Sustainability entirely depends upon how one deals with the upcoming challenges, how you stand apart from the crowd, and make way for yourself.
1. Tell us about your background and journey.
This journey from a facilitator to a blogger was an amazing boost to me. I would say, 'it was the best gift that I gave to myself '.
I am a fashion stylist, travel blogger, food connoisseur, and a photography lover. I have a serious addiction towards food and travelling and dressing up all the time, experimenting with food, exploring new places, meeting new people, and snarling up with different outfits became my hobby.
Being the daughter of one such Mother who is a pro at cooking all sorts of cuisines be it Indian, Chinese or South Indian and developing different innovative food recipes my love for cooking also blossomed.
I was initially a teacher by profession, after teaching kids to 9 long years but I so desperately wanted to do something out of the box, something that distinguishes me from the crowd ' and so I finally entered into the world of blogging.
During the initial months, I luckily got a few paid promotions and a few fashion collaborations. My style was very colourful, I kept experimenting with patterns and new outfits – it was so much fun! My love for travelling helped me bloom and I joined as a full-time blogger and Team Head for @talentstoryindia. I loved writing about life, people, mishappening, places, etc.
2. What led you to start your page on Instagram and what is it about?
Well, I was in no mood to be a full-time blogger or start an IG handle but my friends and family saw the keen interest that I had for cooking and travelling. They insisted me to create something extraordinary, something that will help me earn a name for myself.
Also, it was long that I was in teaching, I eagerly wanted to quit that and join something which differentiated me from the ordinary. It was since then that I started this blog of mine. I worked hard to create catchy content to keep the audience glued to my feed. Bling_bychandni is my passion project – I've worked hard to make it creative, exemplary with multiple sorts of content related to
fashion, food, and travel.
And now that I have a good no.of audience who love me for what I am, I also wish to start a home decor' blog soon. Bling_bychandni is a passion blog that features different travel destination stories, bag packers trips, fashion and closet tips, scrumptious home-cooked recipes & product/place reviews.
3. How would you distinguish the term blogger from an influencer?
Well, blogger and influencer are two entirely different terms in my opinion. The term 'blogger' refers to someone who manages his/her blogs. A blogger has its website, they publish their self composed original content.
I mean no disrespect to those who blog on free platforms, but for the sake of this discussion, let's restrict 'blogger' to those who own their blogs and create their content. Not only do bloggers create their content, but they are also free from the rules and the relative uncertainty of social media platforms. A blogger isn't necessarily an influencer.
Whereas 'influencers' use their platform or multiple platforms to motivate their followers to purchase products and services from brands and companies they're working with. An influencer isn't necessarily a trendsetter. An influencer can either start a trend or follow a trend; the more the significant thing is that they can convince their audience to spend money on that specific trend. An influencer doesn't have to have a blog.
They can be influencers in one or more platforms, which may or may not include a blog. In my context, an influencer is someone with an online massive following and therefore a large impact on an audience's buying decisions.
4. Is it financially sustainable to be an influencer today?
Well, it all depends upon how you perceive things. Today every second person who posts something regularly be it a food picture or a travel picture calls himself/herself an influencer.
I don't understand how can even people claim themselves to be called ' influencers' even without creating original content. Success does not happen overnight. You must build enough content and this process can sometimes take years. Having a good no. of the audience also helps in creating good career opportunities for influencers but only with content that is not copied from somewhere.
Having good links is also an add on to your career boost as an influencer/blogger. Sometimes, it does happen we connect to new people and get ample work opportunities that are helpful and favourable for us. Sustainability entirely depends upon how one deals with the upcoming challenges, how you stand apart from the crowd, and make way for yourself. Having a good amount of knowledge is very important before diving into the blogging world or else you could be easily swayed away with the trend and land up nowhere. Having a command in your forte helps you getting good career opportunities in the long run.
5. What do you think influences consumer behaviour?
Consumer behaviour can be influenced by various factors, likes, tastes, preferences, morals, market demands, and values. Every individual has a different line of thinking and comes with different taste and preference.
To be specific, three simple factors like market trends, personal motivators, and desires and reviews influence people well. Human psychology plays a vital role in designing the consumer's preference and behaviour. It depends upon person to person.
To summate these are the following factors that influence consumer behaviour:
1. Language & content used
2. Type of products /places reviewed
3. Creativity & innovation
4. Methodologies used to target high no. of the audience.
6. What is your idea of success or your mantra in life?
According to me, the success mantra is just to ' be passionate to learn and ready to evolve to stand apart from the crowd.' My presence in the blogging space has been helped by 3 important things - Community, Passion, and Willingness to learn.
It's been a year since I started with writing blogs and to my surprise, I have got good no. of projects through my social media content. Writing is a basic skill for becoming a blogger. When I'm talking about writing, it doesn't mean write like an expert but writes like an individual. Blogging needs a lot of hard work, research, and long working hours.
7. How can someone become a successful social media influencer?
Here let me make this clear those who think blogging is an 'easy cake' have no idea about the hard work that one puts in to master the art. With so many amazing arts, heritage, and creative blogs out there already, how do you make yours stand out? How do you get people returning for more, and how do you increase visitor numbers and build a loyal following?
There are plentiful tips and hacks for creating your creative blog and making it rock to get you a good business.
Here are my top 20 easy tricks for you all to make your blog creative and catchy:
1. Getting started
2. Consider collaboration and integration
3. Find a niche
4. Write about what you love spontaneously
5. Offer value
6. Focus on good marketing strategies
7. Encourage integration
8. Make commenting easy
9. Talk it out
10. Overcome criticism
11. Don't get stage fright and believe in yourself
12. Images, images and just more of images
13. Provide easy reading to the audience
14. Give your posts punchy captions
15. Keep it regular
16. Avoid clutter
17. Get social
18. Allow easy following
19. Create original content
20. Spell check and proofreading.
With these simple hacks, I'm sure one can master the art of blogging.
Interview by - Soumya Jain
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