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On this week's Influential Barbecue, I chat with Matt Rose, the personality behind Matt Out Back.
We both started out barbecue "influencing" journey, and it has been so fun to watch him flourish and grow with his account, as he is truly just himself.
We chat about what it takes for a smaller account to gain credibility and build an audience, as well as what types of partnerships you might expect while trying to grow.
A weekly podcast focused on talking to influencers in the barbecue industry, uncovering how they’ve cultivated huge followings, unique income sources, and sponsorship possibilities from a love of cooking over fire. Hosted by Jordan Moore of @thebackyardbrisket
006 Matt Rose
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[00:00:00] Voiceover: You're listening to influential barbecue, the podcast where we talk to influencers in the barbecue industry to uncover how they've cultivated huge followings, unique income sources and sponsorship possibilities from a love of cooking outdoors. If you want to turn your passion for food and fire into a world of opportunities, you're in the right place.
And now your host, Jordan Moore.
[00:00:29] Jordan: Hello, and welcome back to influential barbecue. It is now 2022. Happy new year to everyone. I hope you were able to have a wonderful holiday season, get rested up, take it easy and spend some quality time with whoever is important to you. And now it's time to get ready to take on a whole new year.
This week, I sat down with Matt rose of Matt Outback, formerly girl, dad. To chat about growing smaller accounts from the ground up Matt and I started our Instagram pages around the same time in April, 2020. And it's been great to see him begin to really take off and get the recognition that he deserves.
He brings so much of his personality and energy to his posts, and it truly helps them stand out by reminding us that it's not just about the final cook, but you have to have fun while you're doing it. Be sure to check out Matt on Instagram at Matt Outback. That's. Dot dot back and let's get into our conversation.
hello. Welcome back to influential barbecue. Today. I'm joined with Matt rose, the personality behind Matt Outback. Matt. Thanks so much for joining me this. Yeah. Thanks, man. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Before we get into too much. Do you mind just telling the listeners a bit about yourself and what you do and who you are?
Sure. Yeah.
[00:01:54] Matt: Matt rose. Um, I'm just a regular guy Fort worth, Texas born and raised, married to my high school sweetheart. We met, we started dating. We were 16. Uh, we got married. We were like around 23 and now we have. Two beautiful girls and we have a baby boy on the way. Congratulations. That's awesome. Thank you.
And, um, yeah, I work in real estate. I'm a huge sports fan, big time into 49ers and Dallas Mavericks. And, um, you know, that's pretty much my life right there, family sports, uh, hanging out with friends and, you know, in past couple of years, um, more so barbecue. Big music fan. And I try to incorporate that a lot in my posts and my vibe, my style, just trying to have fun as well.
I'm all about, and that's, that's pretty much all there is. And I like to joke around a little, a little bit.
[00:02:46] Jordan: You had a little bit of personality or posts. I will say that. I love it. Um, how did you get started in barbecue and barbecue space and cooking things over
[00:02:54] Matt: fire? Oh man. Um, so, so I remember it was a few years back.
And maybe be like, I don't know, 2015, somewhere around then. I listened to sports radio all the time on my acute commute to work and all that, and just listen to the radio. And I don't know if they were sponsored by big green egg or if they, I know a couple of the hosts had, they had an egg themselves, so different shows that I listened to on there, they would just talk about their egg every now and then.
And that was the first I ever heard of a big green egg. I, I was never into barbecue at all. Ever even cooked. Um, we had like a little George Foreman in our apartment. Um, my brother would barbecue, uh, quite a bit and grill and stuff, and I never even cooked with charcoal. Uh, I had a, like a char griller propane.
Once I put pain, one side charcoal or wood. I use the charcoal side once with my brother there. I mean, like I never even, I had a gas grill and so I just heard about this bigger hay and they would just be like, yeah, meat pizza on it last night. And then tonight I'm cooking steaks or a brisket. And I'm just like being me who I am.
I was like pizza just on the grill. That's that's all I that sold me. And so, so for a couple of years, I was, I was telling my wife like, Hey, you know this grill, I want to get it. Let's go. And I'm very spontaneous shopper. Like I I'll spend money so easy. And luckily my wife is level headed and knows you don't need this.
You don't know how to cook. You don't grill nothing. So she was like, no, rightfully so. I don't blame her. And so it was like a couple years of me, like wanting. And, um, and then one day, you know, for my birthday, she was like, all right, you can get it. Got it. Just in time for my daughter's little birthday party, one year old birthday party.
And I that's where I got it. And that's when I started getting on Instagram a few months after that, because I was like, how do I cook on this? How do I even use this stupid thing? And so that's how I found barbecue. And so on and so forth, and that's pretty much how it started. That's
[00:04:57] Jordan: awesome. Like it's for our daughter it's for her birthday.
I need to cook for our daughter. Okay. Exactly. I love how you work it in that way. It's us meals. Exactly. I'm providing for the family. I'm going to learn to cook with this very inexpensive cooking.
[00:05:16] Matt: Yeah. For us at the time it was, um, she thought I was crazy. Like. It's so expensive. Like, what are you doing?
You have no idea how to use this. Uh, I mean, but, uh, you know, I want her over.
[00:05:28] Jordan: Um, so for anyone that doesn't know, Matt and I kind of started our Instagram journeys at the same time for a while there, we were kind of going head to head. Like we're figuring out what we were doing and trying to gain followers.
At the same time we got traction. And for, I think up to 4,000 followers, we just kept going back and forth. I'd gain a hundred and then you'd gain two and then I'd gained two and we were always back and forth at each other. So we made a few jokes and then one day, I don't know what you posted, but now all of a sudden you've doubled me.
So I'm just looking up to you.
[00:05:57] Matt: Um, and then I left.
[00:06:02] Jordan: Yeah. Like what do you think it is about your content that has started to take you off a little bit? Like what differentiates you with a
[00:06:08] Matt: little bit, you know, it's something I kind of think about. I try to figure out, I feel like so many people give so much advice about do this, do that.
Don't do this. Don't do that. Like you just, I mean, it's all over the place, what you hear. Right. And so you mentioned like humans, we kind of started at the same time. And I remember seeing like some of your posts and like I'm, I think I remember it pretty clearly. Like one of, I think you could go camping a lot, maybe talk about it too much, but I remember some of your posts with your.
Live fire cooking. And I remember some of those posts went pretty big for you. And I was just like, dang. He's like, we're like the same account. He like posted above me. And I'm like, I can't get anything touching those numbers. Cause I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Obviously his looks a lot cooler he's out in the woods and I'm just in a stupid cookie cutter a lot in Blockhouse, you know, then the city boring.
So I was like, okay, that makes sense. But then. A few months, I guess, a little bit less than a year after I started. I just like, I don't know if you want to call it an epiphany. I took, like, I took a break from social media, like a couple of weeks. Um, for our anniversary went out, we went out to Mexico. I just took time away.
I actually did this a few times and every time I take a time away from Instagram, it always helps because it's social media, you know, it clogs up your mind gets you, uh, you lose ideas and you just get kind of stale. Um, anyways, I just kind of had an epiphany, like, you know, I need to stop trying to figure out what people want to see and like doing what others would do.
Cause I was new to this. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I barely know how to cook. Like I'm like really just figuring all this out on the fly, learning from other people. Like I've learned so much from people, just other accounts. And um, so like I'm just like making videos like, oh, this is what they're doing.
I'll do it too. And then like, nothing worked as far as numbers wise and I was like, Stop looking at numbers so much in not to change subjects, but people say that all the time, don't focus on numbers. You love about focus on what you really live. You have to look because you have to understand what's working or not.
You just have to have the right mindset anyways. So I was like, you know what, stop caring about that too much. You know, I'm going to be only do what I want, basically. I'm, you know, whatever. And so I was, I was on the airplane flying to Mexico and I just like had this idea. It's like, This will make a fun video.
And it was just basically me doing what I do all the time. Like even when I'm at work or my old jobs, when I worked in office, I was like, there's music playing in the lobby. I was singing along dancing doing, I worked as a teller. I'm like taking cash out of my drawer and I'm moving. So I was just like, I'm just going to do like literally what I'm doing.
And I think that is when I kind of found when I showed like who I am, what I'm doing. And it happened to be kind of funny and a little bit of. That really, I think helped me take off or whatever you want to call it and start doing better, playing the game better or whatever. And people like seeing. If you happen to be a goofball like me, that I guess helps because people like seeing somebody being stupid.
So,
[00:08:57] Jordan: yeah, it's true. He's like, you gotta be yourself for a lot of it. And I know a lot of people struggle when I first started out. Like, there was no pictures of me, no videos of me at all. It was just I'm I'm going to keep myself out of this. And it was like, yeah, now it's just food at this point. And I don't like the accounts that only post food.
So I got to start putting me in there again. And. You went all in. It doesn't matter what the camera sees. Like I'm full Matt rose now. And I think a lot of people really enjoyed seeing that. And like, it really set you apart from the crowd of people that were too shy to put their faces on the camera like
[00:09:28] Matt: me.
I do agree that it really does make a difference. And, and you, you mentioned that people that are too shy, I've gotten comments like that from people like, oh, I wish I had the personality that you have, or I wish I could do that. And I was like, dude, you can just like, just do it. Like, even if you're boring as hell.
Do it and then do something a little funny, like, you know, it'll be good. Like, you know, you don't have to be doing stupid, stupid stuff like me, if that's not who you are, don't do it. But like, you know, just be who you are. And like, whenever I started doing this, I can't even tell you how I mentioned anxiety.
I had about it. I was, I was nervous as hell. I was just like before I wrote it up. And I, I think I sat there, like at first, when I started doing goofy videos, like before I posted it, I sat there and was like, Should I really click posts right now. I would just get like anxiety. And I would like, I don't know, be fearful that people are gonna follow me cause they think I'm stupid.
And I already had the fear like, oh my food doesn't look good. I don't know if this is how it should be. Like, I am really not a chef or that great of a cook in my opinion. So I'm just like, oh, I'm already ha I already have that anxiety. And then it's like, You know, you're really letting your guard down and just being stupid.
And it's like, you don't know what people are going to, how are they going to respond? So it's people that the way they talk to me is they seem like it's easy for me. And I think now it is because I actually have the ability to not really give a damn like, I'll get embarrassed. I'm like, yeah. You know, I'm fine with getting embarrassed.
I'm used to it. It's just how my life is, but it's like, it's not easy as it seems. It's hard to do. It's hard to take that dive in. And, but it's fun once you do. You know, having a good time.
[00:11:07] Jordan: That's what matters. That's that's all it counts and it's so true. Like it, it seems like it just be you, you groove along, you slap a piece of pork and then you post a video, but you've got to get over the fact that you get stuck in your head.
Like I'm setting up a camera on a tripod at myself to do something. Ridiculous to then edit it myself later. So I'm watching myself and then you get to the point where eventually I'm going to post it and a bunch of people share it. And I'm like, do I, do I really want to do this? Is this really what I need to do?
But people love
[00:11:37] Matt: it. I will have. I mean, I'll probably still. Question myself and be like, okay, what the hell am I doing right now? Like, I'm spending so much time on this and like, watch my video. That looked like a freaking idiot. But I mean, I, I've kind of had the thing where if I do something really stupid, I'll run it by a few people and be like, Hey, is this even funny in the first place?
Because I'll think something's funny. And then people will just like, look at me, like, I'm weird. Right. And so Matt and I have actually, I've had a few of those where I didn't post anything because that's kind of how it was. And so it's like, okay, well, I don't want to. I mean, you know, I guess I'm not to compare myself to a comedian, but I feel like comedians probably do that too.
Like if, if it's not going to work, they're not going to
[00:12:17] Jordan: do it. Yeah. So I consider us to be smaller accounts, you know, or less than 10,000. And when you hit 10,000, everyone says things really open up. You get more features on. Your platforms, you get more interest from other companies and partnerships and stuff, but you seem to have a lot of partnerships and sponsorship deals and stuff happening at the moment.
How did you end up landing things like those as a smaller account, without all those extra features and stuff? Like, how did you reach out to them? Did they reach out to you? What kind of happened to there to land those? So
[00:12:48] Matt: I feel like that's actually an interesting topic. Cause now I think I I'm seeing things shifting as far as that goes.
I know there's always been like, that has been my goal. Like whenever I saw it as a realistic chance of like hitting TennCare, cause it seems like a good benchmark. Right. And um, you know, they have the swipe up feature and all that, but I have that now. Like they don't have it as swipe up anymore. It's just put the link in your, I think everybody has that.
You should check that out. I don't know if you have it now. I don't know if there's a certain benchmark. Yeah,
[00:13:17] Jordan: I thought it was, it was 10 K at one point, but they might've removed that. Like
[00:13:21] Matt: just in the past couple of weeks they announced it. That it sounds like everybody's getting it. And so you just go to your story, you add the link.
I'm like, yeah, I've got that now to the sticker things and yeah. So I'm like, okay, well I don't have that anymore. So what am I doing? Like, what's my goal now? Um, I feel like things change and I never know what's going on. So I feel like that's something I would like to learn about, but yeah, I guess going back to my first ever.
Partnership or ambassadorship we ever want to call. It was with a way hot sauce. You know, I was around one K I think when we kind of teamed up, I huge fan of their sauce. I, you know, they're my ride or die. I love their stuff. And I've met him in person, took my family out to lunch. Really good guy. He had announced that like somebody had been an ambassador and I was just like, oh dang.
I was like, dude, I was like, I messaged him. I don't know how any of this stuff works as far as being an ambassador, but if you ever looked for people, I'm shit. Cause I love your stuff. And then he was like, I actually was going to reach out to you and I'm going to bring on somebody else. Do you want to join?
And then that's kinda how I joined that. Um, aside from that, um, there's been a couple things. Like there was one other partnership that I, they were like, I, something open application. So I just applied and I got in, I think I did it for a couple of things, but, um, other than that, you know, I think. People see your content.
And I think kind of like what we were talking about earlier, the more that you show yourself, I think they look for personality. Like they look, they don't want to just see food, kinda like what you were learning alluding to. They want to see personalities. They want to see people having fun, like showing their stuff, but being fun stuff that stands out, I guess.
And so I think after that is when I kind of started doing stuff like that. I started, you know, getting. And I think the bigger you get, the more opportunities that'll come in. And maybe as maybe people saw me getting close to 10 K and my videos were doing good. That's when they started like trying, trying to get in before I got big, maybe it gets to a point where you just get too many people messaging you.
And I've already, I'm working with a lot of different people and I don't really have any type of obligations. Really. I'm not really doing paid partnerships. I don't have, I'm not getting paid to post anything. That's something I'll work on. If people reach me out because I've, I've come to the realization that that's what we all here should be doing.
Uh, we shouldn't just be doing stuff for free. That's one thing I've learned lately. And I've told people that have reached me out like, oh, wait me, I'll send you something. And I'm like, okay. Let's discuss rates and then I don't really hear from them again cause they're, they're not looking for that.
They're looking for free advertisement basically. And that's what I think is that this is a good podcast for people to learn and talk about. And, um, we shouldn't be giving them advertisements for free. And, and I'll say that I, I, there's a couple people, a couple of brands that I, you know, way hot sauce. I will never like ask him for.
No matter how big I get best damn barbecue sauce. I will, I won't ask them for money. Um, just because it's like, that's not why I got into this. That's not like my number one priority to make money. And for, for me with them, we've built a relationship. You know, I've met them in person we've hung out, you know, I consider them family.
Um, so that's important to me is build relationships. So I think it depends on the, the context who reaches out to me and. How their message comes across. If it's like this big company and they're like messaging 50 people at a time. Cause you'll see that in waves, like a bunch of people will be posting the same crap.
And so when stuff like that happens, I think it's important to be like, Hey, you know, you got to make it worth my time as well. Because just to put one video in that takes a lot of time and people should be compensated for it, especially with how things are going these days. Yeah.
[00:16:54] Jordan: A hundred percent. And especially, you know, the cost of meat and all that stuff.
It's not just an advertisement, but it's expensive. So I liked that you mentioned a lot of people just kind of ghost you after you bring up rates and stuff. And I think that's a really good point for people starting out, looking into getting ambassadors and stuff. Cause that's like off the hop, that seems to be the no brainer way for any of us to try and make any money.
It would be an ambassadorship or things like that. Then you said you haven't done any for money yet. You're fine with the free product thing. The products you really like. Yeah. But you're, you're looking into the money, but how do you deal with people just ghosting you after you've put a rate out or anything like that?
Like, is it just, does it get annoying people only wanting to send you free stuff and not pay? Or is it just like, well, not worth my time, so
[00:17:39] Matt: it doesn't matter. I guess you could say I haven't done it yet because nobody's accepted my counter offer, I guess. And I kind of, I didn't really know where to start with that type of negotiation because I don't know.
What's fair. I don't know what. I don't want to ask for too much. And people think, oh man, like what are you doing? Asking for money. Yeah, exactly. You know, I've kind of asked for advice before about like how much to start off asking for, and apparently companies being taken awhile to respond as a common thing.
Um, so the way I've handled it is just say, I'll get an email from somebody. Hey, we love your content. We'd love to send you out a few products. Uh, we want to see a post about this or whatever, and, um, I've just, I'm being open and honest as I can. I feel like that's the best way to handle it. And I was just saying, Hey, you know, because it's true.
I'm pretty busy lately. I haven't, I'm not really on it as much as I used to be because I have family of kids and stuff and the job. And so I'm like, Hey, I don't really have the bandwidth to take on any more partnerships right now that aren't paid partnerships. So if you want to discuss rates, that's something I would be interested in.
And by the way, And just being like, Hey, that's what it is. Um, or even if you have the time and be like, Hey, I'm only looking at paid partnerships right now. Um, this is what I'm looking for. And then, so a lot of the responses we'll get, I think it's kind of like a custom thing was like, oh, we don't have the budget for that.
And yada, yada we'll, we'll send you a product. That's it. And um, another one was different conversations where they replied. I'm like, yeah, that works for us. They agreed to the rate that I gave him. And like, we'll be in touch. And then like, that was it. I don't know. Like, and they're just like really legit stopped replying to my emails.
And so I can't explain why they're not replying, but I mean, I guess it is what it is. And, um, apparently their bus told them no. So. For me, I feel like we deserve at least like a closure on that. Like tell me what's going on. Why aren't you at least returning me and just saying, Hey, now we can't make that work.
Yeah. Close
[00:19:36] Jordan: the conversation out. Right. You
[00:19:37] Matt: can just kind of like leave me hanging and never hear from me again. I mean, I've gotten like one of the times I got a response saying, Hey, you know, we're not looking to do paid partnerships right now, but if you want, we'll send you out this product and see what you do.
See how we like it. And then maybe in the future we'll do something. And I that's something to me is like, okay, I'm not strictly in this for money. And so it's like, if at the end of the day, if I get something that I actually do need, or, you know, at the end of getting free stuff is still cool to me. I mean, absolutely couple of years ago I wasn't getting shit, you know?
So, um, I got, you know, I'll, I won't name names or anything like that, but I got like this cast iron skillet and I really fricking needed one. So they were like, yeah, we're not going to pay you, but you know, we'll send you this. Let's go that's my arm. Yeah. And I mean, I'm not going to get upset about it.
It's I'm not out here emailing people all the time. Like, Hey, pay me. Let's do this let's team up. I I'm not. So I'm not gonna get upset when people don't apply. It's irritating us for sure. It is almost like they're kind of wasting your time, like at least just tell me no, I don't, I don't understand that.
Whatever.
[00:20:44] Jordan: I think it would be probably fair to say that if, if you're looking to start working with sponsorships doing one or two freebies to kind of get used to it and figure out what is required of, it would be a pretty good idea. And then like you could extrapolate the hours and. How long it takes you to do certain things from there and then build kind of a, a budget.
Is that how you kind of decided what your rate was? Or did you just pick a number that you liked and throw it at them to see how it
[00:21:09] Matt: worked? I think that's a really smart way to do it. Um, so I've read, I can maybe send you the link. Um, if I find that there's, uh, a Korean. That, uh, wrote an article about it.
Um, she has her own website, barley and Sage, I believe is her page name. Um, she has actually a lot of, I think she has like story highlights where she talks a lot about creators, you know, um, doing paid ads, paid pucks partnerships and not accepting just free products. Talking about how companies take advantage of them and stuff like that.
Um, so I actually, I read her article and that was kind of like my wake-up call about this whole thing. Like why other companies can really, not everybody, because there are companies that are real small and there, there are people like us barbecue lowers, and it's trying to start their own thing. And so not everybody, I feel like can be lumped into that, but it's like, There's a good example of breaking it down.
Like, Hey, you know, she gave examples of she's like a professional photographer, at least compared to me, I'm like really great stuff. And so, and she has her own website. And so she talked about rates that she'll do. Um, she'll basically give them examples, like, Hey, if this is, if you want just a picture of, this is my rate, but if you want like a full thing with all the slides and a recipe, it's this much more.
So kind of like what you're saying is compare, what work are you putting in? And then what the final product is. And, um, and one thing I heard, like, just from other people is like a good, well, so I heard a couple of them, a couple of different things. One thing I heard was no matter how many followers you have, kind of do what you were saying, find what you think is worth it for how much work you put into it and ask for it.
Whether it's like a hundred bucks, whether it's 500. Whatever, like if you, if you put in so much work for it, you know, ask for your worth. So they said, no matter how many followers you have, and they were saying that they know people that are smaller accounts that are getting paid. So kind of what I, the advice that I took, I, they said something like, um, like if you have 8,000 followers, ask for 80 for a post, like a first single picture thing.
So I was like, okay, I didn't really know what I was doing. So I was like, I'll throw this out there. I asked for. 60, I think, cause I was around 6,000. I don't know. And then I told them, I'll do a video for a hundred because of obviously there's so much more work and it's nothing happens. It's like, even just that, that I think is probably on the smaller end, the, maybe what people are doing and it got quickly rejected.
So I think you just have to find the people who are, who understand that value and who are wanting to do it. And I think a lot of what you'll see is you'll get rejected at a turn is because everybody has. Um, campaign plan or send stuff out for free. We got these products, we're going to send it to them and they're just going to post it for us.
And that's just all they want. So if you find somebody who wants to build a relationship and you know, you can show the value that you bring and find a partnership. I think that's kind of, I think you're asking about how to, how to find those types of partnerships. I think it's important to start off with products you actually use and that you care about and or people that have that same type of goals that you do, or like raising cattle and.
Leanne, you want to help them out or it's a smaller local business, stuff like that. So I think starting off being genuine is really important being, um, not just reaching out to everybody in the world cause you want to get paid. That's probably the wrong do.
[00:24:22] Jordan: Yeah. The, I guess the most important thing then would be find people you want to work with, not products.
You want to use the company that you're going to have to deal with that company now. And if they were shitty to you the whole time working up to it, they're going to be shitty to you. If. As well, because now they're going to think they can make you do whatever they want, because there's a contract where you're creating stuff for them.
And if you like, if you want it to, you could give somebody the price and if they take it, you're like sweet. Okay, cool.
[00:24:55] Matt: But where's, they can do, to say no, or meet you in the middle of.
[00:24:58] Jordan: Exactly. So I think for anyone out there listening, the most important thing would be, find people that you want to work with, not products you want to use, because that's, that's how that relationship's going to be built.
You're, you're going to help with a product, but you have to work with those people in those companies to do it. And it's going to come out so much more authentic if you truly believe in the person and the company and the product altogether
[00:25:22] Matt: have. So one of my goals that like, when I realized that my. I never thought I was going to ever amount to anything with this.
Right. Like, I, I got, I got like 800 followers and I was just like, holy shit, I'm bad. I'm like, I'm hitting a thousand. I looked at my wife and I was like, I'm going to hit a thousand followers. I'm pretty sure. And which was crazy to me like mindblowing. And, um, so I got over a thousand, whatever. I think it was like later, a few months after that, where I was like over three or whatever.
And I was like, dang. I was like, okay, well, what can I do with this now? And I'm like, still figuring stuff out, whatever. And I was like, okay. I was like, I should really do my best to like partner up with some local companies, you know, like Fort worth, you know, help, help out this area, somebody. Okay. There was this a local butcher butcher shop that I went to, not all the time, cause they were pretty pricey, but they're really good quality stuff.
And during COVID they actually had a lot of really good deals. Like they would give discounts to the medical field and which was really important to me because my wife is a nurse and she had a really tough year with COVID and um, so I love that about them. Like they were really supporting their community.
And their meat was fantastic. It was great. I just couldn't go there all the time because it was not cheap. And, you know, I don't have, you know, money growing on trees in my backyard or anything like that. So, so I would mainly, I would mainly go there when they had really good deals, but then I would also get stuff to, to support them.
And, and so one day I was like, Hey, I just, I reached out to them and I was like, Hey, I I've been shopping with you guys over the past year. And I love what you've been doing in the community, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, this is my page. I've made it a mission. Um, since my count has grown larger than I expected to try and help out some local companies, like that's really important to me after a little bit of time, he reached back out and then like made an offer for like a partnership.
Pretty simple. It was like, Basically like money to use, to go buy. Like once a month, all I had to do was give him like one video a month. It was like, kind of like, uh, see how it goes kind of thing, like 50 bucks a month, pretty small, but like use 50 bucks to go buy a pre-product. So not even paid. And I was just like, Hey, that's, that's 50 bucks.
I'm saving and I'm going to help him out, which I believed in. And so I was like, cool. And then I like gave him a list of questions. Like how can I help sponsor you on Instagram? Cause. I want to be able to ask questions, are you going to be doing this blah, blah, blah. What's your goals and stuff. And I just gave him a list of question that he never replied back.
Like I never heard from him again. And on top of that, like, They have a Facebook group. They, so they're inactive on Instagram, which is obviously not good for me like that. They're not going to comment on anything. They're not gonna share my posts or nothing. So like that doesn't help anybody. And they just started acting kind of weird on Facebook, getting not to get into details, but getting political about stuff and like, which was a huge no-no for me.
It's like, I don't, I'm not going to go somewhere. And just because they're right or left or not go there because of. It's like at the end of the day, we're all same team. Like that's how I see it. And so, you know, it's not, but if you're being strictly against one side or the other and being really inappropriate about it, I had to end that.
So that was, that was really suck for me. Cause I was like, I love their stuff that, and I really wanted to work with a local company, but that kind of goes to what you were saying. You got to work with the people say if he did reply to me, I would have been. Anyways, because I was like, you know what? I don't want to be associated with somebody that's acting like this.
You know, like, you know, you're not just getting paid or getting free stuff. Working with these people and you want it to be the right fit. You want it to match what, what you're doing and what you,
[00:29:06] Jordan: and especially the way with like how the world is today with social media and you have to work with what aligns with your beliefs and your morals and everything now.
Like it's so obvious. Now, if someone is just doing something. Strictly for money. Cause they just, they don't understand what the company's doing and being shitty about on the other side, right? Like the consumer or the partners are a lot more liberated and empowered now to say, no, I'm not working with you because of this.
Like, we are able to just walk away from companies. If they start being crappy or doing things we don't believe in, like it used to, you used to not be able to do that because. So much money involved in things, or couldn't go somewhere because you left this company because they were, you thought they were bad and all of a sudden the employee is bad, but now we can go anywhere, start any business and work with anybody at any time because there's so many options now.
So working with what you believe in and what aligns with you is such an important piece these days. I
[00:30:04] Matt: think absolutely. You said that perfectly.
[00:30:06] Jordan: So we'll take a quick shift away from the partnerships. Cause I think you answered a lot of really good questions for the smaller accounts looking to get
[00:30:13] Matt: into it.
If anybody listening, if you ever have questions about this stuff, feel free to reach out. I am not an expert on it as you can tell, but, um, yeah. Let's, I mean, I feel like it's good. I think just to add one last thing about it is it's good to have, um, people you can go to, to seek advice from that's huge and that applies to everything.
So.
[00:30:32] Jordan: Yeah. And for everyone out there starting the accounts, or, you know, if you've been at it for a while, the biggest thing I think is talk to the people. You follow, talk to the people that follow you, you know, get in their DMS comment on stuff, start dialogues with them. Everyone in the community is super excited to talk and answer questions whenever they have the time to do it.
Like if you find someone who's like, Hey, stop messaging me. Just don't follow that person. Because
[00:30:55] Matt: then obviously, then that's proof they're not in it for that reason. No time for
[00:30:59] Jordan: that. Yeah. And like, that's the one thing I've found with this community. That's just been amazing is they will tell you literally everything they can, if they did something and worked well, they'll tell you step-by-step what happened, how to do it because they're not trying to hide it and keep it all for themselves.
You just have to, you have to get out there and talk to people because the only way to grow what you're doing, which then leads to more sponsorships is to be. Be real and be someone that people can relate to instead of just an account that's clearly trying to just grow for some reason.
[00:31:29] Matt: Absolutely. If you're, I, I, yeah, I couldn't say it better.
And to me that's actually people that I don't like associating with where it's like, it's, it's one thing to be in it for that. Like, I don't think it's wrong. To want to create a page where you're like, that's your work? That's your job. I don't disagree with that. Right? Like, that's not what I'm doing. I have a full-time job.
I don't really want this to be a main thing for me. But like, if you're doing that, that's cool. But if you're doing it in a manner to that, like, I don't know if you're doing it in the wrong way where you, you just seem so fake and you just seem so standoffish about it where you're just not a real person that is kind of where it's like, man, I don't know.
[00:32:05] Jordan: Yeah. That's not going to take you very far. For anyone starting out like zoo. And I ended up with a lot of spare time last April, because I'm assuming everything you did got shut down for a while, too. I worked in live offense and that just disappeared. Um, but anyone trying to start up an account now or kind of like really dig into it, aside from what we just talked about, what do you think are good ways for them to kind of grow and flourish there?
And reach more people. Yeah,
[00:32:33] Matt: that's a great question. So I I'm, I'm really curious what things are like for people starting now, because I know as you mentioned you and I, I think we were like, we were a COVID, uh, COVID production. Um, and then there's a hundred percent, a ton of people like, you'll see on their logo's established 2000 twenties established in 19.
So many people like that. And, um, I think w what I will say it does take a long time. To build relationships. And I think that is an underrated aspect of it. All. I know a ton of people will do a ton of different kind of annoying strategies. Like there are people who will heal, they'll just comment on your posts and they'll go like 10 of your posts and they'll comment and they won't follow you.
Right. And that, that is a strategy that I've seen. And like, they'll basically, they're just getting you to see them. They want you to go follow them and they won't even like follow you. I'm guilty of
[00:33:23] Jordan: that. I've done that. And it was like, that's shitty. I shouldn't do that. I mean, I, so I started following them at the same time, but then like they leave an actual comment, not just emojis
[00:33:33] Matt: and we can talk all day, man.
Um, so, so for me, like starting out, I was trying to figure out, I would just kind of do what people other people would do. And then I would be like, okay, If you're just, if you're being authentic with it, I think is important. If you're going on, like you're saying just emoji emoji. Oh, go check my page out, go check my page out, follow me, follow me that right there is what not to do.
Like when people message me I've lately, I'm a person I don't, I don't keep my opinions and my thoughts to myself very well, because when I, when I do that, it eats me up inside. And so I'm going to let you know how I feel. The inner I've decided recently life's too short for me to keep my mouth shut. Um, so why don't like you, you're probably gonna find out and, you know, that's just how it is, but if you're nice, then I won't be mean about it.
Um, but people messaged me like, Hey, great content, let's follow each other. Let's support each other. And I'll wait a few minutes after I see it, give them time to follow me and I'll go into their message and I'd be like, Oh, Hey, uh, thank you. Uh, that's interesting you say that because you're not following me.
It's like, because they're waiting for me to it. Agree to this follow for follow bullshit. And I'm calling people out with this. Think about what you're doing. Okay. Like I understand the social media is designed to warp your mind and that's why I take breaks from it. Uh, take a step back and see what the real world is because this whole, a lot of it is a game.
And I understand all that and it, it, it does warp your mind. I watched a documentary about it too. It's designed to make, to program you. And it works very well to dictating as shit, like, think about what you're doing, your messages. You're messaging me other in probably a ton of people and saying, Hey, follow me.
I'll follow you. Like, what is that? That's not even a real interaction. Like you're, you're interacting with people. Like as if they're just, I don't even know how to describe it like that to me is it doesn't mean it makes sense. And so people will comment, you know, go on. They'll just scroll and scroll and scroll.
I can comment or. Like follow hashtags. Like one thing I would, I used to do in the past where, you know, I follow hashtags and stuff is I would just scroll through like, like, and then our comment, or like, if it was something that I thought looked cool, I would like it. If it's something that was what really impressed by, you know, I would go and follow them.
And like one thing I, I didn't want to start off following a ton of people just to get followers because it's like, I want to actually follow people, pages that I am. You know, Dan see that content. Yeah. I don't want to like follow 5,000 people. Rich, truly follow a fifth of them. Uh, you know, like to me, it's like, I don't want that many posts on my phone.
Like, I don't have time for that. Like, that's, that's why I'll never get mad at people for not following me or whatever. Cause it's like, I'm not following 20,000 people. Like, you know, so there's so many people out in this world to follow. Um, so, so that was my that's. One thing I would do is I would scroll and just kinda, and I think I actually found.
Like when I had so much time in the world, I, I was see, I would do that. And people would follow me just from me liking their posts. I think, I think one thing that it works for bigger accounts as if they're doing that a smaller account will get alike and they'll go see who liked their posts and said, oh, this big account follow.
So they're going to follow you. And so I think that is a strategy. I mean, whether it's that's bad to do or not. I mean, there's nothing wrong with liking people's posts, but I'm going on there and commenting and just being fake, like, Hey, cool content, follow me. And you're copying and pasting that message that is like, you know, I'm not gonna even lie.
Look at your comment. And people will say, oh nice salmon. I make salmon all the time. Go check my page out and I'll be like, no, I'm good. Like you're coming on my post. Talking about, you think about that for a second. Like not everything's about. And, and I remind myself, I try to remind myself that all the time is like, if I ever get frustrated with, oh, this guy is not liking my post or this I'm not getting interactions.
It's like, you know, there's so many other people that they're following and they have their own life, you know? So don't make it all about you. And, and like you were saying earlier, there's really great people in this community who will support you and help you. And for me, I think unintentionally, I have grown a lot by just being part of the community.
I, um, you know, I got stickers pretty soon after my friend, my friend made me a logo. Um, without me even knowing it, like that's how unintentional I was for any of this stuff to happen. He made me a logo and I was like, whoa, I guess it's like official now. And that was not anything I ever pursued. He surprised me.
And I got stickers and I like posted about it. And I was like, let's drop, swap stickers, not even thinking anything of it. And I got ton of followers from it, I say at time, but you know, I don't know, a hundred or a couple hundred or whatever. And over time and looked at is just as a way of, of growing in the community.
Like it's and it's being real. Like there's nothing. Getting stickers. That's like spreading love, right? It's interacting. So things like that is like a natural way to grow and going live with people is huge because you know, you go live with a couple people and then a bunch of different viewers are start seeing you.
And like there's times where I hopped on with lies with people, cause I was invited to join or I did it with them and, and I'm just was doing it to hang out, have good time and I'll sign off. And I got like 15 follows because. I'm hanging out with people and all these people are joining it and you just get exposure.
So that at the end of the day, that's like, how do you get natural exposure without being an asshole? And that's, that's how you do it. And, you know, be real share people's posts. Um, I'm not going to go on every day and share every single post that I see. But like, if somebody. Really busting their ass off or like does something that really inspires me or I'm just like, shit, that looks so fucking good.
I got to share that, you know, stuff like that, you already know somebody is doing something really cool, you know, and just, and just being. Real genuine interaction and not focusing on yourself. It's huge. Like there's times where you're like, you know what, I need to help put the spotlight on other people because it's like, they're really doing good work in like, especially like smaller accounts than me.
Like, say, like we talked about earlier, you and I were on the same path and then numbers went my way and I, you know, my follower account got higher and it's like, And I look at you and you're like, you're doing great stuff too. There's amazing people who are, you know, just not getting lucky, like, um, cause I all say that about me.
It's like I'll I'll I posted something once some of my biggest posts that I've gotten is like, I wasn't even going to post it and it just like took off and I dunno, know what the hell is going on. I have, I have a post right now actually. Uh, we can talk about it if you want it. Yeah. Yeah, I posted it like six days ago.
It's just beef ribs with a knife on a cutting board, nothing special, like at all, it has like 140,000 impressions right now. The breed, the reach is like 130 K it's got me like 140 follows. Um, and you want to know the next highest number of impressions I have on a, and this is a picture on a. Is ADK. And that was my biggest ever, then the next one highest.
And that was 30 K. And my average is, could be like two to like five. Like I really don't have big reach at all. I never have, um, I'll get lucky and I'll get like 14 or what. I have no idea how it works. It's just a random, random luck. And so there's people who aren't getting that lucky or not using right.
Hashtags or posting at the wrong time. And so I think that's important to try and help them out. And that's a good way to build it. Builds your pages. Be real. Don't be an asshole show support, show people that you're part of this for the right reason. And if you're not trying to be on here to make friends because you have you're too busy, that's fine too.
Don't feel bad about that. Not everybody has time to go on here and just share everybody else's posts. I know people who they're barely on IgG to log in and post because there's just slammed, you know, and that's, that's fine too. And we've got to also recognize that and still support them. Like I know, um, you know, we're going to have a third baby in April.
I don't know what this page is going to look like for me, because you know, I'm just, you know, that's my world. That's my life that comes first before this. So I don't know if I'll have time to even cook, let alone get on here and post and try and support others. So that's something that I feel like we have to remember and help people out.
Even if they're not liking all your stuff all the time, too,
[00:42:08] Jordan: you're going to smoke some baby formula
[00:42:10] Matt: or what, there you go. That would be something.
[00:42:14] Jordan: Yeah. I think like a big part of the algorithm is definitely luck. Like the one real that I posted that you said you noticed took off for me. I just, I put a stake in a.
And literally did nothing else. And it's like, yeah, here's 200,000 impressions looking. Pardon me? Okay. And then I do like some big elaborate real it's looking at six, 600 views. I can
[00:42:36] Matt: hate that so much. So this was back when I was getting real frustrated before I had that, like a quote unquote epiphany that I talked about earlier.
I would put in so much time to like, trying to be like these recipe, building videos and like fancy editing and stuff, and it would get 500 views and I'm just like, what is happening? And he just like, whatever I was going to do shit. And, you know, try not to take up too much time. Cause some of it takes up time.
There's nothing you can do about it, but it's like, You really, you want to try and be smart about it and have like a strategy and a plan, but don't, don't get all up in arms when your shit doesn't work because it's happening to everybody.
[00:43:14] Jordan: Yeah. It's nothing personal. It's just mark Zuckerberg trying to maximize his profits.
That's all it is. You're in his game.
[00:43:20] Matt: Yeah. And it's, I dunno, man. It's, it's crazy. Have fun with it is the best and you need to have fun. Don't be nothing. You'll do good then
[00:43:30] Jordan: that's I mean, I feel like I should have led that question as what not to do, but, uh, yeah,
[00:43:35] Matt: really,
[00:43:36] Jordan: we covered that a lot too. Don't be shitty.
Don't be fake and just be a nice person, be you and be nice and cook some nice little,
[00:43:43] Matt: yeah. Nobody wants to help support an asshole. I'd want to follow the people that I just don't care for. I'm like, I'm not going to follow you anymore. You're like, there's a, I won't name names, but like there's people who will see.
Other people will still follow them and talk about them and stuff. And if I like, if they even just posting their story and it's just like, if somebody, I don't want to drop names politically and get into all that crap. But if somebody talks about a certain thing movement or whatever, anything that is could be controversial or whatever, cause politics in general is something I don't really talk.
Um, because I'm trying to focus on food and good vibes, positive positivity. I'm not going to unfollow them just because they're whatever they are, whatever their beliefs are. And, you know, I don't care, whatever. You're still a person and that's more important than anything than a whatever label, but like, Constantly spreading negativity and like just almost kind of hate and just, I just have no time or patience for that.
If you have a cause that is really important to you. Like you're that to me is a risk talking about something that people could disagree with. People, whether or not you're doing it right or wrong, people could unfollow you for it. So that's a risk in itself, but it's like, if you're doing it the right way, that's totally fine with me, but just don't be an asshole about it.
Like, come on,
[00:45:05] Jordan: like all comes back to, don't be an asshole. That's makes a t-shirt. How to start Instagram, don't be an ass.
[00:45:15] Matt: Yeah. And it's having, there is no right or wrong to bill your page and stuff. I mean, there's, there's like when we talked about earlier liking people's stuff, like it may seem like a weird way to do things too, but it's interaction.
It's not nothing wrong with it. And if you're doing that, you're doing, you're using that as a strategy for people to go to your page and clicks and stuff, go for it.
[00:45:42] Jordan: That's going to be the title of this episode is don't be an asshole that rose. Yes. Um, so I think just about wrap this up, you kind of alluded to it earlier with, you've got a third baby on the way, but do you have any kind of vision in the future for girl dad grills? Do you have anywhere you want to see this go or are you just riding the vibe?
[00:46:02] Matt: I think that's a good way to describe me in general, not even just what we're talking about. This whole social media stuff is the ride and the vibe. I don't know where I'm going. You know, I got my family. I, you know, I, I, I went to school and all that crap and I got a job, but you know, I couldn't tell you what I'm going to be doing professionally in five years.
I'm riding the vibe. Yeah. Cool that way. What is girl that girl's, uh, it looked like in five years in a couple of months, actually, I'm going to have a new name. I have a new handle name planned maybe in the next few weeks actually. We'll see. Well, you'll have to
[00:46:38] Jordan: let me know because I'll put this out after you change it.
[00:46:42] Matt: Yeah. Oh yeah. I'll let you know. I can tell you. See it right now. If this is going to be out after I change it. Uh, Matt. Isn't it Outback. Right. Um, so I've always kind of, so we're having a boy, so people always talk about, oh, if you have a boy who gets change your name. And I was like, I don't know if you're right or not, but it makes sense.
Like, I don't want my, my son to be like, oh, well you don't care about me. You just, you're just a girl, daddy. You're not boy asphalt. Even before that, when I didn't think we were going to have a third kid, this was a surprise for us. I, um, I, I was already kind of thinking like, you know, I don't want, I was like, there's so many dad accounts on here.
Um, and I, I came up with this name, not knowing that this page was going to jump off and I was, I picked girl guy grills. Cause I was like, they're my world. Right. That's all I could think of. Um, but yeah, I was kinda like, I want it to, I want to try and think of a name that matches what I'm doing and like my vibe and like how I am.
And so. It's just me, Matt, out back, I'm just out, back having a good time. And that's what it is. And so I feel like it has a good ring to it. And it's, as I said earlier, I'm not in this for free stuff and money and all that shit. Um, if I'm not stupid, if my page, my page has grown enough to start taking advantage of it, I'm going to take advantage of opportunities that come across me.
I mean, I would be an idiot not to, but my main purpose and that I always try to remind myself and I use a hashtag all the time to remind myself is. Why I'm in this in the first place is to learn how to cook better, um, grow and have a good time. Um, and so Matt Outback, I think kind of represents that.
[00:48:17] Jordan: That's awesome. I'm excited to see where that
[00:48:19] Matt: goes. Thanks. Um, and so, and what I see for, I mean, I think I've gotten asked this question before is like, I don't envision my page ever getting big enough to be like a hundred thousand followers or whatever it takes to be doing it full time. I know, I don't think I'll ever get good enough or.
I do love this enough to do it full time. I don't think that's what I want. Maybe catering would be cool, but at the same, like doing like a restaurant or like a food truck, that sounds like so much work. And I don't, I don't know. I don't, I personally don't think I'm good enough to do that. Like I, you know, I live in Texas, right.
[00:48:53] Jordan: There's a few people who can barbecue
[00:48:55] Matt: there. If I'm going to be selling barbecue, my shit better. Be good as hell.
[00:48:58] Jordan: Like don't you dare put anything other than salt and pepper on that beef.
[00:49:04] Matt: I mean, Texas barbecue is my favorite and it is what it is. But, um, yeah, like if, if you can go 10 minutes away from where I'm selling stuff and just get shit, that's amazing.
Like goalies barbecue is in the same town as me, basically it's on the opposite end. It's like 30 minutes at least the way. If people can go out and get the number one rated Texas joint, like in my area and I'm trying to sell stuff, I have to be good. And I, I don't know if I'll ever get that good. So I don't know.
I actually have gotten a request from, uh, like my wife's coworkers to make food for their pets. That was fun. It was nervous. I was nervous as hell. My wife took a leftover wings that I made once up there and one of her coworkers wasn't freaking out about it. And so she's asking me to make some wings for her.
So I'm going to start doing that. I mean, it's awesome. Just individual requests. If anybody arrests asked me to make something for them, I'll do it. Um, I think that'd be kind of cool. Maybe I see people all the time doing like Thanksgiving orders and Superbowl orders and. At the end of
[00:50:03] Jordan: the day, we all just want to cook for people.
Yeah, I, yeah. Great to cook for ourselves, but seeing someone else eat it, it's like, oh, that's the money shot right there.
[00:50:10] Matt: Rush. I get the urge to like, just smoke a brisket and I'm like, I'm not even hungry. I'm like, I just want to make a brisket. Somebody take it, come eat it and tell me it's good. You know,
[00:50:21] Jordan: that's it.
You make a, you make a brisket on a Monday. You're like, I got to eat this damn thing for a week now. I can't cook anything else. Cause I have so much food left over it's wasteful.
[00:50:28] Matt: But so I do have the, I do have that urge to, to sell, to make food for people. So I, I, I'm kind of conflicted. I don't want to like do all this work all the time, doing that.
At the same time I do. I don't know it. I don't know what I want. That's my answer. Right. And the vibe is a good way to put it. I like that.
[00:50:47] Jordan: Riding the vibe. That's awesome. I might, I
[00:50:49] Matt: might steal that and do it start using it in my
[00:50:51] Jordan: post. That's a new hashtag right there. Matt. . Let's go. Let's go. Well, man, thanks so much for chatting with me this morning.
I know you had to have a work call and stuff before, but thanks for taking the time out of your day to speak with me about this. Absolutely anytime, man. Thanks for having me on. Uh, so where can everyone find you? If they want to learn more about Matt,
[00:51:12] Matt: you can find me at Matt Outback as mat period out. Oh, UT period.
Back. Vack awesome.
[00:51:22] Jordan: And I'll link all that in the show notes there, and you have yourself a great day. Thanks again for chatting
[00:51:27] Matt: with me. Thanks, Jordan. Appreciate it.
[00:51:32] Jordan: That's it for my chat with Matt rose. It was great to sit down and chat with Matt because we've been following and interacting with each other since we both started this barbecue journey. So it was pretty awesome to just sit down and have a conversation with him. Messaging back and forth through DMS.
He's a great guy and you should definitely give him a followup mat Outback. That's Matt dot, dot back. He's got great content, hilarious videos and everything he cooks just looks amazing. There's two things that really stuck with me in this conversation. The first one, although it might seem obvious. Just don't be an asshole.
No one wants to engage with you. If you are rude or grumpy or unapproachable, and it's not going to help you grow your account. And it's certainly not going to help you build relationships with people within the community. The second thing is that you don't need to wait until you hit a certain milestone in order to try and get partnerships or generate income sources with.
If you're ready to start partnering with brands, just start putting feelers out there and talking to them, engage, start a dialogue, use their products, start tagging them. If they see the potential that working with, you can bring them in their business. They won't pay any attention to the follower counts.
That will just be a bonus for them. And this will help give you amazing experience for when you're dealing with bigger brands and larger deals. There's no time like now. So just start working on it, if you feel you're ready to do so, that will do it for this episode of influential barbecue. Thank you so much for tuning in this week, you can find links to everything we talked about today on the show notesPage@influentialbarbecue.com episode 0 0 5.
I'm always looking for feedback on this show from you. I'm sitting in my studio, recording in front of a black hole. So any feedback you give me will help me improve this show to bring you better episodes. So please shoot me an email@podcastatinfluentialbarbecue.com or send a DM to influential barbecue on Instagram.
If you enjoy the party. Please share it with those that you think would enjoy it and benefit from it as well. I'm Jordan Moore. You can follow my barbecue adventures at the backyard. Brisket. Thank you so much for listening. Happy new year. We'll see you next week and keep on grilling.