#ConversationStarters: Viraj Sheth and Suchartiya Tyagi talk content

In a world where information is always on the overload, brands and creators are constantly seeking stimulation to create the next viral video or the next chart-topping podcast. While good content is what sells, how does a creator really sell it? By reaching out to an audience that is receptive and participative. That’s where Twitter comes in. Twitter is where people come to have conversations and form connections around what appeals to them. The service’s conversational and real-time nature has helped brands and creators acquire a loyal audience that listens, engages and actively gives feedback.

Late last year, Twitter launched ArtHouse in India - a creative suite of services to assist brands in creating clutter-breaking, Twitter first content. To dive into the practice of content creation, Twitter Marketing India (@TwitterMktgIN) hosted a new episode of #ConversationStarters today - Thursday, 15 April 2021, with Viraj Sheth (@viraj_sheth) Founder, Monk Entertainment and Sucharita Tyagi (@Su4ita), Film Critic, on the Art and Science of Content Creation.

📢 Welcome to a brand new episode of #ConversationStarters

🎙 We are LIVE with @Su4ita and @viraj_sheth, along with your host @RachitUppal, talking about all things Influencer marketing and the tips and tricks to build a loyal community.

Listen in 👇 https://t.co/EBGFI7kWEZ

— Twitter Marketing IN (@TwitterMktgIN) April 15, 2021

Viraj, who leads a digital marketing company himself, shared his hands-on experience in dealing with creators and influencers. Talking about how he created a following for himself on Twitter, he said, “I have seen that text based content works well for me - two or three liner content pieces have a lot more shareability on my profile than I would have in any other format on Twitter.” As per Viraj, while both short-form and long-form content are on the rise, what sets the tone for every creator is understanding one’s audience and the platform that one is creating for. On Twitter, he said, while brevity is the name of the game, Tweet storms and threads are also performing really well. 

Sucharita, on the other hand, comes to Twitter to keep up with what’s going on with the world. “You come onto Twitter to find out what’s the latest - what happened over night while I was sleeping in the other part of the world that I’m waking up and finding out now,” she said. She also enjoys a loyal, engaged community of followers on Twitter where they talk about all things entertainment - from movies, to new shows, to pop culture - essentially ‘content’ of all kinds. For her, what works on Twitter is the service’s real-time nature, “I think Twitter has a very fast travel speed from one corner of the world to the other and from one place to the next.”

Since both Viraj and Sucharita are part of niche communities on Twitter, they had a lot to share on the dos and don’ts of how creators should engage with and appeal to their audiences. Both of them vouch for authenticity, honesty and conviction when trying to build a strong audience community.

While building communities is a whole game in itself, another challenge that creators face is to monetise their content by engaging in brand collaborations. Viraj suggests it's more important to look at engagement than follower numbers, and also being conscious about not selling anything one doesn’t believe in. Sucharita, who’s had her own share of experiences with brand collaborations, emphasises the importance of making the right promotional choices that align with one’s personality and content. She says, “Pick. Choose. Decide. Because people also know what you are about. People are not stupid, do not underestimate your audience.”

Both speakers shared their two-cents on how brands should and should not approach content and content creators. Viraj, almost pleadingly, appealed for brands to ‘get their research right’, especially when working around cause-related or moment-led marketing. “Just because it's a certain day or a certain week dedicated to a certain cause, doesn’t mean you need to jump on the bandwagon.” Sucharita, sharing the same thoughts, emphasised the importance of knowing the industry well enough to know which content creator, influencer or professional to approach for a certain brand or product.