Now that Needing a Feeding has come this far let’s discuss some of the learning curves that I have had along the way.
Sometimes simple is best – a few of my instagram posts that either took a while to film and edit, or tried to replicate other popular foodie instagrams by posting “single photos, ended up… well… flopping. So it’s important to remember that users are on instagram for a reason, they want quick content while scrolling down their feed. Also, trying to replicate popular content can lead to my account blending into the crowd.
If it flops, don’t stop – As discussed in my pitch my first IGTV didn’t perform the best. But from there I edited the video to make it short and snappy and received positive feedback from twitter. I decided to post it on TikTok, although at this moment in time I would like to focus Needing a Feeding on Instagram it is still a possible avenue. But from there I could still make it into an Insta story with a link.
Focus on your audience – Every time I made content that was specific to students that have minimal ingredients, time, money and skill, it was well received. Seems simple enough but sometimes I would get caught up in trying to replicate popular foodie posts. Another thing I had to learn is understanding when to post content, based on my audiences habits. One thing that I am pleased with is the facts that I am hitting the exact age bracket I am aiming for.
Although I am past the stage of ideating or prototyping, I still believe that it would be best that I continue to switch up my content and not confine it to the same layout. That way I don’t limit my account to a specific style.
When I first created the Instagram account @needing.a.feeding I wanted to make sure I had branding that established it straight away. So even if I changed the logo down the road, at least I had a appearance that was clear on the account’s purpose and a bio that addressed my audience.
In the previous semester I had issues with the time it took to edit videos on my laptop, or not being able to film certain angles with my heavy camera. This time I feel as though I have finally found a solution. This set up gave me the right angle, and allowed me to edit quicker on my phone.
Persona
In order for me to reach my target audience (students aged 17-22), I need to fully establish the performative dimension of my online persona. Moore, Barbour and Lee believes it is important for our performative persona to connect various staged characteristics, through what we post, how we comment and the posts we like. The videos that I have been experimenting with have lacked this persona that fully establishes which audience I want to attract. I need to be using humor, or themes such as challenges related to minimal equipment or ingredients that are low price in order to appeal to students. I have realised that I am able to have videos with a professional set up without having to compromise on the student persona.
I briefly experimented with the injection of humor in a recent video, but in future I would like the focus of each video to be more specific to a student with limited resources, money and time. As without these elements I fear my videos will simply blend into the mass that is “Instagram cooking videos”.
My online persona also includes how I respond to comments, so by engaging with the comments instead of just liking them it personalised interactions with the account.
Content
The amount of times you post and the consistency of the post can contribute to the audience that see it and interact with it. Williams believes that for Instagram posting once a day can increase your following by 56%.
Personally, posting fully edited content everyday would be close to impossible, so ensuring that I stay consistent with posting two or more cooking videos is important. In order to post more content I should begin switching up the type of content I post, in order to save time and keep my audience interested with different posts. Pache reveals how content curation is being utilised, he mentions the importance of posting the right amount with content that is relevant to your audience. Similarly Wagner establishes that there should be a balance between curation and creation, as creating content is always more valuable. So personally for my account I would prefer to post content that is made directly by me, even if it is influenced by content I have curated, as I agree with Wagner that using a high volume of curated content will negatively impact the account.
By observing the foodie community on Instagram I have seen a few variations to cooking videos that still provide their audience with helpful recipes. This post for example by @cleanfoodcrush is not a video, and instead is a series of photos of the recipe steps.
Or even a single photo post like @shapedbycharlotte which utilises the caption, allowing me to engage with my audience and inject my online persona into it.
Instagram captions are a very useful tool for engaging my audience and helping to assist them. This will target those who have minimal appliances, are mindful of tracking macros, or who have food intolerances.
Bees and Bells 