Welcome to Eat Sleep Instagram , our weekly series of conversations with Instagrammers behind the most drool-worthy accounts about how they’re navigating the digital age, deliciously.
This week, Taste Talks contributor Amanda Odmark spoke with food blogger/photographer and @thefeedfeed editor Jessica Fiorillo ( @feedmedearly ) , who talked to us about consistency and style, the art of hashtags, and losing followers over chicken wings.
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Taste Talks: How much time do you spend on social media?
Jessica Fiorillo : Over time I’ve figured out a rhythm that works best for staying engaged on social media without having it take control of my life. I love the supportive food community on Instagram so that’s where I spend most of my time. I check it first thing in the morning when I wake up and do my best to respond to any comments that might have been left overnight. Then I scroll through my feed to get inspired for the day. I find that mid-morning or early afternoon is my favorite time to post since it gives me a natural break in my day to step away from work. But once I post I don’t stick around for too long or I’ll get sucked into the Instagram vortex! In the evening I check back in and spend another half hour on Instagram. So give or take a few minutes, I try to spend an hour a day on social media.
Taste Talks: Have you worked hard to get your following, or has it been organic? What’s your method?
Jessica Fiorillo : Yes, really, really hard. That comment above about an hour a day on Instagram? That doesn’t count the several hours a week that I spend taking and editing photos. I also spent more time in my early days just familiarizing myself with the platform, getting the hang of using the right hashtags, connecting with people that I admired, etc.
I often get comments on my pictures asking about how I’ve been able to grow my following. And the answer is the same: take a lot of really bad pictures, until you start taking semi-bad pictures, and then one day you’ll realize that your photos aren’t so bad after all; maybe some of them will even make you hold your phone quizzically and stare in admiration. Those moments don’t happen all the time, but it’s a great feeling when you’ve gotten the light, the food, and the mood just right. I’m happy that over time I’ve developed a personal style that feels very much me—saturated colors, straight lines and angles—I’ve tried the haphazard “oh this?” layout and it doesn’t feel right for me. Stray crumbs, a tangle of props—it’s beautiful but just not me. But my style is still evolving—I have full blown admiration for so many talented photographers on blogs and on Instagram, so my goal is to keep learning every day. Who knows, maybe my style will morph into something completely unexpected.
The other point that I’d make about growing a following online is that becoming part of online communities is key. I used to use hashtags like #food and #healthy but soon learned that if I became part of communities like #feedfeed and engaged with other like-minded cooks who shared similar interests, that people would naturally follow each other and support each other.
But what it really comes down to is time on task: learn to take better photographs, and in the process, you’ll find yourself featured on feeds like Food52, FeedFeed and Food & Wine which is what will ultimately have the most influence on your account.
TT: There is such a huge “health food” trend on Instagram right now. Your beautiful photos are very vegetable forward + health-supportive without falling into that trend—is that intentional on your part? From the outside looking in, it’s clear that health is important to you but you don’t focus on it.
JF: Thank you! I appreciate that feedback because I admire a lot of the hardcore health food accounts but I’m a little bit too loose around the edges to commit to that lifestyle 100%. I love to eat healthy foods and plant-based foods in particular, particularly since I’ve given up wheat and dairy for health reasons. But I’ll never deny myself the occasional ice cream cone or Shake Shack burger. As long as I can be proud of the majority of my food choices, I’m in a good place.
It’s a double edged sword though when you support a healthy lifestyle online. Some people do seem to like that I have some flexibility in my approach to eating, but others are horrified when they see certain foods popping up in my feed. Recently I was joking with a friend that followers dropped like flies when I posted my Superbowl tamarind-glazed chicken wings. I think that people get the impression that I’m vegetarian or vegan and are disappointed to see those kinds of posts. I hate to use the buzz word “authenticity” but being true to what I’m eating day-to-day is really important. And if I lose followers because I indulge in the occasional unhealthy treat, so be it.
TT: Does Instagram feel like a different kind of community than your blog might generate?
JF: Yes, absolutely. In my early blogging days I did what I called the “52-week challenge” where each week my kids and I would try a new food and I’d transcribe the conversation for the blog. We were eating things like rambutan and mangosteen; we even did spicy chiles by mistake. It was all pretty hysterical, their comments were legendary, and I’m so glad that I captured those conversations. But it positioned the blog as more of a mom or parent blog that also had food—not the other way around. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but these days I focus almost exclusively on food/travel on Instagram, and the blog audience is still fairly mom/family-centric. The kind of content that both groups respond to is very different. But I think that blog audiences are slightly different from an Instagram audience anyway—ready to take things in at a slower pace, leave longer comments, etc. So it’s nice to have both.
TT: Do you have any rules or advice for folks who are working to develop their social platform?
JF: About a year or two ago, once I got my photos into better shape, I fell into the trap of only allowing a certain type of photo onto my Instagram feed—really structured top down shots, comments that were descriptive but not very funny or particularly engaging. The feed looked cohesive and the audience was growing but I kept asking myself, “where is my personality?” I felt awkward about posting anything personal, photos of me, photos of my surroundings. I felt like my social media had to be perfect, and it was stifling.
I’ve gotten over that angst and have just decided to post what I feel like posting- as long as the look and feel is consistent—e.g. not posting a low-contrast photo or something with really light pastels—then I think it’s OK to share bits and pieces of my daily life. I’m not a plate of beautifully sliced fruit: I’m a person who goes on trips, makes mistakes, and experiences the world, and it’s fine to share that. People may feel otherwise about their feeds and just decide to showcase food, so that choice is always going to be made independently, but that’s what feels right for me. So my recommendation is to do what feels natural. And then work, connect, work, connect, repeat!
