Meet the influential influencers of Aurangabad

Social media influencers excited to join hands with the biggest event of the town ‘Lokmat Mahamarathon’

Aurangabad: The new trend of influencers is rising on social media day by day. Some took a rise during the pandemic to become influencers in their niche. The trend has very much influenced youngsters in Aurangabad and interestingly some of the known influencers who have successfully marked their presence on social media and have lakhs of followers are now all excited about the city’s mega event the ‘Lokmat Mahamarathon’ to be held on December 18. AurangabadFirst interacted with few of these renowned influencers during their courtesy visit to Lokmat on Tuesday.

Keeping it short is the motto

Sandesh Patil, a teacher, motivational speaker and history lover turned his passion for history and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj into his Instagram channel ‘Sandesh_samarth777’. With around 1.40 lakh followers under his belt, his journey as a heritage storyteller started after he realised that the videos shared regarding our history were very lengthy. Sandesh said "I myself started shooting one minute videos and posting them on Instagram. My goal was to share true information in the shortest possible span. A good influencer is one who is well aware of his content and his viewers. You can post even one video in a month, but keep it original and short. Sandesh plans to publish his book on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and launch a campaign to clean the forts. Highlighting the importance of a healthy life, Sandesh said Lokmat has been in the family since my childhood. Lokmat Maha Marathon spreads the message of healthy lifestyle. Studies have revealed that running reduces the chance of getting a disease by 50 percent. Hence everybody needs to run.

Started out of passion

The 'I Love Aurangabad' page started out of passion and liking for the city, said Irbaaz Ansari, president of I Love Aurangabad Foundation. What started as a Instagram Page has now turned into a social foundation. Irbaaz said the page started in 2016-17 highlighting the historical significance and information about the city and was later registered as a social NGO with more focus on social work, raising issues of the city, promoting tourism and youth empowerment. The biggest work undertaken by the foundation was to put up the ‘I Love Aurangabad’ boards throughout the city with support of the Smart City administration. We used the platform to help people during the lockdown. Three years back, we started posting job alerts and till now have provided 60,000 job alerts to aspirants. We run a charitable hospital at Padegaon for the needy, raising issues related to connectivity and tourism. Lokmat is an integrated part of my family. Lokmat Mahamarathon highlights the importance of a healthy lifestyle and has record participation. Only Lokmat can arrange such a mega event.

People want something new

Pooja Khambalkar, a zumba instructor, a professional fashion designer and an anchor by profession has 22.5k followers on her Instagram ‘Pooja_Khamnalkar’ and Catch Life with Pooja Khambalkar on Youtube without any hassle. She has around 22.5K followers on Insta account. Winner of Miss Aurangabad 2019, Pooja began posting her motivational thought videos on Instagram. Expressing herself through poetry she immediately got the attention of followers. During lockdown, she started posting her zumba workout videos to help people to stay in shape. Pooja said that being an influencer you have to give something new to your audience. Keeping up with the latest trends is what makes you successful. You have to unlock your full potential while creating any content. Always be ready to face criticism on social media. Taking it positively and never giving up is the key to success. Speaking about the importance of good health, Pooja said Lokmat has always been ahead in highlighting the importance of being fit. Lokmat Mahamarathon promotes a healthy lifestyle among the people. Citizens are always eager to take part in this mega event.