Behind the Feed is an exclusive Jun Group interview series, presented by our influencer marketing division, to uncover how top creators connect brands with their followers.
Meet Sam Quintana, the culinary curator behind @biteofmia, where she takes her followers on a mouthwatering journey through Miami’s food, drinks, and dessert scene. We caught up with Sam to learn more about her inspiration and her tips for nurturing strong brand partnerships.
How did you build your audience?
Building an audience on any social media platform really comes down to finding your niche, maintaining consistency, and letting your personality come through. People want to follow and listen to someone they relate to, and people really relate to loving good food. I’ve always had a profound love of food, especially because I grew up with grandmothers that knew how to cook and bake well.
I knew I wanted to develop a platform highlighting restaurants, recipes, desserts, and more. With a little hard work, consistent posting, and genuine interaction my audience grew to what it is today.
How do you balance creating sponsored content while keeping it authentic and engaging for your followers?
Keeping it authentic while working with sponsored content means it’s important to work with brands and companies that you trust and genuinely enjoy. To do that, sometimes you have to be selective and turn down offers no matter how big the payout is. If you don’t like the brand or product, it’ll show in your work and make it hard to stay authentic, which is what your audience is trusting you to do.
How do you approach brainstorming and creating content ideas?
I usually start by researching a bit: What type of restaurants and recipes are people looking for right now? What kind of foods are people craving? What kind of trends are happening? How can I add my own spin to this? After this initial research, I then try to do more focused brainstorming.
For the restaurant aspect of my page, that usually means looking up various restaurants in different areas of my city till I find one that aligns with the answers to my initial research. If it’s a recipe, that means experimenting in the kitchen to nail the taste and presentation of what I’m cooking or baking.
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Tell us about your favorite recent Jun Group campaign.
It’s always a pleasure working with Jun Group. I’ve been working with you pretty consistently for the last couple of years and I love how your team challenges me with every campaign. Usually it starts with a theme — game day, holiday favorites, cool foods, etc. — and I’m tasked with creating a post or recipe based on it while incorporating specific products. I’ve been able to come up with some really good recipes thanks to these campaigns and some people even tell me a few of these recipes have become staples in their household!
When considering brand partnerships, what qualities or values do you look for?
I like to make sure the brand has integrity, an optimistic outlook, and good communication. It’s pretty easy to tell if a brand checks the first two boxes, even just based on the initial outreach they approach with. I aim to be proud while working with a brand and represent them in a positive light, which I feel I can only do if these three qualities are met.
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