How To Boss Food Blogging

Does anyone else remember when Instagram first launched? I vividly remember the feed being flooded with food pictures; everyone wanted to document what they were eating for Instagram, and if they weren't, they were joking about it. Looking through my archived posts, none of the pictures I took was particularly flash. Half my photos from back then looked like they'd been taken on a potato.

My point is, food is a staple part of social media. Now the big brands communicate with customers, savage their competitors and utilise social media in a whole new way. All social media managers are obsessed with the way Innocent Smoothies market themselves and everyone knows the way Wendy's rule their Twitter. Devoted chef's, food lovers and food bloggers have continued to make waves on Instagram with their accounts. In my time I've worked with a select amount of food accounts in my career, but I learnt quickly that everyone loves food; one of my first blogs was an informative piece about how fish and chips differ in each region (If you haven't had orange chips then you've not lived). People enjoy food, it's becoming more prevalent in the everyday household, whether it's through trying wacky new food trends or finding new recipes online. 

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't envious of the food bloggers. I'm about as culinary gifted as a tin of Heinz baked beans. Even without cool photoshoots at gastropubs or outside street food stands, most food bloggers can cook a bomb meal that will get their followers drooling.

Ever since the lockdown, the food world is thriving. People are fighting the boredom, brandishing whisks and mixing bowls as weapons. I bet when you've nipped out to your local shop you've noticed the lack of flour, food colouring and baking kits. People are cooking and baking; the food innovation is unreal and somewhat sophisticated. Still, according to GlobalWebIndex's study, Millennials and Gen Z devote respectively 38% and 30% of their online shopping to food, thus becoming the central part of their spending. On Twitter, Internet users claim that for the first time in a long time, they are taking more time to cook. 

Understandably, we're beginning to use cooking as a coping mechanism or a way to bring the family together. It's satisfying to create something tasty and attempting the corona-cooking trends.

Click here to have a look at the food trends we've seen in lockdown so far.

But let's forget the nattering. You're here to learn the ins and outs of food blogging! There are a few things to master if you want to start and run a successful food blogging account. Of course, I'm not a food blogger, and I've never claimed to be. But I've seen some fantastic personalities rise to the top and I've worked with companies who need food influencers to be a success. I have a good idea of what a successful food blogger needs.

As I said, I'm not a food blogger. I can't cook, and takeaways are a monthly treat. So I thought I'd ask a few bloggers what they thought was the most important thing was about running a successful food blog or IG account.

Contributions From Some Boss Bloggers!

@birkbites

Make your feed stand out - I try to use a range of different angles, backgrounds and foods, to keep things interesting. I also add colour filters on my photos to improve the aesthetic of my feed and keep a more consistent theme. 

Invest in a portable light - it is an absolute game changer to photo quality ! I use a ring light which was only £10 on Amazon and it makes a huge difference if the lighting in the room is dim. 

One thing I’ve recently realised is to be more particular with what brands you collaborate with when promoting products. Don’t just advertise products you wouldn’t genuinely recommend, just for the sake of receiving free food. Collaborating with brands who you’re genuinely passionate about fit with your feed makes your blog much more transparent and trustworthy for your followers! 

Lastly, push past the cringe. A part of food blogging is expressing yourself in your captions, which can, at times, feel a bit cringe. But I always tell myself that I won’t progress unless I push myself out of my comfort zone, which I think has helped me hugely when running my food blog !

@the.northeastblogger

Hey everyone! I am Kate, and I started my Instagram account The.NortheastBlogger at the beginning of January 2020. 

I set up my account because I love food! I have always enjoyed cooking and making it from a young age with my family. More recently, I have enjoyed creating and joining in food trends. My mission is to provide food inspiration to others by sharing my experiences of places I visit and the food I create at home. 

During lockdown, I have felt it is important to help local businesses stay afloat by advertising them using my platform. It has been the perfect time to motivate people to start cooking and baking by sharing my meals and recipes I have developed.

I have learnt so much about myself and made many friends along the way. I have always struggled with my confidence that roots from bullying in school. Having my account has allowed me to flourish as I have been able to be myself and have been given positive feedback from my followers in return. Because of this, it was at 1000 followers. I decided to share my physical appearance, as well as my personality. It was at this point I feel I connected with other foodies.

If I could give advice to those starting a food blogging account, it would be to show your personality, take every opportunity that you can and be patient because building your page takes time. It is useful to work out what time of day is best to post for your followers to see your content and remember to use hashtags, so you are found by others. Supporting other food accounts and being interactive with your followers makes running the account even more fun. Feel free to check out my account and say hello!

I hope everyone is well and stays safe. 

The.NortheastBlogger (Kate)

@Whurldoffoodx

I started my food account last June after debating it for a long time, I wondered whether it would work or if many people would be interested! It took something big happening in my life to have ‘go for it, life’s short’ type moment and I am SO glad I took the plunge, nearly 4000 followers later! I am absolutely loving running this account and I can’t imagine not having it now. I get so many nice compliments from people who have trusted my recommendations! Even just seeing other people having an interest like mine is just lovely to see and a pleasure to be involved in.

My advice to anybody starting a food blog/instagram account is to do it for the right reasons. It was never a case of how many followers I would get, if I would get anything ‘gifted’ and so on. I have always absolutely loved finding new restaurants, trying new foods, discovering little businesses and so on. Your passion shines through when it’s genuine and I think because my account is authentic then it has just worked better than I could ever imagine.

I worried what would happen with us being in lockdown but I have brought a twist to it by featuring homemade meals and baking, which I am enjoying! I can’t wait to see what else it brings in the future!

@lilofoodie

Food blogging usually starts as a hobby or a platform for individuals to use in their spare time to share recipe creations, restaurant reviews and the various foods they love. There are many ways to run a food blog successfully. Still, with all the Instagram algorithms continually changing, there isn't one correct hack to do this, and not to mention every blogger's goal is different.

If I could summarise five tips that helped me grow my page and gain a loyal audience would be as follows. Firstly, posting every day does help because it puts you on people's feed and forces you to be visible. Posting at optimal times is crucial to encourage the highest level of engagement — my would be either be just before 9 am, between 12-1.30pm and between 7-9 pm. Second, using different hashtags for each post is essential to help more people find your profile. Keep experimenting with a combination of popular hashtags and more niche ones, and avoid using the same ones too repetitively.

Third, I cannot stress enough how much engagement is significant in running a food blog. This means setting aside some time to comment and like other people's posts but also replying to all the comments on your posts. This shows you are ready to give love as much as you would appreciate receiving it. Fourth, when you post, you should tag relevant profiles that may be interested in the post. For example, tag people who you know would love your burger post more than someone who is a huge seafood lover. This will encourage at least a few likes and comments to your post.

Last but not least, the most essential thing that you can do for your food page is to create content that you love and be honest/transparent with your reviews. Make sure your photos are clear and edit them the way that suits your taste, rather than following other bloggers. Your page must be unique, and the reason for that would be because there's only one you in the world. It 'sIt's easy to follow the strategies of other bloggers, but it would be more rewarding to create your style of content and gain followers that love you for it!

Hopefully, these tips would help to kickstart your food blog.

@annaeatsuk

I first created my Instagram account because I needed the motivation to be healthy and lose weight and to ultimately better my mental health in the process. I found posting pictures of my food & recipes, as well as following other accounts doing the same, helped my mindset a lot and inspired me. I think also the community as a whole is generally a lot more positive & encouraging than the fashion/beauty side of Instagram. The only advice I'd give is to post whatever the hell you want and be free!

@trish_n_chips

As cliché as it sounds, be absolutely yourself. It may be a challenge as social media tempts us to portray the most' likeable' parts about ourselves but people will love/dislike you anyway so be confident in establishing your tone of voice and writing style from the beginning 💖 I'm not saying feel free to swear or just be outright vulgar about anything. Still, you shouldn't feel the need to please a specific type of audience- too stressful! Just have fun💖💖

@toonfatladies

Another food blogger you should check out:

@foodfanatic_mcr

My Tips

Photography Skills

It's hard to improve the quality of a good bit of scran/food; which explains why food photography is one of the most challenging types of photography to master. Think about the old M&S adverts, did they just throw a bunch of groceries on the screen and tell you to buy it? No! Those adverts (which if you don't know what I'm on about, you can view HERE) were capable of making a pint of milk as sexy as a page 3 model. They were right, it's not just food, it's luxury and its unique; if I wanted to be dramatic, I could even call it art. 

There are only so many angles you can choose from in food photography but make sure you want wisely.

Recipes

I think this is one of the best ways to get started as a food blogger. Recipe blogs are some of the most click-worthy articles on the internet and dinner recipes take the top 100 search terms on Pinterest (A stat not to be ignored!)

Recipes are a great way to start drawing people to you and your brand, but it doesn't mean you have to sit down and channel your inner Heston Blumenthal. You can use old family recipes or recipes you've found online. But it's crucial to credit the original recipe creator if you choose to share it on your blog; it's not illegal, but it's polite to credit.

Recipes are even more valuable during the lockdown. Like we mentioned earlier, everyone is heading to the kitchen at the moment! So get rooting through your recipe books and see what you'd like to share.

Knowledge of takeaways and local businesses in your area

Alternatively, if you live for a takeaway, why not take pictures and review some of your favourite food businesses and takeaways? Posting pictures of your food and tagging the company at every available opportunity is an excellent way to piggyback of their following and bring some fellow foodies to your page.

Hopefully this provides some insight to a few foodies! I absolutely love this series and I'm always over the moon when people say yes to contributing. If you like ways these lovely ladies have to say, please go check out their pages. I've linked their accounts to the blog so you can easily give them a like and a follow!