Postaam: A Nepali Social Media App That Pays Its Users

How awesome it would be if you could earn money just by using social media! A group of Nepali IT and management professionals is here to do just that with Postaam.

For the first phase, the Postaam says it has set 1 billion rupees (Rs. 100 crores) creator fund to reward its users. If true, this is probably the biggest fund set by any company in Nepal for user acquisition.

What is Postaam?

Officially launched on October 7, 2023, Postaam is a new Nepali social media app, or, as Ronish Dahal, the CEO and co-founder of Postaam, refers to it, a “social affiliate platform” designed to monetize people’s daily lifestyles.

The app functions similarly to other social media platforms, allowing users to share information, build a community, connect with friends and family, and be entertained. However, what sets it apart from other platforms is that it offers all its users the option to earn through the app.

What this translates to is that you could post your lifestyle as you normally would on other social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, but unlike those platforms, you can monetize your content and get paid for it.

How to Earn?

The usual pattern of people today when visiting a certain place or restaurant is that they take a photo of the place or the food and post it on social media, say Instagram and Facebook. They even tag the place or the restaurant.

Now, Postaam is trying to take the same experience and monetize it. When you tag the restaurant on your post, the tag acts as the affiliation tag, and your post is now affiliated without any extra steps. And you will start earning commission on the sales made from the post.

This is called affiliate marketing, one of the two ways Postaam is currently offering its users to earn. Not just restaurants, you can post affiliated posts for every type of business, including resorts, stores, and travel agencies.

“Affiliate marketing is often considered complex for the average person. Typically, you would need to know how to create content or write a blog, and you must obtain approval from the affiliate program you’re applying to. Then, only if a conversion occurs, will you receive payment. For most people, this process can be quite difficult.

Postaam simplifies this for everyone. Just post on Postaam as you normally do on social media and tag the business. That’s it.

If your post generates leads, you’ll start earning — it’s as simple as that.”

— Ronish Dahal, CEO and Co-founder, Postaam

Postaam says that they have tons of monetizing options ready to introduce in the pipeline, but taking one step at a time so as not to confuse users, the platform is currently focusing on just two streams: affiliate programs and Gigs.

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How Affiliation Works

Businesses that are available for affiliation will be visible on the app, and users can simply post about the business. If the post generates a customer, the user will get a commission.

The affiliated posts will have a “Book/Buy Now” button right next to the like and share buttons for potential customers. This will keep track of the customers for calculating the affiliate’s commission. And for customers, the in-app booking or buying button will offer some benefits that will encourage them to do business through the app itself.

Gigs: Freelancing Made Social

Gigs is the second monetizing feature Postaam is currently offering. It lets users earn money by generating content for the brand as per the requirement.

When a company needs to promote its products or services through social media, it also needs content. For the content, the company may design graphics and shoot photos and videos.

The Gigs feature allows the company to post a description of the content and the price they are willing to pay for the job. The job can vary from low-level simple projects to large-scale professional projects.

It is a freelancing feature similar to other freelancing platforms, but the difference is that it is integrated into the social media app.

For example, if a restaurant has a post requiring a video showcasing its services and place, you can go to that restaurant and make a video as per the requirement. And if accepted, you will get paid, just like other freelancing platforms.

Postaam says it itself plans to issue over a million Gigs for user acquisition in due time. And the platform will reward its users with the 100-crore creator fund.

100 Crore Creator Fund

Postaam announces Phase One of the Distributable Creator’s Fund, totaling Rs. 100 crores. Users will have the opportunity to benefit from this fund through cash earnings, giveaway packages, heavy discounts, and more, simply by actively engaging with the platform and completing Postaam gigs, says Postaam.

More Monetization Tools

Postaam is planning to introduce more than 10 more monetization tools within a year or two, if things go as planned.

There may also be ad-related monetization features in the future, but Dahal says they plan to do it in a different way and are designing in such a way that the ads will not be too many while scrolling through the content.

He says there will also be features such as live features, but the team is designing it in a different pattern than what general social media are offering.

Requirements for Monetization

A regular user who simply wants to use the app as a typical social media platform can sign up with an email address and start using the app.

However, if you want to become a creator, you need to verify your KYC (Know Your Customer) information, similar to the verification process required by banks, which includes providing your phone number and citizenship.

When asked about the need for citizenship, Postaam emphasized that since the monetization feature involves money, creators must verify their accounts for their own safety.

For businesses, they need to provide valid registration papers.

Story Behind Postaam

Ronish Dahal reveals that the concept behind Postaam initially stemmed from a question: When he shares content on social media, what does a company get and what does he get back?

“When someone goes anywhere or does anything, whether it’s traveling to different places, staying at a hotel, or dining at a restaurant, they often take a photo or video and share it,” Dahal elaborates. “Yes, it’s true that they get to brag, and the brand gets some exposure. However, conversions are not happening in a systematic way.”

He further explains, “So, we identified this gap. Businesses need promotion and sales, and users expect something in return for the posts they share. I agree that not everyone is solely interested in money; bragging rights can be more important to them. However, today’s trend is that the majority of users want to find a way to monetize their content. We also wanted to make this process super easy, making it user-friendly even for beginners new to social media. And that’s how the idea for Postaam came to be.”

Headquarters in Dubai

Postaam mentions it has operated on a global scale from the start. From the development of an application to execution team members and operational team Postaam says it has active team members in Australia, Nepal, UAE, and Europe with further preparation for more expansion.

The headquarters is located in Dubai, UAE. When asked why the headquarters is not in Nepal, Dahal explained that the company had to relocate its headquarters to Dubai to avoid potential issues with international transactions in the future. He mentioned that working on a global scale from Nepal was challenging.

Safety, Privacy, and Security

Postaam says it maintains an in-house moderation team as well as third-party AI responsible for overseeing content on the platform.

“If any content violates Postaam’s policies, such as involvement in violations, drugs, or child abuse, the moderation team promptly removes it from the platform,” says Dahal.

Postaam retains personal details, including citizenship, for users interested in monetization and KYC verification. To safeguard user data, Binayak Dhakal, HOD and co-founder of Postaam, shared that Postaam segregates users’ data. Dhakal shares that Postaam utilizes AWS cloud services, ensuring data remains inaccessible and cannot be downloaded by unauthorized parties.

Postaam shared that it has additional safety features including end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication (MFA), regular security audits, incident response plan, data retention policies, access control, user data portability, secure APIs, geolocation and IP filtering, AI for anomaly detection, secure file uploads, and more.

Future Plans

Postaam’s CEO Dahal shares the platform’s ambitious plan to go global and open international markets, benefiting people worldwide, including those in Nepal.

Dahal states, “Firstly if the adoption and engagement are good, we will activate more monetization tools. Secondly, for Nepal-based creators, we will open international markets in different sectors.”

He elaborates further, saying, “For example, Nepali individuals may have the opportunity to work with clients from different countries through the Postaam app.”

Postaam wants to expand its app to 2–3 more countries. If the response from those countries is positive, Postaam may interlink between the countries.

“Within three months, Postaam plans to open international markets for Nepali users in at least one other country,” says Dahal.

“If, within that time frame, the number of users grows to over a million, the platform will immediately expand to 2–3 other countries.

If things go as planned, anyone from anywhere in the world will be able to work for anyone around the world.”

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