Tag Archives: Selfies

The Ace Motivator

Being a new mother and a working professional is tough! And when one of your friend posts selfies of her recently acquired LEAN figure, thats the end of the world for you! You start resenting yourself for being overweight.

Social networking sites such as Facebook are a blessing in disguise for such people who may not be lazy but over-occupied in work that they do not even consider prioritising their health first.

Man is the only animal on Earth who is genetically designed to be conscious about his looks, status and other personality traits.

As the stone-age man transformed into the cement-age, he also became open and social.

Sharing and appreciating are the other new traits inculcated by the social networking sites. Only the difference is these traits are bound to be displayed among the mass audience.

If we go more deep and think positively, influence and inspiration are one of the many threads that connect the people through these social networks.

And for this, one need not be a celebrity, even common people like you and me, with a great insight can be the influencer.

More people you connect with, more content you come across.

If anyone decides to be fit and healthy this New Year’s and announces his resolution online, it becomes a wave motivating  every individual that reads it. And going forward, when that same person posts the selfies looking slim and lean, the same wave becomes stronger. Pictures speak more than the words!!

Talking more about the positive influence factor, when the subject of influence is closer to reality, the effect is immense.

During the process of selfies or for that matter any photograph, every individual tries to project an ideal image of himself or herself! For some it might be the new exotic location, for some a usual day at work, for others a pout might make all the difference. All these factors are mostly about external projections but a huge internal unending game of mind.

In this tryst of looking good and cool, people undoubtedly start picturing the comments and likes they will be receiving once they upload this picture on any social network.

And when one of them with same AGENDA of external projection exceeds, it inspires others to try more.

Social media has become the most influential platform in today’s era motivating hundreds and thousands. People are constantly tweeting, updating statuses, instagraming selfies, whatsapping! Sharing every minute detail of your life is the most happening trend among the regular users.

Many brands such as Myntra are catching this wave and are promoting their products by emphasising the importance of LIKES and COMMENTS through their tagline “LIVE FOR LIKES”.  Thus influencing the young guns to buy and share their purchase on the social channels.

The Facebook vanity URL has now gained an equal status to that of a website.

Book clubs, group discussions, knowledge exchange…all and everything can be done through the social media.

Virtual motivation and inspiration can be sought at a click of a button.

I do agree that excess of anything is bad but every individual has the liberty to define the optimum.

So folks what is that one thing you are planning to do but lack the motivation? I will suggest you to either Facebook or Twitter it. You will find thousands of motivators along with their experiences to get you going!

Thats all for now as I am off to my walk! Ofcourse my friend motivated me. 🙂

Selfies:  An exercise to enhance your personal brand

Selfie – A new phenomena, a trend sweeping the world. Popular across all ages.

The Wikipedia defines it as a type of self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held camera. It is often linked with the social networking website such as Instagram.

This six letter word is a rage now. Zillions of selfies are uploaded, shared and circulated on social media channels every passing day. Being a social media professional, I come across this so much that it makes me wonder the reason for its popularity. What’s making it so infectious?

The answer was – love for self expression!!

Social media has provided people yet another way of expressing their moods, behaviors, small joys and sorrows in a visually appealing way. Instead of uploading a textual status update, millennial can simply upload a photograph depicting their current mood, add #selfie tag and share it on their social networking sites. A simple and more outgoing way to communicate!

The global appeal of selfies has come from its ease of creation and sharing. Also the kind of control they provide an individual over how he/she can self-photograph and present themselves. It is a means of communicating and connecting with others.

As I was researching for this blog, I also came across few self-explanatory tweets about selfies. Few of them are as follows –

Secret Formula: more #selfies, more #followers. PS: for girls only! 🙂

#Selfies are well and truly in

Low self esteem and #selfies is a dangerous combo.

So apparently #selfies are also a trend with the royal families

Speaking about the royals, Oscars this year was more known for Ellen’s selfie rather than the Red Carpet entries and awards buzz. This image spoke a lot about how one can easily enhance one’s personal brand and I feel Ellen made the best possible use of selfies for her brand.

Ellen's Selfie

Ellen’s Selfie

Personal branding is all about expressing your brand while maintaining the ‘person’ behind it.

Expressing your work, routine, moods, talent and personality through selfies will personify your brand and help the audience to relate to you in a more friendly and humane way. Instead of a formal photo with a professional photographer and sophisticated lenses, Selfies are raw! They give the audience a reality check making them trust you and be loyal to your brand. Without the professional angle, selfies portray authenticity and humbleness with a “within reach” feel about the brand thus adding more credibility and respect in the minds of audience towards the brand.

Another reason for the immense popularity of Ellen’s selfie is she portrayed to the whole world that her fame and the celebrity status doesn’t make her any less human. Just like any other individual even she is carried away by the selfie storm and loves taking selfies with her friends.

Exploring and analyzing oneself is what people love to do both on Social Media and in real life. Experiments add variety and newness to the life. The thought that you can create an online profile and project the real you is exciting. Selfies provide you the ability to do that.

Having a personal image, a brand online is the need of the hour. Leveraging or diminishing its potential lies in our hands.

Making the best use of selfies, by expressing your real self (lies, faking and frauds are so passé) one can definitely manage as well as enhance his or her own brand according to one’s reputation.

So tell me, are your Selfie crazy? How do you use those selfies to enhance your personal image? Do let me know your views in the comments below.