In this age of digital content marketing, we’re being advertised to constantly while online.We asked Noelle – Instagram’s @tastetravelunravel a few questions about her industry and here’s what she had to say about growing her channel, making a name for herself and staying true to her roots.
How would you describe your personal brand?
NL: A mix of food, travel, and lifestyle.
When did you realize that your hobbies of food and photography could become a career?
NL: I love to share with friends when we go to an amazing restaurant, hotel, or country, and I noticed others were sharing their passion on various social media platforms so I figured I would follow suit.
What has been the most exciting event/moment you’ve experience since becoming a food blogger?
NL: The Marriott Palm Beach Singer Island hosted me for a weekend where I got to enjoy gorgeous accommodations (including it being beach front), along with dinner and spa services. That was a big highlight of my blogging career.
Your photos and feed on Instagram is just breathtaking. Can you walk us through how you come up with the composition and the final product before posting?
NL: I try to post one lifestyle/travel post once a week, with the other 4 posts being food pics. I will edit the photo in Adobe Lightroom. The night before, I come up with the caption for it, in which I always try to come up with a witty pun for. Music is a big influence in my life, so I try to create captions from song lyrics with a pun twist. I’ll type up the caption in “Notes” on my iPhone so it’s easy to copy and paste into Instagram the following morning when I go to post it.
How do you think food and travel go hand in hand? What about the two that so relevant and similar?
NL: Food is such a big part of culture of a city/country and whether you’re daring or more conservative on your food preferences, no one wants to eat a mediocre meal while on vacation because you want that trip to be memorable in all aspects. For me it’s about seeking out food that I’ve either heard about or that is not common where I live (Tampa, FL).
What is your stance on influencers being paid to post about brands? Should influencers be transparent regarding payment for posts?
NL: I’m 100% fine with influencers being paid to post about brands. The traditional form of marketing is a thing of the past and if someone is featuring your brand with a large audience, I fully support them being paid. I always try to stay “on brand” when brands message me about partnerships–so “biotin gummies” or a particular hair product will likely not be featured on my page because my page features mainly food and travel (& my french bulldogs). I definitely think an influencer should be transparent regarding payment for posts. I always use the hashtag #sponsored if I was paid and either #ad or #hosted if I received the meal or product for free. I would never promote a product I didn’t believe in, but I know that isn’t the case for all influencers.
How do you think the rise of influencer accounts on Instagram has impacted on the way that people discover restaurants/chefs/bar/and food?
NL: When my husband and I are planning our trip I always try to seek out the best restaurants. Instead of using platforms that I would previously rely on, such as Yelp or TripAdvisor, I’ll go into Instagram and type in a hashtag. Recently we went to Nashville, so I used the hashtag #nashvillefood to see what popped up and based our restaurant reservations around that.
Do you think the food influencer scene could reach a point of saturation where users “switch off”?, And if so, how far off do you think we are?
NL: I do believe there is a threshold for the number of food influencers a market has. In Tampa, a lot of restaurants have jumped on board with “influencer” events where they invite influencers out to try their new menu items. That restaurant pays little for the food in comparison to the marketing they’ll get from Instagram stories and static posts. As a result, a lot of influencers have popped up recently because of “free food”. Some influencers even reach out to restaurants asking to be hosted–something I’ve never done nor will I ever do. In Tampa it does seem like there’s a new food account popping up every other day. I do it because I genuinely have a passion for food, not because of the “free food”.
If you had to pick one cuisine to eat for the rest of your life, what would you go with?
NL: Japanese because I think it’s so versatile. I love sushi, ramen, tempura, takoyaki, you name it. It also helps that my father is half Japanese so I grew up with a strong Japanese influence regarding food.
Do you think every restaurant should have a presence on Social Media?
NL: Absolutely. It’s free marketing! I think Social Media pictures are often better than other platforms which can be saturated with a lot of low grade pictures. I think a food stylist/photographer, along with a Social Media strategist, can really help build a restaurant’s business without relying on traditional marketing, such as flyers, billboards, advertisements in newspapers, etc.
Noelle, anything else you want to share with our readers?
NL: A lot of influencers spend a lot of time editing their pictures and putting a great deal of thought in their captions. If you follow the account and like their content, support them–a simple like goes a long way. It’s incredible the number of “ghost” followers a lot of us have–where they follow us but never like or engage in our content. It’s comments and likes that help fuel what content we put out for our followers and without (constructive) feedback, we won’t know what you’d like to see more of if you don’t engage.
