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Instagram might help you dine for free


DaveO

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1 hour ago, NolaCaine said:

FYI: Del Mar has a drink in a large brass pineapple. DaveO: I think they are calling you...

Hah

Except:

I don’t have an Instagram account, rarely use the camera on my mobile, and even more rarely take food photos.  Alas

Its a powerful marketing tool into certain demographics.  The DC restaurant world recognizes it and the story Don linked to exemplifies it. That fellow is a social influencer.  Good for him.  There is room for more but jump on that bandwagon fast before it gets saturated.  

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On 11/25/2017 at 1:31 PM, DonRocks said:

Stronger than you might think.

Ever notice what the pictures are? French fries. Donuts. Ice cream. Cheeseburgers.

#BidingMyTimeHappyToWaitTenMoreYears

UGH, not a fan of DCfoodporn. He is exactly the opposite of what I aspire to capture in my Instagram feed, and the fact that he likely will partner with the  insufferable FoodGod, is enough for me to discount any of his recommendations. Numbers of followers has become the new currency as to how restaurants value their exposure. I say the world is a better place with this #donrockwelldotcom instead. Just my 2 cents.

Not sponsored,

kat

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8 minutes ago, TrelayneNYC said:

I'm not on Instagram...what am I missing?

The story in the first post was interesting in its own right.  Instagram is a very powerful visual social media tool.  Its hot now. 

...and I'm not on it either.  OTOH we have businesses that use it.

...and its sort of "made for food porn"!!!!  :D

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2 hours ago, TrelayneNYC said:

I'm not on Instagram...what am I missing?

A couple weeks ago, Eater asked people in the area what their biggest gripes were in 2017 - my answer is here: 'Continued glorification of junk food.'

What I meant by that is depicted quite nicely by #DCFoodPorn's photos. Look at them - they're 95% trash that people shouldn't be ingesting. I mean, God love the kid and all that, but that food is just plain gross: cupcakes, pizza, cheeseburgers ... the more fat and sugar, the better.

Anyway, that's what I meant by 'continued glorification of junk food' - written without prejudice against #DCFoodPorn, because it's everywhere.

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Yeah, but Facebook owns Instagram. I feel like I'm not missing anything given that I blog on Facebook, so blogging on Instagram would be duplicative. 

I'm also not fazed by #s of followers. I'm enjoying myself too much generating content on Facebook and Twitter to have to worry about the rat race. It seems too much work for very little effect. Perhaps I'm not getting something.

---

*googles DCFoodPorn*

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8 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Justin, if you're reading this, make it now and make it while you can - there are no barriers to entry, and you'll eventually have competition, so think long-term.

My name isn't Justin. ;)

What I do, I do very well. I'm sure I wouldn't have much in the way of competition - there aren't very many foodbloggers who ogle cabbages and figs with their cameras. It's just that I have zero interest in being on Instagram. Seriously.

Being on social media can be work, and two platforms is more than enough for me.

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5 minutes ago, TrelayneNYC said:

My name isn't Justin. ;)

What I do, I do very well. I'm sure I wouldn't have much in the way of competition - there aren't very many foodbloggers who ogle cabbages and figs with their cameras. It's just that I have zero interest in being on Instagram. Seriously.

Being on social media can be work, and two platforms is more than enough for me.

No, #DCFoodPorn's name is Justin.

I'm maxed out here, so God love Kat for helping us with Instagram.

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27 minutes ago, TrelayneNYC said:

Ah ok, np

I think our tastes (yours and mine) are similar if not almost identical; Justin is following the cash, and I can't say I blame him.

Nevin Martell (whom I like and respect (and who was nice to me when I *thought* I was coming back from my injury in 2010)) wrote his answer: "Chefs have started to design dishes just for Instagram. But just because they look beautiful doesn't necessarily mean they taste good,which – and I can't believe I have to say this – should be the primary goal. Let go of the likes and concentrate on the flavors!"

And this is in direct conflict with what I've been preaching for a dozen years or longer: Taste is only half the battle. (with the acknowledgement that I chose a bad example in 2005, but I didn't know it was going to have legs). I think most people still don't know what the hell I'm talking about, but I have only myself to blame.

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8 hours ago, TrelayneNYC said:

 

I'm also not fazed by #s of followers. I'm enjoying myself too much generating content on Facebook and Twitter to have to worry about the rat race. It seems too much work for very little effect. Perhaps I'm not getting something.

---

*googles DCFoodPorn*

I often step into challeges that are foreign to me. What we have cultivated here on DR.com is unlike anything else on the interwebs. By entering the social media rat race, ie Instagram, my intent is not to compete with the likes of DCfoodporn, but to give us presence , market share if you will. 

DCfoodporn is junkfood while #donrockwelldotcom is brainfood.

I am extending the conversation. My hopes by adding the #’ we spark curiosity , and they follow my lead back to this forum. It’s an ambitious feat, but I’m up to the challenge.

Dutchess,

kat

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9 hours ago, DonRocks said:

And this is in direct conflict with what I've been preaching for a dozen years or longer: Taste is only half the battle. (with the acknowledgement that I chose a bad example in 2005, but I didn't know it was going to have legs). I think most people still don't know what the hell I'm talking about, but I have only myself to blame.

The image if skiing & eating pizza will take on a whole new visual for me :huh:

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9 hours ago, kitkatpaddywak said:

I often step into challeges that are foreign to me. What we have cultivated here on DR.com is unlike anything else on the interwebs. By entering the social media rat race, ie Instagram, my intent is not to compete with the likes of DCfoodporn, but to give us presence , market share if you will. 

DCfoodporn is junkfood while #donrockwelldotcom is brainfood.

I am extending the conversation. My hopes by adding the #’ we spark curiosity , and they follow my lead back to this forum. It’s an ambitious feat, but I’m up to the challenge.

Dutchess,

kat

It's not just Instagram. It's also Pinterest, Google+, Snapchat and Tumblr.

Admittedly I don't make my living via foodblogging and food photography. If I did, I suspect I might have a different outlook.

It's good to know that food fora are not dead despite their having been written off since the early- to mid-aughts.

PS. Don, I recently followed the board on Twitter - let me know what, if anything, I can do to help.

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6 minutes ago, TrelayneNYC said:

It's not just Instagram. It's also Pinterest, Google+, Snapchat and Tumblr.

Admittedly I don't make my living via foodblogging and food photography. If I did, I suspect I might have a different outlook.

It's good to know that food fora are not dead despite their having been written off since the early- to mid-aughts.

PS. Don, I recently followed the board on Twitter - let me know what, if anything, I can do to help.

There are countless social media outlets, but I find the interaction here, bar none,  is incomparable to anything anywhere.  The value this forum brings is incredible . I just wish more people would realize it. Rocks doesn't welcome the adoration, but he is the bee's knees. His palate, along with his index of knowledge is vast. He also leads with integrity, and truth. My hope one day is that this forum will be the leading guide for all things dining, and beyond.  

Determined,

kat

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I think you misunderstood.

To me, the rat race isn't just Instagram, it's the entirety of social media. Getting what you want (i.e., #s of followers) and being happy (i.e., doing my own thing without the need to chase after numbers) are two entirely different things. I chose to be happy.

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5 minutes ago, TrelayneNYC said:

I think you misunderstood.

To me, the rat race isn't just Instagram, it's the entirety of social media. Getting what you want (i.e., #s of followers) and being happy (i.e., doing my own thing without the need to chase after numbers) are two entirely different things. I chose to be happy.

ahh, I get it, I think.  I think we are in agreement. I am answering your question about the point of Instagram. I think, I kinda answered it.

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12 minutes ago, kitkatpaddywak said:

ahh, I get it, I think. 

Just to be extra special clear:

There are food blogs like Kalyn's Kitchen (Kalyn Denny), Simply Recipes (Elise Bauer), Smitten Kitchen (Deb Perelman), and 101 Cookbooks (Heidi Swanson) who make their entire income off of their blogs and related content. As a result, social media is a necessity for them and they need to chase after numbers. They need to tailor their content for their readers. If their readers disappear or if their content isn't shared, then their revenue stream suffers. So social media serves not only as a way to increase readership/popularity or as another method to generate content, it's also a marketing tool.

And then there are food bloggers like me who use social media to blog. I stopped blogging on my blog a long time ago. My last post was in March of last year. Since then, I now blog full-time on Facebook and divide my time between Facebook and Twitter. Anytime I don't spend on social media, I spend it here or on eGullet. For me, foodblogging is a hobby and not a job. I suppose I could try to increase my number of followers but I feel that in doing so, I would need to make certain sacrifices along the way in order to increase my "social media market share". And I'm unwilling to do that, plus that's not where my interest lies.

Justin is using social media to blog AND to make income off of that. So for him, it's both a hobby and a job.

Make sense?

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16 minutes ago, TrelayneNYC said:

Just to be extra special clear:

There are food blogs like Kalyn's Kitchen (Kalyn Denny), Simply Recipes (Elise Bauer), Smitten Kitchen (Deb Perelman), and 101 Cookbooks (Heidi Swanson) who make their entire income off of their blogs and related content. As a result, social media is a necessity for them and they need to chase after numbers. They need to tailor their content for their readers. If their readers disappear or if their content isn't shared, then their revenue stream suffers. So social media serves not only as a way to increase readership/popularity or as another method to generate content, it's also a marketing tool.

And then there are food bloggers like me who use social media to blog. I stopped blogging on my blog a long time ago. My last post was in March of last year. Since then, I now blog full-time on Facebook and divide my time between Facebook and Twitter. Anytime I don't spend on social media, I spend it here or on eGullet. For me, foodblogging is a hobby and not a job. I suppose I could try to increase my number of followers but I feel that in doing so, I would need to make certain sacrifices along the way in order to increase my "social media market share". And I'm unwilling to do that, plus that's not where my interest lies.

Make sense?

Yes, makes complete sense. This forum, for me, serves as a means for me to connect to others that share a passion for food, along with creating dialogue about everything, including food. Creating a bridge between social media, and this forum.  I have never considered this forum to be a  part of social media, maybe I am wrong. I don't post in hopes that people will like my content, but rather it starts a conversation leading to discovering anything from restaurants, or the next game changer. By using Instagram, its a different way to connect. People that may have never heard of Donrockwell.com may peak at my feed, and jump into the conversation.  That makes me happy. Expanding the community .

I hope this makes sense. I am now curious, what is the name of your blog?

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I wouldn't consider DonRockwell.com to be social media. LOL. There are social media-like qualities but it's a different creature entirely. Food fora had to adapt to the changing nature of the Internet to survive. Back in 2005, I don't think you had "notifications" and "like buttons", did you?

Anyway, when I say that I use Facebook to food blog, I mean exactly that. The vast majority of material I post on Facebook is food-related content in some way. I very rarely post anything of a personal nature on social media which is fine by me since I value my privacy. The blog doesn't have a name since I'm using Facebook's site to host my content, all of which is on my Wall. Does that make sense?

You can follow me if you'd like. My profile is set to Public so literally 99.999999999% of the content is publicly accessible.

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On 1/11/2018 at 5:54 PM, TrelayneNYC said:

I'm not on Instagram...what am I missing?

23 hours ago, DonRocks said:

A couple weeks ago, Eater asked people in the area what their biggest gripes were in 2017 - my answer is here: 'Continued glorification of junk food.'

What I meant by that is depicted quite nicely by #DCFoodPorn's photos. Look at them - they're 95% trash that people shouldn't be ingesting. I mean, God love the kid and all that, but that food is just plain gross: cupcakes, pizza, cheeseburgers ... the more fat and sugar, the better.

Anyway, that's what I meant by 'continued glorification of junk food' - written without prejudice against #DCFoodPorn, because it's everywhere.

I happened to have started this thread.  My attention was caught by the opening article.  It referenced the use of instagram by high end expensive restaurants, with photos of expensive dishes and drinks (I presume).  Among those restaurants in the article are some that are well received here and elsewhere.  Don added an article about #DCFoodPorn's usage, popularity and the topics on which he focuses. 

I don't have a personal instagram account.  Our different local businesses use them for marketing purposes.  While I oversee a lot of the digital marketing in many areas I'm not doing anything on Instagram.  I monitor what is going on.

Cripes!!!!   From a marketing/business/getting people's attention stance it works.  On a percentage basis it currently works far better than FB or other social media.  Other than following how we are doing for the various accounts and monitoring the posts that we and others do about our businesses and the volumes and reactions I'm not on Instagram at all.

And aside from the two articles referencing different types of restaurants and foods I don't know how it is being used in the food and beverage industry.  But BOY it works.  I see it for our different businesses which are of different types and in some different cities/regions.  Then I monitor marketing info on it from "marketing pros".  We have different younger staff in different businesses managing and producing the instagram efforts.

So that is all I know.  I repeat.  It is working NOW.  We can see it. I'm reading and hearing about it from the "experts" (so called and actual) and from the tiny sample of two articles; its coverage is at different ends of the restaurant and food business.  I don't know if it is used more or less at different price points and levels of quality, but clearly the business and marketing ends of those finer and more expensive restaurants believe in it.  At least some do...and if 7 more expensive restaurants in DC are referenced there must be many more.

I simply found it intriguing.  @TrelayneNYC:  Over the years if I see or read something intriguing I might forward it to someone talented in those areas.  Others did that for me before.  Who knows?  Sometimes a talent gets introduced to something and runs with it.  I'm one of those folks who finds your combination of cooking and knowledge and photos an example of talent.  Cripes you educated me on some of the formal descriptions for caciatore and I may have been cooking versions of it since the 1970's without knowing any of what you referenced.

The business/marketing ends of the food business do have a reasonably good sense that instagram is working.  Its evidently working at various ends of the industry and as for me, I love the photographs, let alone I've been a sucker for great "food porn"/terrific food photography.   I have to admit to ordering dishes that looked ravishing with well done photography only to be disappointed in the taste and end dish.   LOL at myself. 

I'm of the opinion with the chef who suggested focusing on the taste and end result, although I suspect one can do both, creating great dishes and turning them into alluring photographs.  Why not?

Lastly while FB owns Instagram they operate differently with different sets of "rules".  It was just announced that FB is changing its "algo".  As a reader you will shortly see fewer posts from businesses and restaurants and "publishers"  (all business pages) and more posts from your friends and family.  While FB described and explained it one way, businesses that use FB realize they will have less visibility to their followers.  The general consensus from the marketing world is that the purpose is to turn off "free" access to business pages.  I agree with that perception.  FB started to do this 2 years ago and in conjunction with that effort their revenues from advertising soared.

Instagram is not currently running under those parameters.   Simply while they are owned by the same entity they are different.  If you want to know what you are missing I'd suggest opening an instagram account and start searching around for topics that interest you.  You don't even have to post.  Check it out first.

 

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19 hours ago, kitkatpaddywak said:

I am learning so much. Is there a crash course on how to measure the metrics of Instagram?

If you are going to do this here are some general web tips on learning, absorbing, and applying what you learn:

(Caveat:  I’m not on it.  What I’ll describe are ways that have worked to learn other elements of “interwebs” “ stuff” (things you can use to take advantage of web visibility. )

Hopefully some savvy active Instagram users will chime in with spefics.

Search on instagram analytics or Instagram metrics.  I know you’ll find tools and measurement elements applicable to Instagram (ig).  You will also find strategies consultants paid services and the like.  You will discover free articles about how to achieve your goals.  

Just jump in.  You can lurk but I suggest starting to post fairly soon as you will want to find strategies and methods that work.  

If your goal is to drive folks here i’d definitely include following other web based content sources.  Word of caution.  Lots of folks have methods and processes that don’t work.  So follow a group, not just one.  

Try and find a community of people applying this who share. Meet ups are great for that.  I know that in DC and Philly there are meet ups on web based marketing topics that include knowledge every bit as good as national commercial sources.  (and sometimes not).

Simply start with a search on your question, read several different articles, jump in, lurk a bit to get a feel, then start using your voice, and try things.

Frankly if there is an ig expert here I’d be interested in their comments 

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