foodie Archives – Chow You Later

So your Instagram is seeing lots of hits and follows. Congratulations! You deserve a pat on the back for that. Everyone loves your drool-inducing pictures and you’ve developed a pretty good following. The next logical step is meeting others just like yourself and working with local and national restaurants. Zipkick is the answer you’ve been looking for.

Last updated: May 3, 2020

Zipkick Foodie Influencer Featured Image

Before we go on ahead, I have a special guest today I’ve reached out to help me with your food influencing endeavors. The best person I’ve found is my friend, Emman Damian, from the Philipines specifically from Makati City which is part of Manila.

Emman Damian The Tennis Foodie — Meet Emman.
Tennis Enthusiast and Foodie Reviewer

He runs an award-winning restaurant review blog where he gets to meet, greet, and dine at some of the best restaurants in the Philipines. Sounds like a dream job 🙂 He’s also a Zipkick Ambasaddor who knows a few things about being a Foodie Influencer. If you want more information about him, visit his blog at The Tennis Foodie. With that said, let’s answer a few questions about the exciting opportunities at Zipkick and how it can help your Foodie Instagram account. In this post, Emman and I will be going back and forth conversation style.

What is Zipkick?

“In my own words, it’s a platform that curates great photos and reviews from foodies around the world. Majority of the members are from US but other countries are well represented too. I established the group in the Philippines. I hope it grows soon. [Being a Zipkick influencer is] someone who imbibes the values of Zipkick. A foodie that shares his or her authentic reviews and feedback on brands and restaurants around his/her city.” – Emman

“Emman is absolutely right. I want to add that Zipkick bridges the gap between foodie influencers and both local restaurant owners and national businesses. It’s a wonderful way to get involved with the foodie community. With Zipkick, you get the middle person who introduces you to countless networking events.” – Rich

How do I become a Zipkick Foodie Influencer?

“You have to apply through a referral link or direct link via the website. It’s simple. The instructions are easy to follow.” – Emman

“Yes, the application is very simple and straight forward. All you really need is an active Instagram account. By active, I mean a quality account that posts often with a decent following. From my experience, if you put in a referral code it can expedite the process a little faster. My code is RU3 and Emman’s is ED3. Feel free to use our codes.” – Rich

How to use Zipkick?

“Once your application has been accepted you will begin seeing Brand Opportunities or campaigns emailed to you. These campaigns will be Zipkick partnered companies (such as McDonalds, UberEats, and many other local establishments) who may have a grand opening, new food menu/item, or just want their name out there. Typically, the way it works is the restaurant or food manufacturer gives you a freebie or invites you to events. In return, you post about their product on Instagram. More about that later.” – Rich

“It’s very active right now on Instagram. I think the app is under revamp now. You can also use the app to link your reviews.” – Emman

How does Zipkick work?

“It’s basically a community where you share your insights and honest feedback regarding some restaurants or food brands you handled. It will be shared via the app or through Instagram. You get to showcase your work to the foodie community worldwide.” – Emman

“Once you receive an email to register with the Brand Opportunity campaign, you will be debriefed with logistics such as deadlines, addresses, objectives of the project, etc which looks like this:

If interested, check off the Terms and Conditions and click the Interested button. Your registration is then sent and you should hear back within a few hours of your status. It’s pretty fun.” – Rich

Do I have to be a Zipkick Foodie Influencer to Participate in the Campaigns?

“Yes! It’s a fun community. You can share your yummy posts to other members. You get to collaborate with them too. I met a lot of people through this platform. It’s a good way to look for opportunities too.” – Emman

“The only way to participate in these events is to be a Zipkick influencer so yes, you have to join in order to reap the rewards. There are so many reasons to join, I can’t think of why you shouldn’t.” – Rich

How much does Zipkick cost?

“It does not cost anything. It’s a membership only platform so make sure you apply for it. My pro tip is to just work on your IG feed. Post yummy and authentic photos. It should do the trick.” – Emman

“Ditto that. Zipkick costs nothing to join. It’s totally free.” – Rich

How I can meet other Foodie Influencers through Zipkick?

“Earlier, I mentioned a brand opportunity campaign. There are going to be some local events such as a restaurant grand opening. If you are selected to go, then you will get a chance to meet other Zipkickers. My pro tip is to take lots of photos, enjoy the complimentary foods, and have the time of your life. If your schedule is hectic, then another option is through Engagement Groups found on Zipkick’s website upon log in. This feature allows you to interact and find other Zipkickers online.” – Rich

I just started, is Zipkick right for me?

“The beauty of Zipkick is the number of resources available. As mentioned earlier, there is the Engagement Groups where others can help you develop your Instagram account and boost your engagement rate. Then there’s also a roadmap of badges to earn which makes it perfect for newbies. Emman can go over a little more on how Zipkick has helped him early on.” – Rich

“Zipkick is right for you because it’s a great community of food photographers, stylists, foodies and other food enthusiasts. It helps you share your gastronomic experiences and creative juices. The platform helped me reach my goals and linked me to different opportunities.” – Emman

Why would I want to earn badges and become a Zipkick ambassador? What are the perks?

“Having a Zipkick badge as influencer or ambassador cements your credibility as a Trusted Foodie. It also enables you to work on projects that are available. You get to meet great people too.” – Emman

Let’s summarize what we learned

In summary, Zipkick can help with your foodie influencer endeavors by:

Matching you up with both local businesses and national brands.
Networking you with local foodies and others around the world.
Helping you develop your Instagram Account with Engagement Pods.
Developing your Foodie Influencer milestones with a roadmap of achievements to reach or badges to earn.
Allowing opportunities to become a Zipkick Ambassador of your own network and agency by referring foodies, freelancers, and brands.

That’s pretty much it! If you have other questions please send me a message or leave a comment below and either Emman or I will get back to you. If your question is commonly asked, we can update the blog post to counter anything we missed.

Found my article helpful? You should definitely check out How I Got 2000 followers fast because there are more components involved. And if you want to support my page, do subscribe and follow me on my social media handles at Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.

So you have the follower count but your engagement doesn’t seem to correlate with any of the audience growth you’ve been seeing. You can count your engagement rate with your fingers in one hand. My article walks you through the latest tips to become a more engaged Instagram account.

Last updated: January 23, 2020

7 Tips for Engaged Instagram Account Featured Image

Here’s what popular opinion never tells you: You have to engage!! It’s easy to post multiple images a day and leave it alone. Unless you’re a celebrity, you’ll soon realize this method will get you nowhere. If you want a following you’re going to have to give people a reason to give their attention to you. Attention is a commodity nowadays so why should anyone give you 3 seconds of their time? Well, to start, a good reason is that you’re giving them yours. So with that said, let’s move on to the very first tip.

1.) You Scratch my back and I’ll Scratch Yours

The idea of reciprocity is an age-old one from the early days of human civilization and trade to the present days of social media. It’s very simple, when you like a post there’s a good chance that account will like yours right back. It’s an even exchange. Always keep that in mind.

But, “Rich, I’ve haven’t seen any reciprocity. When I try to comment and like another account, they never respond back to me. You’re completely wrong!”

Then my next advice is to check the accounts you’ve been interacting with. If these accounts are 3 times or more your audience size, chances are they’re not going to reciprocate. It’s nothing personal, it’s science. Aim for the accounts that are similar in size to you (or smaller) and you’ll notice more interactions.

Found Tip #1 useful? Check out my Unwritten Rules of Instagram article that goes into the mindset to have for a successful Instagram Foodie Account.

2. The Art of Following Up

This tip ties in with Tip #1 about reciprocity. Whenever someone interacts with you, interact with them back. It only takes a few interactions for that person to begin to remember you. For example:

Ghosts in different colors and sizes — Hey! No ghosting!
Photo Credit: OpenClipart-Vectors

If someone likes your photo, go back to theirs and like them.
When someone makes a comment on your photo, reply back.
If someone tags you, like and leave a comment.

After a few likes/comments they are going to remember you and as a reminder, no ghosting allowed if you want an engaged instagram account! If you’ve ever been ghosted, you’ll know it’s just not a cool thing to do.

3. Peacock Theory in Action: Use Bulk Likes

Peacock wooing peahen — “Look at me Dammit, I’m beautiful!”
Photo Credit: Kenneth Lu

Like a male peacock, the most colorful and flashiest get their mate. It’s not different for humans. After all, we are social animals and will reciprocate good deeds (are you seeing a pattern here? Human reciprocity is alive and well!). So as mentioned earlier, when someone shows you love, you gotta show it right back. As you’ll find out sooner or later, time is very limited. You have to make every effort count and in order to do that, you will follow my commandment: thou shall like in bulk. What I mean is you want to take up their whole notification screen. I actually took the time to count and it comes out to about 10-11 rows like this:

Instagram Notification Screenshot of peacocking — What Peacocking Looks like

This is how you keep your ancestry, I mean, your account fresh and memorable with others. Usually, accounts will be thankful and give you a shoutout on their story. This is great because it gives you more exposure and it’s likely other accounts will want to follow you because you share these important values of being a decent human being.

4. Leave Thoughtful Comments

My valentine dog to world — Photo Credit: Joe Haupt

A word on commenting. The most useless comments I’ve seen are generic ones that can be copied and pasted over and over again. If you really want to leave an impression, you have to stray away from those type of comments like “Amazing!” “Yummy” or inserting a bunch of emoji’s. You gotta ask yourself what’s the difference between yourself and a bot at that point? Show them your value by giving them a few extra seconds of thought and over time it will pay off. Respond to their caption. If its a question, it‘s even better because it just makes commenting easier!

5. Use Engagement Pods

For those who are not familiar, a common technique most accounts use is what’s called an Engagement Pod or sometimes referred to as Instagram Pods. Essentially these are chat groups often found in the Direct Message who all are dedicated to liking and maybe commenting on every member’s post. We, humans, tend to have a herd mentality, where we are influenced by our peers. For example, when you drive by a restaurant with a huge crowd outside. Chances are you’d want to stop by to check out the commotion. For the case of Instagram, when we see many liking and commenting on a post, we want to join in. Engagement Pods can help boost your engaged Instagram account and I would not pass it up.

Overtime, as both your account and engagement grows others will want to be a part of it. In other words, you will start seeing others outside your engagement pod leaving comments on your post. The reason why this is the case, is because these accounts are also trying to grow. They know that if they leave a comment, they will be seen thus increasing their chances of getting followed.

6. Take advantage of Insta Stories for Engaged Instagram

I call it the Best Friends Forever (BFF) maker. It really is. Many are not taking advantage of this awesome feature. It gives you a way to connect with others and show your human side. Sometimes, especially with themed accounts like food ones, you don’t get to show another side of yourself. With polls, quizzes, questions, etc. it would be difficult not to create any rapport with other users. Instagram makes it easy so take advantage. Regular posts at times, do not give you the chance to show your personality and Stories does allow the possibility.

Do: Check out other users’ stories. Respond to them. This is a great way to stick out because, as I said, many are not taking advantage of Insta Stories. Think about it, when you use Instagram do you remember those who DM you or the account activity in your Notifications? When you react or respond to an Insta Story, a DM is sent.

7. Tag your posts

"Tag You're it" with indexing finger pointing at reader — Photo Credit: Prose0606

Haven’t interacted with someone in a while? Well, here’s your chance to tag them. After a while, just as others have noticed you, you will begin noticing certain accounts yourself. You’ll notice what this account likes and dislikes solely based on the subject they post. For example, some may be dominant in posts about icescream. If your next post is about icescream, guess who you can tag?? 🙂

BONUS: Leave Great Captions

This one here shouldn’t be a secret. If you leave great captions, it will make it easier for others to comment. This goes with Tip #4. It’s good courtesy to have for both sides as engager and engagee. If you caption with a boring description of your post, it’s not going to translate well. Energy is contagious and it can transfer to the captions. Be exciting, ask a question, tell a short story, and answer the question why we should care.

There you have it! My 7 tips for an engaged Instagram account. Use these tips and you should see your Instagram game multiply twofold. If you found my article helpful, you should definitely check out How I Got 2000 followers fast because there are more components involved. And if you want to support my page, do subscribe and follow me on my social media handles: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.

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