GRIN also recommends this free guide:
The Industry-Specific Approach to Influencer Marketing
Food influencers and beverage influencers are some of the most open-hearted social media personalities on the planet. They are curious, creative, and scientific, all at the same time.
If your brand is considering partnering with food and beverage influencers, here is our line-up of the best ones to watch in 2022.
Food and beverage influencers are among the most community-driven people on social media. Because eating is an integral part of human society, some food and beverage influencers spill over into several different influencer genres, including beauty, photography, fitness, and fashion.
Producers that fall directly within the food and beverage industry – nutrition, restaurant, spirits, cooking equipment, etc. – are making greater use of these influencers than they did in the past.
In addition, travel and recreation brands partner with food and beverage influencers regularly since many are also avid travelers.
Many food and beverage influencers hold social values, such as using only local vendors, vegan living, and advocacy for those with eating disorders. Be sure that your brand’s values align with your influencer before you try to recruit them.
Finding the right influencer is the most critical part of any influencer marketing campaign.
Do you want your audience to buy your product directly from an influencer’s post? Or do you prefer to raise brand awareness? Will your influencer be testing your product/service to provide a glowing review to consumers?
Whatever your goals, identifying them first will help you find the best food and beverage influencers for your brand.
Audience alignment between your brand and the influencer is key to generating the highest ROI from your influencer campaign. Pay attention to the lifestyle and demographics of your prospective influencers before you recruit them.
Unfortunately, some influencers boast a substantial social media following, but they are unable to generate engagement from their audience. Followers and likes are known as vanity metrics because they don’t measure authentic engagement. Instead, note your influencers’ post comments and shares. The excitement of the influencer’s audience will reveal itself through these metrics.
“80% of consumers complete a purchase after seeing an influencer recommend that product on social media.”
– GRIN, 101 Vitally Important Influencer Marketing Statistics
Influencer marketing has quickly become the go-to strategy for businesses when it comes to building and expanding their brand. Social media makes it even easier for consumers to interact by reviewing and recommending their favorite products and brands.
A good example of an industry that expands its brand appeal is hospitality, which includes traveling, dining, and lodging. These brands often leverage food influencers to share some of their favorite local food, restaurants, recipes, and food trucks around the world.
“More than 60% of American travelers consulted their favorite influencers for their next destination.”
– GRIN, 101 Vitally Important Influencer Marketing Statistics
Food is something that appeals to everyone in one way or another since it is a part of everyday life. An experienced food influencer connects brands with consumers by creating exposure for food and beverage products. Dining reviews, cooking, wine tasting, and recipe backstories are among the most popular topics online today.
Food influencers may recommend restaurants, host live cooking events, and everything in between. Because food is a visual product, images and videos are the best types of content to use in your campaign.
For creators that like to demonstrate cooking techniques and recipes, long-form video is often the best approach. The best channels for long-form video are:
Many food influencers also like to post on short-form video platforms, such as:
Of course, great food content almost always includes beautiful photos. Most food influencers prefer to post images on one or more of the following channels:
Cooking and chef influencers love to promote their original recipes. When writing out full recipes, the following channels work best:
Beverage influencers also prefer visual content, but they don’t often need long-form video as much as their food creator counterparts. That said, many beverage influencers do both food and drinks.
Many short-form video creators operate on either:
Just like food influencers, drink creators love to showcase their drinks in high-quality photos on:
Particularly for cocktail creators, writing out drink recipes is important, and most prefer to do so on:
At the end of the day, the quality of your campaign comes down to integrating your products in a way that fits the creator’s style and approach. When planning your next campaign with food creators, keep the following tips in mind:
If the food looks appealing, then fans are more likely to enjoy and engage that content positively. Even if your product isn’t the final dish in a creator post, remember that the visual appeal of the dish and your product will have a major impact on how people react to your brand.
Your creator partners should help you put your best foot forward. Make sure to set them up for success when using your appliance, adding your spices, etc. How you onboard your influencers and the campaign guidelines you give them are key to achieving this goal.
It is critical that you find creators who love your product and genuinely want to endorse your brand. To do this, you will want to be generous with product gifts. While operating within your budget, do your best to make sure that your creator partners are well supplied for their campaign and beyond.
Some audiences, regions, and platforms do require posts and paid campaigns to disclose age restrictions when promoting alcoholic beverages. Be aware of any restrictions that might impact your marketing efforts and inform your influencers what those restrictions are.
Many food and beverage influencers love to incorporate multiple brands into their sponsored posts. These tactics don’t merely let the creator “kill two birds with one stone,” but it makes the post resonate more deeply with their audience. This approach makes the content more authentic and actually helps your brand.
Because most food and beverage influencers are strong photographers and videographers, you may want to repurpose high-performing content on your page or in a paid campaign. By including content rights into your contracts, you can repurpose creator content legally as much as possible, further lowering your production costs.
There are already many brands doing influencer collaborations well. These success stories can help you generate ideas for your campaigns.
Spiceology, for example, loves to include their product in cooking recipes. The video below features BBQ chef Nick (@burnt_pellet_bbq) incorporating Spiceology into his wings recipe for New Years.
In the very same video, Nick uses knives from The Cooking Guild. Not only does the creator get to bring two of his favorite brands together, but the content delivers a great experience that fans will want to try for themselves. The entire post is authentic and looks delicious.
DrnxMyth likes to partner with bartenders and cocktail chefs on Instagram. In the video below, Andi (the MDFK Bartender), promotes the Kiwi Kooler with an affiliate link from DrnxMyth to track conversions.
But it’s not just spices, knives, and cocktails that creators love to incorporate into their content. Many influencers give shoutouts to appliance brands, restaurants, supplements, coffee brands, meal delivery brands, local farmers market events, and more.
Sonia and Vishnu live on opposite sides of the world, but they connect through international cuisine. Sometimes together, other times apart, the Transatlantic Foodies travel, eat, and share.
In addition to their Instagram page, Sonia and Vishnu maintain the TransatlanticFoodies London Guide on Google Maps.
Michaela Vais, or Elavegan, creates delicious vegan recipes and shares them with fans. She is one of the most outspoken vegan influencers on Instagram.
Elavegan launched her influencer career in 2015 when she made her food photography public on social media. Since then, her cooking and photo shooting hobbies have merged into a full-time business. In addition to Instagram, Elavegan maintains her popular food blog with printable recipes and photos.
Dennis Prescott is not just a Netflix restaurant show host, he is also an avid influencer.
Originally from Canada, Dennis migrated to Nashville, Tennessee, to become a professional musician. To the relief of foodies everywhere, his music career never took off. Instead, Dennis became an accomplished chef, photographer, and world traveler.
New York City’s Fiona Lee is a lifestyle influencer with a sweet tooth. Also a traveler and beauty influencer, Fiona’s at-home regimen features amazing desserts, drinks, apps, and full meals.
When she’s out and about, Fiona knows where to find incredible dining in the Big Apple and around the world.
Influencer Nicole Cogan has the best nose for finding deliciously decadent, gluten-free desserts. She bakes, travels, and dines at some of the best locations in North America and Europe.
You can find Nicole on Instagram, TikTok, and NoBread.com. She is also a health and fitness influencer.
Jo Yee says that her photography blog is a “sturdy home for literary and visual tales of my travels and global food adventures both abroad and in London.” She is one of the most-followed travel and foodie influencers on Instagram.
Also a professional photographer, Jo excites audiences with exotic lifestyle shots and meals from her London home.
Holly Erickson and Natalie Mortimer form the dynamic duo that is The Modern Proper. These cooking and hospitality influencers are among the most versatile recipe creators on Instagram.
Fans can choose from a host of recipes, including pasta dishes, soups, salads, gluten-free options, meat-specific entrees, vegetarian meals, desserts, and more.
If you like tacos and breakfast, then Nick Neves might be your favorite influencer on Instagram. In addition to home cooking and his day job as a director at Verizon Media, Nick prefers to spend time with his wife and two sons.
Nick is the quintessential cooking dad. In recognition of his authenticity, Saveur Magazine named his Instagram account the “best in food.”
@bdylanhollis Sugar cookies will never be the same #baking #vintage #cooking #cookies
♬ original sound – B. Dylan Hollis
Dylan Hollis is TikTok’s top comedian chef. He entertains his fans with recipes from the early 20th century (particularly British recipes from the World War II era). While cooking, you’re likely to see hilarious, flamboyant commentaries with a final taste test at the end.
Joshua Weissman’s TikTok account entertains 2.4 million followers – something quite unusual within the food and beverage industry.
As a teenager, Joshua endured bullying due to his weight. Before graduating, he learned about a healthy diet using quality ingredients and lost 100 pounds in one year. Joshua has been a passionate chef ever since.
Also known as FlakeySalt, Joshua engages his followers on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and, of course, TikTok.
Guili Mule travels, writes, and takes pictures. She also loves experimenting with recipes at home and sampling the world of coffee and espressos.
Based in London, Guili recommends eateries, coffee shops, and lodging in some of the most visited cities in Europe. The Mondu Mulia website allows fans to enjoy more of Guili’s lifestyle content and travel recommendations.
Alexander Ruas is one of the world’s most decorated baristas. He owns and operates a coffee consulting agency (Creative Coffee) while growing his fan base on Instagram. In his free time, Mr. Ruas enjoys food and travel photography.
Alexander truly makes espresso and coffee brewing a science, creating some of the most exotic coffee flavors fans could imagine.
Julie is one of the leading craft beer enthusiasts on Instagram, but her main hobbies are travel and photography. Her dark, vibrant colors make her an amazing creator for hospitality and beverage brands. She is an ambassador for several beer brands, including Pilsner Urquell, TapRm beer delivery, Definitive Brewing Company, FEW Spirits, and more.
Jules is a famous mixologist and cocktail recipe blogger at joinjules.com. Her passion is helping people learn simple cocktail recipes so that they can enjoy professional-grade flavors from the comfort of their homes.
In addition to partnering with her favorite DTC brands, she has also been featured with Netflix, Caesars Entertainment, Williams Sonoma, and more.
James Hoffmann is a coffee connoisseur and has offered coffee/espresso insights to fans for nearly 20 years. He’s dabbled in brews and products of his own, as well as a handful of startups. Fans love him best for his honest product reviews, such as the one above.
Based in Sweden, Anna Lindberg enjoys a vast social media following across Europe and North America.
As Instagram’s hottest smoothie influencer, Anna showcases superfruits, easy recipes, and gorgeous food art. In the words of Anna, “In life, much like smoothies, you get out what you put in.”
Spencer Regan is a food and travel blogger whose main IG account is @snackfeels. Because he loves cocktails, he launched his @cocktailexplore channel to curate content around drink, distillery, and home bar products.
We don’t know @homeb_arista’s name, but we do know that they teach followers how to “always brew at home.” Their favorite espresso machine is the Victoria Arduino Eagle One Prima, and they partner with such brands as Happy Tamper, Asso Coffee, Pullman Espresso Accessories, Gold Box Roastery, and more.
Carlos Ruiz is a prolific and award-winning bartender with a flair for aesthetic videos and images. Most of his posts include full drink recipes, and when possible, Carlos prefers to offer drink tips for health-conscious drinkers.
Tracee Sloan began juicing in her thirties to achieve her fitness goals. Years later, she became a juicing fanatic with thousands of followers. Her delicious, original recipes guide rookie and veteran juicers alike. She is also a brand ambassador for Nama.
Food and beverage influencers are artists and professional creatives. Once you’ve identified your campaign objectives, lean upon your influencers to build a strategy that will enthrall your audience. Make sure that the details of your campaign are clear, and then watch your food creator promote your brand with effectiveness and authenticity.
Learn more about influencer marketing: Influencer Marketing 101
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