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Episode 317: Work with Brands that You Love (and Why Being an Influencer is a Good Thing) with Kim Cauti and Chelsea Vetre

In episode 317, Megan chats with Kim Cauti and Chelsea Vetre about why being an influencer is a good thing and how you can make a change for the better in your niche while at the same time earn extra money through working with brands that you love. 

We cover information about what an influencer does and what it means as well as what it isn’t, what you can do to avoid negative connotations of influencing as well as how to build and keep trust of your followers and brands you work with.

Listen on the player below or on iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.

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Guest Details

Connect with $10K Under 10K
Website | Instagram

Bio  $10K+ Under 10K, is a unique coaching experience for bloggers, photographers, and influencers in the food space. Through their coaching and course offerings, Founders, Chelsea + Kim’s goal is to help support, educate and empower other creators in the foodie space to follow their passions and make their dreams a reality no matter what their skillset or follower count is.

Takeaways

  • Anyone can be an influencer. You are influencing people just by sharing publicly your information.
  • Influencing is using your voice to stir up change and promote good things or educate.
  • Trust is built online just like it is in person. You show up regularly for your audience and they show up for you.
  • Being an influencer doesn’t occur by number of followers.
  • Some influencers give a negative connotation for others. Being sleazy and using bait and switch tactics
  • Showing up in your stories helps you connect and use your voice.
  • Being genuine and authentic are key values of influencers.
  • Influencing can be done by making a partnership as well. Sponsors want to see your ability to connect with an audience that is going to grow them as well as you growing.
  • Social media has become that place we come for inspiration and to learn and grow sometimes because we’re all online more than ever.
  • An influencer is guiding, helping someone. It’s not a puppet master.

Kim & Chelsea’s Share About Personalizing Your Pitch

Kim and Chelsea share in episode 241 about personalizing your pitch to land a brand sponsorship.

Transcript

Click for full script.

Ep317 Kim Cauti and Chelsea Vetre

Kim Cauti: Hi, this is Kim and Chelsea from 10K under 10K and you are listening to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. 

Sponsor: Food bloggers. Let’s take a moment to talk about a few things that Eat Blog Talk has to offer that is going to add value to your business and accelerate your growth. First of all, head over to the Eat Blog Talk Forum. It’s totally free. It’s off of Facebook and it has a bunch of valuable discussions inside. You can create your own discussion. You can self promote, you can talk about products and services that you offer without worrying about being removed from the group. Go to forum.eatblogtalk.com to check it out.

Also, I have hosted a few in person retreats here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and I’m going to continue that. They’ve been wildly successful, so much connection and growth and learning has occurred within these. And they’re fun. So join us in the next one. Go to eatblogtalk.com/spring2022retreat. You will get access to all of the information for retreats moving forward at that URL. Go there, join the waitlist for the fall retreat and beyond. You will not be disappointed in that. 

Also, I wanna mention the mastermind program. So for 2022, we are full on the mastermind program. Two groups are underway and they’re going really well. There are transformations happening. It is such a powerful, positive group of like-minded peers, and we do so much collaboration and learning inside these groups. We will open up new groups starting in 2023. So if you’re interested in joining, join the waitlist. Go to eLog talk.com and follow the prompts for the masterminds. Last but not least, I’ve started a group coaching program for foodie creators who are interested in becoming foodie podcasters. If this is you, send me an email. Megan@eat blogtalk.com and let me know, you’re interested in this group coaching situation. Whether you just have an idea or you’ve already launched or anything in between, we will serve you. We show up twice a month on group coaching calls where we’ll answer all the questions you need to get answered so you can start a successful foodie podcast. 

There are so many ways that we can accelerate your growth and add value to your business. So I hope that you will take advantage of some of these. Now we’ll get back to the episode. 

Megan Porta: Hey food bloggers. Welcome to Eat Blog Talk, the podcast for food bloggers looking for the value and confidence that will move the needle forward in their businesses. This episode is sponsored by RankIQ. I am your host, Megan Porta, and you are listening to episode number 317. 

Today I have Kim and Chelsea with me and they are going to do some debunking around the idea that the word influencer is a dirty word. 10K under 10K is a unique coaching experience for bloggers, photographers and influencers in the food space. Through their coaching and course offerings, founders Chelsea and Kim’s goal is to help support, educate, and empower other creators in the foodie space to follow their passions and make their dreams a reality, no matter what their skillset or follower count is. Kim and Chelsea, hello! It’s so great to have you back on the show. 

Chelsea Vetre: Hi, thank you so much for having us back. 

Megan Porta: Oh, I love talking to you guys. You guys are the best. 

Chelsea Vetre: We’re so excited!

Megan Porta: So I am wondering if you guys each have a second fun fact to share with us. 

Chelsea Vetre: Yeah. Who should go first? 

Megan Porta: Either one. Kim, why don’t you go ahead? 

Kim Cauti: Okay. My fun fact is that I studied abroad in Austria for a summer, and I lived in the Sound of Music House while I was there.

Megan Porta: Whoa. That is… so okay. My husband, he would kill me if I told you this, but he’s obsessed with the Sound of Music because that’s the only movie his parents allowed him to watch when he was a kid. 

Kim Cauti: Oh, I love that. 

Megan Porta: We watched it like all the time. So he now knows all of the songs and our boys are like, oh my gosh, dad, that is so weird and embarrassing. He would be very jealous of that. That’s super funny. 

Kim Cauti: So embarrassing fact to follow that up. I had actually never seen the movie before. I know. Oh, I watched it for the first time while being in the house, it was a little surreal, but yeah. I’d never seen it before. Everyone was like, what are you doing here?

Megan Porta: I love it. That’s amazing. Okay. I’m gonna tell my husband that tonight. He’s gonna be like, what? Who is this lady? 

Okay, so Chelsea, your fun fact. 

Chelsea Vetre: Okay. So my fun fact is that the town I live in is so rural that there’s only one stop light in it. 

Megan Porta: Where do you live again? 

Chelsea Vetre: I live in Fairfield county in Connecticut, but my specific town is protected by a land trust. So 80% of it is just wood. So I have a lot of towns around me if I drive 20 minutes, but my specific town is just… There’s probably more deer than people. 

Megan Porta: Oh my gosh. Wow. That’s awesome. Yeah, definitely different from the city I live in, but I love that. There’s something cool about that too. Being in a really rural remote area and not having the city life. There’s something special about that. 

Chelsea Vetre: Definitely. 

Kim Cauti: That’s also very on brand for you, Chelsea. 

Chelsea Vetre: True. 

Megan Porta: Oh, I didn’t know that. So that kind of supports Chelsea and who you represent, is that authentic to you? 

Chelsea Vetre: Yeah. Yeah. I’m a big animal lover and have vegan and vegetarian recipes that I share. It’s very on brand for me. I’ve always fed the animals outside and wanted to care for everything. 

Megan Porta: Aw, that’s really cool. Thanks guys for coming up with two fun facts. I appreciate it. So you guys are here to debunk the idea that the word influencer is a dirty word. I have actually heard people discuss this in various places online recently, and I hadn’t even really considered it before, but someone brought up, I dunno, just the fact that they didn’t like the word influencer because it implies like I’m influencing people and maybe that’s a negative connotation. So you guys are here to say the opposite of that. So influencer actually can have a positive connotation. So let’s just talk about that. How do you define the word influencer, to start. 

Kim Cauti: Do you wanna go, if you want to. 

Chelsea Vetre: It’s like my jam. Really anybody can be an influencer. I think there’s this big stigma that you need a hundred thousand followers or anything like that. You really can be an influencer with even 500 people, 500 followers that you still have an influence. What it means is that you can influence change in the world. You can influence them to follow a certain diet. You can influence them to buy a certain product. It doesn’t just have to have that negative thought behind it, you can influence them for positive changes too. So one of our good friends is a sustainability blogger and she influences people to be more conscious about microplastics and things like that. So there’s just this really negative thought process around it. It does not need to be like that at all. 

Megan Porta: Do you have anything to add to that, Kim? 

Kim Cauti: Yeah, I was just gonna say, I think also in this day and age, and especially over the last two years, not to keep bringing up the P word, I’m not even gonna say it, but over the last three years, we haven’t really been able to be in front of people that maybe the ones that we’re usually going to for advice or for where is the best place to shop or what’s the best gluten free flour to use?

So we are online and we’re spending so much more time online and connecting with people online. We’re starting to build just trust with these people that maybe we don’t really know in real life, but they show up for us day in and day out online. That becomes the trust that you build with somebody that becomes the trust that you have with one of your besties. I’ll find myself logging into Instagram or TikTok and being like, I wonder what so and so has posted today. Oh my God, that Mocktail mixer looks amazing. I have to try that because everything he or she makes always looks so good. So it’s just to me, an extension of like your real life best friends.

Megan Porta: I love that. So a couple phrases I pulled out of there. First of all, you’re creating change in the world. So being an influencer gives you the opportunity to stir up change. So it doesn’t have to be like, I’m going to influence you to sell my product or to buy my product and somehow that becomes negative. But you can create actual good change in the world. I love that. Then the trust thing, isn’t that funny? How we trust people that we meet online, almost like what you said, as much as our best friends. I have gotten together with people that I had not met in person and my real life friends were like, now, you’re gonna go stay at a house with this person? I’m like, of course I would. They’re my best buddies online. But it is crazy how much trust you can build just through the online space. That’s not just with your peers, but with people who are buying from you and who you are providing value to and all of that. So this kind of helps to round out that word influencer and take that negative edge off, I think. But there are people like that, that do use the word influencer to truly be icky online. So it’s like we’re having to soften those people. What do you guys think about that? 

Kim Cauti: For sure? I think that a lot of people think when they think of the negative connotation around influencer, it’s maybe a decade old thought of the super hot model and the best clothes drinking a smoothie, on the beach in LA is just the epitome, or somewhere in Europe with a coffee. It’s just like the epitome of what you might think when you think of an influencer. But really again, like this is where just something so simple as showing up in your stories and just chatting about your day, which like I, admittedly am not the best at, and I’m trying to get better at it. Sometimes I get afraid to share my day, but Chelsea is so amazing at it. So she has such a great connection with her audience because she’s so just genuine and authentic. I think that those are the keywords that we really want to drive home that being an influencer doesn’t mean that you have to have the hottest outfits and travel everywhere. It just means that you are genuine and authentic and you really care about connecting with people, that again, it just all boils back down to trust. I feel like I might be a little bit repetitive today, but it’s really just about authenticity. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. You mentioned people who are insincere, not authentic, but I also think of people who are sleazy. They put on a webinar and hundreds of people show up and then it’s like this totally sleazy sales pitch that I don’t wanna be associated with that kind of influencer. So there’s a couple different sides or I guess a couple different varieties of the negative influencer. You guys mentioned the food space gets a little bit of a bad rap in this area. So can you explain that more? Because I’m curious to hear your thoughts. 

Chelsea Vetre: Definitely. From what Kim and I have heard from the foodie community, if somebody’s a food photographer, food blogger, if somebody accidentally calls them an influencer, red flags. They get so upset, but in reality, they’re influencing people and I keep on using that word, but they’re swaying people to make their recipes. This is a great recipe for staying like a busy mom. So you’re influencing these busy moms to make this recipe. It does not need to be that you’re manipulating them or doing anything wrong. You’re just helping everyday people with everyday problems. So I think that something that can make somebody feel icky, like you were saying, Megan is, if you’re just selling, selling, but most food bloggers that are on Instagram, they’re not just selling all the time. They’re all showing up as their authentic self. They’re connecting. They’re sharing recipes. Maybe every once in a while they have a sponsored post where they might be selling for a brand and increasing brand awareness, but it’s not just, oh, you’re just selling it. Every single post is a sales pos.T that’s when it could feel that maybe there’s that icky feeling and it could not feel right for somebody. As an influencer, you have that power. So if somebody wants to go sell a product, say eventually you write a cookbook or a photography book, you’re able to do that because your audience is connected to you and they trust what you are selling to them.

Megan Porta: So influencers are so strongly tied to trust, is what I’m hearing from you guys. 

Chelsea Vetre: Yes.

Kim Cauti: I was just gonna say, I think to that, not only is it tied to trust, but it also ties into what niche are you in and to Chelsea’s point of talking about sponsored posts. If you’re just sharing a sponsored post every day or several times a week, and it’s like all over the place, we don’t really understand what it is you do and why it is you’re sharing that. That’s when that mistrust and that sort of that disconnect and maybe that icky feeling is there because you’re like, okay, this person is just trying to make a buck. Which like, yeah, of course we’re all trying to make a buck. I’m not gonna pretend like we’re not. But, there’s a way to do it, and there’s a way not to do it in my opinion. In my opinion, just signing on with a brand to do a sponsored post, just for the sake of making a few hundred dollars or whatever it is, it’s not gonna continue to build trust with your audience and it’s not gonna continue to build trust with that brand and with future brands because your Instagram, I’m just gonna use Instagram as the most popular example, but your Instagram is essentially your portfolio to brands. So if you’re a food blogger and a really popular flower company is checking you out and they see that you’ve done posts recently with I don’t know, a watch company or a clothing company, they might be like, huh, this is interesting and all over the place, we’re gonna move along to somebody else who seems to have a deeper connection with their audience that also makes more sense for us. As food bloggers, it doesn’t necessarily have to be like, oh, I’m a baking blogger. I can only partner with flour brands, vanilla brands, and sugar brands. You can also partner with kitchen utensil companies. You could partner with a company that makes cute rugs for your kitchen. Anything that would make sense in the space of a kitchen or in the space of, even if you’re a photographer slash blogger, like your audience is probably divided between food bloggers and food photographers. So it wouldn’t be insane to partner with BNH or Canon or something like that. Because it’s still authentically within one of the niches that you are falling under. So as long as you’re not like, I’m a baking blogger and here I am showing you these hiking boots. I don’t know.

Megan Porta: No, that is a great example. I think we’ve all done this at least I have. I’ve been blogging for a really long time. So I’ve definitely made those mistakes where I did work for money. Then in retrospect, I was like, oh crap. That probably looked really bad. I probably lost some trust and followers. So can you give people a little pep talk or just to have grace with ourselves because it is easy to feel bad about that. Oh, I shouldn’t have done that. 

Chelsea Vetre: It totally happens. I think everybody has done that. I have. I don’t know if Kim has or not. You cringe when you think about it, but it’s part of learning. It’s just like any other mistake that you’d make in any other profession. You just need to learn, you get that brand deal and you’re so excited and you’re like, oh my God, this is great. Then you’re like, wait, this is great to maybe me personally, but not me as a brand on Instagram. It doesn’t make sense. My audience is super confused, but that’s okay. Honestly, luckily with Instagram, like you post for two or three weeks, nobody’s gonna see that sponsored post that’s not on point. People live in such a moment on Instagram that your audience is gonna forget in a week, fortunately.

Megan Porta: Yeah, fortunately. So don’t do it. Maybe if you do get that feeling like, I should maybe not have done that. Then take a step back and evaluate and potentially stop doing it. Do you have advice, Kim, for anyone who might be beating themselves up over stuff like that? 

Kim Cauti: Oh my God. Just don’t. I know that’s easier, way easier said than done, but just stop it. Okay. Bye. No, I think you just said this a few minutes ago, Megan. But just give yourself grace, because we all start somewhere. Even if you have been doing this for a while, maybe you’ve been blogging for a while, but you haven’t been interested in what would be considered like influencer partnerships and that’s new to you. When you’re new at something, you’re not going to be perfect at it, maybe ever. That is absolutely okay. As long as you are showing up with intention and that you are being as genuine and authentic as you possibly can be, your audience will see that. Sure. Some people might be like, okay, I’m confused. But I think that it sounds aggressive to be like, Oh my God, please. Don’t ever do that because everyone will unfollow you and no one will trust you because that’s not the case. But it’s more like best practice is to just stick with what you are trying to share when it comes to brand partnerships. If you happen to step outside of that, you just can’t beat yourself up. As long as you feel good about what you’re doing, that’s all that matters. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. So forgive yourself and then hopefully others will too. Most other people will too. Something I’ve found about food bloggers in general is that they’re so authentic as a whole. I know they’re probably food bloggers who are not, but as a huge body, don’t you feel like food bloggers are so authentically showing up. With sincerity, providing their best content, giving free recipes out, free resources, so much value. So that definitely shines through. I think that’s why our audiences are so in tune with us and why we earn that trust so quickly. Do you guys agree with that?

Kim Cauti: Completely.

Chelsea Vetre: I definitely agree with that. 

Megan Porta: Food bloggers are amazing. 

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Megan Porta: What are some of your other goals for just sharing this message about the word influencer and yeah. You have the ears of many food bloggers so what do you want them to know about this word going forward? 

Chelsea Vetre: Don’t run from it. Don’t get mad if somebody calls you an influencer, because it really is a compliment. Start looking at the word as a compliment, as a powerful word. Not so much like I’m an influencer now I have to go. You never have to show your face on Instagram, if you don’t want to and you could still be an influencer. It’s not icky. It’s nothing like that. You have again, the power to change so much, so much in the world. You have this impact. You have an audience who is so engaged with you. Most people, if you talk to the average person walking down the street, they don’t have 1000 people looking at their Instagram profile and looking at their stories. Maybe story views won’t be a thousand, maybe even 200, but they don’t have that. So you just, you really, use it wisely, I guess is the best thing to say. Use it wisely. 

Megan Porta: Do you have anything to add to that, Kim? 

Kim Cauti: Yeah. Again, we’re busting this myth that it’s a dirty word, and really, I would love for people to consider that, when you have influence over someone or multiple someones. You have the ability to educate them. You have the ability to inspire them, to just positively impact their lives. Again, we’ve been isolated for a while, so we haven’t really been able to spend a whole lot of time with the people who might typically bring us that positive energy in our life. So social media has become the place where we look for that and where we maybe find friendship and a little happiness in our day. So I think there’s something really special about that. I know like personally social media is a weird place right now, and we all know that. So I won’t pretend like it’s not. But personally I, when I find myself getting frustrated with it, ready to throw in the towel, especially frustrated with, why am I not growing? I force myself to take a step back and remember, number one, like, why did I even start this in the first place? Who did I start this for? Because I didn’t start this for myself. Personally, I started my blog and I started my Instagram to help other people who were going through the same health issues that I was going through. Knowing that there wasn’t a really big community out there at the time when I started. So when I start to struggle with the comparison game, I like to try to bring it back to that, and then just focus on those people that I have right in front of me, whether it’s my blog audience, my email list, my TikTok audience, my Facebook, my Instagram, like that list can go on. Just think about those people and the fact that they are there with me every single day. Think about why I’m showing up for them and why they’re still showing up for me. That to me is really just like the core of influence, is that community and that trust. Again, I said I was gonna say it a million times.

Megan Porta: Yeah. For a reason, right? Trust is a really important ingredient here. Yeah. Go ahead, Chelsea.

Chelsea Vetre: About that too, is I don’t know if you watched the Britney Spears whole debacle and things like that, where the podcasters figured out that I don’t even know exactly what was going on, but if it wasn’t for their platform and the awareness that they brought to that situation, it would still be going down. So again, whether you like Britney Spears or agree or whatever, it’s still just something you think about looking at that impact that was made. There’s just so much impact that could be made. I think that the word influence can sound so bad because it’s oh, the power and conveying and stuff like that. So think of it more as like you’re guiding people. You’re guiding people and helping people. Because I think that it’s hard to say oh my God, I influence people. Think, you’re guiding them. You’re helping them. 

Kim Cauti: It’s not like the puppet master.

Megan Porta: No, you guys broke that down. I’ve never heard it framed like that. You’re a guide, you’re providing clarity. You’re here to help. You are creating change in the world. You’re putting such a positive spin on this that I will probably never look at the word influencer the same again, for good reason. Because I did have a little bit of a negative connotation with this, so I really appreciate you guys bringing that perspective. So I feel like if we start leaning into that word or that identity of being an influencer, more good things will come our way. We’re not gonna be resisting it anymore because I don’t know about you guys, but I find when I resist any label or anything, only bad things come to me. But when I accept it and I can put a positive definition on it, then the good things start coming. There’s a lot of money to be made and there’s a lot of people to provide value to. There’s only good things that can come from changing our perspective on this. 

Kim Cauti: Absolutely. There’s also multiple platforms that you can be influenced on. If you are somebody who’s been focused on your food blog, for example, more than anything else, maybe you only have a thousand followers on Instagram, but you’re on Mediavine and you’ve got hundreds of thousands of page views a month, that’s that can be your platform that you are influencing on. So I know a lot of times like, and I personally have just been referencing Instagram a lot because that’s typically where I do the most of my influencing work, but it doesn’t always have to look the same for everybody. You could have a YouTube channel. You could even have a community group that you’ve put together in your area. This doesn’t all have to necessarily be a virtual thing either. 

Megan Porta: Do you have thoughts about how many platforms? I know it’s hard to stretch ourselves and be on everything. There are certain platforms that I’ve had to say no to just because I don’t have the time or capacity for all of it. So what are your thoughts on that? How much do we extend ourselves or does it not matter? Do we just pick whatever feels good? 

Chelsea Vetre: I’m all about, and I’m not sure. I feel like Kim might agree, lean into what feels good and what is going to make you the most money, like in terms of what you’re doing as an influencer, if you’re partnering with brands. Because if it does not feel good to you, you are going to resist it. So Kim and I are both on Instagram and we really love TikTok, we think that TikTok is the best upcoming thing. We went from Facebook to Instagram, to TikTok, it just keeps on evolving and there’s gonna be something else. But, if for some reason you can’t get onto TikTok and you don’t wanna do it, that’s cool. You could stay on Instagram and have your blog and things like that. You could have a Facebook group, whatever feels good to you and whatever is going to fill up your cup every day.

Megan Porta: That’s well said. Do you have anything to round that out, Kim? I loved what you said, Chelsea. 

Kim Cauti: Yeah. Actually, I read something interesting today. I saw something on Instagram and I wish I could remember the creator who posted it. I’m so sorry but I cannot. But they did a really indepth post on it, just asking, is Instagram dead? So that hooked me right away because I’m constantly like, is this gonna go away? Yeah, it’s not. I can’t see it becoming obsolete. But anyhow, the person, their main point was that Instagram is going to stick around because they’re part of the community that we’ve all created there. The big part of Instagram that I think sometimes we miss, myself included is the engagement piece and the community building piece. We get so focused on like, how far is my post going? How many people am I reaching? But if you’re reaching people and then you’re just not really interacting with them, you’re easy to forget. But if you’re reaching these people and then you are interacting with them, you are having some sort of an impact on them. Again, that’s where you have the ability to influence. So in that, I don’t think that Instagram in particular is going to become a platform that is obsolete when it comes to influencer marketing. I know that a lot of people I have talked to and a lot of our clients get worried, is TikTok gonna take over. Of course I would be silly not to acknowledge the fact that TikTok is blowing up, but brands are still interested in working with influencers on Instagram and not necessarily both platforms at once. So if it is too much for you to do both, because it absolutely is time consuming, then pick the one that you like better. 

Megan Porta: So go with your gut a little bit and follow that intuition and don’t resist what your intuition is telling you. I was thinking as you guys are talking, a platform that people don’t often think about is audio. You can influence via a podcast. Brands are getting on board with supporting podcasts. So I didn’t want to exclude that from the conversation. So obviously Instagram, TikTok. I have no idea about Facebook anymore. I don’t know if that would align, but yeah, don’t exclude audio. There’s so much power there too. 

Chelsea Vetre: Oh, my gosh, especially because you’re there for at, I would say probably at least I’ve never watched a podcast episode or listened to a podcast that was less than 20 minutes. So you’re with that person in their ear for 20 minutes. That is so much more than when somebody’s scrolling through Instagram and watching a story for 15 seconds or scrolling through TikTok and watching a 15 second TikTok. Yeah, so influential like when you’re on a podcast you’re just in their ear, which is amazing. 

Megan Porta: To 60 minutes. I will listen to every word a podcaster says for 60 minutes. There is no other platform that you can say that about, literally nothing else. There’s so much power there.

Kim Cauti: That is so true. Actually it’s funny, I personally, a lot of the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing now is because I was so influenced by this one podcast that I used to listen to years ago. Maybe not necessarily doing what I’m doing now, but just like leaning into the entrepreneur bit of it. But yeah, that’s such a good point. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Podcasts are super influential. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, same. I’m doing my podcast because of an entrepreneur related podcast that I listened to for years. I knew I wanted to help food bloggers and be that influencer that we’re talking about. I remember reaching out to him and sayin ,g it’s on my heart to add value to this space. I just don’t know how. He was like you need to, I remember his email, like it’s ingrained in my brain. It said you need to start a podcast pronto. I read that and just stared at it for five minutes. I was like, oh, okay. I need to do this. So the next day I started Eat Blog Talk. I got it in motion the next day. I’ve never looked back. So yeah. It’s a huge platform that we take in, we listen to podcasts all the time, but we don’t often think about using that as a way for us to be influential as foodie creators.

Kim Cauti: I think we also don’t think of it necessarily as something that is influencing us. 

Megan Porta: Isn’t that crazy? 

Kim Cauti: Yeah. Now you got me thinking. All these I’m like, Ooh, I have so many things I do or have, or whatever came from podcasts. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. I know. I’m trying to start this movement of food bloggers who start podcasts, because I feel like there are so many similarities to that versus like when I was first starting to blog. That wave came in and how very few people were doing it. Then more people were like, oh, there’s power here. I feel like there’s a parallel with foodie podcasters. So I’m really encouraging people to at least consider it. So this chat with you guys aligns completely with that because there is such great influence in that realm. So thank you for supporting that and just everything you guys have to say and share. Is there anything we’ve forgotten that you wanna be sure to mention about this topic? 

Chelsea Vetre: Money!

Megan Porta: Money. 

Chelsea Vetre: Yeah, let’s be honest. Influencer marketing? I think that’s the one, when you hear the term influencer, that’s the biggest thing you think of is like Kim said. A model on the beach with the smoothie, selling the smoothie, and it really doesn’t need to feel gimmicky and authentic, again like Kim said. Partner with brands that you not only love, but that your audience will love. So even if you wear socks every day, obviously. But maybe you don’t partner with a sock brand, if you are showing them a low FOD map. That’s not really relevant. Yes, they have to wear socks, but something that we see with a lot of creators and we work with creators from all walks of life, whether they just started, whether they’ve been doing it for a while, whether they have 500 followers to somebody has 25,000 followers, but all of them are just really surprised with how much money you can make in the influencer space. Both Kim and I have made over five figures or five figures of supplemental income in 2021. So they’re serious money. And it’s so funny because every time we talk to somebody they’re like, oh, I didn’t know. I could get that much for doing a sponsored real. It’s yeah, because you’re not only creating content for the brand, you have this most likely your recipe, but also your increasing brand awareness, you’re marketing for them. You’re building trust. You’re building that credibility. If you have an audience, and again, you could have 500 people. We worked with creators that were, I think somebody had 975 followers and she was landing brand deals for sponsor posts and getting paid well for it because her audience just was really connected to her. We’re not saying she was getting thousands of likes on each thing. She thinks she was getting like 75 likes. You really don’t need to have this massive audience to work with brands in a sponsored capacity. You don’t have to feel icky about it. Because if the brand aligns, then it’s perfect. Why wouldn’t you want to give your audience this gift of showing them a brand that you love that would really fit well with what they’re interested in. Sorry, I can go off. 

Megan Porta: That was lovely, Chelsea. No, that was really great to end. Kim, did you have anything else you wanted to add at the end here?

Kim Cauti: Of course I do. I had two things that I wanted to add. The first thing being, I think that we’re in a really special position here. It is in this foodie space because a lot of food bloggers, not everybody, but a lot of food bloggers are also super talented photographers. So you have a double whammy when it comes to doing sponsored work. Because not only are you giving these brands access to your audience, that you’ve spent that time creating trust with, but you’re also giving them really incredible content as well that they can then use on their own social media or however you end up negotiating. So you get to double dip in that sense. Which is really fun because you can absolutely earn so much more than maybe somebody who the brand is just getting in front of their audience, but they’re not necessarily getting a super, highly curated piece of content.

Megan Porta: Very well said. Thank you ladies so much. I just ate this conversation up. This was great. You have a special offer for my listeners. So why don’t you talk about that? 

Chelsea Vetre: We wanted to give everybody 10% off our templates and our courses for 30 days after the airing of this episode. Use the code Eat Blog Talk, and you will get 10% off. So we have templates to help with pitching. We have templates to help with following up, landing those ongoing partnerships. Then we also have two courses. One’s a mini course where it teaches you how to price effectively as a beginner. Then we have a much larger course called Brand Work Boss Academy, where it walks you through basically A to Z of how to land a brand deal, what mindset you need to be in, all of the whole shebang. So 10% off, use Eat Blog Talk. 

Megan Porta: Thank you. That’s so generous of you guys. I hope people take you up on that. That sounds super valuable. Just thank you again for being here, taking the time out of your busy schedules to be with me today. So appreciate you two. 

Chelsea Vetre: Thank you so much for having us again.

Megan Porta: Yeah. Do you guys have a second round of either sharing a quote or words of inspiration with us? 

Kim Cauti: I do. So I actually have this hanging on the wall in my office. The quote is from Steven Furtick, I think is how you say his name? It says, “the reason why we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.”

Megan Porta: Oh, that aligns so well with our conversation about influencing today. 

Kim Cauti: I thought it might. 

Megan Porta: That is amazing. How about you, Chelsea? 

Chelsea Vetre: Mine. Isn’t so deep but the secret ingredient is always cheese. 

Megan Porta: Aw, amen to that. I agree. I mean, I could eat cheese all day long. I am not even kidding. Oh, my gosh. I love it. You guys are amazing. So we will put together another show notes for you. So if anyone wants to go look at that and to find the special offer, go to eatblogtalk.com/tenKunder10K_ 2. Does that make sense? The way I said that? 10 K under 10_2. Okay. Tell everyone where they can find you online and on social media guys.

Kim Cauti: So we are at 10K_under_10K. I had to think about that for a second on Instagram. Our website is through the link in our bio. It is so long, so you can just find it there on Instagram. 

Megan Porta: Awesome. You guys, everyone go check them out. It is such a pleasure chatting with you guys. I love our conversations. Thank you for being here and thank you for listening today, food bloggers. I will see you in the next episode. 

Outro: We’re glad you could join us on this episode of Eat Blog Talk. For more resources based on today’s discussion, as well as show notes and an opportunity to be on a future episode of the show, be sure to head to eatblogtalk.com. If you feel that hunger for information, we’ll be here to feed you on Eat Blog Talk.


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Megan
Megan

Megan started her food blog Pip and Ebby in 2010 and food blogging has been her full-time career since 2013. Her passion for blogging has grown into an intense desire to help fellow food bloggers find the information, insight, and community they need in order to find success.

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