"Keep Track of Audience Demands & Stay Put to One's Own Area of Expertise"

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1. Tell us about your background and journey.

From a state which most of the Indians doesn't even know well about, I am Ramavtar Modi from Guwahati, Assam. Once a geek in school & now opening myself out through social media.

My journey has been a graphical plotation from being a laidback unparticipative kid to making myself better & confident. None of them in my entire family had known about this field neither I was sure how this would sound to them so for me it was a give-it-a-shot-no-matter-what because interest kept me going.

2. What led you to start your page on Instagram and what is it about?

I was always fond of clothes & when I was younger, the fact of outgrowing them always kept me away from shopping. But as I grew & stopped growing in size, I started fulfilling all my wishes and that let me to experiment with clothes. I was not even aware of the field untill I met Drishti aka D in my college, made me come across it. I was fond of photography and with her I explored shooting.

Moreover, I always knew I had support from my Sister in whatever I do even when no one else would believe in me. And since then, it grew my interest & with the motive of self satisfaction, I came home after giving my last paper of the 2nd year, made a gmail account and Bamm! There I was on Instagram. Unprepared, Unaware and Unknown.

But what I had in mind was that I would experiment on clothes and poses, post them not for people to like and appreciate but to make a feed that would make me feel good about myself. And so it began.

3. How would you distinguish the term blogger from an influencer?

As I spent time as a newcomer on instagram, the insights changed the complete dynamics in my mind. I learnt that I had so much to learn and that what I knew was just a drop. And yet after being here for years, the biggest debate that remains un-learnt are the term Blogger and Influencer.

Infact, no other term has highly been misused like these two. Firstly, people need to know that it is mandatory for a blogger to own a blog ( not instagram ). In short, those who own their blog and share their ideas can be called as just a Blogger.

Those on Instagram posting pictures with followers and likes are Digital Creator, Content Creator, Instagrammers or so on. There are criteria to be fulfilled until someone can call themselves a Blogger in a real way.

Influencer's I believe is a subjective term which is vast. Anyone who is experienced for a long time & is known by their ideas in any particular field and not by Follower Count or Like Count, they are the people who influences. They can be people having 10k followers or 1k followers. It is just the matter of idea that is showcased to the audience.

4. Is it financially sustainable to be an influencer today?

Honestly, not much. After getting into the field I realised the number of people who are actually around and the count is countless. Infact, every lane now has atleast a couple of bloggers because it's so much easier now to have good numbers on social media.

It is all due to how the field is losing it's real identity and how things can be so much manipulated. It not just brings down worthiness but encourages less hard working people.

However, with patience which is rare, hardwork, research, Ideas and ofcourse luck, If one stands out, the result is worth the finance and hardwork. To look at the financial perspective only, manipulation becomes a necessity for some since the journey and process to success is slow. And we humans are impatient.

5. What do you think influences consumer behavior?

Well, this is something that has remained fair and square since the start and will continue to, till the end. Comsumer behavior is something that cannot be bought or asked. It is what it is. Human see something, either like it or dislike it without any sense of biasness.

The only difference is that this fair behavior can be manipulated accordingly for the sake of showing it off on social media but no one can actually do anything about how creators leave a real impact on consumers for real.

This is actually a true influence of an Influencer.

6. What is your idea of success or your mantra in life?

Being an Interior Designer professionally, I have always focused on it as a priority and my instagram account and blog 'thehomespunvogue' was a result of my interest only. It made me confident and grow into something I couldn't have if I wouldn't have been here.

With no high aims, all I seek for is to consistently grow out from my field , Influence people with my fashion experiments, be known for not just my style but for my profession as well, atleast in the entire Northeastern India. Because Men's Fashion and Northeast India are two corners that are highly underestimated.

7. How can someone become a successful social media influencer?

Well, to be a real influencer, one might not even actually know if he is influencing. All one gotta do is experiment on clothes, do something that no poeple or rarely people do and ask them to follow. Be a living proof of combination of ideas that people would not believe on, in words.

Keep an interesting and diverse profile so that people remain keen to see what we have to show them ahead. Keep them updated regularly yet not keep them irritated by over posting. Keep pictures and profile relatable and subtle for all catagories of audiences.

Stay up to date, keep track of audience demands & stay put to one's own area of expertise. One is good to sustain.

8. Which is your favorite book and why?

I developed interest lately in books so I never had any favoutire book to keep nor I have a long list of books that I've read. It was high school when I started my first novel in the library and by the time I became enthusiastic about reading, I was out of book source.

Nevertheless, for me reading was more of a english learner & brain excercise than a reading activity. I liked how sentences were played, how words were used rather than what the story was. Infact, I read whatever I could get anywhere & most of the time I wouldn't even complete the entire book.

Interviewed by - Vayun Sahni