By Pragya Jhunjhunwala
with an interview from Shaurya Sinha
You’ve seen many of them while you lay on your bed and jump from app to app. They’re on Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and almost everywhere. Influencers have become such an important part that companies have started considering influencer marketing and its impossible for anyone who is on social media not to know at least a few of them. You cannot scroll through Instagram without seeing perfect pictures of an influencer either selling a product or themselves.
The age of influencers, that started off as an impressive marketing platform, has started to receive its share of hate in today’s day. Their content has started to be termed as ‘extra and unnecessary’.
As always, I spoke to an influencer to find out what really happens behind the scenes- Shaurya Sinha.
Before my interviewed Shaurya, I turned to some of my friends to ask them if they had any questions for him and the response I got was-” If he is an influencer, ask him why he is so extra”. Now, I couldn't possibly ask him this because I found him as one of the people who had the least pretentious and, in fact, useful content.
It was his college decisions reaction video that got me a tad bit excited to apply to college and his college essays which motivated me to finally start working on my essays. I had always wondered how he started and what was planned ahead on his YouTube journey and what he feels about it and got my chance to speak to him in a wonderful, all-rounded interview.
Speaking and listening to Shaurya, I'm sure both of us got an inside perspective of what it is like to be an influencer- from the beginning to the journey ahead.
There were some unforgettable takeaways from the interview that are extremely important to highlight.
First, it is not necessary for you to have a destination. If the path is something you know you will enjoy, go for it. It doesn't matter how many people are there to cheer you on as long as you are your own supporter.
Second, you will not understand the work of another individual until you are in their shoes. In his interview, Shaurya said how he did not know about the amount of work that goes into the creation and consistency of content till he was in that place himself.
Third, some things are out of your control and you need to take it as it comes. You cannot control your audience and what they tell you so being self-aware, especially about content, is necessary.
Lastly, it removed some of the negative thought that comes when we think of the word 'influencer'.
So what is it really like being an influencer? I guess we need to put ourselves in their shoes to find out and until then, learn and listen to what they have to say too.
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