Since the beginnings of cupcake company Baked by Melissa, co-founder and CEO Melissa Ben-Ishay has been the driving force behind its social media presence, posting regularly on Instagram and Facebook.
Like many others, Ben-Ishay set his sights on TikTok in 2020 during the pandemic lockdown, posting cupcake decorating videos, behind-the-scenes clips from the bakery where his brand’s signature cupcakes are produced, and other product videos. The videos performed quite well, totaling between a few thousand and a few hundred thousand views.
Then she posted a salad. And 9.8 million views later, it sparked a turning point in what Baked by Melissa regularly posts, from spooky tie-dye cupcakes to garlic chopping videos to how to make garlic flour. oats and, of course, salad.
Ben-Ishay said Pivot broke the dam and opened the cupcake brand to new audiences, a new cookbook and partnerships with companies like OXO, Weight Watchers, Wölffer Estate Vineyard and baked goods company Entenmann’s .
“What I’ve really learned over the last two years is that we’re selling a new product at Baked by Melissa for the first time in 15 years, and it’s satisfying,” Ben-Ishay said.
She is not alone. Other content creators have apparently made similar moves in the food space, eager to diversify their content and open themselves up to more branding opportunities. For example, influencer Aaron Maternowski, who goes by curlyfuq on TikTok, has racked up millions of views with comedy sketches in 2021. By early 2023, Maternowski was regularly posting content about food and cooking. Meanwhile, Desmond Scott is one half of comedy duo The Scotts, along with Kristy Sarah, who has over 19 million followers on social media. He launched an official cooking TikTok in November under the name desmondthechef.
Celebrities have also made similar transitions, such as actress and singer Selena Gomez, whose cooking show on Max was released in 2020. Or Brooklyn Beckham, model and son of former footballer David Beckham and singer Victoria Beckham, who launched a series on social networks. , “Cooking with Brooklyn”, in 2021.
Growing influence of diet
Agency executives say there has been an increase in the number of influencers in the food sector, although no one appears to have given figures for the industry as a whole. Influencer Marketing Factory co-founder and CEO Alessandro Bogliari said his team has noticed a 30% increase in customer demand for food content creators since last year. At the same time, food-focused talent management agency CookIt saw its business grow 25% year-over-year. (Neither party has disclosed further details.)
While influencer marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy hasn’t necessarily seen measurable growth in requests for food content, it does point to a boom in the number of food creators during the Covid lockdown, as more and more people cooked and ate at home. Food is also an easy pivot from other content types, as cooking videos provide a low-barrier entry point for creators looking to diversify their content and ultimately stay relevant within social media algorithms.
“Food is seen as a quick and easy way to diversify that content outside of your niche,” said Christopher Douglas, senior director of strategy at Billion Dollar Boy. “Think of it like an investment portfolio. If you offer more content that attracts more people, it will obviously benefit you.
Food and cooking content, whether it’s BuzzFeed’s Tasty-style cooking tutorials, a viral TikTok recipe (remember baked feta pasta?), or a menagerie of snacks named of a girls’ dinner, are universal, and the genre opens up the possibility for influencers to work with more people. brands that sell everything from snacks to appliances, by agency executives.
“Every day, more creators are seeing food as a gateway to the thriving influencer marketing industry,” said Molly Benton, vice president of influencer marketing agency CookIt Media. in an email. “Brands are seeing the quality of content these food creators are able to produce and film at home in a way that is much more cost-effective than traditional advertising budgets.”
Alternative sources of income
TikTok has seen significant growth since the start of the pandemic, becoming fertile ground for influencers looking to capitalize on their social media influence. However, with TikTok having recently removed its creative program, the search for new monetization routes has become crucial.
This shift highlights the need for influencers to explore alternative methods of generating revenue as well as the dynamic nature of the platform’s monetization landscape. As TikTok adapts to changing trends and strategies, influencers must navigate this evolving terrain to identify and exploit new opportunities for financial success.
Paige MacDonals, who has more than 530,000 followers on TikTok, initially downloaded TikTok with the intention of creating videos to share with her friends during a time when in-person interactions were limited. Her early content was trend-focused, incorporating dances and details from her life to capture the essence of lockdown. However, this approach has not had much success. One day, Paige decided to refocus her content and explore her passion for cooking.
“I’ve been cooking since I was young. So I’m just going to share the breakfast burrito I’m making. It went viral, which was incredible and completely caught me off guard,” she said. “I try to post other content here and there and it would fall apart. When I put out a cooking video, everyone was like, “Yes, that’s what we want to see.” »
MacDonald noted that his style had undergone significant changes. In its early stages of content creation, its focus was primarily on quickly showcasing recipes and providing a concise list of ingredients. At that time, TikTok’s features were limited and mostly focused on brief content. Now, with the availability of extended length options, including three- and 10-minute features, MacDonald has the flexibility to explore and present content in more detail and comprehensiveness. This eventually caught the attention of some brands who then contacted MacDonald to work with her, and she was financially compensated for this work.
For example, MacDonald worked with Weight Watchers to create healthy recipes for its users. She has also worked on articles sponsored by Taco Bell, Blue Chair Bay and Thrive Market. Financial arrangements between her and the brands she has worked with have not been disclosed. However, MacDonald said it charges brands based on the scale of a campaign or project, how brands want to use the videos and whether brands want to deliver content as advertising or of product placement in his TikTok videos.
No fear of saturation
Right now, food content is twice as high as other verticals in terms of average views and engagement, according to Ryan Detert, CEO of influencer marketing agency Influential. And every vertical, from banks to appliance manufacturers, is looking to partner with food content creators. It’s no wonder that space seems to be increasing. But as the culinary genre becomes more popular, more and more players are participating in it.
Everyone thinks they can cook, which leads some to start creating food content to make money, said Bogliari of the Influencer Marketing Factory. In other words, influencer agencies and their client partners need to be intentional about brand partnerships to ensure alignment between the two groups.
Case in point: When Brooklyn Beckham launched his social media series, it sparked a lot of criticism and headlines like the New York Post “Brooklyn Beckham’s cooking show has a problem: he doesn’t know how to do it.”
But as food content creation takes off, agency executives say they are less concerned about saturation and the problem of too many influencers on cooking channels. Again, this means that influencer agencies and their partner clients need to be more critical of their brand partnerships to avoid a misaligned partnership or influencer incident. like Bud Light’s reaction for its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, executives say. But ultimately, food is universal and has many verticals, Detert said.
“We are hungry every few hours, it’s literally an insatiable vertical,” Detert said in an email. “It ties into all the other categories and a brilliant artist can also be a sandwich artist and we’re here for that.”
