Latest / Tigs Bits Podcast / Austin Dennis Shares How To Build A Food Empire on Social Media!

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Austin Dennis Shares How To Build A Food Empire on Social Media! · Tigs Bits Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome back to Tigs Bits. We've got a killer episode lined
• 0:04
  up with a guy who's been tearing it up in the world of food
• 0:08
  content and social media. I'm talking of course about our
• 0:12
  buddy Mr. Austin Dennis. So if you've ever scrolled
• 0:16
  through TikTok or Instagram or caught yourself drooling over
• 0:20
  some next level backyard cooking, there is a good chance
• 0:24
  that you've seen his work. Austin has flat out mastered the
• 0:27
  art of making viral food videos, he's grown a huge audience, and
• 0:33
  he's turned his passion into a business.
• 0:36
  But what is his secret sauce? How does he come up with his
• 0:39
  ideas? And what is it really like
• 0:41
  behind the scenes of content creation?
• 0:44
  We're going to get all of that today, from the kitchen to the
• 0:48
  camera and everything in between.
• 0:51
  So grab a drink, settle in, and let's get into it with Mr.
• 0:56
  Austin Dennis right here on Tigs Bits.
• 1:08
  Austin, thank you so much for joining us, man.
• 1:11
  How are you? Good man, always good to hang
• 1:13
  out with you and it's Friday, so it's a good time.
• 1:15
  You can never go wrong. Can never go wrong.
• 1:18
  Well, it's it is good. Good to see you, man.
• 1:21
  And we number one to let everybody know we have recorded
• 1:26
  more than one show. We have done podcasts together.
• 1:30
  We've done lives and y'all can go to tigsbits and check all of
• 1:33
  that stuff out at tigsbits podcast on all the socials or
• 1:37
  just go to tigsbits.com and you can find that.
• 1:41
  So but the one problem that we've done Austin whenever we've
• 1:44
  done these is we like to talk. We're good at it and we just go
• 1:51
  on for way too long and it's too much to edit down into ATV show.
• 1:55
  So I'm like, let me call O Austin up and see if he wants
• 1:58
  it. We're going to probably do talk
• 2:00
  about a few things that we've already covered on some of those
• 2:03
  shows, but we're going to do it in a very structured environment
• 2:07
  today. And I think that is going to
• 2:09
  it's going to be good, man. It's going to be good.
• 2:12
  So yeah, dude. Well, let's let's just jump
• 2:16
  right into it. The first thing I want to ask, I
• 2:20
  think this is probably the best place that we could start to.
• 2:23
  What is the most important thing in the first 3 seconds of a
• 2:29
  video? You got to hook them.
• 2:32
  It doesn't matter. The same hooks not going to work
• 2:34
  every time. My my regular tagline that I
• 2:37
  use, it doesn't work every time. So sometimes that might be 5 or
• 2:40
  6 seconds into the video. A visual hook is the most
• 2:44
  important thing. It can't just be bland and it's
• 2:49
  hard to turn it on sometimes, but you, you got to play with it
• 2:52
  sometimes it's not so much of your hooks bad.
• 2:54
  The recipe just didn't resonate with people.
• 2:57
  Maybe the visual wasn't that good.
• 2:58
  So you'll you'll find yourself getting a little bit of analysis
• 3:01
  paralysis because you think it was what you cook and it might
• 3:05
  not have been. It might just be one of those
• 3:07
  videos that might not go viral and that's OK.
• 3:09
  Everything that you do is not going to go viral.
• 3:12
  If you get hung up on the views, it's just going to it's going to
• 3:16
  drive your engagement down because then it's going to be in
• 3:18
  the back of your mind and you're not going to be able to have fun
• 3:20
  creating content. So you just got to keep on
• 3:23
  looking at it, look at your data, see what works and just
• 3:26
  keep doing what works. That's that's the best advice I
• 3:28
  can give. I had a feeling you were going
• 3:31
  to say that, that that hook, I mean, it's the the Blues
• 3:35
  Traveler had a great song called Hook.
• 3:37
  The hook will bring you back and that's that's it every single
• 3:41
  time. If you don't have that hook,
• 3:42
  you're not going to watch it. I guess you kind of have to
• 3:44
  think how would you like when you watch videos, how do you
• 3:48
  watch what gets your attention? Is that kind of what started it
• 3:52
  for you of like I'm going to do what I see that catches my
• 3:57
  attention? That and just dive it in.
• 3:58
  There's a few people that I follow that know the insurance
• 4:01
  and outs of everything content creation.
• 4:03
  And there's one guy's name's Evan.
• 4:06
  I have to shoot you his page. He's got like incredible
• 4:08
  insights about things that are so important.
• 4:11
  It's like a scientist for for content.
• 4:15
  And he does really well. And I've applied most of the
• 4:17
  things that he puts on his channel and everything that he's
• 4:20
  ever said works. And it just keeps me from having
• 4:23
  to scroll through and get advice from everybody.
• 4:25
  I think that guy's, he's one of the best when it comes to how
• 4:28
  the algorithms changed. Do not do this, do this.
• 4:33
  The do's and don'ts of content. Those have helped a lot because
• 4:36
  you're putting a lot of time and effort.
• 4:37
  The last thing you want to do is be cooking for three hours and
• 4:41
  editing for two, and you get 500 views.
• 4:45
  If you're going to do it, it's more of quality over quantity
• 4:48
  for sure. Yeah, yeah, that totally,
• 4:51
  totally makes sense. What's 1 of the biggest mistakes
• 4:54
  that you think that you see new content creators making when
• 4:58
  they're trying to go viral? I talked about this last night
• 5:01
  on my Instagram story after me and you got through texting.
• 5:04
  There are a lot of people that see what other folks are doing,
• 5:07
  like the Brits Cooking of the World and other content
• 5:10
  creators. They think they can just come in
• 5:12
  because they have experience with videography or with cameras
• 5:16
  and things like that. They can just do a really good
• 5:18
  voice over. That's a very small percentage
• 5:21
  of content creators and you can't just pick up a phone and
• 5:25
  start making content expect if you do it the same way they do
• 5:28
  it, even if it's as visually appealing as when they do it.
• 5:32
  They have people that like them, not just the pretty shots that
• 5:36
  they create. So I found that a lot more
• 5:38
  people think that I'll just I'll start doing content.
• 5:41
  That's not the case. I'm glad that it happened for me
• 5:43
  by accident. I was just having fun, but that
• 5:46
  that that's my take on it for sure.
• 5:48
  Let's dive in. Let's rewind this back for just
• 5:51
  a second and kind of start back to where this all began.
• 5:55
  So what was the first video that really took off for you?
• 6:01
  You know, oddly enough, I was doing it was more of a skit.
• 6:05
  I did how different states eat crawfish and I had a different
• 6:09
  outfit, a different hat for each state, Arkansas, Alabama,
• 6:13
  Louisiana. And I knew that would probably
• 6:15
  get some people's attention, especially in Louisiana, because
• 6:18
  when I did the Louisiana part, I didn't suck the head.
• 6:20
  So I knew that was going to irritate people.
• 6:22
  A lot of times when I do videos, I intentionally do things that I
• 6:25
  know I'm going to get blasted in the comments for when people are
• 6:27
  like, oh, you're, you know, this, that or the other.
• 6:29
  And I'm like, yeah, I didn't mean to do that.
• 6:31
  I'll just let you have that one. But that was it.
• 6:34
  That that one hit 1,000,000 views in a couple of days.
• 6:37
  And then I learned from it how to apply that to cooking.
• 6:41
  So how can I make cooking fun? Because I was dry in the
• 6:44
  beginning. I was just talking to the
• 6:46
  camera. It was very scripted sounding.
• 6:48
  And my wife, even though she wasn't completely on board when
• 6:51
  I first started doing it, because this is different,
• 6:52
  right? It is hard to understand how
• 6:54
  your husband all of a sudden is going to start creating content
• 6:56
  from the Internet. But she told me she's like, if
• 6:59
  you could just act like yourself in these videos, I think it
• 7:02
  would help you. And it did.
• 7:03
  It was the best thing I ever did.
• 7:04
  So yeah, of course, I had some emphasis on my words and the
• 7:08
  things that I do. And it's probably a little bit
• 7:10
  elevated then if you were in my backyard, me and you were
• 7:13
  hanging out. But it's close, I feel like.
• 7:15
  So it's it comes a lot more natural.
• 7:18
  You have to have a bit of a of a voice like ATV voice, radio
• 7:22
  voice, whatever. I mean, it's just the same
• 7:24
  thing. Obviously you do this, you have
• 7:26
  to add extra emphasis at times or maybe take something back a
• 7:30
  little bit. But if you're just going to keep
• 7:32
  bringing it between the hedges just like this and you're going
• 7:35
  to put everybody to sleep. So yes, I get it And and you do
• 7:38
  an amazing job of that of you do a great job with the hook.
• 7:44
  That's obviously why you get millions of views on all of this
• 7:47
  stuff, but you're without always have a great hook and you're
• 7:49
  always different and you're authentic.
• 7:52
  I think that you can't put a price on authenticity at all in
• 7:55
  this game. That means a lot for sure.
• 7:58
  It's just the truth, brother, It's just the truth.
• 8:00
  How? How do you think your content
• 8:02
  has changed over time? It's a lot less planned out for
• 8:07
  sure. When I was a year ago, I kind of
• 8:10
  mapped out my week. Now it's basically, it may be
• 8:13
  this time of day and I say, OK, I'm going to run the Rouses, I'm
• 8:16
  going to make a dub real quick. You know, if it's a long cook
• 8:18
  for BBQ or brisket or something, obviously that that takes time
• 8:21
  to plan out. But a lot of times I just said,
• 8:23
  you know, I don't feel like making a big video.
• 8:26
  I'm going to make this cocktail, I'm going to make this dip.
• 8:28
  So it's not as planned. Now, especially with the
• 8:31
  business side, with the seasoning and stuff, I've kind
• 8:33
  of got to figure out how to keep my consistency going and keep
• 8:36
  rolling with views and engagement and make brands
• 8:39
  happy. But I've also got to have that
• 8:41
  balance to be able to have time to run the business and sell the
• 8:44
  seasoning because it's not going to sell itself.
• 8:45
  I hope one day I get to the point where it sells itself, but
• 8:48
  for now I mean word of mouth and me making phone calls is
• 8:52
  basically the catalyst for my seasoning.
• 8:54
  Yeah. Well, and I mean, that brings us
• 8:56
  to a great point. So obviously you have a
• 8:59
  seasoning. A lot of folks who who may be
• 9:02
  seeing this for the first time don't know who either one of us
• 9:04
  are, let alone where. Where can they find your
• 9:08
  seasoning and how did you get from where'd you go from where
• 9:12
  you used to be to how you are here to making seasoning and
• 9:15
  content? Tell us that story.
• 9:18
  So I was on the other side of this.
• 9:20
  I used to watch some of the big ones, Malcolm Reed, Cosmos, Q
• 9:23
  Heath Ryles Meat Church. If I was going to cook on a
• 9:27
  Saturday, I might pick up the phone on Thursday or Friday and
• 9:29
  start watching different recipes of how people do it.
• 9:32
  And then I will try to take little pieces of what everybody
• 9:34
  did. It was a lot of fun watching
• 9:36
  those videos too. I remember, like vividly
• 9:39
  remember how much I enjoyed watching how everybody does it.
• 9:42
  And then there was, there was so much satisfaction in me going in
• 9:44
  the backyard and doing something for the first time.
• 9:46
  And it turned out really good. Yeah.
• 9:49
  In the back of my mind, I was like, I'd be so cool to do that
• 9:51
  one day and have a seasoning, but it was a pipe dream at that
• 9:53
  point. So then once I built up a
• 9:56
  following, I realized that I'm promoting all these guys
• 9:59
  seasoning that I, you know, fangirl over years ago.
• 10:02
  And now I've got them a phone call away and I'm like, well, if
• 10:05
  they want me to sell their stuff, of course, if I do it the
• 10:09
  right way, I should be able to put my feet on the ground and
• 10:11
  try. So that's basically how the
• 10:13
  seasoning came to be. Yeah, and I can.
• 10:17
  I can attest, everybody, his seasoning is fantastic.
• 10:21
  Tell everybody. I mean it really.
• 10:23
  It really is. I love it.
• 10:24
  I need some more. By the way, tell everybody about
• 10:28
  them real quick and where they can find it.
• 10:30
  I got both of them out here. This is the this is the any
• 10:33
  reason seasoning this an all-purpose rub.
• 10:36
  Well, we're just selling the big bottles now.
• 10:38
  So it's a 16 oz shaker, 12 ounce net weight.
• 10:42
  Any reason seasoning is named for exactly what it is.
• 10:45
  I'm very literal, very specific. It goes on whatever you want to
• 10:49
  put it on and it's great. The nice and slow BBQ rub, I
• 10:53
  wouldn't say just think pork or chicken.
• 10:55
  I would say anything you're putting on the grill, whether
• 10:58
  it's a butt, whether it's burgers, it does have a little
• 11:02
  bit more of a sweet profile for your BBQ flavor.
• 11:04
  But the nice and slow is is more tailored for briskets and pulled
• 11:10
  pork, pork loins, things like that.
• 11:12
  But the any reason is definitely the the breadwinner of the two.
• 11:16
  But the nice and slow does does really well too.
• 11:18
  They are great guys. Go get them.
• 11:21
  Where can everybody look? I cook youlook.com.
• 11:24
  Go get them there. Was there ever a moment from
• 11:31
  when you started doing this until now that you flat out just
• 11:35
  wanted to quit? Yes.
• 11:38
  That. Happens about once a quarter,
• 11:40
  not quit, but it you get burnt out and it just gets old.
• 11:44
  But then you know, I've done it enough that when I get burnt out
• 11:47
  that I know that this week I maybe need to focus on sales for
• 11:51
  seasoning more than I do content and recycling.
• 11:54
  We talked about this on a different podcast I did with
• 11:57
  you. Man, when you get burnt out like
• 11:58
  that, go find some older content.
• 12:01
  You maybe didn't edit content as well back then.
• 12:03
  Re edit it, do it a different way, put it out there and take a
• 12:06
  break for a few days. Yeah, that totally makes sense.
• 12:10
  I know that I've had to do that on my end too.
• 12:12
  Cuz you 10, you just say it is a grind no matter, no matter what.
• 12:17
  It's a lot like being on Saturday Night Live or
• 12:19
  something. You're only as good as your last
• 12:21
  sketch. You're only as good as your last
• 12:23
  video. And it's like, okay, when's the
• 12:26
  next one coming? Yeah.
• 12:27
  Hey man, I just need a break. Just give me a second.
• 12:31
  There's a big gap sometimes in between your last viral video.
• 12:34
  You might do a bunch that don't do great and it feels good when
• 12:37
  you finally go viral. How does filming a recipe change
• 12:40
  the way that you cook? Filming it, it's definitely more
• 12:43
  work. It's more you know you got to
• 12:45
  think 3 or 4 steps ahead rather than when you're in the backyard
• 12:48
  cooking just for your family or for your friends.
• 12:51
  But definitely it's a sigh of relief when I get to cook and
• 12:55
  I'm not being, you know, pressured with filming.
• 12:58
  Cook last night, cook some steaks.
• 13:00
  And it's so fun for me now to, you know, I'm thankful for this
• 13:03
  platform, all the platforms I'm on.
• 13:06
  I'm thankful for the engagement, the people that follow along.
• 13:09
  But I have a passion for cooking.
• 13:11
  I'm not as passionate when I've got that camera involved, when
• 13:14
  I'm just one with the grill. I know that sounds really corny,
• 13:17
  but it's it's just, it's like my it's my drug.
• 13:22
  That's what I do, and that's what kind of resets me and
• 13:24
  grounds me. So yeah, it's a big difference.
• 13:28
  When you got a camera you saw me film once, you could see it
• 13:30
  looks like a circus compared to what actually comes out in that.
• 13:34
  Yeah, it's very. True.
• 13:35
  That is very true. I've been able to witness the
• 13:38
  insanity of the behind the scenes with Austin and it and it
• 13:42
  is, you know, it's film something to this God.
• 13:46
  Oh my God, I got to go get this. I didn't have this ingredient,
• 13:48
  right. I got to go and then film again.
• 13:51
  And then, yeah, it isn't just like you're cooking a steak or
• 13:54
  you're just cooking on the grill, which is what I love to
• 13:57
  do. And I've noticed that some of
• 14:00
  the stuff, as I've been filming, a little bit of food content and
• 14:03
  some cooking stuff, I'm like, this is a lot easier when you
• 14:06
  ain't rolling a camera. I mean, it's so.
• 14:10
  Much easier it is it's like you you feel like it's it's kind of
• 14:14
  the the comparison to when somebody stares you kind of
• 14:18
  while you're working it's the camera staring at you so your
• 14:21
  your your subconscious kind of starts wearing on you like I'm
• 14:25
  being watched like I have the power to edit this but.
• 14:27
  They are are. They're looking at your.
• 14:30
  How? How bad am I sweating?
• 14:31
  How how dirty is your Brill is it?
• 14:33
  Yeah, and that's been a hang up for me.
• 14:36
  I'm like, oh man, I'm going to get crucified with my grill.
• 14:39
  Just crucified with it. Not because it's just banged up.
• 14:42
  It's been used, but I don't really care.
• 14:45
  It doesn't bother. Hey, that could be a part of the
• 14:47
  gimmick A. Good thing, man, it's sometimes
• 14:50
  welcome that like, you know, if your grill's too clean, somebody
• 14:54
  will probably say, have you ever cooked on your grill's too
• 14:57
  dirty? They say to you ever clean your
• 14:58
  grill. So if it if it gets enough
• 15:00
  traction, somebody's always going to have.
• 15:02
  Something What would you say is it?
• 15:03
  What's a dish that you love to cook when no cameras are
• 15:07
  rolling? Like no cameras.
• 15:12
  I would probably say a brisket. I like to cook a lot.
• 15:15
  I like to do a longer cook anything occasion.
• 15:18
  Pork and sausage gravy, we're actually cooking in Prairieville
• 15:20
  tomorrow at Galvez Hardware. So pork and sausage gravy,
• 15:24
  that's my go to. It's easy.
• 15:26
  You can feed a lot of people. Cajun cooking's not nearly as
• 15:29
  complicated for those that are outside of Louisiana that watch
• 15:32
  it. So if you ever do feel
• 15:34
  passionate about cooking something different, follow a
• 15:36
  few recipes, mine or anybody else's you see out there.
• 15:39
  It's not as hard. I agree with that totally.
• 15:42
  I've learned a lot. I've learned stuff from you.
• 15:43
  I've learned from Brit how all everybody that is a food
• 15:49
  influencer in the state of Louisiana, there's a lot the
• 15:52
  Cajun ninja, you know, there's just a lot of a lot of great, a
• 15:55
  lot of great cooks, stale cracker, all these stuff.
• 15:58
  But I think one thing and I I've I was watching our podcast with
• 16:04
  Brittany Camille and she kind of went into it and talked about it
• 16:08
  a little bit. The one thing in Louisiana that
• 16:11
  everybody is kind of kind of gets on to each other a little
• 16:16
  in a way, like I'm better than you and we do it this way and
• 16:19
  almost overcomplicates things. A tinge that makes it like it.
• 16:24
  It ain't that hard. You can just simply buy some of
• 16:26
  Austin's rubs. They're not hit and you do have
• 16:30
  a fuel tail. I'll let you reveal your
• 16:31
  surprise, but you know, you can buy some of Austin's rubs, watch
• 16:35
  some of his videos, use that stuff, do what he says and
• 16:38
  you're going to have a hell of a meal.
• 16:40
  You're going to have a great meal.
• 16:42
  And the same with all of these others.
• 16:43
  But sometimes you can watch some of these content creators and I
• 16:47
  think that they way over complicate this stuff.
• 16:52
  It's like you don't have to drag the video on to tell us more
• 16:56
  about smoked paprika, you know? Yeah.
• 17:00
  And I would say Cajun cooking, and this is not a slight
• 17:03
  occasion cooking because everybody knows it's really
• 17:06
  probably the best in the, if not in the world, in the country.
• 17:09
  It it really is simple. I think those recipes are all
• 17:13
  derived from, you know, let's keep it simple.
• 17:16
  Let's feed our family all of the the different gravy recipes you
• 17:20
  can make, whether it's pork steaks, pork and sausage,
• 17:23
  chicken and sausage jambalaya, these these.
• 17:26
  The way you cook these dishes isn't overly complicated.
• 17:30
  It brown your meat a certain way.
• 17:31
  You got to make sure you don't pull that too quick to get all
• 17:35
  that goodness in the pot for flavor.
• 17:36
  But other than that, like it, I would say it's it's it's one of
• 17:40
  the most simple things to cook once you Start learning.
• 17:43
  I mean, I you got to have the equipment.
• 17:45
  That is one thing that I learned pretty quick.
• 17:47
  Like you making those rice and gravies and those things.
• 17:50
  You have a magnolite type pot or McGuire or whatever.
• 17:54
  An aluminum pot. Like that thing is magic to that
• 17:59
  type of food. For whatever reason, it just
• 18:01
  works better. Yeah.
• 18:05
  It is, it is unless you I don't have my sink has a divider in
• 18:09
  it. So the big one, it's kind of is
• 18:11
  not almost have to go outside with a water hose to clean that
• 18:15
  big one out. But but yeah, you got to have
• 18:17
  those. And last question before we take
• 18:19
  a break, what is one food trend that is out there that you
• 18:24
  refuse to try or make a video of, I guess?
• 18:32
  I would probably say party ribs. I get it.
• 18:35
  You can cook them quicker. They were a big trim last year.
• 18:39
  I just, I'm not in a hurry. I'll cook my ribs the way I do
• 18:44
  them. It takes me 3 1/2 four hours.
• 18:47
  Probably could cut down on that time.
• 18:49
  I've just never gotten to where I've got to cook and I'm going
• 18:51
  to rush. So like party ribs seems cool.
• 18:54
  Cut them up, cook them quicker. But like I said.
• 18:57
  I feel the same way. And I've never had fried ribs or
• 19:03
  party ribs that we're like just fall off the bone and saying
• 19:08
  good. Like you can get them if you
• 19:10
  cook them a little slower, wrap them, whatever you want to do to
• 19:13
  get them. But yeah, I agree.
• 19:15
  That's a good one. That is a good one.
• 19:18
  We're going to talk about the science of Austin's social media
• 19:23
  growth and get the real strategy from him right now on how he's
• 19:27
  gained followers and has gotten the engagement.
• 19:31
  I think this is probably the meat and potatoes, no pun
• 19:33
  intended, that everybody was wanting to get to in this show.
• 19:38
  So how do you how do you decide what platform to focus on?
• 19:45
  TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube?
• 19:48
  How do you how do you make that decision on where to focus?
• 19:53
  I I focus on all of them. I probably comment on Facebook
• 19:58
  and YouTube less than any other platform.
• 20:02
  Commenting back to your videos, when people comment like in
• 20:05
  their comments, that goes a long way for engagement, and there's
• 20:08
  something built in the algorithm to reward that for a creator.
• 20:12
  But no, there's not a specific strategy.
• 20:15
  I post everything that I'm that I'm making.
• 20:17
  If I stay under a minute and a half, it can go on Facebook,
• 20:20
  Instagram and TikTok. If it's 60 seconds, I'll put it
• 20:23
  on YouTube Shorts or I'll edit the video down.
• 20:26
  That'll be a shorter version for YouTube.
• 20:28
  But you know, you're already making the content.
• 20:30
  It doesn't make any sense to not put it across all platforms.
• 20:33
  You know, I think now Facebook we're, you know, 360 something
• 20:38
  1000 tik toks like 412 or whatever, and then Instagrams at
• 20:43
  282 or whatever. Like that's a lot of numbers
• 20:45
  when you have more of that together.
• 20:47
  So it'd be crazy to have content and not even put.
• 20:50
  It out, Yeah, totally. We do the same on the show.
• 20:53
  We put it out, out everywhere, engage a little bit differently
• 20:57
  on the different platforms, you know like on Facebook it's
• 21:00
  definitely different. We have a different crowd our
• 21:02
  show does over there than we do most other places.
• 21:06
  So I find I wanted to ask that because I find it interesting.
• 21:09
  And don't you wish that YouTube would just make theirs a minute
• 21:12
  and a half? Wouldn't that make life so easy
• 21:14
  for everybody? Yes, yeah.
• 21:17
  And I also wish that their format was the same as Instagram
• 21:21
  and TikTok and Facebook, because you got to record completely
• 21:25
  different. You know, you've got the 9 by 16
• 21:27
  on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, and you've got the 16
• 21:30
  by 9 ratio for YouTube, and there are people out there that
• 21:34
  have tripods and two cameras and all that.
• 21:37
  But it just seems overly complicated.
• 21:39
  I'm not going to say I'm never going to do that in the future
• 21:41
  because I I need to, but at least successful platform for
• 21:47
  sure, yeah. I think it's tough, it's tough
• 21:48
  to grow over there. It's just harder to get eyes on
• 21:51
  it as as much as it is some of the other ones.
• 21:55
  What's a small tweak that can instantly make a video perform
• 22:00
  better? That's tough.
• 22:06
  I wouldn't say there's necessarily like one or two
• 22:08
  things that you can do. I would like to tell people
• 22:11
  that, you know, this isn't for everybody and I don't mean that
• 22:14
  from an arrogant standpoint, but don't just wake up one day and
• 22:19
  say I'm going to start making content and expect that it's
• 22:21
  going to work out. We kind of talked about that in
• 22:22
  the beginning, but have confidence, be self aware.
• 22:27
  If if you're good at it, you'll know.
• 22:29
  They'll let you know for sure and, you know, just try to have
• 22:34
  fun with it and, you know, follow people like I do that
• 22:37
  give you the keys to the Kingdom on how to, you know, stay with
• 22:40
  new trends and algorithms, how this is working, how to how to
• 22:43
  really set your hooks up. Because I learned a lot of this
• 22:47
  on the back end after I figured it out.
• 22:49
  And I'm like, oh, well, I'd do that.
• 22:50
  I wish I'd have known that, yeah.
• 22:53
  Exactly, exactly that that is a question that I do have for you
• 22:59
  is what is something that you wish that you would have done
• 23:02
  differently from the day one to to now?
• 23:05
  What is something that if you could go back and tell Austin
• 23:08
  Dennis first video, you need to do it like this, what would you
• 23:12
  say? Number one, I would say loosen
• 23:16
  up and just be yourself. And I talked about that earlier
• 23:19
  how I finally started just being myself in videos and I didn't, I
• 23:23
  didn't post on Facebook or Instagram until I was like
• 23:25
  almost a year in and people would send me all these friend
• 23:28
  requests. I'm like, this is my personal
• 23:30
  Facebook. I'm not going to be your friend.
• 23:32
  And then I had to get somebody to tell me, like, how do you,
• 23:35
  how do I set this up where people can follow me?
• 23:37
  And Facebook and Instagram grew really quick because I could
• 23:40
  pick and choose out all my viral videos, which ones to put out
• 23:44
  there. So they, they both grew to
• 23:46
  100,000 I feel like in a couple of months.
• 23:49
  So I wish I'd have gotten on there in the beginning because
• 23:52
  obviously I was on TikTok first, my biggest followings over there
• 23:55
  with over 400,000. I'd probably be closer to those
• 23:58
  numbers on, on Facebook and Instagram too.
• 24:00
  But it's like 2020, man. You just got to, you got to do
• 24:04
  your best to be proactive and kind of try to stay ahead of
• 24:07
  stuff like that in the future. And I feel like I did a little
• 24:08
  bit better job now. That's good.
• 24:10
  That's that's perfect. What do you think's more
• 24:13
  important views? Watch time or engagement views.
• 24:19
  Views, because views are the tell all at the end of the day,
• 24:23
  if the views are up, your engagements up.
• 24:25
  If if the views are up, then you did a good job with the video,
• 24:29
  unless it's that one off video that everybody really hated.
• 24:33
  That's probably not going to grow you a lot of followers.
• 24:36
  But hey, look, the brands care about views at the end of the
• 24:39
  day, obviously engagements tied to views, but that's that's the
• 24:44
  main thing. Like if you're going to go into
• 24:45
  business and do this like I have, you're putting yourself
• 24:48
  out there and it's a, it's a, in a sense, it's a job interview
• 24:51
  for a brand constant. So you've got to remember that
• 24:54
  when you're putting content out, stay the hell away from politics
• 24:58
  and just do yourself. That's it.
• 25:01
  I will. One last question we'll wrap up
• 25:03
  here because you just you couldn't have lobbed that up for
• 25:06
  a better softball because when we come back, we're going to
• 25:09
  talk about business. But what is your biggest advice
• 25:12
  for someone that's trying to grow from zero to 10,000
• 25:16
  followers? Consistency, you just got to
• 25:21
  keep being consistent, you know, and you got to evolve quick.
• 25:24
  If it can't be, I learned something in a month and I
• 25:27
  finally did it. If it's not working, don't keep
• 25:30
  on throwing. You know what at the wall, see
• 25:32
  what sticks. Try something else.
• 25:34
  Don't be hard headed. Don't be the less miles of
• 25:36
  content creation. 3 yards, yes, and a cloud of dust.
• 25:40
  Because that's why he's no longer coaching college.
• 25:42
  Football, that's exactly right. I think that is fantastic
• 25:45
  advice. We're going to dive into the
• 25:48
  business of being a content creator.
• 25:52
  We're going to see how Austin or learn how Austin has turned
• 25:55
  content creation into a full time career right now.
• 25:59
  So first of all, Austin, let's just jump right off into how do
• 26:05
  you decide which brands you want to work with, Number one, and
• 26:10
  we'll answer that after you say, how do you get to a point where
• 26:14
  you start to work with brands because we know that you are,
• 26:18
  but how do you get to that point?
• 26:21
  Well, I was filling all of the the calls and emails from
• 26:24
  different brands in the beginning by myself and I didn't
• 26:26
  want to get an agent. I've been told by several people
• 26:29
  that I should, so I negotiated all my rates.
• 26:33
  Fast forward to now, I've had an agent for about a year and I was
• 26:38
  negotiating what I felt like was a very good rate to do videos
• 26:42
  and I was a way. So that helped.
• 26:46
  And I think like picking and choosing brands, obviously if
• 26:49
  they fit my content, it's good. And I'm, I'm fortunate enough
• 26:53
  doing the cocktails and doing the cooking and the dips.
• 26:57
  I have a little bit more of AI, have a broader spectrum of
• 27:00
  brands that I can do stuff for. The Chevy thing was why I didn't
• 27:03
  expect to do something like that.
• 27:04
  But the style of the way I was doing my content resonated with
• 27:08
  somebody from GM that liked it. So I was fortunate enough to do
• 27:12
  a couple of videos for them. But it it's easier to pick and
• 27:16
  choose when the ones that will pay you what you deserve because
• 27:23
  they're brands you want to represent anyway.
• 27:25
  Nobody's coming in with a big budget unless they're a well
• 27:27
  known brand. Those, the small companies,
• 27:30
  they're going to pay you peanuts to do a video for them.
• 27:32
  And I just, I have to stay away from those because I've I've
• 27:35
  never turned. Well, that's where that kind of
• 27:37
  leads into. My next question is, have you
• 27:38
  ever turned down a brand deal and if so, why?
• 27:43
  Turn down brand brand deals 3 or 4 times a week.
• 27:48
  Either budget problems or sometimes their deliverables are
• 27:53
  too much like they they think that they know better than I do
• 27:57
  for content and they want it to be too ad like if they don't
• 28:00
  give me somewhat of creative freedom, you know, money's
• 28:04
  great, but at the end of the day, I want to represent the
• 28:08
  people that follow me too. And if it, if it, you know, I'm
• 28:10
  not selling tampons, you know what I mean?
• 28:13
  Or, or, or tights, you know, I get, I get all these emails all
• 28:17
  the time to promote like fitness stuff and like fitness
• 28:22
  supplements. And I'm like, have you ever
• 28:24
  seen? Obviously the answer is no,
• 28:26
  you've never seen my content. Daddy's not going to the gym
• 28:28
  everyday and I'm not taking supplements to stay fit.
• 28:33
  So yeah, it's a lot of weed and all that out.
• 28:35
  But I've got a great manager. If anybody ever wants to reach
• 28:39
  out, go to my website, hit me in an e-mail.
• 28:41
  I'll be happy to send her your information.
• 28:43
  But she we have a really good working relationship and I'm I'm
• 28:47
  lucky. That's awesome.
• 28:48
  What if? What's the What's the biggest
• 28:51
  lesson that you think you've learned from sponsorships?
• 28:58
  Every single, every single brand video that you ever put out is a
• 29:02
  job interview essentially. So don't take the check and get
• 29:05
  all happy and just go out there and throw a video together.
• 29:09
  Now that they have to, you got to submit a concept to them.
• 29:11
  Even after you sign a contract, they've got to approve it.
• 29:14
  They can ask you for a reshoot if they're not happy with the
• 29:17
  content. But just remember, every time
• 29:19
  you do a video for a brand, you want those numbers to look good.
• 29:23
  So don't just grab that check because it might be the last one
• 29:27
  you ever get, especially from them.
• 29:29
  But yeah, that's the those are the videos that are a little
• 29:33
  more tense around here. Those are the videos where I
• 29:37
  don't need anybody around me. I need to lock you in because
• 29:40
  this is this is my future. You know, it's it's what puts
• 29:44
  food on the table. So you got you got to do it
• 29:47
  right. You only have one shot.
• 29:48
  So. How do you develop like a one of
• 29:52
  those spots that you're going to do like what's your creative
• 29:55
  process to to figure out what they're looking for?
• 30:01
  They'll seem like if it's a 4th of July campaign or if it's a
• 30:06
  new product they're launching, kind of what they're talking
• 30:08
  points are that they're promoting.
• 30:10
  And then you've got to got to figure out how to get through
• 30:13
  all that and make it fits you and it be organic without
• 30:19
  sounding like you're plagiarize of what's on their website.
• 30:23
  I enjoy that. That's the fun part about it.
• 30:25
  I'm not a songwriter, but I always say when I'm giving a
• 30:28
  brand a concept that's like my songwriting, I've got to figure
• 30:31
  out, read through all the stuff that they want, and then I got
• 30:34
  to figure out how to morph that into what I do.
• 30:37
  So not only does it get good views, but it makes them happy.
• 30:41
  They work with me and they won't make.
• 30:43
  Sense. Makes sense.
• 30:45
  What's one thing that people don't realize about making money
• 30:51
  as a creator? As far as what?
• 30:56
  Just anything, I guess it they, what was something that they
• 30:59
  don't realize maybe, I guess how hard it is for number one that
• 31:03
  it, it is. But to be able, I guess probably
• 31:07
  I can maybe answer that if how, how, how hard it is to make a
• 31:10
  living from it to start to get paid from it.
• 31:14
  We're on the the beginning stages of that journey where
• 31:18
  you've been in that journey, you know, you've gone through the,
• 31:22
  which is why you're a great person to have us to, for us to
• 31:25
  be able to talk to, to get ideas to understand what's going on.
• 31:29
  So I guess what is I think a better question would be what is
• 31:34
  something that is surprising about being a content creator
• 31:38
  and making money that people would be surprised about?
• 31:42
  Like what's? There I, I just think there's a
• 31:46
  lot more that's going on behind the scenes that people would
• 31:48
  ever realize. There's way more phone calls,
• 31:52
  there's way more pitches that my agents do in the brands and a
• 31:55
  lot more that goes on that people would never know.
• 31:58
  And you know, people ask me sometimes in my lives, hey man,
• 32:01
  what do you do for work? And most of the time I don't
• 32:04
  answer. I say something stupid because
• 32:06
  it's like, you know, I do a lot, but I, I mean, if you got 30
• 32:09
  minutes, I can tell you. But it's not just turning on
• 32:11
  this camera. Right, exactly, exactly.
• 32:14
  That's a great answer. All right, Austin, let's talk
• 32:17
  about the science of seasoning and your cooking content, how
• 32:23
  seasonings and all of the unique food ideas help you to get this
• 32:28
  viral success. What is your go to seasoning
• 32:32
  combo for any dish that you make?
• 32:36
  Pretty much. Well, the low, the low hanging
• 32:40
  fruit would be both of mine. But obviously when you're doing
• 32:42
  Cajun cooking or you're doing certain things that I haven't
• 32:46
  launched seasonings for yet, that'll be down the road in the
• 32:48
  future. I love Malcolm Reed's
• 32:50
  seasonings. Killer hogs, his state, rub his
• 32:52
  brisket, rub his AP Everything in his lineup is good.
• 32:57
  So I would say there's nothing that he has that won't fit
• 33:01
  something that you're cooking. He's the only person that I
• 33:04
  really represent. But you're a smaller brand, a
• 33:06
  little Cajun company like Cajun Kick.
• 33:08
  I've done some videos for him. I'll plug Ritz cooking in there
• 33:11
  because I like her. But really from the affiliate
• 33:15
  side, Malcolm's is the only one that I use with Killer Hogs.
• 33:18
  But my Any Reason seasoning, I mean, even if you're pairing
• 33:22
  another seasoning with it, there's nothing you can put that
• 33:25
  seasoning on that it won't come. Yeah, I agree 100%.
• 33:30
  That dude, that dude's got it going on.
• 33:33
  He's got it right for sure. What's What's a seasoning that
• 33:39
  people overuse or use the wrong way?
• 33:45
  Tony Sackers. For sure, I agree.
• 33:48
  I mean, but that looks some people like, I would say it's
• 33:51
  probably the older group from Louisiana.
• 33:54
  They grew up with that heavy salt, heavy sodium taste.
• 33:57
  You're not going to adjust those taste buds to me.
• 34:01
  I mean, I don't even have Tony's in my cabinet.
• 34:03
  Like it's just stop for me, you know?
• 34:05
  So probably Tony's. I think people just get carried
• 34:10
  away with salt in general. With seasonings you don't have
• 34:13
  to have that much salt to make it taste.
• 34:16
  Good, right, Right. I think that I think using salt
• 34:20
  after is always a better approach.
• 34:22
  Like I like to get my food to a point of where it's just right.
• 34:27
  But I always can be like like a gumbo, like it could, it could,
• 34:32
  it could use a little more salt. But I know that whenever it
• 34:34
  cools off and the next day, if you add salt to that, at that
• 34:38
  point, the next day it's going to taste like salt water
• 34:42
  basically, you know, So it's a it's a fine line.
• 34:45
  It is a fine line, but. And I've told people this
• 34:48
  before, too, like growing up in Alabama, it may be a little
• 34:51
  different, but you may remember this when you were a kid.
• 34:53
  We had salt and pepper on the table.
• 34:55
  So if something was under seasoned, I mean, it was
• 34:58
  typically going to be salt or pepper.
• 35:00
  You know, just don't over season it.
• 35:02
  You got a chance to fix that at the end.
• 35:04
  Don't don't make it taste like a salt block.
• 35:07
  You can't. It's not like you're going to go
• 35:09
  figure out how to take the saltiness out of the food.
• 35:11
  It's true, you can't. You can't rewind that whenever
• 35:15
  you if you screw it up, you can't do it back.
• 35:18
  God knows I've messed stuff up in my life and made it too
• 35:20
  salty. But I think that I think you're
• 35:23
  right. I think that that that's a,
• 35:24
  that's a good one. That's a good one.
• 35:27
  That happens to me when I'm using like a different Cajun
• 35:30
  seasoning that I hadn't used because I I bought it.
• 35:32
  I know how much to put on my meat, but some of them are just
• 35:36
  way more potent than others, so you've got to.
• 35:38
  That's why it's good to stick with just a few go to's because
• 35:41
  then you learn like this. I don't need to measure this
• 35:43
  out. Exactly, exactly.
• 35:45
  You learn how to use your any reason season and you know
• 35:48
  exactly how much to put on whatever it is that you're going
• 35:51
  to use that for, and you learn. I love that stuff.
• 35:55
  What is the weirdest but best food experiment that you've ever
• 36:00
  done? Calcum.
• 36:06
  Yeah, we did calcum about six months ago, and luckily for me,
• 36:11
  my father-in-law did the whole process of cleaning and getting
• 36:14
  it ready and everything, so I just had to cook it texturally.
• 36:19
  If I didn't know it was calcum, the texture thing wouldn't
• 36:21
  bother me. I'm not a texture person that
• 36:23
  that kind of stuff doesn't typically bother me.
• 36:24
  But just because I knew it was a tongue, it took a couple of
• 36:27
  chews to figure that out, but it was, I mean, I would say it was
• 36:30
  like the texture of a good. Yeah.
• 36:33
  So did you. It's not.
• 36:36
  There's no flavor to it. It's just whatever you put in
• 36:38
  it, that's. I've had it tastes like roast.
• 36:40
  This tastes like a roast to me. I mean, how did how did you cook
• 36:43
  it? We just we.
• 36:46
  I did a like a reverse sear on the grill.
• 36:49
  I cooked it to a certain temperature.
• 36:51
  I've only done it once so I'd have to go back and look at how
• 36:53
  I did it and what the internal. Cooked it like a steak.
• 36:55
  Just got it to a start. You cooked it kind of like a
• 36:58
  steak. OK, pretty much.
• 37:00
  Yeah, I believe that the temp that everything was pointing to
• 37:04
  was higher than a steak, so it wasn't like rare or anything,
• 37:08
  but but it was good. Everybody that was eating it was
• 37:11
  shot, including me. I'm like, you know, I would
• 37:14
  never do this. I can see how this would be good
• 37:16
  if you were, you know, pour on the farm years ago.
• 37:19
  Let's use every bit of this cow that we can and it makes sense.
• 37:22
  But no cap cow tongue won't be added to the Arsenal over.
• 37:26
  Here you're good for sure. Yeah, I'm good, I'm good.
• 37:30
  I'll cook hot dogs before. They can.
• 37:32
  You tell when a video is going to do well just by looking at
• 37:37
  the recipe. I wouldn't think it you could
• 37:43
  either. I'm always surprised.
• 37:45
  Most of the time I'm surprised when stuff goes viral.
• 37:49
  It's true that now there are times where I've looked at a
• 37:51
  video after I've edited it and thought, like, if this doesn't
• 37:55
  go viral, like what is viral anymore.
• 37:59
  But that's rare. That's rare for me to see that
• 38:01
  on the front end and know that it's probably performed really
• 38:04
  well. Get some closing thoughts and
• 38:06
  start to wrap this up a little bit.
• 38:07
  Austin, where do you see, because you have grown rapidly
• 38:10
  in two years, little over two years, where do you see yourself
• 38:15
  in five years from now? Well, hopefully we're at a
• 38:22
  million across every platform by then, hopefully a lot sooner.
• 38:26
  I hope to be on all 50 states where my seasonings, everything
• 38:29
  that I, you know, bring out between now and then.
• 38:31
  Two, I'd love to be able to focus more on the business side
• 38:36
  of it and just do content a few days a week, maybe 3 videos a
• 38:40
  week. And we can use some of that old
• 38:41
  content to keep that recirculating.
• 38:43
  But I'm a business person at heart.
• 38:46
  I never knew that I would be, but deep down inside I'm more
• 38:50
  passionate about seeing the business go in the right
• 38:54
  direction. This is something I want my son
• 38:56
  to inherit one day. So this is always not a long
• 38:59
  term goal I'm in. I'm in no rush to to do it.
• 39:02
  I want to do it the right way. So if a distributor, like I had
• 39:05
  a meeting with a distributor a couple of weeks ago, sounded
• 39:07
  like they might get me in there 200 grocery stores, but I don't
• 39:10
  know yet. I'm not going to be upset if I
• 39:13
  do get in or if I don't. I know it's eventually going to
• 39:15
  happen. It's not my main source of
• 39:17
  income, but I would like you know, the content and the brand
• 39:21
  stuff is up here, the seasonings right here.
• 39:24
  I would love for it to like get here in the next two or three
• 39:27
  years and then hopefully one day right.
• 39:30
  You know, I mean, that's. That's a great dream.
• 39:35
  That is a great dream. I love that, man.
• 39:37
  I love that. Well, do you have any final
• 39:39
  messages for any, any aspiring creators or food influencers out
• 39:44
  there before I let you go? Just have fun.
• 39:48
  I mean, there's going to be enough stress with it, but when
• 39:50
  you get a chance, take a deep breath.
• 39:52
  It's not the end of the world if you're not dependent on it for
• 39:54
  income. Just go out there, have fun, cut
• 39:57
  up, cut jokes. People like to be entertained,
• 39:59
  and you'll be. Just perfect.
• 40:01
  Very well said. Well, Austin, this has been an
• 40:04
  awesome conversation. Your journey's inspiring, your
• 40:08
  content is freaking top tier, and we can't wait to see what is
• 40:12
  next for y'all and for you. So if you haven't already, go
• 40:17
  follow Austin Dennis on all of the socials and go to
• 40:21
  icookyoulook.com and go hit him up.
• 40:25
  Go buy some of that seasoning. Always.
• 40:27
  Good to be with you takes, you know.
• 40:28
  I enjoy it buddy.