When creating an online persona there are many things that need to be taken into consideration. One thing you must consider is how you will blend with the already present community. For myself, I had to create an online presence that interacted with an already present foodie community. The online presence that I have is ‘constructed and situated’ (Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, 2014, p.71). I also found myself in a specific part of the community in which caters for vegetarians. When beginning my online presence, there was a large amount of consideration put into trying to find a specific food genre that I wanted to focus on. Clearly, I was catering towards vegetarians, but I also wanted to consider focusing on more specific areas. I experimented with health food and various cultural foods (trying to create a world foodie tour you could do in Melbourne). Eventually though, I settled on maintaining variety. I wanted to have my followers feel that they were seeing an authentic way of eating. I wanted my social media to be a place that they could go and discover somewhere for whatever they felt like, be it healthy brunch to Ethiopian.
I also considered the type of people that would be attracted to my page. The page was clearly designed to attract vegetarians. I also wanted to cater to a crowd that were curious about food. When looking at the images, it is not clear that it is all vegetarian. If not for the username (vegetarian_foodie_guide) and the Bio, you would not know that my Instagram was catered for vegetarians. My Instagram and Blog both specifically address vegetarians as the target audience. However, it is the blog that appeals to a more restricted audience. On Instagram, my audience appears to be both foodies and vegetarians alike, based on my followers. On my blog, however, there is a definite leaning towards vegetarians being the target audience. Beyond that, I am clearly Melbourne based. My following is catered for that, with the majority being Melbourne based foodies. Although some of my posts are from different areas from when I travel, this is purely to offer variety. My page is specifically designed for people living in or visiting Melbourne.
The identity that I have created on Instagram is mostly assumed by the audience. I do not openly portray who I am on Instagram. There are no images of myself in the photos as I did not want to be the focus of the page. Through Instagram, it can be assumed that I am a vegetarian who loves food. I share home cooking and dining out food ideas which make me appear down to earth. The variety I offer does not cater to any diet beyond vegetarianism ideals (e.g. it is not clean eating) which portrays a relatable persona. The quantity of which I post about going out to eat also makes me appear to have a desirable lifestyle. My blog portrays a more personal persona though. There is less to be assumed. In describing myself I talk about my desire to be more environmentally conscious. This gives a greater insight into my journey of being a vegetarian and restricts my relatability to an audience. My online persona is given a more politically driven edge that is not present when seeing only my Instagram. The amount of my audience that would choose to follow my blog is more restrictive due to my persona becoming more personalized.
Part of my brand evolving is also put down to advertising. I use other members of my community to help advertise my own brand. This is done by agreeing to tag each other in images relating to the others site. For example, there is a Melbourne based Instagram the caters for bubble tea. I collaborated with them by tagging them in posts about bubble tea and they helped my page by reposting my Instagram stories relating to bubble tea. Restaurants also help to advertise. When I post about a restaurant, they will often repost about it, advertising my page to their clients. Advertising on Instagram is often about collaborations.
My social media journey has been ever evolving since its creation. I have evolved the content that I create and the persona that I portray. From advertising to the content that I post, everything contributes to the gradual success of a social media presence.
Reference:
Smith, S and Watson, J 2014, ‘Virtually Me: A Toolbox about Online Self-Presentation’, in Poletti, A and Rak, J (eds.), Identity Technologies: Constructing the Self Online, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, pp. 70-95
Jessie's Foodie Life 