Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alana Kaufman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alana, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
Born and raised in Colorado, I wanted to focus my blog primarily on the food and restaurants I was regularly eating at around the state. I wanted to showcase my hometown and the place I plan to live for the rest of my life. I decided the name had to have equal parts food and also shoutout my location and thus the name of my blog was born – 5280Foodiez. The name derives from Denver’s elevation of 5,280 feet above sea level and this is why many people refer to Denver as the Mile High city.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I have always been a foodie, long before social media began claiming #PhoneEatsFirst. From a young age, I always had a sweet tooth and my first love was definitely ice cream. As a fourth-generation Colorado native, I always enjoyed scoping out new restaurants and really saw the city change as the restaurant scene grew. In 2019, when I returned to Denver from college, I finally decided to start my own food blog, 5280Foodiez. Through this blog, I have been able to combine my passion for eating and the Mile High City and showcase all the best things our state has to offer.
5280Foodiez promotes restaurants and food establishments in Colorado and beyond. I love partnering and collaborating with local businesses and sharing their stories with our loyal followers. My favorite part of running the blog is getting to hear from people around town that tried a place I wrote about or have recommendations for me to try along with the wonderful foodie community the city has. I love sharing my adventures and connecting with others through their adventures.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
The idea for 5280Foodiez was initially a passion project that allowed me to share my eating adventures with family and friends. When I first created my account I was not super familiar with the Instagram algorithm and how to optimize my posts to get the best reach. However, over the last three years I have spent a lot of time learning all about social platforms and how to organically grow my following. I would attribute my following to three things:
1. Creative and mouth watering pictures that make someone stop scrolling and say “OMG, I need to try this place!” My goal is to create content that can grab the attention of someone and hopefully draw them into my blog.
2. Engaging with my followers as well as other people in the foodie community. I spend about an hour every night replying to comments on my posts, scrolling through my feed and liking photos as well as commenting on other posts that I like.
3. Hashtags make it easier for users to discover posts that are similar to topics they are already following and liking. I always like to add relevant hashtags to the end of each of my posts so more people outside my followers can engage with me even if they aren’t following my account.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
While I can’t lie that some of the meals I have had over the last three years have made my blog worthwhile, the people are definitely the most rewarding aspect. Through 5280Foodiez, I have been introduced to a new community of food-obsessed individuals that have made the experience of running my account so rewarding. Whether it be other individuals running food blogs, owners of different food concepts or a chef at a restaurant I’m dining at, I’ve been able to make wonderful connections with so many unique people that I would have never otherwise met.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instgram.com/5280foodiez
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/5280Foodiez/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@5280foodiez
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