Are you an Authentic Blogger, or just another Influencer ?

Why am I writing this blog post? It may be due to all the young girls out there who always see everyone on Instagram becoming an influencer and get, like, a 100k followers in 6 months, thinking that they are bloggers. But sadly that isn’t the real world! See whether you are a blogger or an influencer.

What is ‘being authentic’? It just means being original.

As human beings, we all know that there are no shortcuts to anything in this world. Also, a majority of the views portrayed on digital media aren’t always a 100% real. Even though all of us know this truth, what we see on the internet hard wires us into becoming something fancy.

Five years ago, when I was just out of college, I wanted to not only become a designer, but a blogger as well. Back then, the only bloggers I knew of were Song of Style, Manrepeller and Chiara Ferragni. Magazines like Elle, Vogue and Grazia were my handbooks.

Two sets of people have emerged in the recent years – one, the bloggers/vloggers, and the other, influencers:

Bloggers/vloggers are generally the ones who write/talk about a certain niche that they think they are the experts in. They know the ins and outs of their speciality, and decide to share that information to the rest of the world. Mind you, this is after having experience in their field for a good amount of time, or having used a product for quite a while, that they speak about it in public.

On the other hand, influencers of any kind are similar to billboards or ads on the TV/Digital Media. They only cater to what the client (brand) wants them to portray. If a fairness cream wants an influencer to endorse it or make their presence known to the world by micro marketing, it’s the new gen way of advertising. They are on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and we can’t seem to run away from them!

So, advertising is very different from reviewing something that you have experience in, or a product you have used over period of time. Right now, the whole industry is confused about who a blogger is, and who an influencer is. Whether we have to pay them, or whether we can just barter with them. Whether a brand wants to make a mark. This has left us in a rut!

The industry is also in the zone of figuring out who is authentic and who is not. They don’t know if the number of followers matter or not, as the top bosses give a target of acquiring the upper crust of those who are either a blogger or an influencer for cheap rates. This, in turn, make the coordinators go behind the number of followers. It’s a game to see who gets the biggest fish for free! Whether the fish is dead, alive or even eatable is secondary, nowadays.

Therefore, influencers point their fingers at the brands for not giving them certain campaigns. As the number of followers are less, they sulk. In the following months, you would see the influencers managing to buy the required numbers. They do this for purely the satisfaction of getting a brand association – as that is what matters to them.

What blogging is about:

1. How you are helping the world to see some things differently.
2. If you want to shout out to the world about this amazing experience that you can’t think of keeping with you. So you end up sharing it on your blog or social media, so that someone else can also experience the same joy.
3. It’s to help people know information about a certain product you used personally for a long period of time when it has made a difference in your life. For e.g., A serum/headphones/shoes/tea, anything that has made a positive change in your life.
4. To create content, you don’t always need someone’s support or a brand association. If something is meshes well with it, then yes, you can go ahead.
5. It isn’t a competition. Blogging is about personal experience. If you, in your childhood, thought you didn’t need to be a nerd/rank-holder to survive and be happy in life, it implies that you know you wouldn’t need to blog exactly like everyone else.
6. Remember, every human being is different and you don’t need to be a clone of the rest of the 100 million bloggers/influencers out there running for free products.
7. In the long run, the industry is moving towards niche and thought leadership. Not everyone just advertises, because do you even look at billboards anymore?
8. It is about what you do, use or experience every single day, or at least for a good amount of time.
9. It is about finding a niche, experiencing and writing authentic information about it.

Blogging is NOT about:

1. Hiring a content writer to write your experience on your blog. (it’s not yours anymore)
2. Becoming a new generation billboard where you are just advertising for a fairness cream or a chocolate. (what’s the difference between you and an ad?)
3. Running behind anything and everything just for free products.
4. Comparing yourself to the rest of the 95% who are doing the same thing and then thinking, “Oh! I should also have the same pink lipstick.”
5. Writing about cooking oil one day, then writing about the high fashion shoes the next, and then writing about a complex financial planning on the third!
6. Blogging is not about how many collaborations you have done, or how many events you have attended. It isn’t about how much free stuff you have accumulated over time without using them.

But now every Tom,Dick & Harry is a blogger or an influencer. Everyone is writing or modelling or doing everything they are not. Yes, we all want to be Kylie Jenner. At least, she was only into beauty. But we are into everything – even advertising for a bathroom cleaner!

You have to decide if you want to be a blogger, or a random influencer, who does everything. The debate here is that you can be an influencer – there is nothing wrong in it. At least figure out your niche. Are people even seeing or hearing you, or are they muting your notifications because you are constantly creating noise which is of no use?

Who are Thought Leaders and why are they called so ?

Thought leaders are the informed opinion leaders and the go-to people in their field of expertise. They are trusted sources who move and inspire people with innovative ideas; turn ideas into reality and know and show how to replicate their success. Over time, they create a dedicated group of friends, fans and followers to help them replicate and scale their ideas into sustainable change. Not just in one company, but in an industry, niche or across an entire ecosystem. 

In simple words, Thought Leaders are those who excel in a particular field and make decisions to create differences with their heads held high.

Thought Leadership is not about being known, it’s about being known for making a difference!

I’m going to put out some links for you all to read about thought leadership. About how you can make a difference in the world, rather than just being a clone of your peers in the industry.

1. https://www.thoughtleadershiplab.com/Resources/WhatIsaThoughtLeader
2. https://yourstory.com/2016/10/who-is-thought-leader/
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/russprince/2012/03/16/what-is-a-thought-leader/#5776d6c7da04
4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2016/08/19/how-to-become-a-thought-leader/#3d6769773353
5. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/300170
6. https://www.inc.com/john-eades/10-thought-leaders-you-should-be-following-to-be-more-successful.html

Hope this was a disruptive blog post. Do leave your comments on the same and let me know what you think.

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