Blog Spotlight: FooDiva
June 01, 2015 Blogs
Samantha Wood of award-winning blog FooDiva spoke to MediaSource about her recipe for blogging success, her ‘no freebies’ policy, and why she prefers to be pitched on Twitter.
What inspired you to start blogging?
Nearly four years ago, I left a long career in corporate hospitality PR to take some time out and travel and started an amateur food blog in Japan and China. When I returned to Dubai, I decided to make use of my hospitality experience and long-time fascination with restaurant reviewing. Given the burgeoning dining scene here (and now Abu Dhabi), plus a real gap for an online resource dedicated to impartial restaurant reviews, I launched FooDiva.
What makes a successful food blog?
How long is a piece of string? So many reasons…here are my top five:
• Hard work!
• Know your readers and tailor content to what you think they will enjoy reading. Content should be well researched, newsworthy and timely. In my case, my impartiality and 'no freebies' policy were instrumental in building credibility for FooDiva.
• Try to post regularly – at least once a week, if not more. But if you can’t, it’s better to wait until you have good content rather than post rubbish.
• This may sound obvious, but attention to detail is key – watch your grammar and no typos!
• Market your blog via traditional PR, speaking opportunities, social media and freelance food writing.
How do you measure the success of your blog?
It’s a mixture of traffic, social media influence scores, comments on the blog/social media, awards and word-of-mouth.
What’s the food blogging scene like in the UAE?
Prolific – over 100 in the UAE. The majority of food blogs here are recipe-sharing blogs (and some amazing ones too!) There are only really a handful of us who focus on restaurant reviews. In fact, we have an online community - Fooderati Arabia - we all communicate with each other, and you can with us.
Do you accept invitations to review restaurants? Is there any such thing as a ‘free lunch’?
My answer to both is a strong no! I have a no freebies editorial policy when it comes to my restaurant reviews and the core component of FooDiva. I pay my own way, and now also have a bank of guest restaurant reviewers who also do the same.
How important is impartiality to your blog?
Well, my strap-line is ‘impartial, intelligent restaurant reviews’, so it’s highly important! As outlined in my editorial policy, I am always very honest in my reviews and in many cases that includes negativity, but it’s always constructive, objective feedback. There are some excellent restaurants here, but nothing is ever perfect. It’s usually the more negative posts that garner the most traffic and comments. Ultimately, honesty is the only way to build a strong following and establish credibility.
How do you work with marketers and PRs?
I group PRs and marketers separately. I am happy for PRs to notify me of new restaurant openings and any other food and drink related news so I can plan my editorial calendar. For my core restaurant review section, I do not accept PR invitations in return for reviews. However, I do have a number of other sections – culinary travel, food features, celebrity chef interviews and gourmet shops – where I work with PRs to discuss content.
As for marketers, FooDiva also has a number of advertising/sponsorship opportunities, where I work with a company’s marketing team to build and run promotional campaigns. I have also recently launched FooDiva Restaurant Tours of Dubai, which adds another dimension to the blog – and is another way for marketers to get involved.
What is the best way for PRs to build a relationship with you?
I could dedicate a whole blog to this answer! My top three:
• Read my blog thoroughly before pitching, so you can gauge the type of content and understand my editorial policy. You would be surprised how many PRs do not visit a blog first!
• Personalise your email and pitch your suggestions in line with my editorial calendar. Better still, tweet me – I'm more inclined to respond to a tweet as it’s quicker than email. I also freelance for a number of publications, so I welcome pitch suggestions for those.
• Don’t send me press releases – you are wasting your time and mine. My inbox is flooded every day with PR requests that I don’t have the time to read. Two or three bullet points of the restaurant/ food concept’s USPs is all that I need – plus some good images to help paint a picture. And if you can squeeze it into 140 characters even better!
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