INFLUENCER INTERVIEW : MITHILA MEHTA (www.miss-wanderlust.com )

For the people who don’t know about you, Can you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?My name is Mithila Mehta but I’m better known as Miss Wanderlust in the blogging sphere. I love meeting new people, taking the road less traveled and experiencing the world in new ways. My blog, www.miss-wanderlust.com is a reflection is this love for wanderlust.

Additionally, I work full time in the field of Marketing Innovation. A qualified journalist, I write for various publications such as The Times of India, DNA and JetWings. I have also co-authored a book on Mumbai titled Cutting Chai and Maska Pao – The Way It Is Said In Mumbai Only, published by Harper Collins.

      Every website has a story behind it. What was yours? What was the motivation behind starting this Blog?

Miss Wanderlust was born out of a pure, undiluted love for travel and the need to inspire other people to ‘get on that plane.’ While I had been writing on travel for many years, I never had an organized blog of my own. The blog was a surprise gift to me from my husband (then fiancée!) on my birthday last year.

-         Do you ever get stuck when writing a blog? What do you do then?

Luckily, words come easily to me – and lifestyle blogging is a sphere with no dearth of inspiration. That said, it’s always important to be open to ideas and inspiration.

-         If there was one thing that you feel makes your blog stand out, what would that be?

Miss Wanderlust is a traveler-sourced platform. Apart from my own travel stories, we love sharing travel tales from other passionate travellers.

-         If you had to give three crazy advice to budding bloggers, what would that be?

•  Work on your blog every single day – even if it’s lunch time at work, or late at night.
•  Connect with fellow bloggers – see them as collaborators rather than competition.
• Think of new and interesting ways of presenting your content which makes it interesting and relevant for readers. Long monologues only work well in Shakespeare’s plays.

-         Do you promote your blog? What promotional techniques work best for you and why?

      Good old social media is the best bet for spreading the word about blogs. That said, what works for Miss Wanderlust is the quality of content. If your content is interesting, compelling and well written, there’s no reason why the blog won’t take off!

-         What do you find to be the most gratifying aspect of blogging?

I enjoy hearing how readers connect to my blogs and tell their own stories through it.

-         And Influencer Marketing – what it holds for bloggers?

Working with brands is great fun. As someone who works as both a marketer and as a journalist, I see great value in influencer marketing from both lenses. That said, brands need to give influencers more freedom to develop relevant content, and influencers need to improve their quality of content and delivery.

-         Engaging in influencer marketing is fruitful but most of the bloggers feel there are some characteristic problems while engaging with brands. How is your experience of engaging with brands and problems, if any?
      Have had a lovely experience of engaging with brands thanks to the platforms I work with such as Blogmint. I’ve had the opportunity to work with established brands such as British Airways, AskMe Bazaar, Tata Capital, Honda and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.