#SMLive 2019: MissMalini shares her learning curve as a blogger

MissMalini's journey began as a background dancer and led her to the radio, entertainment journalism, blogging and now, MissMalini's Girl Tribe.

MissMalini started her blog in 2008. Her journey has been an overwhelming one and something that has brought her a lot of learnings and lessons.

She shares the top three: Never blog something you won't tell to someone's face. Think of how you would spark joy and remember that followers are people too.

One of the most important lessons she shares at #SMLive 2019 is that it is important to build a community. "Don't jump into creating money the moment you start. Try to build a community first. Listen to your audiences, engage and learn," she says, adding that it doesn't matter if you have a small group of community. It is actually better sometimes, she adds.

She further explains how it is important to use every platform to its advantage. In the case of Instagram, while the feed can be used to put across carefully created content, stories are the space you share behind the scene action. Comments should be used to interact with followers and make them feel like they are a part of the team. It is important to optimise each platform to the hilt, strategise on what kind of content will go where and use the analytical tools at your disposal.

Given the information overload, the only way to be a commercial success as a blog is to have a USP. Malini nudges creators to ask themselves as to what is different about the content they intend to create. Next, it is important to interact with people who are creating similar content. Go out, meet people and build yourself a community, she says.

Following or copying someone will get you nowhere. It is important to be genuine and give people a peek into your personality. Collaborating is the next step. It helps people grow their community as well as create good content. In the end, it is important to just create content and take it to people through different platforms, optimising it on the way, she concludes.

See the full session here: