Blogging is not an overnight process: Ria Goenka

From writing in school, making friends read till getting the encouragement to post it online, Ria’s journey has not been a cakewalk. People think it is easy to be an Instagram blogger and influencer. But in an interview with QNA, she breaks the notion and tells what all it takes to be a blogger.

What gave you the idea of creating an Instagram blog? How has it grown since you started?

Ria: I had a pursuit for writing ever since I was in the 3rd standard. So, even at that time, I would just keep writing in my diary and share it with 2-3 people at max until one day 2 of my friends Kushal and Deepak encouraged me to start a page. Thereafter, I started posting my write-ups on the page. It started on 3rd January 2016 and in a year I had 15k followers on it. I had absolutely zero idea about the world of commercial blogging and that’s when brands started contacting me for work. That’s how it all started and today I am at more than 1 lakh followers with too many reputed brands as my clients. 

Is blogging your profession or just a hobby?

Ria: Well, it is my passion. I am a Chartered Accountant by profession but my heart lies here now. I love being in front of the camera and writing marketing reviews. I still love posting my write-ups and enjoy doing it.

How do you get involved with your followers and find the best way to give them the content they want?

Ria: I very often hold Q & A sessions on my page to get in touch with my followers and the best way to give them content is to find out what product/ style they want to know about and that can only happen when you interact with them. 

What is the best thing in creating lifestyle content?

Ria: For me personally, it is to know that people love and follow you for what you do. Not setting high standards on life but basically providing your followers with all the basic information that they need, to make their lifestyle and styling better. To make people believe that life is not about fancy cars and restaurants, it’s about all those little things that add up to make it grand.

What is your content frequency? And how important is to create regular content?

Ria: I usually post once in 2-3 days but I always post 5-6 stories every day. Creating regular content is very important to keep your audience hooked on to your work.

A lot of people think that influencer blogging is an easy way to make money online. Do you have some tips for those people who are interested in making money from Insta blogging?

Ria: It is of course not as easy as it seems, but when you love doing something all the difficulties can be dealt with. It’s tough shooting in harsh weathers, finding good locations, trying out different brands and managing communications with the brands and your audience. People who want to make money from Instagram can definitely start with posting the reviews of the products that they already own, try to connect with influencers already existing in this field and try to learn from them about how this works. It is not an overnight process, it may take a lot of time to build over contacts with different brands but trust me if your content is good and your reviews are genuine, brands will knock your doors themselves.