Social media marketing agency · Addis Ababa
Social growthContent strategyPaid campaignsPersonal branding

We make brands rare.felt.followed.desired.remembered.

Birkye means rare in Amharic. For more than five years we have turned attention into growth for real estate developers, local businesses and personal brands in Addis Ababa, taking accounts from 10K to more than 200K followers and, more importantly, into bookings and leads.

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Growth is a system

Growth isn't luck. It is a system, and once you have the system, it repeats. We don't negotiate the number of videos, because the job is the impact, not the output. Research first, then content with authority, then the numbers to prove it.

ብርቅዬ
bir·kye · adjective · Amharic

Rare. Precious. The one you do not see every day. It is the word we hold every idea against before it leaves the studio.

Services

What we do

Monthly retainers built around short-form video, with ads, design and one-off projects on top. Open a row to see what is inside.

I

Social media growth

Organic strategies that build real, engaged audiences on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. Audience research, positioning, content pillars and a posting rhythm the algorithm rewards. We have taken accounts from 10K to more than 200K followers, and we treat the follower count as the means, never the point.

  • Audit and strategy
  • Audience research
  • Content pillars
  • Platform roles
  • Posting system
  • Monthly plan
II

Content strategy and video

Scroll-stopping content engineered for reach: the hooks, formats and rhythm that actually perform. Scripted TikTok and Reels, three to seven a week, recurring-character story series, walkthroughs, street interviews and cinematic shoots when the brand calls for it.

  • Hooks and scripts
  • Story series with a fixed cast
  • Hosts and casting
  • Batch shoot days
  • Property walkthroughs
  • Film-standard production
III

Paid campaigns

Targeted Meta and TikTok campaigns that amplify what is already working and bring qualified leads straight to the business, including the diaspora. Pixels installed, inquiries tracked, retargeting on, and a cost per lead you can read in plain language.

  • Meta and TikTok Ads
  • Diaspora targeting
  • Retargeting
  • Landing pages
  • Pixel and tracking
  • Cost per lead reporting
IV

Personal branding

Positioning founders, agents and experts as the go-to authority in their market, so clients come to them. A voice, a content system and a face people recognise, built the same way our founder built his own audience.

  • Positioning and voice
  • On-camera coaching
  • Founder content system
  • Authority series
  • Profile optimisation
V

Design, community and lead handoff

Carousels, product graphics and campaign posts in one look across every platform. Comments and inbox answered fast, serious buyers screened and passed to your sales team before they go cold.

  • Designed posts
  • Campaign graphics
  • Comment and DM replies
  • Lead screening
  • Sales handoff
  • Telegram approvals group
VI

Influencer campaigns and training

Creator sourcing, briefs, contracts and tracking for collaborations. And through our sister company Steps Digital Academy, social media marketing courses for teams and individuals who want to run it themselves.

  • Creator sourcing
  • Briefs and contracts
  • Campaign tracking
  • Team training
  • Steps Digital courses
Who we work with

Industries where trust closes the deal

Three kinds of clients, one thing in common: people buy from them only once they believe them.

Real estate

Agents, developers and property platforms who need listings seen and names remembered. Amibara, Bamacon, DMC and Temer Properties trusted us with theirs.

Local business

Restaurants, salons, clinics, shops and food brands turning their neighbourhood into loyal customers, from Yo Tech Store to Unique Business Group.

Personal brands

Founders and experts ready to become the face of their industry, positioned so that clients come to them instead of the other way round.

Selected work

From pasta to property

Campaigns and strategies from Birkye Marketing and Steps Digital. Drag the slider on the first one to see the story we tell for real estate.

Broker · TelegramSat 14:02
3 bed, Bole. Nice one. Price on call.
How many m²? Which floor?
Come see it tomorrow, I show you another one in CMC also.
That is the fourth visit this week…
Apartments in Bole
3 bed120–160 m²LiftParking
14 homes match · 2 shortlisted
3 bed · 142 m²Bole, near Edna Mall · 6th floor
3 bed · 128 m²Bole Atlas · ready
Book one visit for both
The old wayShortlist online
Real estateSocial media managementProperty videoDiaspora ads

Shortlist online. Visit once.

Buying a home in Ethiopia takes months of visiting the wrong places. For Addis Ababa property platforms and developers we built social media around one message, written in Amharic first: don't spend months visiting the wrong homes. Walkthroughs and neighbourhood guides for Bole, CMC and Ayat let a buyer visit from their phone, every post points to the listing filter, and ads reach the diaspora who buy but cannot easily fly in.

12 to 24 videos a monthWalkthroughs, neighbourhood guides, before-you-visit checklists
Up to 5 platformsFacebook, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram and LinkedIn, one voice
Leads, not likesWebsite visits, inquiries and cost per lead tracked and reported
Live in 10 business daysKickoff, strategy, first shoot, first posts and first ads
Plan a property campaign
Client · Food processing

Unique Business Group

Pasta, macaroni, corn flour and kenche sold as family stories instead of commodities. A recurring cast of six, TikTok five days a week, cooking tutorials, and a separate B2B track for PP bags.

StrategyLaunch videoContent plan
Client · Certification center

Visionary Solution

Making an international Certiport certificate the next thing everyone in Addis wants. Five audiences, from students to HR teams, spoken to in a big-brother, big-sister voice. Never a salesman.

Desire strategyHosts and scripts3 to 7 videos a week
Campaigns · Education

Tech camps and Steps Digital

A drone and coding summer camp sold to parents, not teens, with a seven-day calendar and boosts aimed at ages 28 to 50. At our own academy, the same craft grew a batch from 5 students to 35.

Parent targetingPremium voiceLanding pages and pixel
Brands we have marketed
Amibara PropertiesReal estate
Bamacon Real EstateReal estate
DMC Real EstateReal estate
Temer PropertiesReal estate
Yo Tech StoreRetail
5+ yrsin digital marketing, from neighbourhood shops to real estate developers
200K+followers grown from 10K on accounts we run, turned into bookings and leads
4real estate brands marketed in Addis Ababa
5 → 35students per batch at Steps Digital Academy after our own campaigns
Our approach

Audit. Build. Grow.

Three steps, in this order, every time. You always know where we are and what comes next.

  1. Audit and strategy

    We study your brand, your audience and your competitors, then map the exact route from where you are to where you want to be. Selling points written down and agreed before anything is filmed.

  2. Content and launch

    We build your content engine: formats, hooks, hosts and a posting system designed for the algorithm and for your audience. One batch shoot day feeds the month.

  3. Grow and convert

    We scale what works, cut what doesn't, and turn the growing audience into leads, clients and revenue. Plain-language reports, and the next experiment already lined up.

The founder

Samuel “Sam” Mengistu

I turn attention into growth. Five-plus years helping businesses turn social media from a vanity project into a real engine for clients and revenue, and teaching the same craft at Steps Digital Academy.

Sam has taken brands from 10K to more than 200K followers, but the follower count was never the point. The point was the bookings, the leads and the authority that came with them. He grew a large TikTok following of his own around relationship content, which is how he knows what makes people in Addis stop scrolling, and why relationship storytelling runs through every Birkye campaign.

He founded Birkye Marketing on one belief: growth isn't luck, it is a system, and once you have the system, it repeats. Birkye is the sister company of Steps Digital Academy, a digital skills school specialising in social media marketing. The academy trains the editors, designers and community managers Birkye hires, and it is our own testing ground.

GitHub Work with Sam
Principles

Three rules behind every campaign

They come straight from the projects above. They hold whether we are selling pasta, a coding camp or an apartment in Bole.

Emotion first

Build the relationship, then bring in the product. Stories about families, couples and young people finding their direction, with the product inside the moment, not in the background.

Talk to whoever pays

For a teen tech camp the buyer is the parent. For a home it may be a sister abroad. We set targeting, tone and visuals for that person, even when the existing audience looks different.

Each platform does one job

TikTok carries reach and storytelling. Instagram and Facebook carry proof: quality, trust, details. Telegram carries the diaspora. Short videos are cross-posted so nothing is made twice.

Work with us

Three managed packages, run end-to-end

From a consistent TikTok presence to full omni-channel management. Every package is run personally by Sam, with research behind every video.

Package 1 · TikTok presence

Consistent and growing

35,000ETB / month
  • TikTok strategy, pillars and monthly plan
  • Scripted short-form videos every week
  • Captions, posting and basic replies
  • Monthly performance report
Start here
Package 3 · Omni-channel

Full dominance

65,000ETB / month
  • TikTok, Instagram and Facebook managed together
  • Story series, designed posts and campaign graphics
  • Paid campaign management and lead tracking
  • Community management and lead handoff included
Book a call

A middle package sits between the two, and launches, real estate platforms and personal brands get a custom scope. Prices exclude VAT and ad spend, which is paid directly to the platforms.

Start a project

Let's make your brand worth following.

Working on a launch, a property platform or a brand that needs a voice? Booking is one call away. Tell us where you are today and where you want to be, and we reply within two working days with a first plan.