Here at Buzzoole, we like to push boundaries and create solutions. Recently, we started thinking about our Food & Drink Influencers a.k.a one of the top three verticals in terms of amount of posts in 2018 according to our #AD analysis. And so our Food & Drink rankings were born, a list with top creators from this vertical found by Buzzoole. Our analysis found Food & Drink to be one of the most popular verticals for sponsored or paid posts in 2018, with it peaking above every other vertical except Fashion in June. We put this down to it being summertime, hence, an abundance of posts around BBQ’s, ice cream and other types of food, and we can’t forget the beverages.
It was important for us to get a holistic view of the Food & Drink vertical therefore, we created two rankings: The ‘Rising Stars’ who have 30,000-100,000 followers and the ‘Stars’ who have 100,000+ followers. This way, the smaller creators with incredible content didn’t fly under the radar. The KPI’s behind the rankings were engagement per post (likes plus comments on the published posts during the time period considered) and the average follower growth. The KPI’s derived from March statistics therefore our rankings reflect March account activity.
The “Stars” Ranking
Here are our top Food & Drink creators, we’ll begin with Stars.
DeliciouslyElla had amazing stats, with over one million likes across her profile last month. It’s not surprising, as her channel showcases beautiful recipes, all of which are plant-based and therefore, on trend right now. Therawboy came in fourth and is another vegan channel with unique and colourful creations. He earned 237,090 engagements in March despite only posting 10 times! But with very trendy recipes, it’s to be expected. In third place was Elavegan who is yet another vegan account but with a very different vibe. Ela focuses more on photography and presenting her food with a beautiful aesthetic. She had over 500,000 engagements in March, which is impressive! Second was Twisted which is Instagram heaven for the junk food lover in all of us. Their videos display an array of greasy recipes, and their engagement shows the love people have for this content with nearly 5,000,000 likes and comments in March. Our top foodie in the Star Ranking was Soyummy. Most social media fanatics must have come across a So Yummy video at least once, whether on Instagram or Youtube. Who can resist watching these short, satisfying cooking clips? The stats show hardly anyone, as So Yummy had an average engagement per post of 323,573 in March alone!
The “Rising Stars” Ranking
In fifth place for the rising star ranking, we have Silvia_salvialimone, whose page is filled with stunning food pictures. Her Instagram screams elegance with darker themed photos and glamorous desserts. Silvia had an average of 3513 engagements across her posts in March. Theloopywhisk not only has an amazing name, but also amazing dessert recipes. She produces a plethora of gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan cakes, cookies, loafs and more for people to try. Kat (Theloopywhisk) ranks fourth after receiving 86,081 engagements in March and after looking through her feed, we believe she deserves even more! Next is Askchefdennis who photographs incredible looking dishes from his travels. The range of meals on his page shows the stunning diversity that occurs in the culinary field from around the world. His account is definitely worth following if you’re a food fanatic. In second place we have Earthofmariaa, a vegan with a passion for food photography. Maria’s flatlays give her page a very satisfying aesthetic and prove she can do many things with an avocado. Our number one rising star is plant-based recipe account Theplantifulchef! She had over 140,000 engagements and gained over 14,000 new followers in March. Helen (Theplantifulchef) produces beautiful, professional looking dishes without them being too far-fetched to re-create in your own home.
From these rankings, we’ve come across clear trends and also some strategies that may have been used to help these creators reach the top. Plant-based and vegan recipes are very on trend, as we hear about more and more people cutting out meat and dairy. Producing recipes for vegan diets has worked in many creators favour, as these types of meals are high in demand.
A common theme in the Star category was creating videos rather than just photo posts. These videos are entertaining, helpful when trying to recreate the dish and satisfying to watch as a past-time. So Yummy’s videos are a great example of this. Though this account does use content from other people, therefore making it easier to post daily, it’s definitely a tactic to use, as their feed never gets boring. For a foodie trying to grow their channel, producing creative videos to accompany a recipe may be a great strategy to implement. It’s not necessary for every post to be a video, but including them in your feed keeps it interesting.
Are you passionate about food? Is your feed dedicated to beautiful recipe creations? Join our community and become the next Top Food Creator!