In the era of technology, social media has allowed people to connect with those who share the same interests and passions. Some share tweets or posts they know their followers will enjoy. Others review products or restaurants to let their followers in on the hottest trends. But there is a special group of people who have connected and created friendships and professional relationships to help each other design the appropriate content to fit their brand’s aesthetic. These people have created an extremely supportive community.

When Tim Cheung began his food blogging journey five years ago, he realized not a lot of people were talking about the local food scene. As he started sharing his experiences and visiting minority-owned spots, he gained more Instagram followers on his Bay Area Foodies account and received messages thanking him for the inspiration to become food bloggers themselves. Because of this, he was able to connect with people who were as passionate as him about food. Therefore, building a collaborative and strong food blogger community in the Bay Area.

For Cheung, it is important to create consistent yet fun content in order to make his work fun. If he starts seeing food blogging as a chore, he knows he is more than likely to stop enjoying it. He says “the best way to be consistent is to constantly find ways to make this hobby fun for yourself. I have met a lot of people that have eventually given up because they started seeing food blogging like a chore.” This is why he has surrounded himself with a community that motivates him to continue outdoing himself. It was by connecting with these other food bloggers that he realized food tastes better when it is being shared.

How did this foodie who is crazy for all the newest food hypes connect with people like him? Social media was the key. Once he established a connection with other food bloggers who were interested in helping get the word out on all the amazing mom and pop restaurants in the Bay Area, Tim organized collaborative food crawls once or twice a week. Before COVID-19 hit and lockdown was set in place, these food bloggers would visit several spots together in one day. Thus, allowing to motivate each other and help create captivating content for their respective accounts.

“Following a posting schedule is important in keeping your audience interested and definitely helps in growing your following,” says Cheung. Creating this special community helps hold one another accountable. It is easier and more enjoyable for food bloggers to drive everywhere together to try the most exciting and newest foods to later blog about them and keep their followers interested. This support group also serves as a great source of inspiration when it comes to editing photos or videos in a more appealing manner and thinking of catchy captions for every post.

Tim Cheung has always been passionate about food and was able to successfully turn that into a career by utilizing his digital marketing and social media marketing experience. Since the beginning, his goal has been to bring attention to minority-owned businesses that were not getting the recognition they deserved. As he embarked in this delicious venture, he connected with other professional food photographers who shared his interests. It was then Cheung was able to build a food blogger community in the Bay Area that inspired him to keep his journey fun and his content consistently captivating.