‘Building a community & earning trust start with content creators being authentic’

With the digital age’s increased exposure, breaking the trust of consumers is easier than building a community, said stakeholders of the digital economy at Goafest 2024. A group of panellists spoke about how to ensure consumer connect in this over-connected world as part of a knowledge session. 

On Day 2 of Goafest 2024, industry experts took part in a panel discussion on ‘Trust or Bust: Thriving in the Digital World’. Among the panellists were Amit Doshi, Chief Marketing Officer of Britannia; Paras Sharma, Director of Global Partnerships for Meta; Falguni Vasavada, content creator and co-founder of 1% Club; and Sharan Hegde and MICA professor and digital content creator. The session was moderated by Manisha Kapoor, CEO and Secretary General of ASCI.

Kapoor then spoke about how many scams have led to people losing trust in some influencers. She also brought in the controversy wherein the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) had to fine some financial influencers who were found giving financial advice without the licence to do so. 

Hegde who himself is regarded as one of the biggest fin-fluencers in the country acknowledged the wrong doings unearthed by SEBI. He was amazed at how many scams had come up despite the number of financial influencers being quite low. “I don't endorse skirting around the law for financial gains. While it is not that difficult to build a community and foster trust among them, it is very easy to break their trust. So, one has to ensure giving their community verified and correct information, especially when it has to do with their financial well-being,” he said. 

Vasavada said building a community and earning their trust starts with content creators being their authentic self on public forums. “It is easy for the community to spot people not being fake on social media. One cannot fake passion in any way. Whether it is a creator sharing recipes because they love coming, or someone like me speaking about empowering women in small ways, our audience can identify pretences,” she said.

Talking about the real-world impact of social media and the digital economy, Sharma gave examples of a few people from across the country who came from humble backgrounds but built up their talents to improve their families’ financial situation. “With platforms that have a total user base of 3.2 billion people across the world, Meta takes care of the digital well-being of our creators as well as users through various features,” he said. These features, including protecting the creators from trolls and parental control for minor users, enable the creators to use these platforms to build their credibility.