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1. Tell us about your background and journey.
I am a Data Analyst at a transport aggregator organization, and job is to understand customer behaviour would help us serve them better.
I have done my MBA from IIM Kashipur. I love watching history, science and political documentaries as well. On top I am a sports lover and football and badminton are my favourite sports.
I am a huge Manchester United fan. I have been following Indian sports since 2015 and largely satisfied with the direction its headed
My journey into social media is very recent. I created my Youtube channel ‘India in Olympics’ in May 2020 and to promote my Youtube channel I created Instagram profile ‘siddhartha_sportsfan’ the next month. My subscribers and followers have been growing slowly but steadily.
I have reached 100 subscribers in Youtube and about 150 followers in Instagram
2. What led you to start your page on Instagram and what is it about?
India is a cricket crazy nation but there can be space for other sports too. Take United States for instance, where basketball, baseball, American football, is equally followed.
Other countries like Great Britain, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Australia follow multiple sports with same frenzy. India has world- class athletes in Badminton, Shooting, Wrestling, Hockey. She also has other athletes who are performing well despite not getting patronage.2020 Olympics is rightly predicted to be best for India in terms of contingent size, performances and medal haul.
Our athletes deserve the popularity and recognition and at par coverage as with the cricketers. My
intention to create Youtube channel and Instagram profile is to highlight these athletes and spread awareness to the masses about them.
3. How would you distinguish the term blogger from an influencer?
A blogger is one who just describes something of what he observes, but while giving his opinion makes no attempt to change the views of the person who is consuming his content.
For example, a travel blogger may visit a place, he shall describe the food, people, culture and customs etc.
As the term suggests an ‘influencer’ is someone who will try change or reinforce the opinion of the person who is consuming his content. Politicians are influencers, CEOs are influencers, popular artists are influencers.
Now top social media creators have become influencers as well. They are a wide spectrum from political commentators to roasters, to someone making funny skits and sketches, cooking, fashion and so.
4. Is it financially sustainable to be an influencer today?
With the advent of social media and cheaper and faster technology, it has become easier for the common man to easily access and create quality content.
Thus with this power anyone can become a creator. Although Youtube is one of the few platforms which pays the creator on much views and subscribers the creator can garner, brands also sponsor popular creators as they have understood the reach of social media.
Many content creators have shifted from 9-5 jobs and have become full-time. Thus its financially sustainable to be an influencer
5. What do you think influences consumer behavior?
Consumers like you and me don’t buy any product randomly but buy before gathering knowledge and understanding the product. Most times there are many varieties of the product and customer would need to evaluate which one to buy based on criteria like price, perceived quality, need urgency and so on. Many social media influencers give reviews about certain products.
Some of these reviews might be sponsored by the brand themselves. Most brands are on social media themselves and interact with consumers as if they are ‘individuals’ and not some organization.
They try to influence customer buying decision by giving product awareness, price information and customer care
6. What is your idea of success or your mantra in life?
My mantra in life is to be content with what you have, but always try to improve. Be humble, be honest and respect others
7. How can someone become a successful social media influencer?
The only way one can become a successful social media influencer or in any task is hard work and dedication. Specific to social media, one should decide who is going to be our audience and they like and dislike.
Once we know the answer of this basic question that do we know enough of our target audience, the rest of the work becomes easier.
Also the small but important details like what should be content frequency, timing of post, content length, video quality, sound quality, etc all must be improved. Also the we would need to evolve and change our content so as not to become boring and stale but not to change too much so as to alienate our core audience.
All social platform provide statistics which track performance of our content. Understanding of these metrics shall help us in checking how our content is performing and do we need to make changes or not
8. Which is your favorite book and why?
The Harry Potter series is my favourite set of books. JK Rowling has written about Hogwarts life and magical community so much in depth which makes us to believe that people having magical abilities actually exist. Also many aspects of human life like dealing with puberty, power politics, racism.
Even the main character Harry Potter is flawed having negative qualities of anger and general lack of interest in studies. This is why makes the Harry Potter series make a fascinating read for me.
Interviewed by - Nirbhay Kumar
Edited by - Vayun Sahni
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