Building a Social Media Plan with Austin Food Head's Opi Abeysekera

One of the most difficult tasks for creators today is building an active community behind their brand. In this episode, we talk with Opi Abeysekera, an Austin-based entrepreneur who is also the founder of Austin Food Heads. Opi is on a mission to showcase the best food options in Austin (not an easy task) and he leverages a massive following on Instagram to do that with incredible posts, reels and stories that showcase amazing restaurants and food all around the city. In today's world one of the most powerful ways to market not only your business but yourself is to leverage your social media. In today's conversation that's exactly what Opi shares with our listeners. Check out Opi & Austin Food Heads here : Austin Food HeadsCheck out the newest The Real Venture Podcast episodes directly to you - subscribe here. And, if you’re enjoying The Real Venture Podcast, please give us a 5-Star rating on Itunes!How to Grow a FollowingFoodheads started as a side hobby to showcase some of the great food that can be found all over Austin, Texas. By focusing on the quality of content he was posting, Austin Food Heads quickly reached 1,000 followers. Following this quick growth, Opi sought out advice from his network. By using better hashtags and proper tagging on each post. Austin Food Heads skyrocketed to over 10,000 in the first 6 months.Understand the different forms of contentInstagram has multiple different forms of content that you can post, understanding the differences and what to post in each form is critical to seeing growth. With the recent competition on the user front from other platforms like Tik Tok, reels are a major content focus. IGTV is another form of content that allows for longer videos, great for uploading long interviews or podcast episodes. For everyday interaction with followers Instagram stories are great ways to share quick updates or answer questions. Using all these different forms correctly will lead to higher engagement and ultimately more followers for your social media accounts.How to leverage interactionsIf you are like most people, the first thing we look at when we upload a post is how many likes we have gotten. But as Opi shares, an Instagram Like is one of the lowest quality forms of interactions. The ultimate goal for every post is to increase the number of Saves and Shares. Instagram weighs these heavier than the traditional likes. Another great way to increase interactions is to leave longer thoughtful comments with more than 5 words. It's a great way to build community and increase conversations on each individual post.KEYWORDS SUMMARYinstagram, post, people, followers, restaurant, austin, food, app, big, interacting, accounts, engagement, ultimately, brand, content, page, platform, started, building, businessWant to be featured in an episode? Drop a comment below, or share your questions, feedback, and whatever else using #therealventure​​ and TAG US @therealventure_ on Instagram. The Real Venture PodcastThe Real Venture Website | The Real Venture Instagram | The Real Venture LinkedIn | The Real Venture YouTube | Peyton Truitt - Linkedin | Peyton Truitt - Instagram | Luke Truitt - LinkedIn