Episode 558: Is Facebook Dead? (+How to Use it to Drive Traffic to Your Blog) with Carrie Barnard

EBT558 – Carrie Barnard

Intro 00:00

Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth, and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal, or professional. I’m Megan Porta. I have been a food blogger for 13 years, so I understand how isolating food blogging can be. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported.

Megan Porta  00:37

Food bloggers, guess what? Facebook is not dead. I mean, I even succumbed to this belief for probably the past few years. But after my conversation with Carrie Barnard, from Eating On a Dime, my perspective is totally changed. I believe that every single food blogger on the planet should listen to this episode because you will be re-inspired to get into your Facebook page and start growing that community that is going to get you super fans and more traffic and therefore more revenue and all the good stuff. Carrie talks about taking the pressure off and not being so focused on just getting the traffic and instead focusing on creating that community, asking people what they want and serving what they want. Being flexible and open to changing up what you offer on Facebook doing live video she talks about so many great things in this episode. You are going to love it. That is my prediction. This is episode number 558 And it is sponsored by Rank IQ. 

Sponsor  01:45

Hello there, food blogger friends, I want to take a really quick break from this episode to chat about a few ways Eat Blog Talk can help you to feel connected as well as to get your hands on relevant, valuable information in 2024. It has been a bit of a tumultuous year so far do you agree? But you have come too far to stop now. This time is a minor blip in the journey. So buckle up and let’s do this journey together and come out on the other side stronger than ever. Eat Blog Talk now has a Facebook group. Go join the BlogTalk community Facebook group to get in on some great discussions. Once you’re inside, you will gain access to a free job postings shared document whether you’re offering a service or looking for a service. There’s also the new-ish accountability group that you BlogTalk offers. This group is a low investment membership for anyone looking to connect with peers and grow your business. This is for newer bloggers, intermediate bloggers and experienced bloggers we offer robust calls in Slack discussions and so much more in this group for the low cost of $34 a month. The Eat Blog Talk Mini Minds and mastermind groups are still being offered in 2024 and beyond. Mini minds groups start up again in October and we will start filling the 2025 mastermind group in late summer of 24. Join the waitlist for one of these groups and you will not be disappointed. And last but not least join us at an in person retreat. If you are ready to learn, grow and build relationships in person. Join me and a handful of your fellow food bloggers and an upcoming Eat Blog Talk retreat. This is such a great opportunity to convene in an intimate setting. So you can learn collaborate and connect. These retreats involve mastermind style peer to peer collaborating, and they’re incredibly powerful, delicious, so much good food and fun. For all the offerings mentioned head to eatblogtalk.com and you will be directed in the appropriate way. We are more than just a podcast go explore some of these other offerings as your time and budget allows can’t wait to see you in some of those other places. Now back to the episode. 

Megan Porta  04:01

Carrie Barnard is a mother to eight amazing children. She has some biological children and has adopted through foster care as well. She was a huge advocate for helping others which is how Eating on a Dime was born. With over 3 million fans on Facebook and recipe videos with over 100 million views, Eating on a Dime has become a trusted source for easy recipes for the entire family.

Megan Porta  04:25

Carrie, how is it going today? I’m so happy to have you on the podcast.

Carrie Barnard  04:29

Good. I’m happy to be here. I’m excited.

Megan Porta  04:33

Yes, thanks for being here. Before we get started, we’re going to talk about Facebook today. Do you have a fun fact to share with us?

Carrie Barnard  04:39

Well, I mean fun fact. I’m a mom of eight kids. And I actually grew my site when I was a single mom with eight kids. So fun fact.

Megan Porta  04:50

So did you start your blog before you had kids? No. Okay. Yeah, eight kids. That’s a lot of kids. What are their age ranges? Okay.

Carrie Barnard  04:59

Our oldest is 23. And then the youngest is 13. Going on 14. Oh, wow. Oh,

Megan Porta  05:07

wow,

Carrie Barnard  05:08

I adopted a bunch of kids. So I kind of cheated.

Megan Porta  05:12

You didn’t cheat. That’s amazing. I love that. Yeah, people with a lot of kids, I feel like they’re always on their toes. Like they know how to react really quickly, and they can take on a lot. And they’re really efficient. So we already know that about you. Yeah. So to kind of go along with that. So you grew your blog while you were growing a family. You’ve been a blogger for quite a while. So can you tell us just a little bit about your blog.

Carrie Barnard  05:39

Yeah, I run. My main website is eatingonadime.com. And basically, we just focus on family friendly recipes. And I’ve been doing this for over a decade. I’m not even sure how long it’s been so long. It’s kind of all blurred together.

Megan Porta  05:54

Yeah. Afterwards, decade it gets Yeah, like, oh, where it’s like…

Carrie Barnard  05:58

What’s the point of even counting anymore? It’s exactly. But yeah, I’ve been kind of I’m kind of a behind the scenes person. I haven’t gone to I’ve gone to some conferences. Not a ton, because I’ve been too busy with all these young kids. But now they’re getting older. So I’m excited to be going to more conferences and stuff.

Megan Porta  06:16

Yes, getting out there and connecting. Yeah, it’s so important at any stage of the game, honestly. Yeah, definitely. So you’ve been running this for a while. I’m sure you’ve got a team, correct? 

Carrie Barnard  06:26

Yes. Uh huh. 

Megan Porta  06:27

Yeah. Okay. And I know that you’re really into Facebook, and you think there’s potential there. I was just telling you before we recorded that we just hosted flavour media. And literally, nobody wanted to talk about Facebook, they were all like, what’s the point? Why would we there’s no potential? Why would we want to talk about this? So what are your thoughts on that?

Carrie Barnard  06:48

I mean, I think Facebook is still worth looking into. It’s not what it used to be back in the video days, and the viral days, you know, I was known as like, the viral video queen, because it seemed like everything I put up went viral. It’s not that but I feel like everything with blogging, you have to just, and you know, why leave something on the table? You know, Facebook pays me, I we get money from Facebook every month for putting out content. So why would I not want that? That’s just money. You know, and so surely, we don’t get the traffic that we used to get from Facebook. But I mean, we still get traffic. And that’s where our, you know, our loyal fans are. So I mean, Facebook is still, you know, the top social media platform. So it seems silly to you know, not put out some energy into it. Especially when it’s really easy. You don’t have to put a lot of thought into it. You know, we’re not having to make fancy pins, or do anything like that. So why not? That’s kind of my motto. 

Megan Porta  07:49

Okay, well, that’s, that’s good. That’s comforting. And we Yeah, I appreciate that. Because that’s not a common theme that I hear a lot. So this is really refreshing. So when you’re talking about like not having to put those pins together and think through that too much, what kind of content are you putting on Facebook?

Carrie Barnard  08:09

We’re putting on whatever they want. So we’re asking them what they want. So for example, my readers love unhealthy food. And it doesn’t mean because we’re busy moms called eating on a dime. So they want to save money, they love their slow cooker. And it doesn’t mean that I can’t post delicious healthy recipes on my site. It just means my Facebook people, you know, they’re not gonna want to cook the really fancy salmon dish, they’re gonna want, you know, the crock pot chicken casserole. And so I just asked them regularly what they want, that way we can give them what they want, because that’s a community.

Megan Porta  08:41

Yeah. And then you’re talking about your Facebook page, like your business page, when you ask, okay, yeah. So you just regularly ask them, like, what do you want for me? And then you deliver that?

Carrie Barnard  08:54

Yeah, exactly. I mean, we ask a question, every single day, that’s just in our, like, people want to be heard, and they want you to pay attention to them. And so Facebook is one of those places, you can you can’t do that on Pinterest, you know, but you can on Facebook, and you can ask them questions and actually get responses of what they want. You know, like, what are you eating for Memorial Day? What are you having on Fourth of July? You know, when Thanksgiving comes? People want to tell you about their traditions and what they want. And then now you know what to, you know, what content to create, what content to give them.

Megan Porta  09:28

So really viewing it as a community and making them feel like they’re a part of it. Like we’re in this together. Tell me what you need. What do you want and I will help you find that. Yeah, exactly.

Carrie Barnard  09:41

So we kind of create, we treat our business page more as a community instead of like a business. You know, less professional photos, even though we do do professional photos, but, you know, we used to do the fancy photos with the ingredients and the title. You know, everybody was kind of doing that on Facebook. Uh, now it’s like, here’s a picture. You want to make it. Let me show you how.

Megan Porta  10:04

Okay, so are you taking like your hero shot from your blog and putting it on your Facebook page? Are you putting something different on there?

Carrie Barnard  10:11

No, we’re still doing the hero shots. We’re just not really doing specialized Facebook photos anymore. You know, like we did. And actually, right now, the most popular things for us has been uploading multiple pictures like a collage, but not not like a collage. Like we’re having to go and do it, you’re just uploading maybe three or four pictures from our site. Okay, whether it’s ingredients and people like that, but, you know, we’re flexible. So it can change at any time. And we’re okay with that, if that makes sense. Yeah,

Megan Porta  10:42

that makes sense. So, that style that was really popular for like, I feel like a long time a couple of years with like, the maybe little ingredients baked into the hero shot with like a, you know, cursive font saying the title. And that’s not necessarily working for your page anymore?

Carrie Barnard  11:02

Not really, no, we just didn’t find that it was worth our time.

Megan Porta  11:05

All right, yeah. And it does take a while to put those together. And I

Carrie Barnard  11:09

it does take a while and I feel like, you know, once everybody starts doing it, you don’t really stand out anymore. So people are it’s eye catching people are getting used to it now. Yeah. And so, you know, it’s kind of just doing what you think that’ll make you stand out. So right now our collages are standing out. And when I say collage, we’re just uploading multiple photos. But when people are scrolling, it looks like a collage. I hope that makes sense.

Megan Porta  11:31

Yeah, that makes sense. And then what about video? Are you putting video on your pages? Or your page? Yeah, yeah,

Carrie Barnard  11:37

I believe that’s the group that you know that where you can get paid is based on your video views. And so we still upload hands and pans videos, if we have them YouTube videos that we’ve created, we upload them. And we still do live videos occasionally. 

Megan Porta  11:53

Okay? And how often are you doing the live videos?

Carrie Barnard  11:57

Maybe two to three a week, maybe?

Megan Porta  12:00

And what do you do with those? 

Carrie Barnard  12:02

Well, we used to do all like almost every day, because they were so popular. That’s kind of what we were known for. But now they’re just showing people recipes. Sometimes we go live and just introduce like a new freebie to get people to sign up for our newsletter, I’m actually thinking about starting like Coffee with Carrie to like build that more community. Because if people like you, and you’re just hanging out with them, they’re going to, you know, engage more. And if they’re engaged more, they see your content more, which means then they go to your site more. And so that’s really important.

Megan Porta  12:33

Okay, reels on Facebook. Do you do those? Do you invest a lot of time there?

Carrie Barnard  12:39

We do do reels. So I’ve just started. Okay, so we’re on Instagram, and we do reels on Instagram. And they’ve done well. And then just one day I uploaded on to Facebook, and it went crazy. So now we do, you know, lots of reels. So I’m just repurposing content that we’ve already created for Instagram, and we’re just uploading them. Some of them are like us actually making it but a lot of them is just like a cute little catchy video. Like it’s not us actually preparing it. And then we’re just telling them hey, say recipe or Hey, say tacos, and we’ll send you the recipe and then we’re sending it to them. Okay, but that’s done really well on Facebook.

Megan Porta  13:20

And do you do those separately? So you don’t upload from Instagram and do like the auto upload to Facebook? You’re separately creating those reels?

Carrie Barnard  13:22

Now we still allow like, you know, on Instagram, it says, like you can like when you upload them, like for it to auto upload to Facebook, but it does, it’s just like sharing it to Facebook. So we actually upload it to our account. And then we’re actually allowing people to comment on them. But we’re getting, you know, like, our cowboy pasta salad recipe got 196,000 views on that reel, and sent a lot of people you know, traffic. And that’s just one example. We have several over 200,000, one 355,000 views. So I really think if people aren’t doing reels, they’re really missing out.

Megan Porta  14:06

Do they still have a program where they’re paying for reels I know they did for a while, right?

Carrie Barnard  14:11

Yeah, I don’t think so. I think they might and that’s part of the videos, but it’s minuscule for me right now we’re just doing it for reach and to drive traffic to our site. Because on all of our reels, we have a ManyChat set up to where like for example, our crock pot chicken fajitas we set up and we have 355,000 people on there, but then that that viewed it, but then when they comment, we send them the recipe link. So we’re encouraging people to comment

Megan Porta  14:40

Gotcha, can you give us like the nitty gritty about Facebook reels like how long should they be anything that we need to know about? I don’t know how to improve them make them the best they can be.

Carrie Barnard  14:53

I mean, really, I wouldn’t stress about it. You know, we have we just quit stressing about it. We give ourselves two shots and that’s it. So you can have your face in them or you cannot. You can also use like old hands and pans videos that you have, and crop them into reels I just use CapCut is really easy. And when I say I like usually it’s my teenager. Nice. I know, right? It’s good to get your teens involved, but you could just give them all your videos, and they can create them into reels. And they don’t have to be, you know, complicated. But I do think the number one thing you need to do is have a catchy line, like, let me give you a couple of ours. This is the secret to stress free dinners that will save money on groceries. And that was a link to our meal plan. Can you believe I made this dinner in 30 minutes? Those are like what I’m putting on the reels, you only need five ingredients, right?

Megan Porta  15:44

The things that are just going to sell people right away, like, Oh, yes, I need that. 

Carrie Barnard  15:49

You know, like for ingredient cookies, you know, just things like that. And we’ve done you know, we’ve tried everything. And so we’ve done just like we’ve included the title, which is fine. And sometimes that does really well. But we’re trying to be a little bit more catchy with like, for example, our Crock Pot Hamburger Helper did really well because we put homemade Hamburger Helper but the crock pot does all the work, instead of just saying crock pot Hamburger Helper. It keeps people reading and it keeps people Oh, well. That’s nice. I want that recipe, you know? Yeah. Intrigue. So yeah, if you if you go to our page, and you look at our reels, you’re going to think and their quality is not that great, because it’s not, because that’s not what we’re trying to do. We’re just trying to give them what they want. And so like if I’m cooking one of my recipes for dinner, I might just take a quick four or five second video of me like serving it. And then I’ll put a catchy title on it. And there’s a reel right there that you can use on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube shorts. And I was already eating the dinner anyway. 

Megan Porta  16:48

Yeah, no, that’s refreshing, too. So it doesn’t have to be like this highly curated video that you’ve edited. And like, you know, whatever, finessed it totally, it can be something that you just put together as you’re making dinner and those do really well.

Carrie Barnard  17:06

I mean, they do really well. I think people want to see at least on Facebook, less professional and more. Like, oh, I can do that. If I look professional. They’re like, Oh, I can’t do that. That’s fun to watch. If they see you actually doing it like in your sweats or, you know, just a regular kitchen. They’re like, Oh, I can do this, too.

Megan Porta  17:26

That does seem to be the trend, doesn’t it not just with Facebook with but with everything. And I love it. It’s like such permission to just let your guard down a little bit and not be so perfect and just produce what people want. And that’s being you 

Carrie Barnard  17:41

Well, and just throw it out there. What’s the harm you know, if it flops it flops you can move on. And so that’s kind of our motto. We’re just going to do it and see what happens. But I think that’s the important thing is being flexible changing often, you know, right?

Megan Porta  17:55

Do you do voiceovers on your reels? Do you notice that that works? Or do you do music? Or what do you typically do? 

Carrie Barnard  18:02

Typically we do music sometimes we do voiceovers and I haven’t really noticed a difference. Okay, on whether or not they get more we haven’t gotten that haven’t stuck out. But we’ve been testing both out. And so, but normally like a voiceovers, I would do a voiceover if I was doing like a hands and pans video and editing it, then I would just you know, speak it really quickly over word. So people do like that because my face isn’t in it. Yeah. But if my face isn’t it, then I’m just usually a video and I’m not even talking. I’m just smiling. 

Megan Porta  18:33

You don’t need to say anything. 

Carrie Barnard  18:35

It’s very easy. 

Megan Porta  18:36

That’s funny. So I’m looking at your page now. And I love what you do with your photo collages how you just like you don’t even put the link there. You’re just like, if you want this comment, and then you provide the link in the comments. And that really increases engagement, I assume, right? Yeah, definitely.

Carrie Barnard  18:56

Well, and so we have it set up. So like, if they type they say lemonade in the comments, then we haven’t set up for Manychat to activate when they say so then we will respond with the link automatically, but also message them the link. Yeah, but not also, we’re also not just messages in the lane. We’re also messaging them a freebie to try to get them on our emails. But yeah, we get a lot of comments. I feel like the more comments before the more likes and the more they see. And then it’s slowly growing and gaining more traction. Now

Megan Porta  19:25

you have a bunch of followers and on Facebook, like 3.5 million, that’s a lot. But you recommend even for someone who’s maybe a newer blogger or intermediate who doesn’t have that following. Do you still think that there’s potential? Like if someone has 1000 followers on an on Facebook, they should still invest time in this? 

Carrie Barnard  19:46

Oh, definitely. Because just because I have 3.5 million followers doesn’t mean I’m getting tons of traffic from Facebook. Like because that was you know, back in the viral days. Now we just focus now instead of growing focus on serving them People that you do have so if you only have 1000 people, be the best for that 1000 people and then you’ll start seeing it grow. You know if you’re just they’ll share it naturally if you’re giving them what they want.

Sponsor  20:13

Hello food bloggers. Are you looking to spice up your social media account with unique and exciting content? If you want that secret edge that makes you stand out in your niche, I might have the answer for you. Catharina can help you streamline your podcasting and social media content with audio editing, video editing or social media strategies. She specializes in working with food bloggers, tailoring her content creation packages to their needs. Whether you want to create something new like a gripping podcast, or if you want to refresh your social media strategies by creating scroll stopping video content for platforms like Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube, she has got you covered. If this sounds intriguing, get in touch with Catharina, go to eat blogtalk.com forward slash resources to get more information about Catharina services again, go to eat blogtalk.com forward slash resources and click on her link. Now let’s get back to the episode.

Carrie Barnard  21:11

So just focus on hey, I’m so glad I have these 1000 people following me. What do you guys want? And give it to them? And then they’re going to love it and they’re going to want to share you?

Megan Porta  21:22

Hmm, that’s really good advice. Okay, so you’re talking about traffic a little bit. So you don’t see a ton of traffic? You’re probably comparing two to the old days, like when you right had all of those hands and pans those were crazy. Were they those viral videos all day? I know. I know. But do you see significant traffic from Facebookw ould you say? 

Carrie Barnard  21:44

Yeah, I wouldn’t. It’s not our, you know, top like it used to be. But we’ve definitely since we quit trying so hard, our traffic has gone up. So we’re just, you know, focusing on building that community more and less on trying to grow it. And then we’re getting more traffic because people want it. You know, now that we’re telling people to comment, like we have people who comment on posts to try to get the recipe when it’s not even offered. Yeah. Because we’re training them to want the recipe. And if you don’t want the recipe, guess what, you don’t have to ask for it. So it’s definitely we’ve definitely seen a boost in traffic since, like, we’ve stopped trying so hard to be like this professional and just be Hey, look at this awesome recipe I have do you want it? Here’s how you can get it. 

Megan Porta  22:29

So you really are focused on I mean, we’ve said it a few times, but that community and just like we are here to serve you. And when you do that you take off the pressure a little bit or a lot. Right and open up room for success, honestly, right. 

Carrie Barnard  22:43

Yeah. Well, and where else can you do that? Yeah, you can’t really do that anywhere else that you can, I mean, you can post on Instagram, but it’s not the same. Facebook is just like where people are at where they want to hang out where your readers are. So why not try a way to get into their feeds again. And we have people message us and it was like you’re not in my feeds. And I’m like, go and comment on a bunch of stuff and like it and then we’ll come back in your feeds. But yeah, I think that just that community, because you have to have a reason for them to keep coming back. And just you saying, hey, I want you to come to my site. It’s just isn’t enough. There’s gotta be more. And so that’s why I think like live videos, even if it’s just Hey, guys, I’m drinking coffee. It’s been a rough week, you know, we’re super busy. How’s your life going? Even if it’s just for a few minutes once a week, like you’re gonna slowly start seeing results from that because you’re building community and why wouldn’t they want to support you? Because you’re there for them?

Megan Porta  23:38

I love that you seem to post a lot. So would you say? Like, just I don’t know, what do you have a certain number or just kind of feel that out as far as how many posts to put up per day?

Carrie Barnard  23:50

Well, you know, what’s crazy is we used to post, like, 24 times a day. Oh my gosh, yeah. And now we’re posting less than half that and seeing an increase. So I think it’s more about less is more. Okay. And having a variety don’t just if you if you scroll through a page, you’ll see that there’s a variety. You know, we’re asking questions, were having pictures, we have videos. So I think people, it’s just having that variety. And it’s less about posting all the time, like back in the olden days when you wanted to get those videos out as much as possible. Yeah.

Megan Porta  24:25

Do you have a group? Or do you do like anything with other groups?

Carrie Barnard  24:30

We do have several groups, and when we post will usually share them to them and they do pretty good. I wouldn’t say they’re amazing, but they’re great because it’s another way to build community.

Megan Porta  24:40

And then do do like how much do you focus on those versus your page?

Carrie Barnard  24:46

I don’t really focus on the groups as much I just kind of pop in there and interact, but that’s about it. 

Megan Porta  24:53

So okay, so you would recommend more focusing on business pages if because it’s a lot of time. It’s a huge time investment to do a page and all of the stuff we’re talking about. And then also like manage a group. So would you recommend one or the other?

Carrie Barnard  25:09

Yeah, I would stick with your page and not a group. Now, if you have time, go ahead and create a group. But we focus on our page. First, the group is great, and people to chit chat and share recipes, that we just like our page more.

Megan Porta  25:22

Yeah. Do you do any cross promoting? I knew that used to be a big thing to just like sharing other people’s videos and viral content. Do you do that anymore? 

Carrie Barnard  25:31

No. 

Megan Porta  25:32

Okay. So it’s just your content. Okay.

Carrie Barnard  25:34

Now we’ll share other people’s content occasionally, not as much as we used to, because I just didn’t really, it wasn’t working for other people, like we were trying to help out. But I think we share one or two other people’s a day. Okay. But if I’m like scrolling on my phone, and I see something that I really like, from another food blogger that I love, I’ll just click share on my phone. And it’s not like it’s organic, like, oh, my gosh, I want this right now. And more, you know, just more casual.

Megan Porta  26:03

Okay, I have another question about live videos, because I know this can be such a huge hang up for people they just don’t want to get in front of video. Can you speak to that? And just give people encouragement just to do it?

Carrie Barnard  26:14

Yeah, why not? I love doing live videos, my sister works with me as well. And that’s our favorite thing to do is live videos, you just can’t if you’re not doing a live video, then you’re not a real person to them. And so if you’re not on there with with AI right now, like that’s the best way for you to show them that you’re a real person is by being real. And showing up in your pjs if you need to, or talking at the end of the day, or just talking about the newest recipes this week. Like, even you don’t even have to prep a dinner. But if you just sit on a video and say, Hey, guys, here’s our new recipes. This is why I like them. Thanks so much. You know, and that’s it. You’ll be impressed people, people like that. They still want that, you know live engagement. I will say when we do live videos, we try to shout out people as much as possible. That does better. So let’s say we’re on a live and you hop on there. I’d be like, Hey, Megan, I’m so glad you’re here, even if I don’t know who Megan is. 

Megan Porta  27:09

Yeah, people love that. 

Carrie Barnard  27:11

They love us. Yeah, anytime it pops up. And so you’re just getting that, you know that proof that you’re a real person and proof that you care about them. So do the live videos, and we repurpose our live videos into reels.

Megan Porta  27:26

Oh, that’s a good idea. 

Carrie Barnard  27:29

Yeah, like if you’re, let’s say you’re gonna make a dinner, like maybe a rice recipe, and you did that on a reel, then you can just crop it. And we’ll zoom it up really quickly. And then just add a cute caption, mute it, put music on it. And then add a caption. Like, you’re gonna love this rice recipe and boom, you have a reel that you can put on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube shorts. 

Megan Porta  27:50

That super smart. 

Carrie Barnard  27:52

Yeah. So you know, there’s a way to repurpose all your content that you do into something else. And so why not? Or even if you were just doing like a coffee chat, you could repurpose that into a reel and be you know, do you love our coffee chats? Or what’s your favorite kind of coffee just to get engagement, things like that.

Megan Porta  28:09

I also love I’m just scrolling down your page. I love that you ask about your dryer like just not maybe food related all the time. But hey, my dryer died. Can you give me your recommendations? Because that’s when people are like, Oh, well, I love my dryer. Let me tell you about it.

Carrie Barnard  28:26

I mean, did you see how many comments? I know so many? So many hundreds? That? Well, yeah, like my teenagers. When they went to prom, I posted their prom picture on there. And people were commenting there with their prom pictures. And they loved it. I was like, give me your you know, but it’s showing that I’m a real person, you know, I have a dryer and it broke. And I’m really mad because I only had it for a few years. And they are like, tell me what I actually need to do. Because this is not working. You know. And so, you know, people have opinions and they want to share on so why not? So yeah, I’ve tried to be more like organic, like, we still have our schedule, but I’ll just randomly post in there. Like if I’m gonna post on my personal page on your phone, you can now put, hey, do you want to share this to your page too? And I just decided one day, yeah, I’m going to, and then the engagement was great. So that I just kept doing. And I don’t do it all the time. But you know, just a little in there of, you know, hey helped me out. And they’ll help each other out. So it’s great.

Megan Porta  29:26

And you have to be willing to kind of roll with the punches to like what you were saying earlier with the hero image with the ingredients like that, you know, curating that takes time and then seeing that the trend changes and being willing to adapt a little bit that has to be part of your process as well, right?

Carrie Barnard  29:45

Yeah, definitely. It’s just flexibility. You know, okay, our Facebook is tanking, what should we do now? Okay, let’s do this and then try something different. And then now it’s growing. But I think the main takeaway that anybody should have learn is that you know, treat it as a community treat them as like their people, you’re inviting over to your house. And I think they’ll do better and less as like, you know, a professional. And just hey, doesn’t mean you’re not an expert, you’re still an expert in your field. It’s just been welcoming. How would you welcome people into your home? That’s how you want to welcome them into your page.

Megan Porta  30:21

Ooh, that’s a good perspective. And you mentioned AI earlier, too. I think that’s a huge thing right now that people are trying to combat so think of how you can be more human because people are kind of fighting against that AI. Like, I don’t want my life to be run by robots. I want humans, right. So it’s a great opportunity to do that.

Carrie Barnard  30:42

And how do you know how do they know that you’re real if you don’t show your face? Yeah, right. Right.

Megan Porta  30:47

If it’s just a bunch of images, you could be a robot.

Carrie Barnard  30:52

Exactly. And right now, you know, I’m sure people are fine with it. But eventually, they’re going to get tired of the AI photos and the fake recipes that aren’t working. And so they’re going to be looking for the people who actually are helping them. And that’s to me, that’s going to be the people who are on video, the people who are showing them. And I think that will speak volumes to them eventually. And so that’s kind of what we’re focusing on. Let’s just build a community, show them that we’re real people with real recipes. You know, our whole motto is real food for real families. But yeah, so that’s what we’re going to show them all. And it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t mean it has to be difficult. 

Megan Porta  31:30

Yeah, I’m just watching some of your videos are so welcoming. You have just a friendly welcoming vibe. 

Carrie Barnard  31:35

And thank you. You’ll see I normally, I get a lot of like hate comments, because I don’t pull my hair back at it. Oh, my sister, I don’t like we’re like, this is our kitchen. Like, Welcome to our home. We’re not gonna pull her hair back. You know, you might get a hair in your food.

Megan Porta  31:54

Welcome to our home. 

Carrie Barnard  31:55

Yes. We are like my dogs walk around in the videos, they love it or tells and we’re always drinking coffee, because life is better with coffee. Yes. So you know, that’s kind of how we are like, here’s our kitchen, it’s not professional, we’re just doing the best we can. And we just have really amazing food that we want to share with you. And that’s kind of that’s kind of how our take has been on and now we’re just really focused that like, tune in on that with, you know, the actual Facebook page. 

Megan Porta  32:22

Carrie, this is so inspiring. I’ve kind of felt like Facebook for so many years, but your page has just re inspired me. Thank you so much for all of this. Seriously, I think this is going to be a really inspiring episode for a lot of people we have 

Carrie Barnard  32:38

I hope so. Yeah. It was fun. 

Megan Porta  32:40

We have not had a positive Facebook episode in many years, honestly.

Carrie Barnard  32:47

Yeah. That’s why I want to talk about it. Like, you know, just, it’s not gonna be the same as it was. But you know, nothing’s the same as it was when I started blogging 10 years ago. Yeah. Everything is a different thing. Yeah. And I feel like that’s how I think a lot of food bloggers forget that. That’s how all businesses are, they have to adapt. You know, 20 years ago, we didn’t have Apple Pay. And businesses have, you know, just like your regular grocery store had to figure out how to take Apple Pay, you know, so they’re having to evolve to and so we have to evolve, you know, as everything evolves. And so it’s just, yeah, I think it’s just fun. Don’t miss out on Facebook, you’re missing out on fun. 

Megan Porta  33:25

Oh, is there anything we forgotten that you feel like would be really important for people to hear about Facebook before we start saying goodbye?

Carrie Barnard  33:31

I don’t think so I think we got everything I do highly recommend people doing Many Chat or some other kind of, we didn’t really talk about that much. But people don’t really see links on Facebook anymore. They’re kind of hidden. And so when you do a mini chat or another auto responder if people don’t know what that is, but basically what it does is you say you activate to where if they say let’s say pasta, then we will send them the recipe of that pasta recipe. We will reply in the comments. But we will also it also automatically sends them a message. And what’s great there is once they’re in your messenger, you can invite them for a freebie to get on your email list. You can also invite them to sign up for broadcasts. So like I send out my people who signed up for my broadcasts once a day, our new recipes and people love it. And so I again, that’s more building community because when you comment, we’re replying to you and we’re sending you a message. That’s you know, it’s not a professional message is like Hey, friend, guess what, here it is. Enjoy it. I love it so much. And people really liked that. So I definitely think that to maximize Facebook, you need to get on like a Many Chat or I know there’s a few other ones. That’s just the one I happen to use.

Megan Porta  34:43

Yeah, that seems like a popular one that people are using. No, yeah, yeah. Well, awesome. Thank you so much, Carrie. It was such a pleasure, so much fun talking to you. And I know this is going to inspire so many people’s we just really appreciate you. Do you have either a favorite quote or a word of inspiration to leave us with, I like to ask that of all my guests. If you do, we’d love to hear. So

Carrie Barnard  35:06

I wasn’t sure what to do, because I was like, so I asked my teenage boys. So I have a ton of teenage boys who are very hard workers. And their favorite quote is, no one cares work harder. And so it’s and I was like, Oh, I love that, quote, I forgot how much I love that cares, because it doesn’t matter what other people are doing. You just got to work harder. And so that’s kind of been my motto in life, it doesn’t matter what happens to you in your life. You just got to work hard, and you can beat other people by working harder. You know, a lot of people just like in the Facebook, a lot of people are quitting using Facebook, but Well, that’s a perfect time to do Facebook, then because you don’t have as many competition. And so you kind of, you know, if SEO, you’re struggling with, you know, SEO, work harder, do something different. And so that’s kind of been our whole life motto is, you know, like I said at the beginning, you know, I grew my site, from little to nothing, you know, as I, you know, unexpectedly became a single mom to eight kids, and I still was able, you know, I just worked harder. So I think that’s just a good motto in life. Stop comparing yourself to other people. Just compare yourself to yourself, and work hard. 

Megan Porta  36:15

Yes, I hear that so much. Not with Facebook. But with just like blogging in general, people are like, is this worth it? I’m gonna leave. I’m like, You know what, exactly what you just said, like, you just have to keep going and keep working. And you’re going to beat out everyone else by doing that. 

Carrie Barnard  36:32

So, I mean, yeah, I have a full time job where I’m providing income for other families. And I work at home, you know, I’m wearing PJ pants right now, so…

Megan Porta  36:42

I know it really is the best life isn’t it? I love it so much. It is so yeah. Oh, thank you. That was amazing. We’ll put together a show notes page for you, Carrie, if anyone wants to go look at those head to eatblogtalk.com/eatingonadime. So tell everyone where they can find you. Your blog, social handles anything else you want to mention? 

Carrie Barnard  37:04

Yeah, you can find us on Facebook, you know, it’s eatingonadime.com. But all our social handles are Eating on a Dime, whether it’s Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, we’re on all of them, and we’d love to connect. We also have a Lazy Day Cooking Club. And that is basically a meal prep service where we teach people how to prep dinners, like 10 dinners in an hour and then just throw them in their crock pot and we actually have a great affiliate program. So a lot of food bloggers have been using it. It’s great in their emails, it’s great on social media. So that’s another option as well. They can just go to lazydaycookingclub.com to learn about how to become an affiliate or they can just hit the contact button on there and we’ll get them set up. 

Megan Porta  37:43

Awesome everyone go check all of that out. Thank you again carry so much for being here and thank you for listening food bloggers. I will see you next time. 

Outro  37:54

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk if you are craving accountability, focus and connection at a low monthly cost. Join the Eat Blog Talk accountability group at eatblogtalk.com/focus. I will see you next time.