Vishakha Bhuta – Without authenticity, you can't go a long way.

 

Success comes to those who dedicate everything to their passion in life. To be successful, it is also very important to be humble and never let fame or money travel to your head. It’s always been the adrenaline rush to do things differently, consistently and creatively that makes you stand out from the herd. So was the case with Vishakha Bhuta too.

Creativity oozed from within since she’s a trained interior designer by profession. Vishakha was fortunate to travel the seven seas and live in a foreign land for almost seven years. That’s where the seeds were sowed for an added avenue of her another favourite passion – the love for food. From documenting her travels, food learnings into a blog and social media sites, Vishakha has now graduated to becoming a recipe developer and does some amazing brand collaborations.

The interview:

Can you tell us a little bit about how you got started and attained the position of an influencer?

I have always loved food. My life always revolved around it. I loved exploring new cuisines and visiting new places. Once I moved to China, I got a better opportunity to explore and learn more about food and culture. I travelled more, I ate more, and I cooked more. I then thought of documenting my food journey and sharing my knowledge with the world. That's when ‘1teaspoonlove’ was born. 

My honesty, hard work and dedication earned me a lot of love and appreciation. Gradually, I grew and finally reached this position. I've come a long way. It took me 6 years to reach here and I've loved every bit of my journey.

How important is authenticity to your review when it comes to influencer marketing? How do you maintain your authentic voice, viewpoints and recommendations on your social media while still partnering with brands?

I work with only those brands who are honest about their products and with those whose products I would use myself. I do try things myself before influencing someone else. I am honest with my views and recommendations. Authenticity is so important. If you're not honest or authentic, you can't go a long way. People would eventually know your reviews aren’t genuine.

Read more Social Media Influencing interviews:

Geeta Hansaria

Aryeman Raj

Bhavya Gandhi

Chakshu Jain

Pavan Pamnani

Have there been any brands or promotions you have refused since you didn’t believe in them?

Luckily I haven't come across any such brands in the food sector yet but I surely have refused promotions and brands in beverage and skin care because a lot of them aren't very promising or honest.



How do you plan the brand promotion in case of collaborations? What is the modus operandi you follow?


Planning a brand promotion or finding a brand to work with isn't very difficult if you follow these few simple steps.

·       A clear idea of what you want to achieve is most important. So I identify that first. Knowing the objectives enables you to be clear about what activities you would like to do with the brand.

·       Next is to identify the brands your consumer interacts with, and you will have a long list of brands that you can collaborate with to meet more customers like the ones you already have.

·       Finally, the most effective marketing collaborations are when the very essence of the brands involved genuinely work well together.



Do you take advance part-payments before you start creating content for a brand? How do you safeguard your payments? Any cases where you haven’t been paid your dues?

No, I have never taken part payments before content creation. They payments are usually cleared after 30/60/90 days. There needs to be constant follow-up which is a little tiresome at times. But it's all about trust. When it's a new agency or a new brand, there's always a little fear about payments. Fortunately, I have always been paid even if there has been a delay. I try to work with known and trusted agencies.



Do you have any big goals as an influencer for 2021?

Yes, I do! I look forward to creating more video content in 2021 and host more workshops. I need to get my YouTube channel and my blog active again. There are bigger goals as well for 2021 but I will taking them on in a phased manner.


5 tips for budding influencers who want to succeed in this field:

·       Hard work- there is no shortcut to anything.

·       Investment - You will get something only after you invest something. Blogging and influencing has three pre-requisites - time, money, dedication.

·       Honesty – Always be honest to yourself and your audience. It will go a long way.

·       Consistency- You need to be consistent with what you do.

·       Be original - Explore your skills, do something unique, stand out. Don't blindly copy or imitate.

 

 


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