FOOD BLOGGING on INSTAGRAM. Steph Gaudreau Stupid Easy Paleo

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1 FOOD BLOGGING on INSTAGRAM Steph Gaudreau Stupid Easy Paleo \

2 This book and any portion or excerpt may not be given away, sold, or shared electronically without express prior written consent. Please respect the intellectual property and hard work of the author, Stephanie Gaudreau. Food Blogging on Instagram is intellectual property protected by copyright law. The information contained in this book is for informational purposes only. By reading this book and implementing any general suggestions, you agree that you are responsible for your results relating to any information presented within. I cannot guarantee the outcome of following the advice provided and my statements about the potential outcome are expressions of opinion only. Following the advice provided is at your own risk. The material in this guide may include information or products by third parties. Third Party Materials comprise the products and opinions expressed by their owners. As such, I do not assume responsibility or liability for any Third Party Materials or opinions. The publication of such Third Party Materials does not constitute my guarantee of any information, instruction, opinion, products or service contained within the Third Party Materials. Publication of such Third Party Materials is simply a recommendation and an expression of my own opinion of that material. This information is neither endorsed by nor officially affiliated with Instagram in any way. Instagram is a registered trademark of Instagram, LLC. Copyright 2014 Stephanie Gaudreau. All Rights Reserved 2 Food Blogging on Instagram 2014 Stephanie Gaudreau

3 FOOD BLOGGING on INSTAGRAM TABLE OF CONTENTS WHAT IS KOMBUCHA? FIVE INTRODUCTION ABOUT ME CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS INSTAGRAM? CHAPTER 2: WE ALL EAT: THE FOOD BLOGGER ADVANTAGE CHAPTER 3: HOW TO BUILD YOUR AUDIENCE FOUR FIVE SEVEN TEN FIFTEEN CHAPTER 4: SETTING UP YOUR ACCOUNT CHAPTER 5: USING THE INTERFACE CHAPTER 6: WORKING WITH IMAGES CHAPTER 7: WORKFLOW CHAPTER 8: FAQ APPENDIX: RELATED APPS & SITES Food Blogging on Instagram 2014 Stephanie Gaudreau 3

4 on INSTAGRA FOOD BLOGGING FIND YOUR INSTAGRAM MOJO AKA The introduction to how to build a kickass Instagram account for your food blogger biz. Is watching paint dry more exciting than the growth of your Instagram account? Do you have big hopes for hopping on board the Instagram train, but you can t figure out how to make it all work for your brand? Are you clueless about how to really leverage your business account to grow your brand as a food blogger? Well thank eff, because you bought the right book. I m breaking down how to build a kickass Instagram account for your food blogging business and taking you from soup to nuts. Think of this as a cross between brand strategy and boot camp to make meaningful growth happen on Instagram without buying followers or resorting to other shady or slimy tactics. Nobody likes a skeezball. 4 Food Blogging on Instagram 2014 Stephanie Gaudreau In this ebook, you ll learn: all about Instagram and why it s so hot right now. how to build your audience organically and strategically. best practices for crafting your brand. why being a food blogger is a natural match for the Instagram platform. exactly how to set up your account. how to develop images so awesome people will want to lick the screen. how to handle Insta-work flow. Let s do it. Steph

5 FOOD BLOGGING on INSTAGRAM ABOUT ME I grew my Instagram over 4000% in one calendar year using the techniques and best practices I m sharing with you in this book. I m Steph, the owner, creator and chief nerd behind StupidEasyPaleo.com. I joined Instagram in 2011 and had a personal account for a couple years before converting it to one that represented my business. The Instagram platform is something I really love and use daily, and I share photos of food, weightlifting and things I find funny / inspirational. Do I have a million followers? Have I built an Instagram empire? No, not even close to it. But what I have grown is an audience that s engaged and excited by what I have to share. A following that s interactive and vibrant and dynamic. And I ve done it by being authentic and having integrity. There aren t two more important things when it comes to business, because it s by building authentic relationships out of trust that we most connect with our audience. Just last summer, in July of 2013, I vividly remember posting this picture on the right. I was so stoked to pass 1100 followers, and I couldn t believe that I even passed the 1k mark. Fast forward to now mid-september 2014 and my audience is now over 57k and growing. Does that qualify as being Insta-famous? Not even close. Is Instagram helping my brand grow? You betcha. Food Blogging on Instagram 2014 Stephanie Gaudreau 5

6 Frankly, I don t care about having a million followers or growing at a rate so fast that my poor little iphone can t handle all the notifications. If you re looking for a guru to help you have the biggest Instagram account you ve ever seen, it s probably not me. FOOD BLOGGING on INSTAGRAM But, here s why you shouldn t care about the pages with a frajillion followers: It s possible to build an engaged and dynamic Instagram account without going balls out. I d rather cultivate a smaller but more interactive audience, build a relationship with them over time and earn their trust, and someday maybe, possibly I ll have something for sale that they genuinely need. The most important thing to do on Instagram is be yourself. Obviously, if you re running an account for your business, there s definitely a line between putting yourself out there a little and making your audience feel awkward. Give them some insight into who you are, make most of your posts highquality and relevant to your brand, and provide value for your audience. I m getting a bit ahead of myself, but I believe these are the keys to a successful biz regardless of which social media platforms you use. Food Blogging on Instagram 2014 Stephanie Gaudreau

7 FOOD BLOGGING on INSTAGRAM CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS INSTAGRAM? Before we get down to the nitty gritty, let s take a look at Instagram as a platform so you know what you re dealing with. FIRST, SOME STATS* Instagram: is a social media platform designed for mobile use. is formatted around visual media photographs and (as of 2013) video. was launched in was purchased by Facebook in can be integrated with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr. allows for in-app editing. can be used to send direct messages. had 150 million active users as of September users are approximately 2/3 female and 1/3 male. first began allowing paid advertisement as of October *statistics sourced from wikipedia.com Food Blogging on Instagram 2014 Stephanie Gaudreau 7

8 HOW IT DIFFERS FROM OTHER PLATFORMS The key to growing your audience on Instagram isn t just knowing what it is; it s knowing what Instagram ISN T. It s not Twitter. Instagram allows far more than 140 characters. Though you can attach photos / video to tweets, text is still the most common way to tweet. It s not Facebook. FOOD BLOGGING on INSTAGRAM There s a newsfeed on Instagram, but it s not filtered by some complex algorithm. On IG, you can t create groups or multiple pages per account, get birthday notifications, or poke anyone (not that you were doing that anyway). You can t schedule posts in-app on Instagram thought there are third-party scheduling sites that you can pay for access to a scheduler. You can t (at least not yet) advertise on Instagram, though there are some large companies who currently pay for that ability. It s not Pinterest. You aren t able to make multiple boards like you would on Pinterest. There s no way to pull in images directly from URLs with Instagram. It s not YouTube. Instagram is video-friendly, but unlike YouTube, you can t monetize. Videos on Instagram are limited to 15 seconds. Take-Away Understanding what Instagram can & can t do compared to other social platforms will help you use its features maximally. Remember, most people are interacting with IG on mobile devices and uploading a mixture of images and very short video. 8 Food Blogging on Instagram 2014 Stephanie Gaudreau

9 SO, HOW CAN YOU USE INSTAGRAM TO DEVELOP YOUR BRAND AS A FOOD BLOGGER? Understand that Instagram can help you grow your brand, but just like any other social media tool, you ve got to use it with discretion. This is the moment you need to put your big girl (or boy) pants on and decide the answer to the following question: Am I trying to develop my brand using Instagram? If the answer is yes, keep reading the rest of this book. If the answer is no, and you d rather keep your Instagram for personal purposes (which we ll discuss later), that s fine. But, you have to get clear with yourself that you have a food blog and you re trying to develop your brand using Instagram as a social media strategy. Why? The decisions you make about what you share, when you share it, and how you put it out there matter, and they ll influence your growth. So, let s list the secrets to growing your food blogging brand using Instagram. <<drumroll please>> Post high-quality, relevant, on-brand images or video a majority of the time. Aim to empower, educate or entertain with a majority of your posts. Participate in the discussion. Be consistent. Use hashtags and learn to network. FOOD BLOGGING on INSTAGRAM In other words, be strategic. If it s all willynilly posting with little consciousness behind it, expect to have suboptimal results. It can t just be all business, though. People connect with you on Instagram because they want a more PERSONAL look into your brand. They want to connect with the lifestyle AROUND your brand. There s definitely a sweet spot and it s up to you to find it (with some help from this book). Food Blogging on Instagram 2014 Stephanie Gaudreau 9

10 FOOD BLOGGING on INSTAGRAM 10 Instagram for Food Bloggers 2014 Stephanie Gaudreau