Archana Dhankar: Your audience is the king
Archana Dhankar is a Fashion, Lifestyle, Travel Blogger, and Entrepreneur. She started her blog “Fashion For Royals” 9 years ago with a motive of providing women with useful tips that will help them to make daily fashion & lifestyle choices. Follow her on Instagram to stay up-to-date with the latest trends.
Exclusive Interview
Q. What is your blogging story? How did you start your blogging career and why?
During my early years, I used to struggle with my fashion choices as most of us do. There was always a thought at the back of my head that why isn’t there a place where I can get fashion inspiration and style tips from.
So, since that time, I wanted to start something for people to help them with their daily fashion & lifestyle choices and that’s when the idea of Fashion For Royals was born and I decided to bring it to life and started blogging in 2012.
Q. What does a typical workday look like?
Usually, my workday looks like balancing between my work, home, creating content, and finding some me time. I start my day by planning and creating a to-do list so that it’s easier for me to keep track.
I start my work by having a call with my team to give them a brief and set priorities for the day. Then I reply to brand/collaboration mails and after all the backend work is done I focus on filming new content.
Q. How do you select brands you work with?
The most important question I ask myself while selecting a brand to work with is, “Will I personally use the brand?” For me or any content creator for that matter, the audience is the king and that’s why I always want to be transparent with them.
I wouldn’t want to promote or talk about a product that I won’t use in real life.
Q What is your go-to fashion style for this season?
Since we are in lockdown, my go-to fashion style has to be leggings with a jumper. It’s so comfy, cute, and effortless.
Q. The all-time fashion trend you just can’t get enough of?
It has to be baggy, high-waisted jeans. I love how versatile they are and how good they look paired with almost anything. One can style them in many different ways.
Q. What would you say is your #1 key to success?
I believe that it’s that I always focus on giving some value back to the audience, be it through my Instagram or my blog. I want people to find something that can be used in their daily life or that helps them in some way whenever they come to my profile.
Another thing is that I create content, keeping in mind my target audience. As an influencer, it is vital to be well aware of your audience and what they want to see and then create content according to that.
Q. Have you ever come across a time when you question yourself if this was the right path to take? And what keeps you going when things get tough?
I think no matter what profession you are in, there comes a time when you question whether you are on the right path or not. I have had my share of those to and during those times all I do is look back and see why I started and how far I have come.
Another thing that keeps me going when things get tough is the positive and lovely comments & feedback from my audience.
Q. As one of the best fashion influencers and aspiration to many other influencers, do you have 1 favourite fashion influencer? who and why?
Masoom Minawala is my favourite influencer. I absolutely love her energy and creativity.
Q. How has blogging changed since you first came into the scene 10 years ago? How do you see it evolving?
With the blogging industry growing at a rapid rate, I think it is now more fast-paced. When I started there were hardly any people who were doing video content, but now it has become more prominent.
Initially blogging was not considered a reliable career option but with time it has evolved into one of the highest-paid careers and people are now pursuing it full time.
To keep up with the pace of the blogging industry, it is important to interact with the audience and create content keeping in mind what they want to see. According to me, the future of blogging will involve incorporating more new technology.
Q. How do you think the social media world would look in 5 years?
I think video content is and will continue to be very important for success on social media in the next 5 years. We will see a rise in short form, crisp video content as people tend to watch that more.
Videos that tell a story and connect with the audience in a fun and creative way will be hit.
Q. What would you do differently if you were only starting your blogging career now?
If I were to start blogging now, I would put more focus on one channel, as that helps you to centre your energy and creativity in one direction and helps you create better content.
This doesn’t mean that you should ignore other channels. You should do content for all your channels but focus on the one that you relate to the most. Another thing that I would do differently is to have a long-term plan of what I want to achieve and where I want to be in the next 5-10 years.
Q If you could give one piece of advice to young girls looking to pursue a similar career path as you, what would it be?
All I would say is be true to your style & niche and always enjoy your work. Your audience can quickly tell when you are not putting your heart into something. Always create content that has some value for your audience and give them a reason to keep coming back.
Don’t just follow the trends and try to fit in, be unique as that is what makes you stand out.
Q. Future of SALISMANIA.com through your eyes?
You have really amazing and informative content on your website. I can see it growing into one of the leading platforms providing people with valuable content for every aspect of life, be it food, music, movies, trends, etc.
All I would like to say is that be consistent and keep up the good work. Provide the audience with reliable content that they can relate to in some way.
Follow Archana Dhankar on Instagram