Food blogging

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Food blogging is a feature of food journalism interlinking a gourmet interest in food, blog writing, and food photography. [1] Food blogs are generally written by food enthusiasts often referred to as a "foodies" and can be used commercially by the blogger to earn a profit. The first food blog launched in July, 1997 as a running feature on the Chowhound web site. [2] Titled "What Jim Had for Dinner", Chowhound founder Jim Leff cataloged his daily eating. [3]

Contents

The majority of food blogs use pictures taken by the author himself/herself and some of them focus specifically on food photography. [2]

There are different types of Food blogging. [4]

As long as it is blog about food it is considered as food blog. Most often a food blog has overlapping elements of all or some of these elements. A blog is a personal journal and there is no real rule of writing a food blog.

Food and travel

Common street food vendor in Pakistan. Travel- Street food, Pakistan.jpg
Common street food vendor in Pakistan.

Food and travel is a type of blogging that involves the engagement of different cultures. These bloggers travel around the globe, visiting and eating their way through cities such as Bangkok, Chengdu, and Tokyo, [5] as well as other food hot spots like Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, and Karachi, [6] documenting their experience as they go. Food and travel blogging involves research, shooting, editing, investing & scheduling. [7]

Food photography

Professionally shot photos are used for marketing and advertising. Food Photography (183291909).jpeg
Professionally shot photos are used for marketing and advertising.

Food photography is the art of creating appetizing images using techniques such as lighting, arrangement, and background to be used commercially by the photographer. Visual appeal of the food alone can influence attraction to food photographers and bloggers. The degree to which a food blogger relies on food photography varies from blog to blog. Food photography can help construct the narrative of a food blog and can be used to attract an audience. [8]

Influencers and marketing

Blogging is a common marketing and brand development tool for restaurants, catering companies, meal delivery services, private chefs, and other food and beverage businesses. Businesses often choose influential bloggers in the market, or "influencers". Influencers, are able to draw a specific audience and build their reputation by consistently posting quality content. Over time, the blogger accumulates influence over some of their audience. Consumers often build a connection with the influencer they closely follow affecting their purchasing decisions. Audiences often trust the endorsement of influencers because while they can be sponsored they are loyal to their followers and have freedom to design their messages. This is what the blogger can "sell" to companies whose products and services they'd endorse or be sponsored by. [9]

The more popular a blog is, the more opportunities the blogger will have to monetize their content. Bloggers use a variety of business and marketing tactics to maximize traffic, including constructing a persona that can connect with a targeted audience. [10] Here are a few ways a food blogger can go about earning profit online:[ citation needed ]

Effects on the foodies

Although most bloggers are not necessarily experts in their area of practice, this doesn't discourage online traffic. In fact, influencer audiences are highly reactive to content like photos, videos, precise instructions or descriptions with regard to the flow of cooking, eating, or even dieting. The loyalty consumers exhibit to bloggers they follow present those bloggers with inconspicuous business opportunities. [10] The majority of feedback is positive and suggestive. [11] For the most part, people follow these blogs to experiment with new recipes, become aware of new food trends, restaurants, and other creative ideas these thought leaders have to offer. [12]

Primarily, foodies and popular bloggers are informative and persuasive, having been posed between consumers and producers. As a result, huge parts of the culinary landscape have sparked a new level of public interest. Cookbooks have made a comeback, popular chefs are treated like celebrities, and dieting trends have gained more momentum than ever. [ citation needed ] All of this can be attributed to the easily read content that bloggers post. The impact of processing or cognitive fluency is in play when discussing the most impactful blog posts, the bloggers who write, make visual demonstrations, guides, and other content that is easily digestible for consumers often yield the most feedback not only in terms of likes, but comments and shares as well. Being a food expert has almost nothing to do with running a successful food blog. The bloggers persona, persuasion, and engagement style are the main components, aside from content, are main determinants of the amount of influence a blogger gains. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blog</span> Discussion or informational site published on the internet

A blog is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page. Until 2009, blogs were often the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject or topic. In the 2010s, "multi-author blogs" (MABs) emerged, featuring the writing of multiple authors and sometimes professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, advocacy groups, and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other "microblogging" systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into the news media. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">User-generated content</span> Online content created by users

User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is generally any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online content aggregation platforms such as social media, discussion forums and wikis. It is a product consumers create to disseminate information about online products or the firms that market them.

The target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or other message catered specifically to the previously intended audience. In marketing and advertising, the target audience is a particular group of consumer within the predetermined target market, identified as the targets or recipients for a particular advertisement or message.

Corporate blog is a blog that is published and used by an organization, corporation, etc. to reach its organizational goals. The advantage of blogs is that posts and comments are easy to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads. Although there are many different types of corporate blogs, most can be categorized as either external or internal.

Engagement marketing, sometimes called "experiential marketing", "event marketing", "on-ground marketing", "live marketing", "participation marketing", "Loyalty Marketing", or "special events", is a marketing strategy that directly engages consumers and invites and encourages them to participate in the evolution of a brand or a brand experience. Rather than looking at consumers as passive receivers of messages, engagement marketers believe that consumers should be actively involved in the production and co-creation of marketing programs, developing a relationship with the brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Influencer marketing</span> Type of social media marketing

Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social influence in their field. Influencers are someone with the power to affect the buying habits or quantifiable actions of others by uploading some form of original—often sponsored—content to social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok or other online channels. Influencer marketing is when a brand enrolls influencers who have an established credibility and audience on social media platforms to discuss or mention the brand in a social media post. Influencer content may be framed as testimonial advertising.

Fashion blogs are blogs that cover the fashion industry, clothing, and lifestyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital marketing</span> Marketing of products or services using digital technologies or digital tools

Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online-based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development during the 1990s and 2000s changed the way brands and businesses use technology for marketing. As digital platforms became increasingly incorporated into marketing plans and everyday life, and as people increasingly used digital devices instead of visiting physical shops, digital marketing campaigns have become prevalent, employing combinations of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct marketing, display advertising, e-books, and optical disks and games have become commonplace. Digital marketing extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as television, mobile phones, callbacks, and on-hold mobile ringtones. The extension to non-Internet channels differentiates digital marketing from online marketing.

Customer engagement is an interaction between an external consumer/customer and an organization through various online or offline channels. According to Hollebeek, Srivastava and Chen S-D logic-Definition of customer engagement is "a customer’s motivationally driven, volitional investment of operant resources, and operand resources into brand interactions," which applies to online and offline engagement.

Niche blogging is the act of creating a blog with the intent of using it to market to a particular niche market. Niche blogs may appeal to "geographic areas, a speciality industry, ethnic or age groups, or any other particular group of people." While there is also debate that every blog is, in some form, a niche blog, the term as it applies to marketing refers to a particular kind of blog.

Consumer-generated advertising is advertising on consumer generated media. This term is generally used to refer to sponsored content on blogs, wikis, forums, social networking services, and individual websites. This sponsored content is also known as sponsored posts, paid posts, or sponsored reviews. The content includes links that point to the home page or specific product pages of the website of the sponsor. Examples include Diet Coke and Mentos videos, the "Crush on Obama" video, and Star Wars fan films. Companies that have employed consumer-generated ads include Subaru North America, McDonald's, Rose Parade, and Toyota North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Content marketing</span> Form of marketing focused on creating content for a targeted audience online

Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online. It is often used by businesses in order to achieve the following goals: attract attention and generate leads, expand their customer base, generate or increase online sales, increase brand awareness or credibility, and engage an online community of users. Content marketing attracts new customers by creating and sharing valuable free content as well as by helping companies create sustainable brand loyalty, providing valuable information to consumers, and creating a willingness to purchase products from the company in the future.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet celebrity</span> Someone famous because of the Internet

An internet celebrity is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large, global audience. Internet celebrities are often found on large online platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, which primarily rely on user-generated content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social media marketing</span> Promotion of products or services on social media

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers.

Social media in the fashion industry refers to the use of social media platforms by fashion designers and users to promote and participate in trends. Over the past several decades, the development of social media has increased along with its usage by consumers. The COVID-19 pandemic was a sharp turn of reliance on the virtual sphere for the industry and consumers alike. Social media has created new channels of advertising for fashion houses to reach their target markets. Since its surge in 2009, luxury fashion brands have used social media to build interactions between the brand and its customers to increase awareness and engagement. The emergence of influencers on social media has created a new way of advertising and maintaining customer relationships in the fashion industry. Numerous social media platforms are used to promote fashion trends, with Instagram and TikTok being the most popular among Generation Y and Z. The overall impact of social media in the fashion industry included the creation of online communities, direct communication between industry leaders and consumers, and criticized ideals that are promoted by the industry through social media.

Online presence management is the process of creating and promoting traffic to a personal or professional brand online. This process combines web design, and development, blogging, search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing, reputation management, directory listings, social media, link sharing, and other avenues to create a long-term positive presence for a person, organization, or product in search engines and on the web in general.

Health blogs are niche blogs that cover health topics, events and/or related content of the health industry and the general community.

Native advertising, also called sponsored content, partner content, and branded journalism, is a type of paid advertising that appears in the style and format of the content near the advertisement's placement. It manifests as a post, image, video, article or editorial piece of content. In some cases it functions like an advertorial. The word native refers to this coherence of the content with the other media that appear on the platform.

A personal styleblogger is an individual who manages an online platform that covers several aspects of fashion. These blogs, often produced independently, post pictures of the blogger to show their outfits and lifestyle to a number of followers. They influence consumer taste and preferences, often functioning as an intermediary between businesses and consumer. From a company perspective, the blogger is perceived as a promotional tool. From the consumer side, high-reputation bloggers are considered opinion leaders. This often results in material benefits, rewards, branded fashion clothing and paid sponsorship, as well as status in the field of fashion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion influencer</span> Person who influences fashion through social media

A fashion influencer is a personality that has a large number of followers on social media, creates mainly fashion content and has the power to influence the opinion and purchase behavior of others with their recommendations. Brands endorse them to attend fashion shows, parties, designer dinners and exclusive trips and to wear their clothes on social media. If a salary has been involved, the influencer may be required to label such posts as paid or sponsored content. Before social media "they would have been called 'It girls'".

References

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