We stay away from conventional influencing: Vinayak of Videepedia

Vinayak and Deepika, as a power couple, are here to give you a taste of the latest trends in Fashion, Lifestyle, Food, and Travel with exclusive stories on their blog, Videepedia.

In conversation with Social Samosa, Vinayak and Deepika share their travelogue, food expeditions and their love for food and lifestyle stories with Videepedia. Here's the journey of Vinayak and Deepika Bali's growth story to Videepedia.

Excerpts

Looking back, where did it all begin? 

Growing up around a complete food fanatic family, I used to be exuberated by the aroma of delicious food being prepared by my mom and was attracted to the joy she found in cooking for us. I was introduced to a lot of cuisines and flavors from younger age and I dreamt of doing something on the same path. I found my life partner soon who too was an architectural explorer and we set out on our journey to capture what all we could with our taste buds and eyes. We started a food blog together – My Food Stories and today it has grown to Videepedia through which we cover just more than food.

Also read: Taking you on a Culinary Journey~ Chef Ranveer Brar, Hot Potato films

What's in the name? 

After the initial months of My Food Stories, we decided to explore other segments like travel, lifestyle, fashion. My better half and my soul partner in life – Deepika, decided to introduce Fashion and Beauty niche with our brand-new name – VIDEEPEDIA. I look out for Travel and Food while the Fashion is maintained by her.

What is your USP in this cluttered space? How
does your content give you an edge?

Most of our time is spent on creating inviting content for our social media platforms. We like to stay away from the conventional influencing and rather we believe in producing admirable content, be it in any form – clicked pictures, blog articles or even my cooking. We want people to enjoy something worthy in any of our work.

Please take us through your content creation process. How do you stay relevant and relatable?

We aspire to enjoy the beauty of places, relish the local flavors and learn their traditional methods of cooking with all the efforts that go in with it. We like to share our travel stories and introduce people to location-specific dishes and giving insight about their authentic preparations, spices and all. We even try to explore our own city – Delhi, looking for places that serve some palatable delicacies.

How do you make moolah with your efforts?

As we started out on our journey, our first aim was not to make money but to set up a platform where our audience can enjoy our experiences and we have come a long way doing the same. We would surely like to monetize it after a while just to ensure that we meet the demand for good content and the good content does require some monetary efforts.

How do you maintain editorial objectivity with
the influx of brand briefs?

We don’t shy away from promotional features as they are a reality in today’s influencing platforms but we do stick to our values of being honest with our audience – content-wise and quality-wise.

One instance/experience that made it all
worthwhile

A while ago, when we started following our traveling niche, most of the PRs handling properties refused to entertain us as our audience base and content were mostly related to food and lifestyle. But we were given a chance for a staycation at Noor Mahal, GT Karnal Road which was a happy moment for us.

In conversation with the PR of the property, we genuinely wanted to know the reason for being chosen for the opportunity amongst people who already had a steady foot in the travel niche with a larger audience. The PR admired our work on other niches and told us that she values quality over quantity. That would still remain our most rememberable experience.

Weirdest brand brief/request ever

Just not to name people, we were once approached by a PR of a
highly known property requesting us to feature and review their place without
visiting them. We were being offered compensation for the same but we still
declined it.

If not blogging, you would be?

I would definitely be working somewhere in the hospitality
sector as that is where my heart is.

A day in your life...

As we are into content curation, our minds are always working
about things and that’s how our day goes. We wake up with a positive mindset,
look for inspiration in little things around us, gather our thoughts in one
place and try to bring out the best content possible.

Message/tips for upcoming bloggers

Don’t be fooled by the razzmatazz of the shiny and luxury properties or the finely presented food. Go deep and learn about what you eat, what all hard work goes into the experiences you are bestowed with and consistently produce good content for your blogs. Anything you do, always keep a learning and a positive mindset.

Your Favorite Influencer

Although Deepika and I are each other’s favorite influencers, if we had to choose a third person, our vote would definitely go out to – Mr. Tikku. The most positive, joyful and a humble personality for us in the whole circle of influencers. We utterly respect and love him and his content.

The Future you foresee for your Personal Brand

We would definitely keep improving ourselves and keep outgrowing ourselves as we haven’t limited ourselves to set goals. Each goal we reach is the starting point for the next one. We would certainly like to evolve as one of the great brands in the industry.

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