Akash Mehta: How To Capture This Generation’s Attention
18.04.2019 | By ANNA MADSEN
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As the youngest Senior Global Digital Manager ever at Dior Perfumes, one can easily say that 25-year old Akash Mehta knows a thing or two about digital and social media. When Forbes ranked him on their prestigious ’30 Under 30’ list, they called out his unprecedented ability to excite ‘micro-influencers’ (which is marketing speak for up-and-coming influencers) as part of his success. In other words: Akash speaks Instagram fluently and talks to us how to get instafamous in a jungle of models and wannabees, from where he gets his self-confidence and how Dior is grabbing the digital generation’s attention.
Senior Global Digital Manager at Dior Perfumes /Influencer with 300K followers /Certified Yogi/Musician – you are a multi-talented man! How did your career start?
Aw that’s way too kind! Well, my career started during my 3rd year of university. I took a year out of my Engineering degree to really figure out which job I would like to spend my life doing as I knew deep inside Engineering really wasn’t for me. So I did an internship at Burberry for six months in digital marketing and I fell in love with it. I decided to go back to Imperial College, finish my degree and then dedicate myself to a career in digital. I started building my following through my music but managed to do a whole 360 digital strategy in the process without even being aware. Once I graduated I realised that the actions I had taken to grow my own social networks with minimal budget could be useful as a marketing strategy for a brand. This insight certainly contributed to me landing my first Digital Manager role at Estée Lauder and now Dior.
Did you have a goal of who you wanted to be as a child?
Honestly, my father! I’ve always admired him and what he has accomplished to date. Plus funnily enough his career is built within the Perfumes & Cosmetics and Fashion industry and he also studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering like me! It’s a crazy coincidence or maybe he just really inspired me to go down the same path.
“It’s a tough industry so I strongly believe that having mentors who you can rely on is key to grow as an individual. “
You have built a strong following on instagram with almost 300K followers, among them powerful influencers like carodaur and xeniaadonts – Can you name a few career tips for someone looking to build their own social media klout?
Absolutely, the main tip is: be authentic! Don’t try to act famous to gain followers on instagram, just be yourself! You want an engaged following who are there for you. The only way to achieve this is by being the most authentic YOU! In terms of concrete tips, I would say post regularly, use IG stories a lot (keep it raw and real) and keep active by interacting with your community.
To who – or what – do you owe your sense of self confidence?
It’s mainly thanks to social media, instagram more precisely. Growing up I was always very shy and lacked a lot of self-confidence. Today, I still don’t feel super confident, but my followers help me feel proud of who I’ve become through their daily kind messages. They remind me of how blessed I am and it motivates me to remove any negative thoughts and focus on the positives.
“To be honest, I think we all have experienced the negative effects of social media, such as the constant comparing of yourself vs. everyone else.”
Do you believe there are any negative effects of using social media? Overexposure, a false sense of reality, FOMO etc.?
Yes, this is something that I’ve been really thinking about recently, particularly to what extent I should be using social media. To be honest, I think we all have experienced the negative effects of social media such as the constant comparing of yourself vs. everyone else. Having said this, the positive effects do outweigh the negatives, so we just need to all be aware of those and limit or minimise them each day.
How does a fashion brand build a successful image on social media for the younger generation today?
By just being as relatable and authentic as possible. It’s been scientifically proven that the new generation has a shorter attention span due to the rise of ephemeral content. Thus, today brands only have a few seconds to build the right image, otherwise they’ve missed the chance. In conclusion, being as true as possible to your brand’s DNA is key and sometimes less is more!
“It’s been scientifically proven that the new generation has a shorter attention span due to the rise of ephemeral content”
What’s next for Akash Mehta?
For now, I have the launch of many great projects with my job so focusing on that as much as I can. However, I’m also creating something very special with my sister, so stay tuned!
Catch up with him on his insta at @mehta_a