On today's Friday Follow, we have a chat with RJ Raghav about how he's been creating content for over a decade and trying new platforms.
Today, we have our playlists ready when we go on a road trip with our friends. And no matter how many audio apps are introduced, listening to the radio will always be special. Everyone who has been listening to the radio has fallen in love with the voice on the radio without actually seeing the person. Being recognized for their voice alone and being able to captivate the audience, accompanying them on their long boring rides has always been the best part of radio jockeys. While not many of us listen to the radio, we do wonder what our favorite RJ is up to. And RJ Raghav has found a way to connect to every generation through the world of content creation.
Raghav, widely known as RJ Raghav hails from Kanpur, UP and even though he has become an active part of the digital community only recently, Raghav feels that his content creation journey began 13 years ago when he started off his radio jockey career. "I was doing the same thing. It’s a different type of content creation but I’d say my content creation journey on Instagram started after 2016."
After being in the content world for so long Raghav knows that there is always an opportunity to keep learning and improving. He said, "My content is still evolving every day because I’m still learning but I’ve made these changes from people's reactions and I realized content creation is a little different from Radio, but I keep implementing people's feedback in my videos and that’s how I’ve learned and changed my content and will continue evolving."
While there has been a rise in the number of people who are creating content with the popularity of short-video platforms, the other medium of content that's increasingly liked by the audience is audio. With a bunch of audio apps available there's a growing love for podcasts. And as an RJ who has been in audio content, Raghav understands this popularity and its impact on audio content. "I believe that the listener creates demand and now the demand for podcasts is increasing. I do podcasts for Radiocity and I’ll do more podcasts in the future as well and the demand for podcasts is what keeps it going. Audio content was more on radios and it still works today it will work for some time as well because everyone can’t do long podcasts but it won’t die out."
In order to recreate his own version of Reels, he makes sure to keep himself updated on all the recent trends. When asked what kind of trends or Reels he likes watching and recreating, he mentioned, "Reels that have music and humor. I am affiliated with music so I especially like those reels but other than that I like trends with a twist." He also follows his fellow creators and their content. "I like Viraj a lot, I think he’s a great comic creator and a great human being. I follow his content a lot. Other than him I like, BeYouNick, Prajakta Koli, and The Orange Juice Gang."
He hasn't had any bad experiences for as long as he has been creating content but he understands that the platform has its own positives and negatives. "The only thing is once you start creating content you come across ideas everywhere, even in normal conversations with friends and family your content ideas keep flowing in so I’d say that’s the only thing which can be seen as bad."
There are two quotes that always motivate him and that he tries to live by them. “If you’re living a creative life, then you have to leave behind the fear of taking risks.” And the other is a quote by Swami Vivekanandji, “You take one idea that you like, and others like and make it so big, so big that your body will begin thinking like that and you’ll find success.”
Have you received any DM from your followers that stayed with you?
"Not just one but so many. So many people have sent me messages especially during peak covid about songs that I posted that have helped them heal and those have stayed with me."
What are your hopes for 2022?
"I have a lot of hopes, firstly to complete my acting workshops so I can take up more acting jobs and continue to create good content so I can make more money because that’s also important. I hope I stay the way I am, happy and confident and everything will keep working out for me."
Raghav's journey is an inspiration for so many of us! Thank you for entertaining us, Raghav!