We had the good fortune of connecting with Anthony Lu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anthony, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
It started out with me helping my friend with his ice cream shops social media for free while developing my own boba concept, Creativitea. Together we created a unique selling product, which was an ice cream cone with 10 individual scoops of mini ice cream called the Ice Cream Bouquet. This concept immediately went viral, getting featured on major food publications which converted to an influx of social media followers and customers. This was when I realized that I was actually good at creating content that can generate massive amounts of impression and reach. I decided to leave the boba business and started to run restaurants social media accounts for free to see if this was really something I wanted to do full time. I landed my first big client Mei Zhou Dong Po, an international Chinese restaurant with 4 locations in Los Angeles, from there I started to get more and more clients and eventually started my own social media marketing company called Shiro Studio, named after my pet Shibainu, Shiro.

What should our readers know about your business?
Social media marketing is three words that a lot of “influencers” put on their bio, but are rarely able to deliver quality work and tend to oversell their services. They usually charge an exorbitant fees and try to lock you in an annual contract, while unable to deliver quality work. I created Shiro Studios with the intent on creating a modern social media agency with data driven aesthetics. I believe that numbers are the most important part in running a social media account, likes and followers can be bought but the behind the scenes metrics can’t be manipulated. That’s why Shiro Studio focuses heavily on generating impressions and reach. Impressions are the number of times the content is displayed and reach is the number of unique people who see the content. More impressions and reach on the photos/videos always lead to more organic followers. Doing social media marketing is definitely not easy, in the beginning it required a ton of cold calling, pitching, getting burned by clients, and working odd hours. I didn’t have a mentor or someone to teach me so I’ve had to learn everything from trial and error. Social media marketing is not an easy job and if you’re unable to adapt to trends and create quality content your brand will suffer.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I absolutely love giving food tours, it allows me to show my friends the best spots in Los Angeles while showing them the different areas that make up Los Angeles. These are just a few of the spots I would take my friends to: Howlin Rays: best fried chicken sandwich ever El Flamin Tacos: best al pastor tacos, the rotisserie comes out after 7:30pm. Wanderlust Creamery: ice cream shop with the most diverse selection of flavors. Ken’s Ramen: Best chicken soup base ramen. Best Fish Tasco In Ensenada: the shop name says it all. Wake and Late: best breakfast burrito in LA. Two Hands Hotdog: Korean corn dogs. Pasta Sisters: affordable authentic italian pasta. Kazunori: experiencing their handroll bar is an LA must. Night Market and Song: unique Northern Thai food restaurant. Hai Di Lao Hot Pot: unique hot pot experience, the dancing noodles is a must order. The list goes on… I usually like to ask the friend what their likes and dislikes are and then I curate a personalized food tour for them. Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I like to give a shoutout to my Mom for believing in me and letting me follow my passions.

Website: shiro.studio

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatswithanthony/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatswithanthony/

Image Credits
All photos are taken by me 🙂

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