More people are finding joy in cooking, even more than going out to eat: a OnePoll survey of 2,000 people found that the average person knows ten recipes by heart and eats up to fifteen home-cooked meals per week. This is largely attributable to social media and its influence on how we cook. Now, you don’t need to attend a fancy cooking class or have expensive ingredients to make a great meal, as today’s cooking vloggers present educational, actionable content to beef up their viewers’ recipe repertoire. But if you’d rather be the one behind the camera instead of watching the videos, there are a few steps you need to take to truly stand out from the crowd.
Investing in filming equipment
While there certainly are people who watch cooking videos for fun, prospective viewers are likely tuning in to recreate your recipes. They’ll follow your movements and techniques closely, meaning you need the right filming equipment to capture high-quality content that’s easy to follow. But don’t worry—you don’t need an expensive camera to nail your setup. Instead, invest in smartphone accessories for filming, like the iSteady MT2 smartphone stabilizer that features handheld and tripod modes for versatility. The main body and quick-release plates have multiple expansion ports, which are convenient for adding fill lights to highlight a dish’s vibrant colors or microphones to capture your step-by-step voiceovers. Still, many cooking videos are shot from an overhead perspective, and if you don’t have this kind of setup, cooking and filming simultaneously can be tricky. You can step up your game with hands-free filming devices like smart glasses for livestreaming. You can capture what’s cooking in your pot with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses’ ultra-wide 12 MP camera and five-mic system. With live cooking videos on the rise, these glasses allow you to livestream your process to Facebook and Instagram; you can even read community comments in your lens preview if your viewers have any questions. Essential accessories like stabilizers and smart glasses create less shaky and more professional-looking content, enhancing your credibility as a food vlogger.
Knowing your audience and building your brand
As a content creator, it pays to know your audience well. This way, you can make targeted content that aligns with their preferences. One important factor is your choice of platform for uploading content. For example, 71% of Gen Z and 67% of millennials watch cooking videos, but Zoomers are more than twice as likely to be watching them on TikTok, while millennials prefer YouTube. While nothing stops you from cross-posting on multiple platforms, knowing your primary one helps you amass more interested followers faster. You can use the analytics of your primary platform to understand your audience’s typical age range. This will tell you much about their preferred cuisines, favorite restaurants, and even the cooking appliances they use to follow your recipes. If you have college-aged kids following you, they likely don’t have time to make a beef Wellington; instead, they might gravitate toward one-pot or air fryer recipes.
You also want to carve out a distinctive brand. YouTube alone has 113.9 million unique channels, so you need to create a point of differentiation to stand out. For example, Andrew Rea, more popularly known as Binging with Babish, shot to fame for creating real-life versions of iconic dishes from film and television. Ask yourself: what are my strengths, and what type of content helps me showcase those best to my audience? Will you show your viewers a day-in-the-life series as you embark on your food truck journey? Are you targeting busy moms who want to make kid-friendly but nutritious recipes? Will you present elaborate cakes in addictive, short-form bursts for curious audiences? Understanding where you shine and focusing on that will create the foundation of your brand and is the key to amassing a steady following. Vlogging may look glamorous, but it’s certainly no easy feat. With the above tips, you can leverage your passion for cooking to help people worldwide enjoy their time in the kitchen.
