EP2 - Journey of a BBQ Influencer w/ William Horst of @Hooked_on_BBQ

In today’s episode, Marcel is joined by William Horst of Hooked on BBQ. William runs a successful Instagram and website dedicated showcasing all things barbeque and spreading a message of positivity to his community. 

Coming from New Jersey, William wasn’t exposed to the culture of BBQ until a trip to Texas where he experienced the Texas way of barbequing. He realized it was something you could do in your own home and, not only that, but something you could do well. This led to him embarking on a trial and error quest to learn the craft. As a cooking novice, William’s only experience in the kitchen was helping his mother as a kid and using gas grills as an adult.

BBQ went from a weekend hobby to a true passion when a friend signed them up for a BBQ contest at Victory Brewing. With no prior experience, where they went on to win second place. This led to doing more and more competitions and expanding their repertoire. They moved on to an upright vertical charcoal smoker in an effort to raise their game for competitions. William admits that in those early days they were an inconsistent team because they didn’t practice enough together. Through advice from other competitors and being able to see judges’ scorecards, William and his team learned not to change things every time. Adapt, but don’t completely change because it really all comes down to who is tasting your food.

Marcel and William go on to discuss how cooking at home compares to larger scale competition cooking and restaurant style when it comes to taste. For William, it is all about flavor. It doesn’t need to look pretty; it just needs to taste good and often less is more when it comes to flavor. 

Starting his Instagram account came from a love of traditional BBQ methods and experimentation. He realized that it was possible to do so much more than just competition cooking. With photography as his other hobby, it was a natural match of platform and user. Marcel goes on to ask William how he grew his following. William believes that everyone in your life has an impact on you, even in social media circles. This has an impact on work ethic. Starting, out his goal was to get sponsors, but admits that at that point, it becomes more like work. William realized that he had to understand the platform in order to make an impact.

After seeing others succeed on Instagram while he still wasn’t gaining any traction, William admits he nearly left the platform. He decided he needed to step back and really look at why he was doing it. What William was looking for was to enjoy himself. He realized he had to make content that was the best for him and that brings value to people. It is a learning process and one with mutual respect in the community. William aims to bring positivity to his audience in an organic way. 

The next topic that comes up is how getting his first sponsor impacted the way William went about obtaining new sponsors and how he brands himself.  The first company to offer him sponsorship was Lobster Anywhere in 2018. At that time, William had 10,000 followers and had never grilled lobster before. The videos he made didn’t gain much traction on his page, but helped him to realize the benefit and worth of instructional content. For William, it is not about the bottom line. It is about bringing variety and worth to people and sharing values.

William sees his experience working with Lobster Anywhere as the building block for how he approaches creating content now. He used that experience to learn video creation techniques and tips from the people around him that he still utilizes today. You don’t need fancy equipment; you just need the basic building blocks to begin.

Moving forward from his first sponsorship, William has the philosophy that you shouldn’t reach out to companies. Just because you can send them DMs doesn’t mean you should. They are already flooded with requests every day. Finding collaborators organically is a much more beneficial way to begin a partnership. Building relationships and having good intentions is the best way to work with someone. If the product is good, it doesn’t need to be ‘sold’.

Marcel agrees with Williams’ philosophy. The genuine intent behind how people present themselves or brands they are working with is often plain to see. It was William’s genuine belief and passion that led to Marcel himself doing what he had never done before; ordering a product based on an Instagram recommendation. In fact, when Marcel was setting up Fire and Beer, he asked William for advice on how to create an authentic online presence.

Leading up to this point, the most valuable advice William can give is to listen to the people around you. Take on board their recommendations and use them to hone your craft and content. Accomplishment doesn’t come from the number of followers you have or sponsors you acquire; it comes from making the people you work with proud and deepening those relationships. Content is king and it is worth it to put a little extra effort in whether it’s written or filmed.

Going forward, William’s main goal is to surround himself with good brands and good people. With good people surrounding you, you are more likely to be set up to succeed. His motivation is to provide value to people and to put social media to a more positive use. Social media tends to come with negative connotations these days, but it can be used to build a great community and forge new connections.

To wrap up the episode, Marcel asks William what the secret is to perfect, crispy, burnt brisket ends. William offers his basic tips for creating brisket. Season with a heavy amount of rub, refrigerate, and use more smoke wood than you would. Put the meat on cold and make sure to add moisture with a water pan. Remember that there is such a thing as dirty and clean smoke, and it can influence the taste. Keep it simple and follow the fundamentals.

Learn more about William and Hooked on BBQ: https://www.hookedonbbq.net

https://www.instagram.com/hooked_on_bbq/

This episode was sponsored by Asabasa Spice Co. Please visit https://asabasaspice.com and use promo code "FIREANDBEER" for 15% off your order.

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