With 1.9 M followers looking through her feed on Instagram and over 50K+ followers on Facebook, Shahtaj is rocking her game on Social Media with a trifle of content making.
The actor, singer, model and the host of the talk-show ‘Weblife with Shahtaj’, Shahtaj Monira Hashem is scoring more points on social media platforms as opposed to her contemporary content creators with the depiction of a goody-two-shoes girl next door growing plants and raising Easter bunnies. Alongside, her innocent aura, she is seen rocking beats of her melodies on social media and on Youtube.
THE INCEPTION
“I did not plan on becoming a Social Media Influencer; I rather shared bits of my daily activities as an honest portrayal of myself in my daily life, inside my inner-circle. People just want to know how I live, what I do and what I like,” she starts off with.
For long, Shahtaj has been using social media platforms as an outlet of her lifestyle, activities, moods, interests and hobbies, vis-a-vis the glamorous persona that the people see on screen. After she was recognized for her different roles on show biz, she started building a fortress of followers on social media that are sold to the Instagram version of her day to day activities. “Having a million followers will not necessarily make you famous in reality. It’s not always about getting followers rather it’s about doing what you love,” the aspiring painter says.
HOW TO BE A STAR
“It takes a lot of time, effort and consistency to become a social influencer. I do not think people are in it just to enter the mainstream media,” Shahtaj explains. With a niche to offer to the entertainment business, many content creators have emerged breaking preconceived notions and prejudices.
In the new normal during the COVID 19 pandemic, when people are mostly hooked to their phones, the content creators are posting memes, pictures and videos for the people aimlessly scrolling through their feed to seek relief in involvement.
In this hunting season for the click-baiters, the star plans to share simple, humble contents on social media to lighten up the mood of her followers.
“People were always in distress and now more so than ever. But simple acts of good deeds and positivity can help them heal and face it better like taking a trip to the nursery makes me feel,” she says.
A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
“The appearance of a public figure on social media depends on the nature of their work. Not all handle or utilize it the same way. Some might not even have an account, for others their life might depend on it,” says the host of a talk show with 75 episodes worth of insight on the web life of celebrities in Bangladesh.
With an upper hand of a pre-existing fanbase trailing her way to her social media platforms, Shahtaj does not feel threatened against sprouting social media influencers taking the internet by storms. “For a normal user, being present on social media platforms is nearly not as important, but to a celebrity, these are valuable assets to benefit from. I consider them to be a blessing on me,” she says.
THE REAL DEAL
To create a safe social space on the internet, Shahtaj has a dedicated team to integrate and monitor the engagement of the followers, promptly react and control reactions to defuse hostility. It may look deceivingly doable on the surface, but influencers require a group of people to delegate the attention to certain areas, such as the comment section or the DMs of a page.
Apart from the work that goes into the logistics of managing a page, the influencers also put enough effort to look presentable on screen in order to meet up the subtle standards of preconceived beauty.
“Despite our best effort and honest intentions, people will always have problems with your actions and ridiculous reasoning to justify them, however, if you have come this far, you should be able to acknowledge them and not let them get to you”, she feels.
THE BITTER SIDE
Shahtaj has received her fair share of criticism, hurtful and objectifying comments from followers on social media, but she chooses to block them from her account and her conscience. “I never seek to benefit from the polluted intentions of people to fuel controversies. That’s not my thing!” she states.
The meek actor voices strongly against cyberbullies and crime and talks about the severities. “I consider social media accounts to be the authentic source of information about celebs. A transparent fan page can put out the wildfire of fake news and hoaxes,” she says.
As she was asked to comment on controversy engagement strategies, she neutrally spins it saying, “People use different strategies to gain attention on social media, I can not judge them because at the end of the day they got famous for who they are.”