Find your place in the blogging community

Being a food blogger has a lot of perks. You get to share your talents with interested readers. You get to work in your jammies if you so choose. You are an independent, creative inspiration for others.

It also has a few drawbacks. People can be overly critical. It can be time-consuming and stressful. There’s always the risk of burning out after hundreds of hours of hovering over the stovetop.

How can food bloggers enjoy the highs and weather the lows?

Community.

In the most dystopian offices in the world, employees gather in break rooms or parking lots to commiserate when times are tough. They bring in sheet cakes to celebrate birthdays.

Likewise, finding a community of like-minded people provides far-flung bloggers with the support, encouragement and collaboration necessary to reap all of the rewards of your chosen lifestyle.

Where do you find your blogger tribe?

Social sharing platforms

Use sites like StumbleUpon and Triberr to find bloggers whose style and content resonate with you. While you’ll obviously want to find other food bloggers, you might consider expanding your search to include bloggers in complementary fields like health, wellness, and lifestyle.

Social media groups

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ all offer social media groups where food bloggers and other lifestyle bloggers can connect, share stories, and provide mentorship. Look into Food Bloggers Central as well as the Food Blogger Pro communities on Facebook for a start.

Food blogger conferences

The food blogging community provides many opportunities for its members to get together in person. Consider checking out one of these upcoming events:

• Everything Food Conference, May 19-21, 2016, Salt Lake City, Utah
• International Food Blogger Conference, July 29-31, 2016, Sacramento, California

And keep an eye on the TECHmunch site where the traveling conference for food bloggers posts upcoming events across the country.

I’ve found my community, now what?

Connect. Once you’ve identified a few kindred spirits, take time to connect with them via their comments section and social media. You’ll build a rapport that could result in new fans for your own site.

Share. If you’ve found bloggers you admire, share their posts. They will reciprocate.

Collaborate. Rather than viewing other bloggers as competition, find ways to collaborate so that you can all grow and expand your audiences.

Seek and offer advice. The great things about a meeting of the minds is that more minds contain more solutions to problems. If you’ve hit a stumbling block – whether it’s exhaustion or technical difficulties, look to your tribe for counsel. If you see that one of your blogger pals is stuck in a rut, provide helpful guidance of your own.

Offer encouragement. Once you’re in a group, follow conversations and find ways to give others a shot in the arm when they’re feeling low or overwhelmed.

Who are your favorite bloggers?