Having been around top food influencers for a week, there are some distinct characteristics that you need to have in order to successfully navigate the food blogging niche and I’m diving into what those are today!
IE 123: How to Become One of the Top Food Influencers
Food influencers with camera in hand in her kitchen
One of my favorite conferences to attend and speak at is the Everything Food conference. I recently returned from my third time speaking at this event and it was as fabulous as ever.
I love meeting my podcast listeners face to face and having the chance to have great conversations with you all, as well as spending time with my membership peeps.
These tips I am sharing with you today will help you as you work to become a top food influencer.
What Lane Are You In?
One of the most important questions for you to answer as an influencer is what lane are you going to get into? Otherwise known as niching down.
Are you going to be a vegan blogger? Do you plan to be known for 5-ingredient meals? Would you like to be the go-to for moms needing quick and easy dinner recipes?
If you think of an umbrella, you want to be sure that everything you share fits under that umbrella. And what is your umbrella?
It’s your elevator pitch.
If your umbrella is 5-ingredient meals, then every piece of content you create needs to fit under that umbrella.
The reason for this is simple – Google needs to know what you are an expert on in order to show your content to the right audience.
Who Are You Talking To as Top Food Influencers?
Once you have defined your niche, it’s time to define your avatar. In other words, who are you talking to?
It is a mistake to try to talk to everyone; you need to attract your people and repel others.
It’s important to know your avatar so that you can meet them where they are. Is your avatar age 40 or over? They are most likely active on Facebook. Is she 25-35? She is mostly hanging out on Instagram.
You have to know who your person is in order to create the content she is looking for, in order to know where to find her, and in order to engage her.
Stop the Scroll
In food blogging, photography is everything. Your photos need to stop the reader from scrolling.
Whether your audience is on IG, Facebook, or Pinterest, you have to grab the scroller’s attention and stop their scroll.
This may mean you need to take a photography course or buy a better camera. If you’re using your iPhone, take a course on how to get professional quality shots with it.
Do you have a friend who’s a photographer? Trade some of the delicious food you make for your blog for some lessons on how to use your camera or set up a lightbox.
Who Is Talking to You?
If you want to become a top food influencer, you are going to have to stop obsessing over your follower numbers and start paying attention to who is engaging with you.
Engagement is more valuable than followers, so if you have 500K followers but only 500 of them engage with your content, you are lacking engagement.
A blogger with only 500 followers of which 300 engage is more valuable as an influencer simply due to their engagement.
Find ways to get your audience to talk to you. Use the features of social media platforms to get your people to engage with you.
Be a Real Friend
Don’t engage your audience just so they answer your polls in IG stories or click through your links, but so that you build real, true relationships with them.
Be a real friend to them that they can trust; someone who always has their back.
When you are authentic in your stories, in your content, and in your engagement, you will be able to share with your audience products that you love.
If you niche down as I’ve suggested, you can recommend products as easily as you would tell your best friend about them. It doesn’t come across as spammy or slimy selling; it’s simply one friend to another, talking about your favorite things to use.
As an influencer, you are literally influencing your audience to choose to purchase or use a certain product. You are creating loyal customers through your own loyalty to a brand or product.
Remain Authentic to Your Content
You not only have to build authentic relationships; you also have to remain authentic to the content you create.
You can’t create something just to try to work a product into it. You shouldn’t be trying to influence your audience to use a product that you don’t actually use.
If you’ve built a trust factor with your audience, they’ll know immediately if you throw them to the curb by recommending something that isn’t in line with what you normally talk about.
If you do this, your audience will not continue to engage with you or support you. They will no longer be influenced by you.
If you do decide to work with a brand on sponsored content, you must remain in your lane, speaking to your avatar, and continuing to build those relationships.
Action Steps:
- If you liked this episode of Influencer Entrepreneurs, please subscribe and leave a fabulous review!
- Check IGTV for episodes never seen anywhere else.
- Join the conversation on Instagram by tagging Jenny when you’re listening to the podcast. She’ll send you a personal message whenever you tag her.
