Transcript
The Bloggy Friends Show. What's up, my bloggy
friends? Famous Ashley Grant here, and I just
want to welcome you to the Bloggy Friends Show.
We're so excited to have you join us on this
journey of sharing our knowledge and experiences
with you. Whether you're a blogger, a content
creator, or just someone who's interested in
learning more about the digital world, we've
got something for you. So grab your notebook
and a pen to take some notes, or just sit back
and take in all the amazing information and ideas
we're about to share with you. Let's get into
it. What's funny is the reason that I reached
out to you is because you started showing up
in my Facebook feed like crazy, so I feel like
that's fitting for what we're going to talk about.
So yeah, Facebook is your thing right now. It's
amazing. And of course, I love Amanda Bond. I
just interviewed her and she started promoting
you as well. And I was like, oh my goodness,
the world's colliding. But Jeff, welcome to the
show. I'm so stoked to have you here. For anyone
who doesn't know, can you tell us a little bit
about what it is you do? Yeah. Well, first, in
a former life, I'm still a certified financial
planner, but I had my own wealth management firm.
that I eventually sold whenever the online business
kind of took over. And the online business at
that time was predominantly the blog at goodfinancialcents
.com. With it, there was a podcast, there's been
a YouTube channel, but there was no doubt the
prime revenue driver was the website. And a lot
of that revenue came from search engine optimization,
being found for search results and affiliate
conversions, display ads, all the good stuff.
And that was an amazing business model until
it wasn't. And then a few years ago, first, it
was just a lot of competition between every other
major news site wanting some action in the affiliate
game and creating their own affiliate pages to
then ChatGPT AI completely just decimating. So
at one point in time, I think at a peak, I was
getting around a million visitors a month to
the website. And that was like, once again, running
zero ads. That was all just straight from organic
search to, I think, I don't even check my analytics
anymore. It's too depressing. But I think I'm
getting around 20 ,000 visitors a month. Maybe
if I'm lucky, just to kind of give you like from
the peak to the valley I'm at now. So that kind
of led to like, all right, what am I going to
do next? There has been some business coaching,
which I also enjoy doing, helping with small
business owners, entrepreneurs, but then kind
of stumbling it into Facebook, which was just
like a thing, which I'm sure we'll talk more
about now. But it's still a good financial sense
name, which is kind of cool. Like the brand that
didn't die, it just now lives predominantly on
Facebook. That's crazy. And you know, unfortunately
it's so sad, but you're, you're not alone in
what you're saying. I interviewed someone last
year who she was getting about a million views
a month and she's getting about 10 ,000 now and
she, it was devastating. So it's interesting
that you pivoted to borrowed land. So tell us
a little bit about how you started, I guess the
light bulb moment that made you go, Hey, maybe
I should be on Facebook more. Yeah, it wasn't
a strategic pivot. I wish I could tell you that
I'm like, oh, I saw it. I'm going to pivot this
way, redirect and focus on my efforts. It actually
started with Instagram. And because so my wife,
she's built two six. Well, I guess now three
six figure business. But prior to that, two six
figure business on Instagram. And she and then
kind of like took a sabbatical or took some time
off. And basically it's been like eight years.
And so she jumped on it. again and now she's
got an Instagram account a brand brand new when
she started over a year ago it's like over 200
,000 followers now and she teaches business owners
like basically how to grow on Instagram um so
anyway she started growing on Instagram I'm like
I've got nothing else going on I'm gonna sure
let's just make it a pet project because also
during that stretch I had a YouTube channel that
I tried to revive several times and it nothing
I did nothing I did worked And it was just very
humbling, right? SEO, my blog's not working.
YouTube's not working. Okay, maybe we'll just
try Instagram. So I started doing one to two,
I think initially like one reel a day. I went
to two reels a day and I really wasn't growing
it for any purpose other than just to grow it,
just to grow it. You know, as I thought, okay,
just like the blog, if I grow it, I feel like
good things are going to happen. Something will
happen. And as I'm publishing reels to Instagram,
you know, at that time you had the option to
cross post over to Facebook. So I thought, okay,
might as well. I mean, I might as well. It doesn't
hurt anything. I don't care about Facebook, but
I'll go ahead and publish them over there. And
then I didn't, I wasn't really logging to Facebook.
I ended up checking, I think one day, and I saw
that one of the reels that I posted to Instagram,
that I think maybe got like 10 or 15 ,000 views
on Instagram, ended up getting like three, four,
500 ,000, maybe even like 700 ,000 views on Facebook.
And I'm like, Well, that's weird. And at that
point I was using, it was so stupid how it works,
but like you could use what had been like, I
would call it copyrighted music on Instagram.
And at that point they would pay you for their
bonuses on Instagram, right? Even if you're using
like trending music, right? But if you use the
same music over on Facebook, you wouldn't get
paid. Never made sense to me. It's still a meta,
but whatever. It doesn't matter. I think they
ended up having some class action lawsuit regarding
that. So anyway, all that to say, so I got 700
,000 views, didn't make a dime, but once again,
didn't really care. And then it wasn't until
I think it was May 2024, I posted a screenshot
of a tweet that I thought was funny, posted to
my Facebook page. Had no intention of like, just,
I thought it was funny. Posted it. And then it
was like a month later, I logged in again and
saw that there was a pending payment of $137
from, and when I dug deeper, it was from that
and another post that I made. Once again, I'm
not trying to make money, but you could make
money at points like that. So I was, one, initially
confused. Wait, Facebook's paying me for pictures?
Like it was even a picture of the screenshot
that, you know, somebody else's tweet. So that's
when it all started. And the next month I'm like,
okay, let me try something else. And there was
another tweet that I had posted before that it
went viral. It had something to do with Taylor
Swift. Posted that one on my page. That one made
like $500. So now I think I found something.
I think I figured it out. The next month. I didn't
figure it out because I made another like $120,
$130. But either way, it was those posts that
at least opened the door to like, hey, there's
something here. And I wish I could tell you that
I went all in at that point in time. It took
me a while to really go all in because at that
point, I've got other things I'm working on,
building out like a coaching funnel. It was just
this thing that I really didn't care about until...
I think it was December, January, I ended up
making $10 ,000. Wow. Combination of reels and
photos, essentially. And once again, photos are
not me taking pictures of my kids or my family.
It's me finding other people's posts and taking
screenshots and then adding my caption to it.
And around then is kind of when it all started
to make sense of like, wait, okay, I'm only giving
like 30 % effort here. What would it look like
if I actually took this thing seriously? And
that's eventually when it started to take off.
Now, when you posted that first thing that got
you the $137, did you have a lot of followers?
Oh, so going back around that time, I think I
had around 25 ,000 followers. And for somebody
starting off, that might sound like a lot. And
I guess theory it is, but you also have to realize
I started the page in 2009. So from 2009 to 2024,
I had accumulated around 25 ,000 followers. So
it wasn't like a super engaged community. It's
not like I was posting there a lot. I would post
to be done, right? There was no dialogue going
on with people. It wasn't like I was trying to
foster a community. Many of those people had
been following me for quite some time based on
the blog and everything else. So yeah, so about
that time, there was around 25 ,000. Wow. OK,
so how much do you or how many followers do you
have now? So now I have just over three hundred
and seventy thousand. Holy cow. And that's only
in like a year. Isn't that crazy? That is. That's
insane. So, OK, so you finally see it clicks.
What happens next? So I would say December, January.
I see that it clicks. And then I think it was
either February or March. I had a post get flagged
and. It was flagged because it was meant to be
satire. It was parody. It was a screenshot of
somebody posted, I think it was on X, and it
was a picture of a Temu or Temu factory burning.
And the caption said, you know, Temu factory
on fire, $18 worth of inventory loss or something
like that. Like, it was meant to be stupid, right?
So I reposted it because once again, I thought
it was funny. I have a very dry sense of humor.
I love posting things I think are stupid, right?
Like one of my favorite movies of all time is
Dumb and Dumber, Jim Carrey, just to give you
a sense of like the type of humor that I cater
to. So posted that to my page. Once again, just
trying to be having fun. And then it got fact
-checked, which is not a thing that usually happens
on Facebook, but it got fact -checked and it
got dinged. And then I didn't lose monetization,
but it basically said like my distribution score
was like was hit. So all of a sudden my engagement
went to crap. And I tried, you know, revising
the post, putting hashtag, you know, this is
a satire or this is a parody. This is meant to
be satire. It took me like I did that for a few
weeks, kept like hitting refresh, thinking that
it would go away and never did. And it wasn't
until I finally just deleted the post. where
I think it finally fell off. But when that happened
for me, that was a huge PTSD moment for several
reasons. One, like I just, I hate compliance.
I hate getting dinged. It became this like, all
right, all right, Facebook, screw you. Like if
I'm going to get dinged over that, then I'm just
going to forget it. I don't even care anymore.
So once again, I had other things that I was
still focusing on growing. So I walked away.
I didn't walk away. I still posted, but I wasn't
trying to get to that five -figure level, again,
if that makes sense. And if you want to ask a
question there, I can keep going. Keep going.
Keep going. So that was, I think, March, April.
And then I'm following other Facebook pages that
are creating content. And then I came across
a guy on YouTube that talks a lot about Facebook
monetization. And between what I was seeing on
Facebook with other creators and what he said
about how much to post, which was like posting
more than 20 times a day, the thought came back
in of like, okay, what if? What if I just go
all in? Like really, really go all in. I know
I said like last time I went all in, like I was,
I really want to go all in and see what happens.
And so I did. And I think that was April of this
year. So it went from making, like I hit that
five figure month, but then it dropped back down
to like, I think like 1700. And then it was like
3000. And I can't remember the trajectory, but
I remember the month I went all in, I ended up
getting back to 10 or 15 ,000 again, pretty quickly
that next month. Wow. So it was like 15 ,000,
30 ,000, 35 ,000, 39 ,000. And that's when I'm
like, okay, let's go time. Right. So what changed
then versus like the first time was I still did
reels, but I was not doing one to two a day.
But I ramped up my posting. I went from doing
like eight posts a day to like 12 a day, 16 a
day, 20 a day, 24 a day. I did go up to 30 plus
a day, but that was a lot to manage. And also
I do felt like the engagement fell off a little
bit. So for me, I found that sweet spot at around
24 posts a day. Wow. So, okay, that's a lot to
unpack. So I guess let's kind of back it up just
a little bit. First of all, how'd you get in
the monetization program in the beginning? Yeah,
that's a great question. I don't know. I think,
this is my theory, since it was an older page.
I don't know if I was, so essentially, okay,
I'm sorry. The answer to that question is I got
the invitation if I want to be, do I want to
enroll in the content monetization? What I don't
know the answer to was before Facebook content
monetization, it was ads on Reels with like its
own program. So just specifically for Reels.
And then you also had the performance bonus program,
which was for basically pictures and text posts.
I don't. I don't remember raising my hand and
saying I'm interested in either one of those
programs. So when I got paid $137, like I said,
I don't know. I don't remember saying, yes, okay,
go ahead and sign me up. Why not? You know, without
really even any hope or expectation to make anything.
Like I truly don't know if I just clicked a button.
I just have to assume since it was an older page,
2009. uh, 25 ,000 followers. And I was hosting
reels consistently that maybe that's how I got
in. That's, that's all I know. I do know as far
as content monetization, I did get the invitation
of like, Hey, do you want to, do you want to
enroll in this? You can enroll now or, you know,
come September the 1st, you know, you're going
to be automatically enrolled. And I was. really
hesitant at first to do it, but I thought, well,
I might as well, because at that point in time,
I was only getting paid for pictures. I don't
know if ads on reels was still going on then,
but I was intrigued with getting paid for stories
and also getting paid. They had these bonus offerings
that I wasn't getting. So that was the reason
I think it was July 11th, if I recall correctly,
is when I decided to switch over from performance
bonus over to Facebook content monetization.
OK, so in your opinion, how would someone get
into it today? Because I know that it's it's
not very clear how to get in it. No, like it's
it's if you are a brand new page, something that
I think just came out fairly recently, like my
wife actually found it and it's on. I don't have
a link. I have it. I can send it to you. But
basically it says if you are a new page, you
have to show one post original content. But the
second thing is like you have to post consistently.
So you have to be in there for at least 30 days.
So if you create a brand new page, do not expect
to get any sort of invitation for at least 30
days. So that's for a brand new page. So with
that brand new page, should you immediately jump
into 20 times a day posting? You could try. I
think you'll get burned out really quick. And
also engagement is another piece of that. So
I don't know the right answer. I always tell
people a sweet spot is like five to eight times
a day. Okay. I think that's a good place to try
it. What are you posting? It could be a combination
of text posts. I think they call it Toby, you
know, the text on blank. They call it Toby. I
don't know what it stands for, but it's like,
you know, if it's short enough, if it's a text
post and it's short enough, you can add like
a colored background to it. Yeah. You know, whether
it be black or blue or something. If we go too
long, you can't do that. So, but you can, those
are pretty quick. And depending on your niche,
I mean, you could find some viral ones in your
space, jumping ahead a little bit, but here and
having ChatGPT, like, hey, use this one, give
me 20 other examples, right? So now you've got
some text posts in there. So I think it's a combination
of text posts, picture posts, whether it be your
own pictures, screenshots of other people, and
then also reels. The one thing I can tell you
that with me with reels before, like I said,
I wasn't making any money, but I did grow from
the reels that I was posting. Because I think
I went from like twenty five thousand. I think
it was in September of twenty four. I hit fifty
thousand. So I grew like twenty five thousand
from May until September. And that was predominantly
from the from doing reels. Wow. Not so much for
the picture. So. So and it sounds like, you know,
because you went from twenty five thousand to
over three hundred thousand people that are following
you. It sounds like it was a lot of non followers
who were finding you and finding your stuff.
Yeah. You know, one of the, I don't know what,
how this works, but like, you know, whenever
you post something on Facebook, you know, it
will give you a breakdown of what percentage
of followers and non -followers. And obviously
when you can go from 98 % followers, 2 % followers,
or I'm sorry, 98 % followers and 2 % non -followers
to a majority non -followers, like that's, that's
the sweet spot, right? That that's when you're
getting good engagement. And not every post does
that, but a good majority of them do. And, you
know, that's basically just creating content
that's getting some sort of engagement, which
for obviously comments are great. Likes are great.
It's the shares. If you can create content that
people want to share, like that, that's it. You
know, that's so that if you can look through
that lens, which like I said, I wasn't looking
at through that lens. I just happened to create
content that ended up working, you know, not
all of that work, but a good majority of it did.
But that's what led to a lot of non -followers
seeing it. And then I'll see the followers coming
after that. So if you can find something that
someone will share, that's when you strike gold,
it sounds like. That's it. Wow. Okay. So you're
creating a lot of content. What kind of tools
are you using to create all this magical stuff?
Yeah. So that's where, you know, ChatGPT has
been a huge blessing. But even before that, I'm
trying to think about when I really started to
leverage it. But initially for me finding content.
It was a combination of a few different things.
One, obviously looking at other pages in my niche,
seeing what they're doing. Sometimes I would
find stuff that they're doing and then create
my own caption around that. But then the Facebook
algorithm just kind of knows what you're interested
in. So I always tell people, find pages in your
niche. If you find a post that you like, that
you think would resonate with your audience,
like it, maybe even comment, bookmark it. And
then when it ends up happening is that all of
a sudden now the algorithm is sharing similar
content with you. You know, so feel free to like
take a screenshot of that, share it as your own,
especially if it's like a screenshot of like
somebody else's post. You know, I wouldn't encourage
you if somebody is taking the time to create
their own image and then share that as your own.
I see people do it all the time. I'll admit it
in the beginning. I was guilty of that myself.
Now. What I would do is like when I actually
just did this here recently, somebody posted
talking about car possessions or reposts in the
United States. And I don't know where I saw it,
if it was on Instagram or I think it actually
was on Instagram, which is a common place I go.
But I'm like, OK, I can take a screenshot and
share my own image or I can take a screenshot,
upload that screenshot to ChatGPT and say, hey,
I want you to recreate this image and then change
the picture of the car and blah, blah, blah.
So it recreated the image for me with the same
text. So that's one way. So I go to X, I go to
threads and also Facebook to find the content.
And then I wasn't doing this a lot then, but
now it's like with every single post that I do,
there's a caption that's written. And it's a
combination of either doing a bold, polarizing.
I won't say clickbaity, but, you know, something
that's just going to get engagement. I also like
a lot of satire. I use that a lot, you know,
in my captions. Or if I don't do that, then it's
story driven. You know, it's like, hey, I want
you to write a story. And ChatGPT and I have
had a lot of discussions. So it knows a lot about
my story, a lot of what I believe in. So it will
write a story. And now it actually gives me like
three different variations, you know, where I
can just either copy and paste. I like where
you went with this part of it, but I don't like
this part, you know, please rewrite. And then
it will rewrite the story for me. So in addition
to the caption, what I also have chat GPT do
is also provide a first comment that goes along
with that. And for those that don't know, like
whenever you're posting on Facebook, you know,
obviously you got the image, the picture, whatever,
that's good. The caption as well. But if you
have a first comment that also shows up in the
feed. And it never fails. Not always, but I've
had, I wish I had my screen, but there's examples
where if I posted something, the post itself
may get like 500 likes or engagement, whatever,
right? Well, then my first comment will also
get like 100 likes or 50 likes. Or they'll reply
to that comment. And once again, engagement being
the key. You know, anything that you can do to
drive more engagement. So, you know, instead
of me, once again, trying to rethink of like,
okay, how am I going to, what am I going to write
for our first comment? Now, ChatGPT just gives
me like five or six different examples that I
can use. And I just pick the one that I want.
That's amazing. But with all that content, like,
are you scheduling it or are you just sitting
glued to your phone and your computer all day?
It's a combination. So I will bulk schedule.
I was using Buffer, which I think is a great
one to start with. Um, so with buffer, it allows
you, uh, to create, so you can schedule all this
on Facebook, right? Like the thing with Facebook
though, is that you would go to hit publish and
then you got to pick the day. Then you got to
pick the time and then you hit it. Right. And
like, that's totally, it's free. It's doable
with buffer. I would pick the time slots, you
know? So, you know, on Monday from 9am until
3am, there's a piece of content going out. Right.
And then I just feel that the buckets of time
with. And I think that that works out perfectly
right with post planner, which is what I'm using
now. I wanted to be a little bit more strategic
in what I was posting. And I also wanted to incorporate
more of my brand in the post. It's hard to do
in every single thing. So now I've got not to
get into too much of the weeds, but I've got
four different types of content that I schedule
every single day to include just basic screenshots.
Square images that I'm posting both on Facebook
and Instagram. Images, screenshots that are more
branded to me. So I've got some Canva templates
that I've created and then just text only posts.
So then with Post Planner, I can go in and just
basically they call them buckets, right? So I've
got four different buckets of content and I just
fill the bucket. And then I schedule what, and
I already got the pre -schedule what time those
posts go live. And I can, if I do it, sit down
and just roll my sleeves and go at it, I can
schedule a week's worth of content in like two
four -hour blocks is what I figured. Okay. That's
what I could do. Now, what I will say is that
as a content creator and also just being kind
of like a... Do you think yourself like, you
don't have to do this, but for me, it's like,
you know, I'm in the finance space. So there
is something coming out every single day, some
sort of news headline, some sort of stock update,
Elon Musk said this or whatever. So it does make
sense for me. It does make good financial sense
for me to log into X, log into Facebook, you
know, and see, is there anything going on that
I should maybe take a screenshot of and then
add to that. So, you know, I'm sure I spent at
least an hour a day. um just looking at other
content right not every day because like this
whole weekend i didn't because i just had tied
up with family stuff but there are you know it
feels good knowing that okay i've got everything
scheduled i don't have to log on if i don't need
to but you know if i've got a minute yeah it
makes sense because like there are times i will
i'll give an example something happened i forgot
what it was i think it was like a stock update
and it was like nine o 'clock at night excuse
me And I went ahead, took a screenshot and hit
publish like at nine o 'clock at night and didn't
have to do it. You know, it wasn't part of my
normal schedule, but I did it. And then like
that post, and I've got several examples of this,
but like that post made like $200. So there are
examples where it does make good financial sense,
you know, to find something, you know, but also
like I can typically schedule, like I said, a
week's worth of content and about a full days
of work if I want to. That's pretty incredible.
So it sounds like you're literally doing all
of this on your own. I am. For those that know
anything about my story, I've always been a big
believer in delegating, outsourcing. It makes
so much sense for so many reasons. When this
kind of took off, there's just also this part
of me. It's kind of like when I first learned
SEO. like i just wanted to understand it and
i wanted to understand it because i hired a few
different seo agencies and just wasted a lot
of money and i'm like all right screw this right
like i want to understand it and with this i
wanted to understand what what's working and
why is it working because even as i was telling
somebody else like even when i pick take a screenshot
and I have a chat, give me the captions in the
first comments. Like there's a little nuance
of like why I pick what I pick. And there are
certain things that would be really hard for
me to fully train a VA that, that wasn't working
with me for like a year to fully understand why
the, why I do what I do. That being said, eventually
I recognize, like, I'm sure that's just the final
20%, but for right now, like, I just want to,
I want to. understand why it's working before
i delegate it out and and uh because you know
then all of a sudden the engagement is not there
and i don't know just also like it's it's been
so fruitful that i just i'm not ready to let
go of it yet so yeah between a chashi pt i mean
chashi pt has saved so much time so much time
now i wish like there's other tools but like
really between that post planner like those are
the and then canva like those are the two heavy
hitters that have just helped me um schedule
this out you know and like you know when i could
sit there and bust out like even a day's worth
of content like in like 30 minutes using those
tools like it's just it's just fun i don't know
i just have a lot of fun with it so that's the
real reason you haven't delegated is you're having
fun it's fun yeah it's like it's still like it
hasn't reached the point yet where i'm like oh
i don't want to do this anymore ah this is so
annoying eventually they will get there you know
like there's back in the day like there's times
like when i enjoyed doing seo and i enjoyed writing
articles and in doing all that stuff and then
it got the point i'm like no i'm good like i'm
good um yeah not there yet you know still having
a lot of fun with you it kind of reminds me of
um I think it was Elizabeth Gilbert who said
every single person in their careers, we all,
you know, are eating shit sandwiches and we're
just choosing which level of shit we want. So
it sounds like you're still enjoying it. I'm
still enjoying my shit sandwich. Keep that on
a bumper sticker. Shit sandwiches for sale. So
I'm curious, you know, you're doing all this
stuff on Facebook, but are you still also doing
stuff on goodfinancialcents .com? Like what other
avenues of revenue and building email lists and
all the things? Like, are you still doing all
that? Yeah. So I basically, I wrote off the website.
I mean, not only do you have the trauma from
the old SEO. Or just the traffic falling down.
They're also attached to that was a really bad
business partnership that failed. That just ended
horribly. And that led to thousands of dollars
of therapy and a lot of work. So there was just
so much emotional attachment to it that I'm just
like, I'm done. I'm like literally done, done.
I mean, I will say that was a few years. I tried
to rebuild it. I had a buddy of mine who owned
like a... I'll call it an SEO agency. And we
went in, this is like, I think two years ago
now, and we cleaned up everything. Like we did
everything that we knew to do. And actually I'll
say everything he knew to do based on his experience,
you know, and like, we, we spent like three months
cleaning up all this stuff and it just did nothing.
So I'm like, I mean, okay, all right, God, I
guess I'm moving on. Right. And then just a few
weeks ago, I ended up talking to a guy who, who
does Facebook has been doing Facebook for a long
time. And the first call we had, he made a comment,
said, you know, whatever you're making on your
Facebook page, you should be making almost the
equivalent on your website. And I'm like, OK,
I at first he said, I'm like, yeah, whatever.
So anyway, what and basically what he meant was,
you know, using Facebook. as a driver of, of,
of views of, of people, you know, over to the
site, you know, in monetizing, whether it be
through affiliate conversion, affiliate conversions,
display ads, et cetera, et cetera. So it definitely
was like something that I'd never even consider,
right? Like I just get completely written off.
So at this, at the time of this recording, that
strategy has not been executed. We actually have
a, an onboarding call tomorrow. Funny enough.
that we're going to talk about how we're going
to do this. So I think I'll just kind of give
you like a preview is basically 30 % of the posts
on Facebook. Well, their pure intent is to drive
people over to the website. So like, we're just
to see what happens. Right. And I'm like, okay,
man, if I can go from. I mean, if I'm making
$5 ,000 a month or $10 ,000 a month, it's more
than I'm making right now, a fraction of what
I used to make. But still, if there's an opportunity
there, then yeah, why not? Let's see what can
happen. So that is a monetization stream that
I'm curious about. In addition to that, I created
a course on Facebook just because when this happened,
as you've learned, I had no idea what I was doing.
Didn't even know it existed. And then I had a
buddy of mine, also a former personal finance
blogger, reach out to me. And he saw how many
followers I'd gained in a short amount of time.
And so, you know, he texted me, like, hey, man,
like, what are you doing? And I'm like, well,
I'm just doing this. And like, by the way, you
know, I sent him a screenshot of my earnings.
And he was like, is that from Facebook? I'm like,
yeah. He's like, Facebook pays you? I'm like,
yeah, I know. it's isn't that crazy and uh and
so i end up having a bunch of uh people from
the fin con community reach out and i'm like
okay obviously i didn't know it existed these
guys don't know that it exists like how many
other creators out there have no idea that you
can make money and i also like that was like
in the uh late summer that i got the idea of
like maybe creating a course and then also knowing
that on september the first that Facebook was
doing away with all their other legacy monetization
programs or rolling them all up into Facebook
content monetization. I'm like, you know what?
This might be a good time to have a resource
to show people. So anyway, that course went live
a few months ago. So that's been good. And then
that also gave me an excuse or reason to go back
on YouTube. So one of the things my wife talks
about all the time on Instagram and helping people
grow on Instagram, which... I think applies to
anybody listening to this right now, is that
if you're trying to grow on any platform, you
got to talk about one thing. You got to be known
for the one thing. And that is something I have
just resisted for so long, just being a certified
financial planner, entrepreneur, business owner,
blah, blah, blah. So it was just so hard for
me. But then I'm like, okay, I'm going to go
back on YouTube. I'm going to be known for the
one thing. And that one thing is Facebook monetization.
So for the last six or seven videos I've done,
it's all been about Facebook. All the shorts
I'm doing is on Facebook. And it has been driving
conversions for the course. And for the first
time in three years, I've actually gained subscribers.
That's fantastic. No, it's like, I mean, when
it finally feels like things are actually clicking,
it's fun to see it all play out. So anyway, those
are the main monetization streams right now.
That's awesome. I actually got influenced myself.
I purchased your course two days ago. I haven't
had a chance to play with it because life's been
kind of crazy. And interestingly enough, one
of the things I'm doing is building my own Facebook
page. I don't know if I told you this or not.
I kind of got a little bit nutso whenever it
comes to fitness. Today is, I believe, day 120
of my insane fitness journey. And so I started
a page because I was going to build it. And that's
kind of what led me to talking to Amanda, which
led me to talking to you and all kinds of craziness.
But yeah, the page is called More Movement, Please.
And so I'm curious. Coming to you is what I now
consider my Facebook page expert. What would
you do to build a fitness page? Yeah, I mean,
obviously it's the, you know, any sort of success
stories, any like before after pictures, I think,
you know, any sort of like safe community where
you're willing to share that. Obviously, if you
can get other people to share, I think just have
that whole community aspect. I think the things
that you're eating, the things that you used
to eat, I think anytime we're just being real
about any. any setbacks that you've had or man,
just any of that, right? Like even old pictures
of you and just like sharing, like where you
were emotionally, you know, during that timeframe,
you know, like here's what people saw on the
outside, but here's actually what's going on
the inside. You know, I think, and the cool thing
about ChatGPT is like, it can help you with that,
right? Like I've had a lot of those where. And
I've came across a lot of, I'll call them like
story -driven pages. And a lot of them are in
the mom niche. I've also found a few in the business
owner niche where they just share a story. And
when I see that, like I'll take that story, paste
it into ChatGPT, but then I'm like, I then tell
my story in like the same format and to use that.
And a lot of those posts have done really well,
you know, if you've got a picture and a story.
But yeah, I think like what you're eating. in
the middle of working out I mean everything that
you do ends up being content yeah you know it's
like you waking up like I don't want to go to
the gym or I don't want to work out you know
like real life stuff right yeah people relate
to that you know going out to eat with friends
and seeing what everybody else orders and like
what you're ordering you know like this effing
sucks yeah yeah it really does you know you know
what you what you what you buy the grocery store
what you used to buy you know I mean just like
everything, because what you're going through
is a battle that, I mean, I've gone through that
so many people go through and the more real and
the more transparent you can be, I just think
that's all going to resonate. I think so too.
I think that's probably really good advice. Cause
I mean, it has been a journey, man. Let me tell
you what, like, cause I technically speaking
started two years ago, but my instructor said
that it doesn't count because I wasn't actually
putting in real work. And so hopefully that plus
the podcast and all the things I want to make
it. you know an actual the reason i named it
more movement please is because i want movement
i want it to be a movement so um so yeah that
that's kind of where i'm at but um so tell us
a little bit about the course like what what
will people learn in it if they purchase it yeah
i think for anybody that is just wanting to understand
like how it works um how to find content for
inspiration uh for you know scheduling how to
schedule i basically just show like everything
that i learned from the beginning you know up
until now and even just last week where did i
add oh i you know once again with the facebook
algorithm like i have found so many different
pages in so many different niches that because
i a common question i i would get is what what
should i post about what niche should i should
i do you know like is this one more profitable
Because that was definitely a misconception I
had is that me being in the finance space, especially
on YouTube, right? Like for those that know YouTube,
like if you were in the entrepreneurship space,
business owner, finance, like your RPMs, your
CPMs are just crazy, right? You just made so
much more. Same thing with AdSense on the blog.
We just always made more than like mom bloggers
and like their tied ads, whatever. So I just
assumed. That was the case with Facebook. You
know, the reason why I was making so much. But
as I kept discovering more pages or people that
would openly share how much they were making,
I was blown away at all the different niches
from anywhere from thrifting, political, religion,
mom, lifestyle. It was all across the board.
And the commonality was engagement. So anyway,
I put a list, I create a list, and it's just
like sharing all the different pages I've came
across that people are making money. So anyway,
so yeah, anything from how to post, what to post,
how to find inspiration, scheduling things out,
how I use AI, ChatGPT to craft everything. As
I keep getting more feedback, it was kind of
like a soft launch because I had no idea how
it would work. And so far, the feedback has been
really good. I haven't had anybody like... complain
about, actually I had one person complain because
they said Facebook content monetization wasn't
in their area, but they were in the United States.
I'm like, it doesn't make sense to me. I don't
know. I think you just want a refund. I don't
know. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not picking up what
you're putting down, but I'm going to go ahead
and refund because right now it's just, it's
easier. So that was one exception. But for the
most part, it's been, the feedback has been amazing.
And I had one guy, another Finn Conner. smaller
page. I had 7 ,000 followers. He just, he ran
with that. Right. And treated it like a game
and had never made any money from Facebook prior
to this. And his first month he made just over
500 bucks. So it was cool. So he paid for the
course. It paid for the course. And then some,
and like, it was so good because I'm like, I
finally, you know, cause my, my concern with
a lot of this is that. Yeah, people buy the course,
but man, I want people to actually take action,
right? They take action and they see results.
So, I mean, when you had somebody that took,
executed and also saw the results, like it was
just, it was just cool to see. So yeah, it's,
that's, that's what I teach. So we have to figure
out how to get these viral posts that get us
invited to this program. Yeah, there you go.
That's awesome. Well, is there any last minute
advice that I haven't thought to ask you about
that you think you should include? Hmm. Yeah,
I think, you know, I think probably the biggest
question I get from a lot still is content monetization.
You know, for those that have not been approved,
because I still see people say, I've got 30 ,000,
100 ,000, and I'm not, I'm still not invited.
Now, I don't know the circumstances behind that,
you know, like without seeing their dashboard,
like, I don't know if there's, if they got flagged
for something, you know, like me, did they post
it like a Timu or Timu factory post and also
got dinged? I don't know that. What I will tell
you is that I just came across somebody else
who had 7 ,000 followers on Facebook and they
got in. And the thing that I'm seeing is that
they have their Facebook account tied to Instagram.
So I think if you just want to, you know, and
also my wife, once again, she has no interest
in growing on Facebook. And so she's been posting
on Instagram. And she got invited to, they called
it a breakthrough bonus program, where basically
like if you post every, I think it was every
day or 20 times a month for three months, like
they pay her like $500 or something like that.
She's like, oh, I might as well do it, you know?
So she did that. And then from that, she got
invited into the content monetization program.
So what I'm seeing is for those that are also
posting on Instagram, it kind of is this fast
track. Like I said, I can't verify that, but
it definitely sees like a commonality. So if
you're just posting to Facebook, sync or link,
whatever it is, your Instagram account to your
Facebook page and also post there as well. I
think that's a way. And they also will give you
different challenges like on a weekly basis,
which is like get three new followers, post this.
I forgot whatever they say, but you'll see it
in your dashboard, whatever those are. Do it,
you know, and do it on a weekly basis, because
once again, you're just demonstrating to Facebook
like why you are worth being invited to the program.
So there's a few other tidbits to give you. So
they're gamifying monetization. Pretty much.
Yep. So are you I can't remember if I asked this
or if you said it, so I apologize. But did you
say you're also sharing the stories on Facebook?
I do. I I'm not good at stories. Like if you
actually look right now, it's been two days,
I think. What I try to do is I will go to Facebook
and then I will reshare like my top post from
like the last day or two, you know, because it's
just a way once again, like if there's a post
that's getting good engagement, let me get in
front of my followers again who may have missed
it, get more views and keep the engagement going
up, right? So that's kind of the thought process
there. So I'll do like anywhere from like five
to 10 of my posts from the last two days. I do
that on Facebook and then I go to Instagram.
And then I'll if I do do a story of me talking,
I'll share those to Instagram because they automatically
cross post to Facebook as well. But like I said,
I'm not good at it, but I do try to do that.
The screenshots that you share, do you give like
I think I've seen a couple of them where you
actually keep the handle of the original person.
Is that how you give credit to the original creators?
Yeah, that's how that's how I do it. I, I don't
like it. I will say I've, I've been guilty of
this in the past, but I don't like it when I
see, cause I've had people screenshot one of
mine. That's it's clearly my blue background.
I it's my image and they took my name off. Right.
And I'm like, I don't know. I just don't think
that's cool. Some people ask like, well, should
you, could you tag the person? And I'm like,
you definitely could. I don't, I've done it in
the past. Like it hasn't hurt engagement either
way. You know, I guess that's something that
could be debated, but as of right now, like I
don't, it's just cause it's another step that
I, I don't do, but I do make sure if I do screenshot
anybody, like they see their handle. So if it's
something that they want to go follow that person
to find that person, it's easily, they can easily
find them that way. Yeah. That makes a lot of
sense. Well, and of course I have to ask this.
Do you have plans for any other pages? Um, yes.
Okay. Okay. Do you want to, do you want to share
anything about that? If you don't have to say
the names, but. there's two things i'm looking
at one it would make it would be i have so much
financial content like it seems like it would
be really dumb of me not to create another finance
page um and with chat gpt creating so many different
prompts or a caption excuse me with the same
image like it seems like that could be a streamlined
process like all right upload it here it's going
to go to this page upload it here um so i'm going
to do one anonymously Because I want to see how
long it takes to grow a page. And I don't want
to use good financial sense page to help it.
It's more of like a case study. Okay. Yeah. That
I want to do for me just from, from my own. And
also I'm sure it's going to, it'll be good for
YouTube as well. And then also my, my oldest
son, he's 18. I'm like, Hey dude. Do you want
me to show you how to do this? Yeah. We're going
to create one together, and this is probably
going to bring on a whole lot of more questions,
but I'll just drop it and just let people simmer
on it. I can't verify these results, but I had
somebody reach out to me. They found my YouTube
videos, and they ended up reaching me on Instagram,
and they were texting. Last month, in the last
month, you think my headline is good. I'm making
over $150K this year. He made $200 ,000. last
month i'm sorry in one month that's correct i
said i can't verify these numbers i'm just sharing
what has been shared with me um i can share that
he has three pages one of them made like 90 is
like 200k and what he is posting is basically
ai ai videos of just stupid stuff you know of
You probably see, we've all seen them, right?
Like the deer that runs through the barbershop
or just random stuff, right? He's posting like
10, I think 10 a day on each page. Wow. He's
went all in. So we are, with my oldest son, we
are going to, I'm going to help him create an
AI just to see, just for fun. Yeah. Just see
what happens. So I'm going to create my finance
one. He's going to do that one. Um, and then
kind of take notes to see which one grows the
fastest. So I'm intrigued. Like, I don't know
how long that's going to last. Like what I've
now realized is like, I started liking a few
of these videos. All of a sudden now the feed
is just like, ah, they're just everywhere. So
I don't know how you truly stand out with that.
So, and also too, like, I don't know if Facebook
will end up, you know, like harming or like flagging
that content. Cause it's just like, you know,
does that, is that really want you, you want
your feed up? I don't know. But anyway. All I
know is the guy took advantage of an opportunity
that was ripe and he's done pretty well. So anyway,
just if you think there isn't an opportunity
here to make money with Facebook content monetization,
like there is. Well, I think that it's definitely
proof that we need to at least capitalize on
it while we can. Because, I mean, if it's anything
like what's happened with Google, we could face
another algorithm update and who knows what could
happen. So we need to strike while the iron's
hot. Get while it's getting good. That's right.
That's awesome. Well, where all can people find
you on the interwebs? Yeah. If you want to go
to Good Financial Cents, that is the Facebook
page. And then if you search up Wealth Hacker
or Jeff Rose, you'll find my YouTube channel.
And I think on Instagram, Twitter, I'm at jjeffrose.
But predominantly on Instagram, YouTube, and
obviously Facebook. Yes. And you also have a
book, Soldier Finance. Is that right? Soldier
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