved through M4Jam.
“Based on our initial assessment it is possible that M4Jam could play a significant role in assisting TomTom to collect data at a lower cost and greater speed than traditional methods deployed to date.”
Insured for jam
1Life, a local life insurance company, also experienced positive results using the platform to conduct surveys. Rick Rupping, head of marketing at 1Life, said the campaign was highly successful and broadened the company’s insights into the market and its needs.
He said 1Life is an innovator in the local insurance sector, so M4Jam’s pioneering platform was a natural fit for the company.
“In today’s highly competitive environment, businesses need to adapt to the way that consumers engage with and consume media – and in particular digital media,” he said.
“We are excited to work with M4Jam to connect with consumers on a platform that has become part of their daily routines. Consumers have become highly conversational online and as a business it is imperative that we cater to their needs and ultimately change their lives.”
Need for more jobs
Keith McIvor, director at partner Tyme Payment Services, said it was incredible to see the volume of jobs completed and the public’s desire to work.
He expects this demand to grow. “The only challenge facing the model is the ability to keep ‘feeding the machine’ with more jobs,” he said.
“The business models made possible by this platform have the capacity to completely change certain industries, such as research and mapping, and I don’t think we have even scratched the surface of the strategic opportunities it presents.”
- Fin24.
* Share your experiences with M4Jam.
* Fin24 is part of Media24, a subsidiary of Naspers. Naspers has a 34% stake in Tencent.
