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What led you to start your Instagram page and what is it about?
I joined Instagram in 2010 and started posting about my lifestyle, crafts, hobbies, and travel stories, eventually, people started following and relating to my content. I started getting a lot of Direct Messages consulting about the places to visit.
Simultaneously I started getting orders from friends and family members about the crafts and gifts I made and posted. That was the time I took Social Media seriously and diverted more of my time to understand how it worked. The content is king is what I believed ever since the inception and that's what I rooted for; the community gradually grew and here I am today with a huge family of around 19,000.
How would you distinguish the term blogger from an Influencer?
Boy if I had a penny for every time someone asked me this, I'd be a millionaire!
According to me, term blogging started from ‘Blog’ which basically is a formal/informal informative content. It's basically a modern form of a manuscript.
Instagram however is a different approach; Everything becomes more and more visual rather than text. The modern form of it may be classified as content, where you share your message in a more creative indirect way.
Is it financially sustainable to be an influencer today?
I would say it’s like a business where the investment is your content, time, and creativity. We have examples of Influencers like Kusha Kapila, MostlySane, and Dolly Singh who have created an altogether different arena with their content.
Strategies which make you stand out of the crowd, it takes a lot of effort as compared to retail economics. So initially it may seem difficult but if you have confidence and belief to crack it, keep going at it!
What do you think influences consumer behavior?
In this information age, even a mere decision of choosing what soap to buy is a result of solid research. No matter how good a product is, if you don't see/read about people's experience about it, you'll hesitate to buy.
Influencers give you genuine feedback on the products which in turn gives you a way of filtering the product range.
Your opinion on Instagram contemplating removing likes option for posts.
I guess that’s going to be the best option. It has a similar theory: A child’s future is not decided by his marks in school similarly a creator’s content can’t be judged on the basis of likes. Numbers are a vicious game that tends to make you work hard of increasing them rather than improving your content.
Which is your favorite book and why?
Honestly, I don’t read a lot. Most of what I learn from is listening to experience by people or any other visual means.
What is your idea of success or mantra in life?
Just be yourself and be the best version of yourself. Do not try to copy others but just don’t fall into plagiarism, eventually, you won’t have your own identity. In addition to it, one must have a zeal to learn and grow, opportunities won’t come to you, you need to find one for you and your betterment.
Find the blessing in disguise and don’t just crib about it.
I have a Masters in commerce and a Bachelor's in Education. Imparting my knowledge was always the goal, thus I chose to be a full-time Math Teacher. Apart from it, I am an entrepreneur running 2 ventures for 6 years and a Social Media Content Creator and Influencer.
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