Troy Fan talks about leveraging social media for good and maintaining authenticity as a KOL influencer

Troy and I met during a hiking trip to the Great Wall. I remember being distinctly unimpressed by this guy from Szechuan, China who was mimicking different accents that he said he had picked up during his study abroad time in Singapore. I insisted that the ‘Singaporean Indian’ accent he was making didn’t sound Indian at all. 

The trip up the wall was an arduous one because I had made the foolish mistake of wearing a pair of white sneakers that I bought for $10 in Bangkok for the climb. As I sheepishly apologized to the team for holding up our progress up the Great Wall (thanks to my soles constantly sliding smoothly against large rock surfaces), I remember it was Troy who stayed behind, held out his hand and told me that we will move forward together step by step. That single experience taught me a lot about who he is. On the way back after the hike, another team member casually mentions that Troy is a Weibo influencer with over 200,000 followers on his page. (Weibo is one of the biggest social media platforms in China with over 445 million active users, more commonly referred to as the ‘Chinese Twitter’.)  

I spoke to Troy about his side hustle as a content creator over the past 7 years on Weibo. He describes Weibo as a platform that contains his ‘life archives’ and which has witnessed his growth as a person (The number of Troy’s followers has now doubled since the hike).  

LoP: What does the word “passion” mean to you in your mother tongue, and how would you describe your passion?
Troy Fan: Passion in Chinese is 热情 (rè qíng). It is literally translated as ‘hot emotions’ – a burning desire within your heart you cannot get rid of. The tagline that I use on my social media pages is “Bridging Gaps, Connecting Dots”. That sums up my mission and passion, which is to empower others to explore different possibilities in life and to discover their full potential as individuals through the cross-cultural exchange and educational content that I share. My ultimate joy lies in knowing that I have made a positive impact in the lives of others, and social media is a powerful tool I leverage to achieve that goal.

Tell us about how you began your journey as a content creator (and KOL influencer).
This has largely to do with my experience in Singapore where I completed my higher education. That was my first time going overseas and having access to different information, narratives, perspectives, and cultures. I realised that my classmates from different countries knew so little about China from the questions that they asked me e.g. ‘Do you eat dogs?’, ‘Do you do Kungfu?’ 

I also saw that there was so much great content out there on YouTube, Facebook, etc. that could be leveraged for education and language learning but which we didn’t have access to, so I decided to bridge the gap of information by sharing educational and uplifting videos from these sites onto Chinese social media (with Chinese subtitles included). People loved it and that encouraged me to further pursue this endeavor. 

Tell us some examples of the content you share on Weibo.
When I started my first job as a teacher in a well-known education company in Beijing (New Oriental), I shared video content about language learning or culture and made the videos available in Chinese subtitles. e.g. how to say 加油 (rooting for someone) in English. I got over 100,000 views for each of these videos. One original 5,000 words article that I wrote about language learning strategies also garnered 2 million views.  I was lucky to be recognised by Weibo as a “Weibo Top Education Blogger” at the 2016 Weibo V Influence Summit.

However, as I entered a new phase in my life, I started thinking beyond language and more about effective cross-cultural communication. When I worked in Tsinghua university on global business development, I was exposed to different foreign entrepreneurs in China who were passionate about start-ups and community-building work. I used English as my main work language and had to initiate partnerships with potential partners around the world. This led to a shift in my perspective and I realised that language is essentially just a tool for us that we use to communicate. What is more important is understanding how people from different backgrounds can have different perspectives. I hence shifted my content more to promoting cultural intelligence and cross-cultural understanding. 

It’s interesting that the developments in your career journey have influenced the kind of content that you produce. Has being a Weibo influencer similarly shaped or helped your career in any way? 
Yes, to some extent, my online presence helped me strengthen and maintain my relationships at work. Many of my then-business partners and start-up friends came to me for advice on digital marketing. I would often help promote their work and projects on my social media. 

As a whole, I would say that the synergy created among my social media endeavour, daytime job and community engagement has been incredible. For example, I’m part of the Global Shapers Community in Beijing, which is a network of young people driving dialogue, action and change in local communities. At the end of 2019, we hosted a program called Social Impact Week in which we invited thought leaders and industry experts to speak on topics like leadership, sustainability, China and the World, mental wellness, and impact investment. I created a 15-minute video to summarise my learning experiences from that week and to reflect the awesome work that this community is doing to a wider audience, and this video got over 100,000 views across social platforms. Now I think about it, Weibo social media is my track record and archive witnessing my personal development and growth over the years. 

Is there one type of content that you produce on a regular basis? 
I created a ‘Morning English Reading’ series in which I would basically share one video that I’ve read each morning. The topics are multi-dimensional, ranging from blockchain to career development and mental well-being, etc. I have been doing this series for 1,743 days now. These videos don’t generate as many views as language content ones, but I felt that I should go further than cater to what’s popular and what people like. 

That is a seriously impressive record! You brought up an important point. How do you balance sharing content that you believe is truly valuable vs sharing just what your followers want to see? 
It is a huge challenge for me even to this day. I started social media early and always knew that it’s the click baits and controversy – these kind of eye grabbing content would attract new followers and traffic. That’s how you can monetise your accounts and I could have made a living and fortune out of it. Some content creators were doing it and they developed a huge following on social media. But I didn’t want to pursue that path of being a marketing account that just intentionally produces exaggerated content to trigger people’s emotions – excitement, sadness, happiness – that’s what goes viral. I just want to keep it real. It is hard to create a persona on social media, even harder to sustain a pseudo persona on the internet. That’s how I’ve stuck around even after 7 years – not as an influencer, KOL – but just being me and sharing my life and journey with people who bother to watch and who care. 

What other major challenges do you face as a KOL influencer, and how do you deal with them? 
Peer pressure and social anxiety. I have friends who are big name influencers who eventually quit Weibo, etc. because they struggled to create content every single day or week that they are not passionate about. There’s also so much hate and troll on social media – some of my friends quit social media once and for all because their opinion was perceived in different ways and they attracted so much hate from others who gave them a hard time. It was a pity because my friends were really talented content creators. 

In my case, although I don’t have so many followers or have huge tremendous influence on the internet, I’m glad that along the journey I got to meet many like-minded people. There are people out there who share the same values as you do. We got to know each other in real lives and became really good friends. That’s how in Chinese I’m 变现 (biàn xiàn). 现 for many people is 现金 cash (derive monetary value), 现 for me is 现实 (xiànshi) reality (derive real life value of building friendships in person). So look beyond the short-term financial benefits and instead at the long-run benefits, which are long-lasting friendships and establishing your authentic online presence. The people who bother to understand your values and who share them will come to you. 

What are 3 pieces of advice that you would give to other budding KOL influencers or content creators? 
Adopt an empowered mindset. At the end of the day social media is a fairly neutral platform and a tool, and it’s important to leverage social media for your own good and to treat this an ongoing learning process. Know the reason why you want to build your presence on social media. 

Cut off the bullsh** that people put on social media. There’s no point in responding to hate comments that are under fake identities. Instead find like-minded people whom you can share common interests with and build meaningful connections. I’ve always prioritised quality over quantity. 

Lastly, don’t be a fake and try to build a persona because it’s really hard to sustain it. Stay true and consistent to others by surrounding yourself with a real community in real life. I was so busy with different offline community engagements and hustling activities in Beijing – those kept me busy and prevented me from absorbing myself on social media. 

I think those are awesome pieces of advice. Do share with us what your next big project is that you’re working on at the moment. 
I am now working on a video project called Beijing Off The Wall, in which I aim to showcase the stories of more than 20 friends of mine who are doing awesome things in Beijing e.g. in the field of entrepreneurship, education, community-building, etc. The core message of the video is to tell a diverse Beijing story through the eyes of young people and targeted towards a global audience who is curious about this ancient yet vibrant city. The project is also my way of concluding the last 4 years that I’ve spent in Beijing as I’ll be moving to Chengdu in late October. I have done all the interviews and have to say it’s been one of the most fulfilling experiences in my life, not only because my friends and I got the chance to reconnect especially in this turbulent year, but also, we reached a depth of talking about our personal lives which we previously didn’t. While it was emotionally overwhelming at times, I absolutely enjoyed those genuine conversations and learnt tons. I’m now taking the time to work on the not-so-interesting part of the project, which is the post-production. There is a Chinese saying called 善始善终 (shàn shǐ shàn zhōng), which means to start well and end well. I started off social media with my gut feeling and am now doing this project with my gut feeling, so I’ll stick with it and hope that it leads to something good. 

Here’s a candid question for you as we’re nearing the end of our interview. If you could collaborate with any KOL, who would you choose to collaborate with, why, and what type of content would you want to produce with this person?
Casey Neistat! He’s a YouTube personality famous for his daily vlogs. It would be so much fun to bring him to Beijing and I can help him explore the culture here. Just picture Casey getting lost in the bustling Hutong alleys on his scooter and taking magnificent drone footages on the Great Wall – he could perhaps even do snowboarding on the wall (referencing his very popular snowboarding video in NYC) I would also love to take him to Chengdu to test how well he can tolerate spicy food and to get his taste buds stimulated. And to play mahjong too – I think Casey will love it.

We can tell you’re definitely a die-hard Casey Neistat fan. Lastly, who would you be keen to work with for potential future projects as you start your next phase of life in Chengdu whether remotely or in-person?
I’m keen on exploring podcasting projects next. I love having meaningful conversations and really enjoy the learning experience on the go provided by podcasts, but it’s a shame that I could not record some of the most enlightening conversations I have had with friends previously. So I’d like to explore possibilities of creating a podcast to dive into people’s not-so-mainstream life stories, not only stories of successes, but also of failures. It would be great if any fellow content creators out there can share some know-how about podcasting and potentially join forces.

I’m definitely also open to broader forms of collaboration – if you have some well thought-out idea and see us having potentially great synergy in working together, just write me an email or send me a message on social media with your proposal (some of my close friendships and interesting projects were born this way!). 

Thanks for reading the article, and we’d love to hear from you!

In the comment section below, share with us a piece of social media content, or channel from Instagram, YouTube, etc. that you believe is nourishing for the soul and tell us why you’ve chosen it.

You can find Troy at 

Utroypia on YouTube and Instagram

@Utroypia on Weibo and WeChat 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fanhongyi/

Some of Troy’s favourite videos

1. Social Impact Week | Global Shapers Beijing Ⅱ Hub | Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niTONKWoVXQ&t=9s

2. Beijing Off The Wall | Promo Ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB1tB02WO90

3. “Connect the Caribbean” in Beijing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKIc5VNE56M