An interview with Samruddha Patil from Pune taking a sneak peek into her journey of food blogging!

Samruddha from Pune is here to tell you is her journey from being a newbie at content writing to a confident content creator. She goes by the name of when_in_pune on Instagram where her journey as an influencer began and after building up an audience for 1 year, she advanced to Youtube by the name of ‘Girl With Goals’. The journey as a food blogger to content creator to building her own firm named Afzet Media – has been fascinating for her as each day there was something new to learn and execute! Her story developed with time and now social media has given her power to reach the masses and she wants to educate the young minds with the same knowledge and make them aware of the massive scope Digital Marketing has!

What is your definition of a Food Blogger? How did you stumble upon Food Blogging as a career option? 

Food Blogger is someone who breathes and thinks about food, a person you can ask the best of places and trust their suggestion. A person who is the connection between the restaurant and public who love to try new cuisines and places.

As for the second part of the question, I started Food Blogging in my first year of Biotechnology because I would spend every rupee of my pocket money on food as the whole process of discovering new food fascinated me! Once I was done with my post-graduation, I got into content writing and that’s when my experience as a content writer made me realize that this can be used for much bigger things and hence I choose food blogging and marketing as my career ahead!

Take us through the thought behind the name

‘When In Pune’ was the first name that I thought of when I wanted to start a food-centric Instagram page. The ideology behind ‘When In Pune’ was that when people are in Pune, they should try this.

I wanted to cover the beautiful city of Pune through my eyes and portray why my birth city is so close to my heart by showcasing its varied food and culture!

You have been in the Food Blogging space for quite some time, tell us more about your milestones in this journey and how have things changed over the years.

I remember I started out on my Moto G2 phone and spent hours editing those pictures because I wanted to present the food in its best form. Things kept advancing and many pictures got recognition because of which traffic was generated on my page which led to many restaurants and brands collaborating with me. Over the years, the pictures have got better with times, things have got tougher due to the competition but one thing is still the same – content is king – that is what has gotten me to the place I am today!

What constitutes a day in your life as a Food Blogger?

The best thing about Food Blogger’s Day is that every day is an adventure! My typical day comprises of starting the day by posting one picture on my account, then attending a lunch or dinner tasting where we create content for future posts. We also cover special occasions like launches, parties, new projects and gigs keep coming up. There are days when I am just writing reviews and uploading content and reporting it to restaurants, to days when I spend time editing pictures. Like I said every day is different than yesterday and more exciting and challenging!

Do you still find it difficult to tell people that Blogging is a legit profession? Weirdest reactions from people around you

Yes, that is definitely there! We need to explain them the process, what are its benefits, what do we do and the most common and weirdest reactions are those which ask is ‘You get paid to eat?’ which actually isn’t the whole story as the behind the scenes is so demanding!

What is the one thing you love and hate about this profession?

I love the fact that a food blogger can experiment with different horizons of their talent as well as inspire people around them to take this less-traveled path. I love how more and more people want to get into digital marketing and blogging by understanding the power it holds!

What I hate is you have to prove that your work deserves the money! Barter systems are something I hate as this clearly specifies that they don’t value our work.

The Whackiest Client Brief or request received 

Once I was told that they will provide us pictures and we have to write about their food which I found really weird as nothing like this can be done and blogging will lose its authenticity because of such demands!

If given a chance to go back in time and fix, what is that one mistake you would like to undo?

Taking up blogging up more early is what I would rectify as I was exposed to this amazing world of content creation really late.

Also Read: Visit Levit 8 at NIBM Road Pune for the Perfect mix of Food and Ambience!

Looking back at the journey, what made it worth your while?

When I met my followers! This has been by far the most satisfying of the struggle I went through, every mile I traveled, every review I wrote and every picture I took – everything was worthwhile when they recognize me in malls or streets and when they are as passionate about my content as I am!

How often did you post when you started off as opposed to now. 

The posting has remained the same from then till now

What according to you is the best way to increase traffic to your food blog?

The timing and relatability. These two things are what makes the audience really read what you have written and even benefit from your content!

Quick Five 

Favorite Food / Cuisine 

Chinese, Chaat, Desserts, Maharashtrian food, Punjabi food

Favorite Café / Restaurant 

1 BHK, Souk, Café Peterdonuts, Level 5, Indigo Deli

Order of preference Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Niche Platform

Instagram, Youtube, Niche Platform, Facebook, Snapchat

Static Images, Stories, Long Form Videos

Stories, Static Images, Long Form Videos

Pet Peeve against Brands, Agencies and Fellow Bloggers

None

Five Tips for Budding Food Bloggers out there

1. Love the process
2. Be original
3. Maintain consistency
4. Don’t go behind numbers
5. Be true to yourself

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Also Read: 10 Instagrammers Every Foodie From Pune Must Follow!