I would rather have a strong community than a million passive followers: Divya Fofani

New Delhi: For Mumbai-based entertainment content creator Divya Fofani, scale is not the only marker of creator success. A loyal and participative community, he believes, is far more valuable than a large but passive follower base. “I would rather have a strong community that has my back than a million passive followers,” Fofani said in conversation with BuzzInContent.com. As sponsored content floods social feeds and influencer marketing becomes a bigger business, creators are under growing pressure to protect the relationship they have built with their audiences. For Fofani, known for his street-style videos, that relationship begins with content, not commerce. “Brands are very important in any creator’s journey. But for me, content and my audience come first,” he said. Rather than building campaigns around a commercial brief, Fofani said he first focuses on creating content that delivers value to his audience. The brand, he said, must then find a natural place within that idea. “I try to bring both together. In nine out of ten brand collaborations, this approach has worked because we put the concept first and then brought the brand into it,” he said. The approach is increasingly relevant as brands move beyond treating creators as another advertising channel. Marketers are relying on creators as storytellers who can make brand messages feel more natural, less scripted and closer to the way audiences consume content. The expectation from creator-led campaigns is also changing. Brands are not looking only at impressions but also at conversations, engagement, participation and long-term affinity. For creators, this has changed how commercial opportunities are evaluated. Fofani said his team has consciously stayed away from categories that do not align with the trust he wants to maintain with his audience. “We have turned down gambling apps. We generally avoid them because we do not want to mislead our audience,” he said. Although he is best known for entertainment-led content, Fofani said he has tried to use his influence for purpose-driven initiatives as well. One such initiative was his “One Kachra One Follower” movement, which encouraged people to participate in clean-up drives instead of only consuming content online. “Every creator’s primary job is to entertain people,” he said. “But it also comes with some responsibility because every creator has influence. If that influence can be used to support a cause or raise a voice for something meaningful, there is nothing like it.” The emphasis on authenticity has become sharper as audiences grow more sceptical of promotional content. A brand partnership that appears disconnected from a creator’s personality can quickly attract criticism, while one that fits naturally into the creator’s content is more likely to earn acceptance. Fofani said the same principle applies to creativity itself. Creators, he said, cannot rely on one successful format for too long. “Creators should always feel the pressure to see what is new and reinvent themselves,” he said. Referring to filmmaker Christopher Nolan and YouTube creator MrBeast, he said creators should keep improving with every piece of content instead of becoming comfortable with a formula that once worked. “Every creator should improve one percent with every video. If they do that, they can go on for years and not worry about becoming irrelevant,” he said. For Fofani, that improvement is not only about production quality or bigger ideas. It is also about keeping the audience invested enough to participate, respond and stay connected. That is why, he said, the strongest creator-brand partnerships are the ones where the community does not feel sold to. The brand must enter the content in a way that respects the audience and strengthens the creator’s relationship with them.