Bengalis are very close to their roots no matter where they are placed. The Bengali touch stays with them and often reflects in their likes, dislikes and daily life. This very fact has become the USP of digital platform – The Kolkata Buzz- that has been focusing on all Bengali things and posting it out for the audiences. The response has been so amazing that the Facebook and Instagram pages by the same name now have over a million and thousands of followers respectively. And the audiences are not just Bengalis but everyone who relates and loves the Bengali way of life.
Anubhav Mukherjee is the man behind the platform and come a pretty long way with it. Though a Bengali, Anubhav originally belongs to Manendragarh, Chhattisgarh. For the same reason, he wasn’t very fluent with the language and picked it up after coming to Kolkata where he intended to pursue film making. But life has something else in store and Anubhav ended up creating The Kolkata Buzz that we all know and love today.
“It all started three years ago in 2016 when I left Chhattisgarh to come to Kolkata for learning filmmaking. Having attended classes for almost two months, I created The Kolkata Buzz. I would roam around the city and take pictures and videos. And then I posted those on the page. The response was good but I wasn’t generating any revenue for many months. Yet I kept up my work and by the time of Durga Puja, it was a hit. That’s when I left film making and dedicated all my time to the platform,” said Anubhav.
But everything wasn’t so smooth. He was constantly put to test. There were hard days when he had very little to survive on. But that didn’t break him but rather pushed him more to come out of it and make his life better. He is completely self taught and so he learnt everything about social media marketing from Youtube and other websites and implemented it on his own platform.
“One day I had only Rs.10 in my pocket and survived on Phuchka (PaniPuri). That’s when I told myself that I will have to make it at any cost. And then I started following tutorials and got self-educated for my platform,” the digital marketing professional said.
His family was not very happy with his choices. His instability made them ask him to come back to his hometown a couple of times. Anubhav isn’t very expressive so only his work could speak and he did prove his mettle over time. ‘’I had a tough time for many months and was basically an introvert. I was trying hard to leave my comfort zone and learn to talk to people, both to approach my parents and to get into marketing. Now when I have reached to this level, they feel content and encourage me to keep it going,” Mukherjee shares.
Mukherjee soon started getting calls for promotions. Some even bid to buy his page. This further propelled him to curate the page in a better and more effective way. He started pooling up content from freelancers, and resharing stuff by independent creators that stick to the true essence of the platform.
“I realized that that I need more hands to able to grow. But my budget was limited and I was a lone wolf so I took tiny steps and hired freelancers. We still have them today apart from few full time members,” Anubhav said.
In today’s date, Anubhav has a team of working professionals under him who garner and create content. The Kolkata Buzz has been now registered under a Digital Marketing Company named Buzzaffair Ventures (OPC) PRIVATE LIMITED. They are into brands, Influencer marketing, event promotions, and social media management. One can also get to know the nook & corners of the city of joy Kolkata from food, to fashion, lifestyle, shopping, travel, etc all under the one platform. By now they have showcased hundreds of brands locally and nationally.
“We are still growing and there’s a long way to go,” he concludes.
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