10 things I have learned in my first year
Today is my first birthday. A little over a year ago I left the constraints of a corporate job with very little flexibility for growth and a work ethic more aligned to an outdated school system as opposed to an innovative company. With trepidation and a lot of blank spaces in my new business plan, I started my own nutrition consultancy. On the 6th August 2014 FoodBytes was born. As I blow out my candles on my digital birthday cake, I look back on the 10 key things I have learned since starting my own business. 1) Be passionate about the value you offer When I hear other people countdown the days till the working week is over, it makes me realise how fortunate I am that I love what I do. When I meet [...]
Reach out and connect
Dietitians know that it’s one thing to share nutrition content on social platforms, yet quite a different challenge to get people to take notice and more importantly take an action, such as signing up to a newsletter, asking for nutrition advice or making a lifestyle change. Below are five common mistakes that I see dietitians and nutritionists make on social media. If you can answer these questions with the right answer, you will start to build connections with real people and discover the true art of social sharing. And if your content really resonates with your audience, you may even succeed in creating a bridge from your social media platforms to your website or other business asset, where your audience will take an action of meaningful value to your business. 1) Do I really need to [...]
Let the dietitians eat some pie
The more of my dietitian colleagues that I speak to, the more it seems that many are struggling to get their share of the social media pie (and yes, dietitians do love to eat pie !) Ash Jones, a fellow dietitian, recently echoed the same sentiments on her blog post "Why dietitians suck at social media." There are many dietitians creating a lot of credible nutrition content. But unlike many nutrition celebrities who have powerful distribution and promotional forces behind them, the voices of dietitians are often falling on deaf ears and we sure aint getting to eat much pie. There are so many ways to get your voice heard. I previously wrote about content strategy promotion and distribution. Here are some more tips to make sure that your nutrition content stands apart from the [...]
Is sharing really caring?
I feel so lucky. I have the best social media fan and loyal brand advocate one could ever hope for. It's my 11 year old niece. Every time I post my latest meal on Instagram or share a Facebook status update, she is there to give me a thumbs up, share my post and of course plenty of emoji hearts and hand claps. I mean she is after all 11 years old so emojis are her standard vocabulary. But this got me thinking, is her sharing and liking of my posts true engagement? All over, you hear the social media chatter about engagement. It isn’t about the number of followers you have anymore, it is about the number of engagements you have every day, week, or month. Engagement is an easy word to throw out there. It [...]
The great grain debate – the love version
On a recent trip to the beautiful South Africa, I was reading the in-flight print magazine (yes, print publications do still exist, even if only when thousands of feet in the air where wifi capabilities are still limited) and I came across this article titled "The Grain Debate." "Oh no, here we go", was my first thought, "even far away from Australia, I cannot escape the anti-grain brigade!" However, as I started to read, I was absorbed into a wonderful story about a love for bread, narrated by Fritz Schoon, the owner of a bakery in Stellenbosch South Africa, Schoon de Companje, where grains are milled in whole and sprouted for maximum nutrition and flavour. Fritz had me absorbed with his three word opening line - "I love bread", a mantra I can very much [...]
A dietitian does what??
When people ask me what I do for a living and discover I am a dietitian, naturally I get asked my opinion about the latest fad diet and whether or not I consider chocolate to be one of the core food groups (of course I do!) But lately I have found myself in situations that have led to more interesting questions beyond my dietary habits. I have worked in the area of nutrition marketing for many years. But over the past few years, this type of nutrition work has developed in such a way, and at such a fast pace, that a few years ago I would never have guessed that as a dietitian, I would be using digital technology and social media in my everyday job. For many dietitians, variety is certainly the spice [...]