Welcome to episode 211 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork talks about Enrollment Week here at Food Blogger Pro.
Last week on the podcast, Bjork chatted with Lindsay Ostrom about her Instagram Playbook. To go back and listen to that episode, click here.
Enrollment Week at Food Blogger Pro
It’s Enrollment Week! This is a really exciting week here at Food Blogger Pro because we’re holding a free, virtual event, opening enrollment, and giving you the ability to sign up for an exciting master class.
Here are the deets:
- Tuesday, July 16: Our Instagram Playbook Event
- Thursday, July 18: Enrollment opens on Food Blogger Pro
- Thursday, July 25: The last day to get our current prices and access to the My Instagram Playbook Master Class
An important note about this enrollment period is that Food Blogger Pro enrollment will stay open indefinitely, which means that enrollment will remain open after July 25! We are increasing our prices after that date, so if you want to lock-in our lower prices, be sure to join before then.
Bjork summarizes all of the exciting events and offerings in this episode of the podcast, and we can’t wait to share it with you!
In this episode, Bjork shares:
- Why Instagram is so important for Pinch of Yum
- How to sign up for the Our Instagram Playbook Event
- When you can join Food Blogger Pro
- When our prices are increasing
- How you can get access to the My Instagram Playbook Master Class
- How to find testimonials from past and present Food Blogger Pro members
Listen to the Food Blogger Pro Podcast below or check it out on iTunes, Google Play Music, or Spotify:
Resources:
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].
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Transcript:
Bjork Ostrom: Hello, hello, hello ladies and jelly beans. Bjork here. Exciting podcast episode here because it’s a quick little update about two things that are happening this week. This is kind of a real time update podcast so it’s going to be a little bit shorter and more informational as opposed to a deep dive interview or talking through a certain subject or topic.
Bjork Ostrom: Just a little update podcast for you and it is a shout out for all of you who listen to this in real time because if you are listening today, which would be Tuesday, the day that we release it, or tomorrow, you will be able to catch an event that we are doing called Our Instagram Playbook. Here’s the idea with this event. We were thinking through, what is the thing that would be most helpful for people, combined with the thing that would be most relevant for what we feel like is a really important area to understand and to grow for people who want to build a following online.
Bjork Ostrom: And a really important platform for creators, for bloggers is Instagram. And the reason it’s important is because a lot of people are spending time there and when a lot of people spend time in a certain area, that’s where you as a content creator need to think about, what does that look like to get in front of those people?
Bjork Ostrom: That’s the business that we’re in; is content, it is attention and it is creating things that are engaging and helpful for people. And Instagram is a place that is a really active and a popular platform. For Pinch of Yum, we’ve really invested a lot of time and energy into that platform and we’ve used that, we’ve invested into that platform because it’s been helpful for the business.
Bjork Ostrom: In this event, Lindsay is also going to talk about how she appreciates that platform just as a creator, as an individual as well, which is another piece of the puzzle. But the basic idea is, for you as a content creator, you’re not just thinking about your blog, you’re thinking about the other places where people are and as we talk about an event, you want to think about how you can show up to those parties and be authentic when you are a part of those platforms. And we are creating content for those platforms.
Bjork Ostrom: So, what is this event all about? Well, it’s Lindsay coming on and talking about what she views as her playbook for building a following on Instagram for Pinch of Yum. And she goes and talks way back when, in 2011 I think it was, when she first posted a photo to Instagram. What has changed in that time period is she’s grown a following on Instagram. And then also how we’ve intentionally used that as part of the business.
Bjork Ostrom: A few different things that I wanted to highlight. Some of the things that you’ll learn at the event, five different things. I’ll just list those out real quick. Number one, Lindsay’s going to talk about a difficult decision that she made about the type of content she posts and how that resulted in growth for Pinch of Yum’s Instagram account and also how that led to her creating another Instagram account. One of the benefits that came from that, in kind of the decision making process around that; what type of content do I post, and how that impacted growth.
Bjork Ostrom: Number two, she’s going to talk about a type of content. So the first was kind of a subject and the second was the type of media that we started to post to Pinch of Yum Instagram and how that impacted growth, and the difference between photos and video. Lindsay’s going to talk about what happened when we started to shift the focus or share the focus of the type of content that we’re posting as Instagram started to place more of an emphasis on video.
Bjork Ostrom: Number three, we’re going to be talking about how we use Instagram as a revenue source, and the way that we work with sponsors. As business owners, we’re not just bloggers, we’re not just creators, we’re also business owners. This is an important business and it is what Lindsay and I do for our job and we have a team and we need to think strategically about how we use this as a business so we can continue to operate and put food on the table and pay salaries.
Bjork Ostrom: And for you, it’s probably similar. What you are building you’re viewing it as a business. So as we talk about any of this stuff, there’s the art, but then there’s also the science, the numbers. We’re going to be talking about how we use Instagram as a revenue source and how that’s a really important piece of the puzzle for us.
Bjork Ostrom: Number four, Lindsay’s going to talk about why she felt like she needed to set up boundaries around social media and specifically the different ways that she does that. And then number five, we’re going to be talking about any questions you have. Lindsay is going to be coming at the end of the event and she’s going to be answering questions that come in, which will be great because we know that we’re not going to be able to cover everything. And there’ll be questions that people have that we didn’t think of during the event and so we want to make sure that we have a little Q and A time at the end.
Bjork Ostrom: Again, this is happening today when this podcast goes out. So, if you don’t listen in real time, then there’s a 24 hour period where you can actually catch the replay of it and you can go to foodbloggerpro.com/playbook and that will bring you to the page where you can sign up and either watch in real time if you’re listening to this ahead of time or you can watch the replay. After the fact, we will be folding that into Food Blogger Pro for anybody that signs up to be a member of Food Blogger Pro.
Bjork Ostrom: Speaking of enrollment for Food Blogger Pro, this is the second thing that I wanted to update you on, is going to be opening! As you know, Food Blogger Pro right now is in a period of open and close, which means that you can sign up for a waiting list and then we welcome people on. But we are actually shifting that. We’re going to shift to having Food Blogger Pro be always open, and we’re really excited about that kind of as experiment, as a test.
Bjork Ostrom: One of the things that I’ve talked about on the podcast before is, viewing everything as an experiment and not holding too tightly to anything. One of the things that we’ve thought about and we’ve processed through as a team is, what would it look like for Food Blogger Pro, instead of being open-close, which was a really good system for us and it allowed us to have marketing seasons. There’s a number of reasons that it worked really well. But now we’re thinking, what would it look like? Let’s test out having Food Blogger Pro be always open.
Bjork Ostrom: So, we have an enrollment period. And you might say, well, why do you have an enrollment period if it’s going to be always open? The reason is because Food Blogger Pro is going to be shifting for the first time in years. We’ve only done this once before, and it’s maybe been four or five years since we’ve done this. Food Blogger Pro prices are going to be changing.
Bjork Ostrom: If you sign up this Thursday, it’s going to be $29 a month or 279 a year. And we’re going to be changing that after this enrollment period to $35 a month or $350 a year. So, if you have thought about signing up for Food Blogger Pro, if you’ve ever thought about joining and becoming a member, this next period, this enrollment period is going to be a great time to do that.
Bjork Ostrom: It’s important to know that this period opens on the 18th, so if you again listen to this in real time, that is going to be this Thursday, July 18th. So, for those of you who listen to the podcast in real time or real time-ish, it’s important to know that this period where you can sign up, the last day to get this price is July 25th. So that’s where we will switch over to always open on Food Blogger Pro and that’s when that price change will happen to 35 a month or $350 a year.
Bjork Ostrom: Another important thing to point out is, for anybody that signs up for a yearly membership, we’re going to have a Masterclass series in August, and we’re going to actually go through the process of creating that playbook. So, the first thing that I was talking about, that Instagram Playbook, essentially what we did is, we asked Lindsay all of these questions and she did kind of a brain dump and said, “Here are all the things that over the last eight, nine years that I’ve considered to be the most important elements of how I view content and content creation and how I operate on Instagram.”
Bjork Ostrom: There are seven different categories that we put together for that, and that’s actually what we’re talking about on the event. But with the event, we’re talking through what that is for Pinch of Yum. You could take that, the concepts that we talk about in the different categories and say, “Okay, I’m going to go through and kind of make these decisions on my own.”
Bjork Ostrom: But we decided it might be good to do a Masterclass, what we call a Masterclass, which is, all of us getting together virtually using a tool called slack and methodically going through each one of the questions, each one of the categories and each one of the areas and saying, let’s work together to create a playbook for you.
Bjork Ostrom: So, if you are interested in doing that for your site, for your Instagram, for your business, that would be a great class to go through. And that will be for anybody that signs up for a yearly membership. For Food Blogger Pro, we’re going to be doing the My Instagram Playbook. So, the event is Our Instagram Playbook. We talk through that. And the Masterclass we’re doing is, working with Food Blogger Pro members to go through the process of you creating Your Instagram Playbook.
Bjork Ostrom: So you have really specific guidelines that you follow and it’s really helpful to have that playbook, much like you would if you’re a part of a football team or something like that where everybody’s on the same page. They know the playbook. They say, “Hey, this is how we operate as a team.” The same thing can be true for how you operate on a social media platform. We’ve realized that’s a really important thing to have; these parameters, these decisions that we’ve made about how we operate on Instagram.
Bjork Ostrom: And so, if you’re interested in going through that process, we’re going to be doing that in August. We’re calling it the Masterclass, where we walk through, Lindsay’s going to be a part of it. We’re going to use slack, which is this internal communication tool. We’re going to be going through each one of the questions, answering them together and doing additional live Q and As and videos and things like that. Just to help you if you feel like you would benefit from having some of those guidelines that we talk about in the event.
Bjork Ostrom: So, that’s the update podcast for today. Just a little recap. The event is coming up. It’s happening today if you listen in real time. You can watch the replay for 24 hours and you can get there by going to foodbloggerpro.com/playbook. Learn a little bit about what that is. It’s a free event. Anybody can sign up and be a part of that.
Bjork Ostrom: And then enrollment is opening on Thursday for Food Blogger Pro and if you’re interested in signing up, make sure that you do it in the next week period because after that we’re switching. We’re going to be open always for enrollment, but the price is going to change from $29 a month to $35 a month, or $279 a year to $350 a year.
Bjork Ostrom: So, if you’re interested in Food Blogger Pro, now would be the time to sign up. And I’ll leave you with this. A testimonial from somebody that has recently signed up to Food Blogger Pro, Jackie from Brissie Bites, which is a great name. Food Blogger Pro. She says, “Food Blogger Pro is without doubt the best membership I’ve invested my money in. It’s such a valuable resource for food bloggers and honestly has helped me every step of the way in my food blogging journey.”
Bjork Ostrom: She says, “I know if I ever get stuck with anything, I can simply pop into the community forum, ask my question confidently knowing that someone will have the answer. When it came around to renewing my annual membership, it was a no brainer for me. I simply couldn’t continue my blog without Food Blogger Pro.”
Bjork Ostrom: If you want to see some of the other testimonials, you can go to foodbloggerpro.com/testimonials to see what other people are saying about it. We would love for you to be a part of this community. We are honored to facilitate such an incredible platform for such incredible people and incredible content creators, and we have an awesome team there as well who help to make that happen. If you want to check that out, you can just go to foodbloggerpro.com and learn a little bit more about what’s involved with the membership, or you can check out the event.
Bjork Ostrom: We’re going to be talking about Food Blogger Pro after we talk about some of the Instagram stuff as well. So, we’d love to hear from you. We’d love to see you. We’d love to connect with you. It’s a great honor to be a part of this community. Thanks for listening and we will see you next week when we’re going to have kind of an exciting change for the podcast. We’re going to switch things up a little bit, so stay tuned for that. All right. Make it a great week. Thanks.