The Power of Authentic Content (and food)
My latest obsession with healthy eating has been manifested by the dozens of food gurus I follow on Instagram. While they all are amazing in their own ways, my favorite is a woman named Jeannette, who works behind the handle Shutthekaleup. Jeannette has been able to grow her audience up to 176K followers in a short amount of time, due to combining many creative and marketing tactics.
Creatively, the focus is of course on the photos present on her Instagram page. As mentioned in class, her photos follow many of the recommendations for a good feed — photos that are well lit, contain similar colours and backgrounds to follow a specific aesthetic, angled perfectly, and show the beautiful detail in the plates she creates. However, I believe that it is what lies within the picture that shows her true creative effectiveness. Jeannette’s photos are all original content, in which she ensures that her feed is a healthy blend of different meal types (i.e. recipe posts, breakfast/lunch/dinner, grocery hauls, etc.). She also is very good at showing off her personality and her life by posting photos other than food alongside emotional captions, such as photos explaining her difficult past with eating disorders, or photos of her adorable son growing up. I personally don’t love when food bloggers post too much about themselves, as it takes away from the reason I follow the page (to receive recipes and food inspiration). However, Jeannette posts personal content just enough so that it is not overwhelming while creating an emotional bond to her and her life.
Further, her personality is most notably evident through her Instagram stories. I enjoy this feature on Instagram because a follower can choose to interact with stories, whereas posts will inevitably be shown on one’s feed. Thus, if one prefers to see more food posts, they can simply avoid her stories. But if they want to engage and learn more about her personally, they can choose to watch her stories. While her stories do contain a lot about her food, she branches off to, as mentioned, tell a lot about her life. I have been able to witness her growth at the gym, special moments such as her son’s first steps, and the amazing café’s she visits in Los Angeles. Having this personal connection to her creates a loyalty and bond that goes beyond a simple photo and is the reason I, along with many others, continue to follow her feed. Ultimately, the food niche on Instagram has grown saturated and I believe that the key creative element to success is being authentic to yourself and posting content that you are truly passionate about, in which I believe Jeannette does effortlessly (“Top 20 Tips”).
Further, her marketing efforts are well strategized. As mentioned above, being authentic is a key reason followers connect with a blogger. However, it is understandable that these people may want to make a living using their social media. I often see many bloggers ‘selling out’ once they become popular, with each posting being sponsored, having too many product placements, and so forth. While Jeannette has increased her relationship with brands, she has done so in an authentic and transparent way. Whenever she is sponsoring a product or brand or doing a giveaway, she makes sure that she notifies her audience that she is working with a brand regarding this specific post by mentioning it, or placing the hashtag #ad in her caption. Further, when she is recommending a product simply from her own experience with no sponsorship behind it, she mentions that as well. It is also important to mention that she only works with brands that are food related and brands in which she truly enjoys herself. This is one of the many things I love about Jeannette, as I can even trust her sponsored posts and will never have to worry about the random Tea Detox or Gummy Bear Hair Supplements posts done just for money (you all know what I’m talking about!).
Her community engagement is also very strong. She makes an effort to connect with both the food blogger community as well as her followers. For example, she will often post meals that she has created through being inspired by her fellow bloggers, in which she will mention and boast about them (authentically) in her caption. Another example includes her recent trip to Portland, in which she stayed with another fellow well-known blogger.
Both of their followers were able to experience their adventures through their posts and Instagram stories. This allowed for exposure for her fellow blogger and in return receiving more exposure herself through her friends posts. Exposure is key in ensuring that your content is actually being seen by an audience, and creating relevant relationships is a great way of achieving exposure (Rhodes).
Another marketing strategy used is the timing of her posts. I know that when I wake up each morning, I can trust that either a new post or Instagram story will be uploaded by Jeannette, and will be followed by further timed posts throughout the day that are posted alongside my eating schedule. It is evident then that Jeanette must be tracking what times her followers are interacting with her posts most, and then capitalizing off of that by scheduling the most relevant content at the most appropriate time. Scheduling posts is important, but understanding your targeted demographic is just as important. For example, posts may need to be released at different times if Jeannette is targeting young females versus middle aged men due to each demographics time in which they spend online or on specific social media (Rhodes).
In conclusion, Jeannette’s creativity is evident throughout her Instagram page, from her carefully planned posts, personal stories, or from her witty handle. Her creativity strategy is not overthought, as she simply differentiates herself by being true and authentic, which resonates well with her audience. Health food consumers look to those who are transparent in the information and products they recommend, and Jeannette delivers on that perfectly. Further, she is able to capitalize off of her personality and creativity by implementing many marketing tactics such as developing brand relationships, timing content releases, and targeting a niche demographic. Proper use of these tactics has evidently proved successful for Jeannette.
References:
Rhodes, Samantha. “Running a food Instagram: Tips from a rising star.” USA Today College. (http://college.usatoday.com/2015/08/05/running-a-food-instagram-tips/. 2015. Web. 5 March, 2017.
“Top 20 Tips for Food Bloggers.” Cookie + Kate. http://cookieandkate.com/top-20-tips-for-food-blogging/. N.d. Web. 5 March, 2017.
