‘We don’t have a social media strategy’: How Baked by Melissa’s CEO and co-founder Melissa Ben-Ishay went from founder to influencer

Instead, Ben-Ishay props her phone up on her kitchen counter at least once a week, where she walks her TikTok followers through everything from how to make crispy rice to gnocchi, and, of course, a catalog of desserts.

Ben-Ishay is one of many founders-turned-influencers who are navigating the booming influencer marketing space and putting a face to their brands to more authentically connect with followers. The founder-influencer pipeline is standard at this point, and perhaps the trend is most commonplace in the small- to medium-sized business and direct-to-consumer brand spaces, where founders are cranking out content to keep up with the likes of influencers who are launching their own brands.

In this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Ben-Ishay talks about being a founder-influencer, and shares her thoughts on the ever-looming TikTok ban and why Baked by Melissa’s social strategy is no strategy at all.

Below are highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Duality in the founder-influencer role

It was Covid. I make myself dessert every night, whether I’m baking something with my kids or just a handful of chocolate chips. I also cook dinner for my family most days, especially during Covid because I found myself home much more.  I would start cooking dinner for my family at like four o’clock while I was starting to finish up calls for the day. So it was easy for me to just start recording things. I would post them to this burner account @MelissaBenIshay, that I created just to learn how to use the app because social media is foreign. It’s a foreign thing. Like with anything, it feels you know it until you know it. So I knew I needed to learn it and that’s what I did. And the videos I was posting, they were doing better than the videos we were posting from Baked by Melissa on TikTok. I just decided to one day post the salad I was making for dinner from Baked by Melissa’s TikTok and it has like 40 million views. So I had to keep doing it.

I’m doing it because it’s working. It’s not easy. I have a full-time job. I have small kids. I’m a hands-on parent. I like to be present, but it’s an incredible thing that’s happening. I saw the opportunity to really turn Baked by Melissa into an influencer and to be a CEO business brand, and also that sells a product and also an influencer. It’s a very unique thing. I’m not like most influencers where I need to support my family through this role that I have. I can be very selective with the brands I choose to work with, only brands that I love.

Recipe for social success

It’s not a strategy, is the short answer. We don’t have a social media strategy. You — the community that follows our account — you’re telling me what to give you based on what you’re engaging with. It’s really that simple. I have a social media manager. I do create, obviously. You see me on the video, on the screen, I’m making every recipe. I dedicate Thursdays to content.  I’m on my feet in my kitchen turning out at least seven recipes that now my social media manager does help me edit. But for a very long time, I was doing all the editing myself, and I really thank God I have some help.

TikTok contingency plan

I don’t care. Whatever will be, will be. I think the best things come from change, evolution. Change is uncomfortable for a lot of people. I think social media in general is amazing, but it also isn’t good for the mental health of young people in society. If there is no TikTok tomorrow, Baked by Melissa will be more than fine. My children’s generation will be better for it. We existed before. We’ll exist after, and I’m sure new opportunity will come after.