International Food Blogger Conference

Surviving the Influencer Plague

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This guest post is by IFBC19 speaker Jordan and Jocelyn of This Girl Walks Into A Bar

The desperate chase for followers is over, and we couldn’t be happier with the results. This summer, Jocelyn and I will travel to the International Food Blogger’s Conference in Juneau, Alaska, to talk about how we survived what I like to call the influencer plague and built a thriving bartender services business.

It was 2016 and our partnership business was officially drying up. We’d watched the slow decline over several years and worked hard to recreate the success our blog was having from 2011 to 2014. In 2012 we won Saveur Magazine’s Best Cocktail Blog award and requests for partnerships poured in based solely on the merits of our online content. Our voice was original, our story was unique, our photography was good enough, and our cocktail recipes were amazing (if we do say so ourselves!). We checked the boxes that brands needed checked in order to move forward with paid opportunities. Some of the partnerships were simple posts that spotlighted a product and shared a link to where readers could make a purchase.  Other posts were more extensive, spanning over several months by cleverly weaving the brand into recipe posts, restaurant & bar reviews, and girl’s night out stories. We were paid anywhere from $50.00 to $7,500.00 for our work.

But then the requirements shifted. Our reputation for quality content was not enough. Marketing executives and PR managers wanted to know how many people subscribed to our RSS feed. Then they required a screenshot of our monthly unique visitors. Then, what was the average length of time someone spent on our page. That’s when my obsession with analytics started and for all the wrong reasons. It wasn’t to guide content but to figure out how to please the brands interested in doing business with us by having the “right” numbers.

I started to include phrases like “Subscribe to our RSS feed so you don’t miss a post!” and “Like this recipe? Share the link with your friends!” I began adding more photos of the cocktails from different angles to keep people on the page for an increased viewer time. There were closeups of the limes, the fizz, the toothpick, the drink coaster…I got very creative.

The chase was futile because the target was now always moving. How many “likes” did our Facebook page have? How many RTs were we getting on Twitter? How often did we “Periscope?” Did we use Vine? How many views were our YouTube videos getting and were we planning to up our production? Did we use Snap? How many Instagram followers did we have and what was our engagement ratio? And let me just tell you…it was never the right answer.

Suddenly the partnership deals we used to get were going to mommy bloggers with tens of thousands of Instagram followers who could post about the whiskey they drink after the kids are tucked in. Or the fashionista who included the newest wine opening gadget as something she tosses in her latest luxury tote. What?!

It was during a drive to Santa Barbara to teach a mixology class to reps from different media outlets that I realized Jocelyn and I should probably revisit the idea of starting a bartending services division. We would receive a call every few months for a referral and unfortunately weren’t much help. The mixology instruction was a great-paying gig, but the lucrative deals were now few and far between. The lower paying blog assignments took way too much time to make it worth our time. And no matter how hard we tried, it was not looking like we’d be the darlings of Instagram anytime soon. Following thousands of people just to ditch them after the follow-back feels cheap and sleazy.

It didn’t take long to get our bartending services started. In December of 2016, we lucked out with booking a big Hollywood Hills party for some YouTube celebrities (oh…the irony) and knew that night that we were on to something. We had been in the cocktail recipe and bartending business since 2010, beginning with our books and our blog, and our online presence was already well-established with clear branding (thanks to the amazing and talented Jocelyn). Sliding into a business that was no longer virtual was way easier than we’d ever imagined because we’d already done so much groundwork over the years. And most importantly, it was FUN.

In Juneau I’m going to dig into how we built This Girl Walks Into a Bar into an enterprise with way more value than an Instagram follower. Yes, we still love the app, but the desperate chase is over and we couldn’t be happier. Do you want to know the real kicker? The partnership pendulum has swung back. It turns out that mommy bloggers pushing whiskey and fashionistas selling wine keys doesn’t quite move the needle the way an expert can.

See you in June!

Why Did We Choose Juneau, Alaska for IFBC19?

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Answer: FOOD!

According to Buzzfeed.com, Juneau is the only US destination on its top 10 worldwide places to go in 2019 for foodies.

“Focusing on fresh, local seafood and wild fruits, the food scene here is understated, delicious, and eco-friendly by nature.”

How would one describe Alaskan cuisine? Well, it is hard to describe. The Washington Post says “It’s trickier to pinpoint than Louisiana food, what with its jazzy Cajun spices and general swagger. It’s more soothing than Texan cuisine, with all its devil-may-care charred edges. And it’s more modest yet just as fun as that of New England, with its lobster rolls and abundant oysters.”

We think of it as holistic, jazzy, flavorful, smoky, fresh, fun, local and wild. It is hard to pinpoint but easy to love. It is perfect for any food lover but especially for food bloggers.

Thrillist puts it among the “10 Small Cities With World Class Food Scenes” and says “Juneauites’ access to fresh seafood, foraged sea and forest vegetables, and wild game is unparalleled.” Vogue wrote an article titled “Why Southeast Alaska Might Be America’s Most Interesting Food Scene.” And Food & Wine wrote “Alaska has always been extraordinarily lucky, when it comes to eating. Lately, however, there’s been an explosion of culinary talent and creativity, much of it in the state’s more temperate Southeast.”

Yes, the food is the reason we picked Juneau and Alaska for the 2019 International Food Blogger Conference.

Wondering what restaurants you can try in Juneau? Here are just a few samples.

**Tracy’s King Crab Shack: Located directly on Juneau’s waterfront, this favorite local location measures just 8-by-10-feet but serves no small amount of customers. Steaming crab legs and friendly service is what keeps people coming back day after day. Great food for a great price. A must try!

**Salt: Opened last year, Salt is the new hotspot on Juneau’s waterfront. What makes them special? Chef Lionel Uddipa, who won the Great American Seafood Cookoff in 2017, forages for the ingredients himself.

Deckhand Dave’s: Fresh fish tacos, need I say more? Yes? How about a fresh fish taco paired with a beer from Devil’s Club Brewing. A truly outstanding taco truck serving the freshest fish possible, even named in the “top 50 best taco joints in the U.S.” by Business Insider.

**Coppa: The most unique ice cream place you might ever visit. What is on the menu? Daily flavors, including rhubarb sorbet, and salmon candy. In 2016, BuzzFeed named Coppa the most popular ice cream shop in Alaska. In 2017, Coppa won the Grand Prize in the Alaska Symphony of Seafood with their candied salmon ice cream.  (Photo from: Travel Juneau) 

Narrows: After a day out on the waterfront you will want to head over to Narrows. A craft cocktail bar with uniquely crafted ice balls from the Harriman Fjord in Prince William Sound. This local hangout spot, equip with a fire place and brick walls provides as relaxing space to unwind from (and digest) all your delicious foodie adventures.

**Will be serving bites at IFBC19’s Taste of Juneau.

We hope you can join us this June in Juneau!

Rise Above the Noise and Listen to Your Site

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 This guest post is by IFBC19 speaker Christine Pittman of COOKtheSTORY

When I started blogging, it was just for fun. I had no idea what I was doing and it didn’t really matter. But then my blog started to get a bit of traction, a bit of traffic. It was exciting. I started poking around trying to get more. I didn’t realize that I had a plan. I didn’t realize that I had a strategy. I just kept doing things, playing around in my stats and online, and coming up with ideas for recipes. My site kept growing.

Then, when I decided to make a serious stab at it, to turn my food hobby into a jobby (see what I did there? Ha!) something changed. It was back a few summers ago when I hired a high school student to help me with content creation for the summer. We were going to cook recipes and shoot pictures all day, every day, so that I had tons of content ready to go for the fall and winter. Cool, right? But what recipes should we make?

That’s when I realized that I had been following a blueprint, a serious content creation strategy, for years but hadn’t realized it. That’s right, when I suddenly needed to come up with 150 recipe ideas, I knew exactly where to turn. Where did I go?

Facebook? No. Pinterest? No.

My analytics? Yessss.

I used my site’s data to guide my content.

That’s what I’m going to be talking about at IFBC19. It’s the blueprint I used to grow one site from 250,000 page views a month to 1.2M a month in under two years (it’s now over 2M a month); to launch a new site and grow it to 100,000 page views in just nine months (it’s now above 500,000 a month); and to launch a third site that is on target to hit 10,000 monthly page views in six months — the same pace that each of the other sites met on their ways to success. My blueprint worked, not just for my first site but for two others as well.

That’s the technical side of why I want to present at IFBC. But there’s a more personal side. Over the years I’ve been to many talks and listened to many bloggers speak about their methods. I’ve picked the brains of numerous friends about their strategies. People have been raw and honest with me and have really shared their inner stuff. And I’ve learned so much from them. I want to give back.

But there’s something else. As much as these friends and colleagues helped me, I also often felt a bit alienated at these talks and in these conversations. I was hearing from people who had a particular niche, or who started blogging in 2005, or who got a huge Pinterest following in the very beginning. I didn’t have any of these things and wasn’t sure how their advice worked for my site.

That’s why, I think, I wound up developing techniques that don’t look outwards at blogging trends, social media trends, or food trends. They look inward at your own site, your own stats. You get to know what does well for you, and you learn how to maximize that. I feel like my techniques have allowed my sites to speak to me, and I want to help other bloggers rise above the noise and hear what their sites are saying to them.

Thank you for having me as a speaker at IFBC. I’m honored and excited to share what I know and I look forward to meeting you all in ALASKA!

Alumna Interview With Michelle De La Cerda Nash From The Complete Savorist

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This is the second interview with food bloggers who were new to the International Food Blogger Conference but attended last year in New Orleans. We welcome the thoughts of Michelle De La Cerda Nash from The Complete Savorist.

Why/How did you start your blog? Tell us about your brand/ mission.

Michelle: For years I had been asked by family and friends to start a blog. I did, but shortly after starting it, I found myself going through a divorce with an infant. I let it go. A couple of years later I went back to it with a renewed focus and purpose. It’s my goal to help the adventurous home cook and the burgeoning foodie make international cuisine at home by sharing the history of a recipe or the traits of specific ingredients. My blog has led to starting other businesses within and around the food influencer realm.

What were your thoughts and feelings about the conference before you actually attended?

Michelle: That 1) I was getting to check it off my conference bucket list in a bucket list city and 2) I hope I come away with actionable items.

What was your experience like at IFBC?

Michelle: The excursions were awesome! I loved the sessions. I felt like the speakers actually gave real tips and actionable items versus just theory. I’ve attended other conferences over the years and the speakers tell you to do things but don’t tell you how; that wasn’t the case at IFBC.

What would you like to tell food bloggers who have never attended the IFBC but are considering doing so?

Michelle: Do it. There are a lot of awesome conferences to attend. There are even awesome food blogger conferences to attend, but IFBC is worth the investment because of what you will take way from it. There is a genuine sense of support among attendees.

Alumna Interview with Leanna Pierre of Mrs. Island Breeze

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We have a list of 3,787 active food bloggers. Most have, of course, never been to the IFBC nor likely to any food blogger conference. So we decided to contact a few of our 2018 attendees who were new to the IFBC to ask them how they found last year’s conference. Here is the first of those responses, provided by Leanna Pierre of Mrs. Island Breeze.

Why/How did you start your blog? Tell us about your brand/ mission.

Leanna: I started my blog as a creative outlet from my day job. I love being an attorney. It’s challenging and exciting, but it can also be quite stressful. In searching for an outlet to relieve my stress, I realized that I was happiest when I was in my kitchen. Mrs. Island Breeze is an ode to my love for cooking and cuisines from all across the globe. I believe that food is something that unites us all across time, space, race, and culture. My goal with Mrs. Island Breeze is to get people back into their kitchens, creating memories, and trying new things.

What were your thoughts and feelings about IFBC18 in New Orleans before you actually attended?

Leanna: I was excited, but also very nervous. At the time, my blog was barely over a year old. I wondered whether my blog was too “young” for me to attend a conference like this. I wondered whether the topics would go over my head and I would not be able to really get the most out of the experience. But I was also excited to meet fellow foodies and, of course, enjoy fabulous food in New Orleans.

What was your experience like at the conference?

Leeana: My experience was fabulous! Honestly, it was even better than I expected. The hotel on Bourbon Street was amazing. The scheduled tours and excursions were interesting and well thought out. I was able to visit Liberty’s Kitchen, which added a fantastic social responsibility and community improvement aspect to the conference through the lens of food.

The actual sessions were full of information that was not only relevant, but digestable and applicable regardless of where a particular attendee may be in his or her blogging journey. The
speakers and panelists were all incredibly knowledgeable, honest, and accessible. And, without question, the highlight of the conference was meeting Michael Twitty. I had a full on fan girl moment. I’m talking running down the hall, calling his name, just to snag a picture. It’s a moment that I will treasure forever.

What would you like to tell food bloggers who have never attended the IFBC but are considering doing so?

Leeana: Do it! Don’t worry about all the what ifs. Just do it. You won’t regret it and you’ll make
some fantastic foodie friends along the way. I keep in touch with quite a few of the 2018
attendees. And let’s be honest. When else are you going to go to Juneau, Alaska?!

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