Creators celebrate Social Media Day as they talk about being part of this world

Kunwar Raj, Vijay Nihalchandani, Parth and Harsh Goela talk about having a career and diving into the world of content creation on World Social Media Day

The thing about the 21st century that people can collectively agree on is how communication has become the easiest it can be. There is nothing better than being connected to people thousands of miles away from us, thanks to social media. The world that we live in has shrunk into a small rectangle and we couldn’t be grateful enough for this invention. It has grown to become an additional necessity that is keeping us all sane in between us trying to figure out life. So it was only fair for us to dedicate a day to something that is an active part of our lives on 30th June as World Social Media Day.

While for most of us, it is just another pass time, there are people who have created a whole career is out of it. The need to have a social media presence is considered to be equally important and valuable rather than just another page. That has only encouraged people from different aspects of society to join the creator community and reach out to a larger audience with their expertise. Finance is one field that was never associated with social media, but today we have individuals using these platforms for infotainment. Finance Content Creator Kunwar Raj (Founder of Unfinance), Vijay Nihalchandani (Founder of Travinities), Parth Shah aka Motabhai (Founder of PitchVilla) and Harsh Goela (Founder of Goela School of Finance) have been creating content and sharing their knowledge, updates about the world of finance, investments and more for a while. As we celebrate social media day, we had a chance to know more about their digital careers.

Here's what they had to share:

Your earliest memory of joining the digital space?

Kunwar Raj, “Back when I was in high school, and the internet cost Rs. 250 per GB, my friends introduced me to Instagram. It was an image-sharing platform and we used to share the most random images there.”

Vijay Nihalchandani, “I still remember, my cousin's brother used to live in China and it's been more than 10-15 years since he came to India and made an account for me on ORKUT, that's where I started social media and then Facebook. I started content creation in 2020 and my company ‘Travinities’ is in the hospitality space travelling wasn't possible and we were looking for new leads. Every company was laying off, so we thought about how to attract an audience and customers without spending a single penny. So I started creating content which people liked and I started getting leads just because it was related to business. As I had to sell my hotel revenue management services, I used to make case studies of Taj and Marriott and people used to see it and I used to get leads. This kept increasing and I started getting more brands and audiences.”

Harsh Goela, “My content creation started in 2014-15 when we randomly made youtube videos on stock markets on our channel at the time AIB was the most famous channel and youtube was only known for comedy content, not for stock market content. This is when we started.”

Parth Shah, “I actively joined the digital space in September 2022. The earliest memory would be going out with a small team and an iPhone and convincing business owners and startups to share their financials, but yes, while covering businesses, I realised the way entrepreneurship is presented on social media, the so-called glamorous side, and how it is celebrated, the on-ground reality is completely different: active, tough, and difficult.”

How has your life changed over the years?

Vijay Nihalchandani, "My life has changed a lot over these three years. For many people, COVID has been the worst part of their lives but for me, it was the best part because I wouldn't have started creating content if not for COVID-19. It has changed in terms of fame, money and lifestyle. Within these three years, I have gained the love of people, they have started recognising me if and when they see me somewhere, they ask for selfies, and looking at me they get that, he is “IdeaMan”. My startup has got a huge boost because there is real-time and real-world knowledge. And most importantly networking has increased a lot, so let's say if today I want any help from any founder, it's just a message away. Now it doesn't seem like a problem when you have anything to worry about, because you know there are so many people who will help you out."

Kunwar Raj, "Being on social media used to be a flex in school and then it became a new normal in the post-Jio world. During the lockdown, we decided to start Unfinance and we are proud that within a span of just 2 years, this platform has helped us to reach millions of Indians and educate them about personal finance. From being a consumer to a creator, social media has played a significant role in my life."

Kunwar Raj

What is the importance of social media in today's day and age and so on?

Harsh Goela, "It’s an extremely important tool, for people who want to financially make an impact, social media is a perfect platform where you don't have to wait for an explanation of anything on television, but you can see the same thing from any content creator, in your own regional dialect and make thing easier for you. It also helps you explore careers, what are people doing, what you can do, to join different communities, to cross boundaries, this is a major thing."

Parth Shah, "From a content creators prospective I would say that there are pros and cons.
Pros - 

• Information spreads faster
• Proactive and curious youngsters who are curious about a lot of things
• New content and new trends every single second.
• It largely creates soft power as it influences a lot of decisions.

Cons - 

• You have to be very sure about what you are watching.
• Young people have quick access to a lot of things that are not right (fraudulent financial schemes)"

Parth Shah

With being a content creator, you also have your own brand/ startup. How important do you think social media is when being an entrepreneur?

Parth Shah, "It is really the right time to be a content-preneur, honestly. Social media creates curiosity. We have five businesses, and we have channelized revenues worth more than 2 crores through the right kind of placement, but there has to be a thin line of differentiation between running businesses and the social media character you play online. At the end of the day, businesses are more important, so Pitchvilla Pvt. Ltd. comes first, followed by my online character Motabhailikes."

Vijay Nihalchandani, "Being an entrepreneur, social media is very important because there are two things, firstly, the network, if you are an entrepreneur and have a startup, you need people and I know I have a lot of people who are already ready to buy a product if I’m to launch anything in the market because they already have a lot of trust in me and they’ll buy whatever I sell because I have gained that trust. Secondly, being on social media is very important because this is the only way you can reach a million people in a single day. If I talk about Sam Altman’s GPT, it didn't even take him 6 months to reach the whole world, so social media is the power. If you use social media well, it will become an asset to you."

Vijay Nihalchandani

How do you find the balance between your online and real life?

Kunwar Raj, "After a certain point, it becomes really confusing and overwhelming to differentiate between the two. As a creator, our minds are continuously looking for content in every interaction. Somehow, we try to detox, but that divide is a blurred line. Though sometimes I take a break from social media to get my creative fluid running again."

Vijay Nihalchandani, "When I’m with my family or friends, I don't use my phone and all my time is only theirs and I have so many people watching but this never hinders my personal life. You should always find the divide between the two."

Harsh Goela, "Definitely online life can't substitute meeting people in real life and having those experiences, But what online can help you with is time management, one can complete things from wherever they want. Both have their pros and cons, but if I have to incline towards one, it would definitely be online, because it is more time efficient and much more productive."

Parth Shah, "You have to detach from your social media persona at the end of the day. With Parth being the original one and Motabhailikes being a character Parth plays online, it keeps you more humble, grounded, and progressive."

Things you would like to learn and unlearn about the online world?

Kunwar Raj, "I am still figuring out a way to bring a balance between creating the content that I want to create vs the content that algorithm pushes. I want to unlearn the traditional concepts of driving engagement and build a loyal community of users whom I can monetize while genuinely helping the audience to ace their personal finance game."

Harsh Goela, "I would like to learn more about the audience, and what exactly they like, want or need, I would like an in-depth understanding of the audience so that content creators can help them with whatever they need or want. If there is something I would like to unlearn, it would be that sometimes we push the boundaries too hard, and there is too much content and no moderation. If we talk about finance content creation, unfortunately, there are quite a few creators creating content which is factually incorrect or spreading fake news and this happens in every industry, and there are pros and cons but I hope we get a better place to live as we go ahead."

Harsh Goela

Here's wishing every creator who spends hours creating content a Happy World Social Media Day!

For more creator-related content follow us at @socialketchup