Mike Diramacca | You’re Not Going Viral and Here’s Exactly Why | #144

This week,

I sit down with Mike Diramacca, a social media influencer out of Forsyth County, Georgia who’s built a strong presence on Facebook by understanding what actually drives attention and engagement online.

We talk about what it really takes to go viral, why most people never break through, and the mindset behind creating content that consistently performs. Mike breaks down how he approaches posting, what separates average content from viral content, and where most creators go wrong.


Mike's Links:

https://share.google/4ARadn2fVB1l7XDgO

https://share.google/VlnVHXO2BsG6aKTNz



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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Yo yo yo, it's your boy. It's Bill Wham Bam Benamino, baby. It's another Wambam Wednesday. And you know what? As I'm always gonna say, subscribe, hit that subscribe button first, baby. It takes zero effort, costs zero dollars. Hit the subscribe button so we can continue to bring you these great guests. You know the shows about ordinary people who've done extraordinary things. Well, today's guest, he's done just that. Imagine being somebody making over a hundred thousand dollars a year on Facebook. That's right. This man was making that kind of money. Single father, he was, he was, he was raising his family, and then all of a sudden, boom, the rug got taken from him, and they shadow banned him and stopped him. We got Mike Dermaco in the house, known as Mike Dirty. What's up? What's going on? How's it going, Mike Dirty?

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Everything is lovely. It's good to be here. Everything is lovely. I'm glad we got to got to finally get together.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Yeah, man. Well, you know, you got a great story, and we want to get right into that. And you know what? Let's dive right into the whole Facebook thing. Because you know what? Making money off social media, people are starting to do it a little bit. Right. Some have lots of success with it, and others don't, of course. Right. But there's a lot of rules along the way. Certainly. And what you don't realize is it can be taken away from you just like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Which has happened plenty of times. Yeah. You know, you you you work hard, you create content, and all of a sudden you're you're banned or whatever it might be and restricted. And do you want to start it again, but you realize, hey, the money was great, can be great. So I I I get it. Um, yeah. So diving into it. Um, so in 2016, 2017, I started Mike Dirty.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Mike Dirty. Now, where did where did you come up with Mike Dirty? Like, like, like, why were you dirty? Were you like just smelly dirty, or were you just like dirty, dirty?

SPEAKER_01 2:03

You know, I I I think it more came of a lot of people couldn't pronounce my last name.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

You know, I I think uh Deramica, just Mike D. Yeah. I'll just put it together. Uh Mike Dirty, because I think that's where this group is gonna go. Okay. So I started a group, and I started a group on Facebook and I called it Mike Dirty. Okay. Now what was the group about? You know, originally it really wasn't I I I didn't really have much focus in mind about it. I I didn't know where I was going with it. But I knew I was gonna post, you know, things of of local get-togethers or bars and and try to keep it local to the community. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Um kind of community, you know, check in.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Right. I wasn't trying to branch out. I I wanted to keep it close to home. So I start this group and I call it Mike Dirty. And at the time, and you may still be able to do it, but I added some admins, and you were able to kind of add whoever you wanted. Um, so I had all I had a couple of admins, and I said, just go through your friends list and add everybody to this group. And they're all local, so they start adding everybody, a lot of people that I knew, people I didn't that lived here. And within the first week, with everybody adding people, I mean, we got probably close to 10,000 people.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Just in a week's time.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Just in a week's time, and that was just not necessarily people joining, you know, uh following us, but just because we added them and they accepted it. So now we got thousands of people in this group, and and I'm like, all right, so maybe we can make something happen. So we start posting about local events, um, we start having these little bar parties. I got people coming out, they're talking about their company, and just over wings, beer, and hey, I saw you on Mike Dirty. Oh, yeah. I saw you on Mike Dirty. People that were talking in the comments on Mike Dirty were now sitting in person over wings and beer, right, talking about what they do for work, what she does for work social gatherings that you put together. It was social gatherings, and it was all all here in the area. Um, sound too dirty. To be honest, there really was, you know, at the time, there really wasn't anything dirty about it. But all, you know, coming, alpha reta, but just in the in the general area of of of around here.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

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SPEAKER_01 5:04

So we did that for a little while, and you know, a few months went by, and you know, more people are are joining, and I'm like, all right. I I I think maybe I think maybe we need to turn it up a little bit. Because it was fun and it was great connections, but I was kind of getting a little bored with it. Yeah. You know, I I I at the it was like equivalent to just logging onto your Facebook and scrolling and not much was going on. So I'm like, so how can we how can we spice this up? Um, so I'm like, well, you know, I'd like to make a little money. Maybe I can put a little clothing, you know, some clothing together. Yeah. You know, so I get a little merchandise. We sell a little merchandise, you know, nothing crazy. Maybe a little white tea with a stain on it, but it says Mike dirty. Whatever, you know, whatever it might be.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

So I end up going to town and and you really think you could sell those types of shirts to people at that time, or is it something that you know, you're like, hey, I'm gonna I'll throw it out there and see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

I had zero not at all. I didn't I didn't think they would, you know, because I I'm a couple months into a group I started, but really, who the hell am I? Yeah. And and and and still, but at the time, really, who the hell am I? You know, I'm not gonna sell a shirt. So I end up finding somebody that that makes shirts and uh and all kinds of things, tank tops, koozies, shirts, and I create this little uh this uh Facebook uh market, uh it's like a Facebook uh shop. Yeah. They may still have them. And I say that because I haven't tried to create a shop in a in years. Um, but uh the woman that I was with at the time, she helped me with that, uh, with the girls' clothing side of things, and then I had uh t-shirts for guys and and all that, and we and we put together a a Facebook shop, and it was just mic dirty. And I put it out there, I posted it in the group, and I'll be damned if people didn't start ordering it. Yeah, just I was surprised. Right. I mean, we had a few orders within the first week, and then a you know, 20 orders, 30 orders, and and I'm like, what are we really doing here? Uh right, what are we really doing here? Because I was paying for all of that out of my pocket.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Right. You weren't expected to make money. I was expecting to make money. I was trying to make money. Sure. You're a little hustle, a little hell.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Didn't expect to make a dime, but I was paying for all this merchandise out of my pocket. Right. So I was negative to begin with. Sure. So, you know, a little bit of money starts coming in, and you know, great, and that and that's awesome. So that started coming in, and we started to I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna start posting some other things now. I I'm and I think this is more of when it kind of really came to the the Mike Dirty deal. So, you know, I would uh I would make a post and and I would say something like, Hey, you know, post a selfie if you're a woman, and if you whoever gets the most likes gonna become the cover page of this group. So we had we had a little contest. A little contest, and and we had a lot, you know, a lot of women did that.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

And and do you have any guys do it to kind of categorize themselves as a woman?

SPEAKER_01 8:46

You know, we we had everything. Okay we had uh sure, sure, sure. We had everything, you know, everything. Guys did it, uh, some women did it, and so that became a thing. We would do that, and and you know, different girls on the cover page, um, and and then we started to really get into the the dirty side of things. And I think once I started to do that, is when randomly, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I I would have women or men or both post videos and photos, and they may be nude. And I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Now we're getting to the dirty part.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Now we're getting to the dirty part. Okay. And so now it's like now we're transitioning into just local get-togethers to now locals. Local porn. Almost in a sense, you know. I'm like, you know, I need to send some waivers out before we get in trouble. I'm I'm thinking, but now it's now we're kind of people are feeling a little bit more comfortable, and now they're starting to really just like if they were in a relationship or they weren't, or they were married, or they weren't, it was like they didn't have another half. Yeah, like they felt safe, like nobody's gonna see it here. Oh, okay. Well, it's the internet, right? You know, everybody sees everything. It's the world, man. It's the world, everybody sees it. So be mindful.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Or can see it.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Or can see it. You know, you throw, you throw a photo out there, I'm someone's probably gonna save it before you delete it. So that that's what was going on for a little while. So I'm sitting there.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Where was the first post that you saw? The first post that came out in that was naked. Like, what was your thoughts right away? Did you try to, were you just like shocked or were you excited? Like, what was it? What was the feeling that came across to it?

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Um, this was uh so when that first happened, it was great because this was before I started dating um my ex-wife, my child's mother. So it was great then. Everything was it was great. But when I first saw it, I'm scrolling and it just happened to be a chick with her breasts out, and it I you know, I'm like, how is this not flagged? How is this not banned? Sure. You know, because is it because we're a group and it's not on. We were not a private group, but we weren't a public group. I guess in a sense, you had to be invited to it. You couldn't just scroll down your Facebook and see it. Sure. So, but anyways, when I was what made her do that? Like what was the whole point of it all? I don't know if she had, you know, bad day.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

I uh maybe had a good day, maybe had a great day.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Um couple too many drinks. I I I don't know. But I think that kind of made others follow suit because then it just took a trend. It started a trend. Really? It started a trend. Um, and and I think it just followed suit.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

So so now you're you got a you got a group that's basically a Hooters, you know, application. Right, you know, for people right.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

A hooter exactly. Now I now I got Hooters applicants posting, making posts, and you know, and and and and this went on for a couple of months. So it keeps growing, it keeps growing, it keeps growing, and and and now we're up, I mean, we're up 50, 60,000 plus, with majority of of of these folks living around this area. They know each other. Oh, there's so many of them know each other, right? So if if if Jill posted so and so and Tom knows who Jill is, but Jill's married to Jack, well, Tom's gonna tell Jack. Right. And you know, it got to a point where it became nothing but drama. It was fun for a while, and then it became nothing but drama. I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Um It sounds like you had a Tinder app, you didn't even know it.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

I didn't know I know I didn't, you know, at the point where I if I was smart at the time, uh I I should have charged you know subscriptions to to join the group. It was it was it was almost like uh free Brazilies to a North Georgia point. Yeah. And I'm not saying that's better than the real thing, but you know, but after a while, and and and I'm talking maybe about a year and a half in, two years almost, it became more drama than it did having fun. Uh-huh. I I mean it just got out of control. It it we started, you know, I started off just posting, having get-togethers, and now we're close to 80, 90,000 people, and majority of them living around here, we're bumping into folks when we go into public. It might have been a comment, and and this sounds so stupid, but it it happened. Yeah, it might have been a guy that just said something on a comment, but we're all living around the same place. Sure. So now we're over here trying to grab a drink, and this guy said that to him, and I saw what you said on Mike Dirty, and and and it was just drama, and it just went downhill. Right. And I get a message one day. Now you're making money off of this though. Um I'm making I'm making a I'm making a little bit of money. I was making uh more money off the off the store. The merch. The merch. I was making more money off of the store. Who's your biggest seller? The um the tank tops, the women's tank tops. Really? The guys, and I get it. Why do you want to want to wear, you know, my name on them? I get that. Um, yeah, it was it was the tank tops, and I don't, you know, whether they just thought it they were comfortable or or what. I don't, you know.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

But that makes you feel you walk around town and all these girls got Mike Dirty outside.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

And I'm not I'm not gonna post the pictures, and at the time I had random girls wearing the panties that said Mike Dirty on them. Yeah. Um, and and that and and again, this was this was before I I met um, you know, my child's mother, my ex-wife. But and it was great.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

But you know two viewers. He was singles. What he's trying to say, he was single.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

I I was single at the time. This was not that that whole thing was not going on uh, you know, while I was with her. That was uh before then. But that then it it it just it started to get a little, it was too much drama. Um and I get a message one day, and it's uh it's somebody that's an attorney, and they're telling me that my name was brought up in a court case. And I'm like, well What'd you do? I said, Well, what did I do? Yeah, well, it was a uh it was a a a civil case where it was someone that had posted in my group that was married, and somebody had shared the photo and they posted something they shouldn't have, and now they're going to court for a divorce, and my name was brought up. I had created the group. Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

And it it came into the group. If you didn't create the group, that would have never happened.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

If if Mike didn't create the group, we wouldn't be getting divorced right now. Yeah, right. Right. Right, sure. So the beginning of the drama, and I'm thinking to myself, I think you should have got a piece of that divorce.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Right. You should have got a piece of the settlement, you know what I'm saying? You should have paid on the. I mean, we should have just settled it in the group. I mean, because at the end of the day, they were gonna get divorced, clearly, you know, and you know it depended on you.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

If uh, and I'm you know, I'm not gonna say if it was him or her, but regardless, they would have posted something somewhere else. Yeah, exactly. Bottom line. Probably have. It probably probably did before, but it just it it showed up there, and and I'm thinking to myself, you know, what what am I getting myself into now? Because it's gonna go to court. I never went. Okay. I never went to court. I didn't go. They want you to be a like a they yeah, you know, to the picture. Um, I didn't get too deep into it, but whether they wanted me to be, hey, it's my group, and this is I did see it and it was posted, I don't know. It never got that far. I I never and I wanted nothing to do with it because I didn't feel that I had anything to do with it. And it was just wild to me. The whole thing was wild. So that was kind of the start of now. We got just drama going on. We got drama going on. So we got the drama starts, court cases, people breaking up because they posted this, they posted that. It sounds stupid, but this is it just kept going downhill. Now, when people get attention, you know, a lot of it's like crabs in a bucket, you know. They and I didn't have really anything going on. I had just made a group that was popular, popping off, but I didn't have nothing really going on. It's just social media, sure, right? Right, but for whatever reason, just because there was a little bit of attention and and and a few folks that that I got along with just they didn't like it.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

You know, the crazy thing about social media is a lot of the social media that's out there, and and this is a problem, you know, or was a problem. I you know, I I like to try to be more on the positive side, try to work on the positive things, but there's so much stupidity out there. There really is. People watch, people want to, people want to engage, of course, they want to argue, they want to, and and unfortunately, that's what social media is. They want you to be social and talk about stuff. And when you do, whether it's stupid or not, if you got engagement, that's what's important. And it's really, really too bad that some of the things that are out there that are actually getting recognized, you know, are getting the big engagements. People, kids are people are getting paid off of these things. And you're like, I would never do that, or I would never allow my kid or my wife or my anybody do that.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

I I I think social media is is great in many ways, and I uh uh and I also think it's a disease. Uh you know, I it's it's just with anything else, you got your ups and downs. Sure. Um whether it's more positive or more negative, I mean who's who's to say it's how you look at it. But in my in that whole instance, it just started to become more negative. Right. So I would I would go out and you know, I'd run into some people that were on the page, and and you know, most of the time we there was good interactions, and and then there was other times where there were just issues. It just because there was some attention on me. And that's all it was. I mean, I wasn't I'm no better than anybody else, it wasn't then, not now. What's your page? It was just my page. Right. So these guys came together and they decided they wanted to start their own thing because they want some attention on them. Well, do your thing. So they started this group, and they started this group called the Low Lives. Oh yeah. The Low Life's and they were around here too. Oh yeah. Facebook, the page, Low Lives, and they start their thing, and at that point it was just nothing but drama. We'd go out to local bars around here, people that had joined their page were fist fighting over here. Those are like little gangs. You know, when somebody asked me that you know at one time, they're like, Man, that's right. It's like, man, you have like street, street, you know, little street gangs.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

And it's a in a sense.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

So right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Stupid.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

I'm just stupid. You know, they I I go to a bar, I get to a bar one time, and outside the little bar, you know, the the bar sign that's lit up, it's got um, it's it said, uh Mike Dirty, what's up?

SPEAKER_00 21:20

They knew you were coming.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

They knew I was coming. Nice. They knew I was coming. So I go in there and I and I'm with a couple other people. We just went in to grab some drinks, just a random bar, and anyways, you know, it just it all goes down. Just just drama. Drama, drama, drama.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

I bet owners of bars and places actually enjoyed it though, because you know, they got the recognition and know that if you would come, you're gonna bring 20, 30, 40,000, 50,000 people.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Well, in the you know, and originally that's what we did. Yeah. Uh we would have these get togethers, these mic dirty parties, and we would bring people a second.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

You said Mike dirty parties. It's like kind of like a deep, you know, a deep. Diddy party? Was it like a ditty party, man?

SPEAKER_01 22:02

There was no big baby boiler lube.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Come on. Go ahead and come come straight with us now.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

It was straight raw dog. It was none of that. No. No, there was none of that, but but just, you know, 30, 40. And I would make a post. I said, hey, we're all meeting at so-and-so bar. Let's go down there. Let's hang out. Let's support this place. Sure. And 20, 30, 40 of us would go down there and we'd all hang out. That's great. Um, and and it worked out well for a while. But then I'd make a post, and now, now, now we just got these other groups kind of frolicking off. Doing the same stuff. Doing the same stuff. And now they're showing up to where we're at. And it it just, it was nothing but drama. Yeah.

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SPEAKER_01 25:07

And this guy posted this, this woman posted that. This woman got knocked up by this guy in the group, but she was married, and he's in here and da-da-da. And it just got to a point where I'm like, I just almost want to be done with it. Yeah. It just, it was, it just, it was, I'd wake up and it was just nothing but drama.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

So you have that button though. You have that delete button. You could have done. Had that delete button. You know, so what was it that you know kept it going? Like you you knew it was drama. You you you said it yourself. You know, I think because you didn't delete it.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

I think it was because originally what I what what I I I pictured of it was I wanted that positivity of of going out, supporting bars, helping locals, helping locals, everybody getting together, you know. Um but then the tits pop up on your page. And I mean, how what does that do? You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Yeah, I mean, I thought it was on the wings or what?

SPEAKER_01 26:10

All it did was cause issues. All it did was cause issues. And, you know, even even guys too. I mean, there's just a lot of things were posted. But I I think I I held on to it because I wanted, you know, I saw what the vision was in the beginning after a little while, and I thought maybe I could hold on to that. Yeah. Just everybody stay calm. The drama's gone. We're gonna go to these places, we're gonna get together, support local bars, you know, have these, have these get togethers, you know, sell some merchandise. Smart. But and and and and it was great. And and just like, you know, with anything, like, you know, with your your podcast and social media, you build it up and it takes time. That's right. And you don't want to just give that away. Right. You know, whether you whether you gained a thousand followers, 20, 100, whatever it might be, it's you you work to do that. And you didn't, you know. Yep. So it was tough. But fast forward, I ended up, I end up getting uh end up getting married. I got a baby on the way, and and uh at the time Now did you meet your wife? I bet I met her. I'm gonna go to the ground.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Was she in her low life group or was she in your group?

SPEAKER_01 27:22

I met her. Uh she uh she was um I messaged her, but she knew my group. Knew your group. She had been invited to my group. Did she join? She she joined.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Okay, so maybe she did like you then.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

I I didn't even, you know, I at the time I didn't even know she was in it. Yeah. I didn't even know she she was in the group. Um, but I just I had reached out to her on on social. It's because it's, you know, and now we don't we don't call anymore or meet at a coffee shop. Now it's a message on Facebook Messenger. You know, that's kind of where it came to. So so that's what I did, and I didn't even know she was a part of it. And and honestly, it was kind of like, well, damn, she's probably seeing everything in here. You know, right. Just I'm surprised. Right. She had even responded. But anyway, so so I meet her and and uh we get a lot of. Yeah, but you know what?

SPEAKER_00 28:19

That's gotta be attracting a lot more, you know, a lot more uh, you know, obviously you're getting a lot more buzz because of that. People are watching. They might not, you know, saying anything, but they're watching it and they're we can't wait till tomorrow to see what's new.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

See, right. I mean, they were like, I you know, the the word was and and there was everybody from 18 years old to people that were in their 70s and 80s. Oh wow. And I would get in the big range. It was a big range. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I have uh, you know, and and and I'm just choosing a name because I think it fits at the moment, but Patty, uh huh. Patty would would like something that was in there. And Patty was a sweet retired grandmother that just knits in her spare time. Right. And and and then I had this guy over here that just graduated college and he's liking the same thing. So, but I would I would get messages and hey, I just want to tell you that we live vicariously through you. Oh wow. That's good. And and all the time, you know, and so I end up meeting her and um babies on the way. And at the time, the you know, the only money I was making was off that group. Yeah. I was it was a it was a weird transitioning at the time. So I I I I get this word about this decent job, and I go in, and everything I walk into the office, and the second I walk in, they're all looking at me. Uh-oh. I'm like, what you know, I'm in the group. I'm not even yeah, are they in the group?

SPEAKER_00 29:49

They in the group. I didn't even know. Did you recognize somebody's breast there?

SPEAKER_01 29:53

You know, did y'all see what was in there? I mean, I've I'm not even hired yet. Yeah. So what what did I do wrong? And and they're all kind of looking at me weird, but and I but I didn't think too much of it. So I go in, I go in for this interview, I leave, and the next day the owner calls me and he says, Hey, you know, come in, but I want to talk to you. I'm like, all right, that's fine. And we're living in a little town home at the time, and baby on the way, and I go in for this interview and he brings me to the back. And he's just looking at me. And I it just finally kind of clicked. He's like, you know, I just want you to know that uh, you know, I know who you are, I've seen it all, you know, but if you want to work here, you know, we're not gonna be doing any of that. That's your representation of me, and we're not gonna be doing any of that. Now I wanted to tell him, you know, right then and there, you know, give him the middle finger and move on. Sure. You know, I because I at the time I didn't know how to feel. And I started thinking about it. Well, do I want to stay true to keeping it?

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Well, the question is, how does it affect your job, right? Right. You know what I mean? Number number one, like what you do on your personal time is your personal time.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Now, if it affects your job is one thing, right? And there are some credentials. You can't imagine.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

I I at the time I felt I was I felt vulnerable. I I felt it was a little I I felt it was unfair.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Uh, you know, I will say this, at least he told you.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

He told me. And he gave you the He told me and it was like he almost gave me an ultimatum. Hey, if you don't, if you don't get out of that and get rid of it, then you're not gonna be working here. That's right. Now, you know, that that whole thing wasn't paying our bills, daughter on the way, so we're gonna have more bills. And just at the time, you know, I I gotta do my I got a kid on the way. Sure. Um responsibilities. I got responsibilities. So I just said no more Mike Dirty. I said, no more Mike Dirty. About two years in, I threw in the towel. Um, you know, we were close to around about 90 to 100,000 followers, and the store was popping off, and we had boxes of merchandise, and we're doing this and that, plus all the drama. And I just said, you know what? I'm thinking about the drama, I'm thinking about my daughter. I'm done. So I I just told everybody in the whole group that were moderators. I said, for whatever reason, I could not delete the group. It just wouldn't allow me to. Really? It wouldn't allow me to. It was there, but I could not, I whether it was a glitch, there was an issue, I don't know. So I I sent a message to all the moderators in there, and I said, just just start deleting everybody. So they start deleting thousands and thousands of people. And you know, luckily, thankfully, these these these were some people that I were there from day one, still got along with, and they just stuck with it. They actually ended up downloading an app that just kept clicking the button to delete people just so they could, you know, just throughout the day. And finally, I you know, I got it down and and and it was it was gone. And the page, funny enough, the page name got changed. There's nobody in the group, but you can still scroll and see everything. Oh, really? So Dirty D is still out there, it's still out there. You can scroll and see everything. Everybody's in the group, and you don't get invited to group. There's nobody in it. Yeah, there's nobody in it. So, you know, then Mike Dirty was gone. And so I said, you know what? I'm just gonna kind of focus on my own Facebook. And made me and I had my own Facebook at the time, but I had the group, so I didn't do much with it. Yeah, you know, I'm doing everything over here. So I'm like, all right, maybe I'll put a little more effort into my own Facebook. Mike Clean? Might you know, it might clean. Uh hold on, take the hat off. You got hair?

SPEAKER_00 34:07

You got hair?

SPEAKER_01 34:08

Do I have that's why I'm wearing the hat.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Oh. Oh, there you go. Yeah, Mike Clean, man.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

There you go, like Mr. Clean. Well, I had hair, and then I made that group, and it was just gone. I woke up one day and it was gone, you know. Um, yeah, it's just I'm missing some grass in the fairway, but but uh so I I was like, you know, I'm gonna focus a little bit on my own page. Yeah. And that I I slowly started to do that. Um, wasn't making any money at all. But I had I had a good amount of people that followed me from just the group to my own page, just started following me. Um so I started to post a little bit more on there and started to kind of get a feel of well, how does social media work? How does you know monetization work? What are they looking for? Because I, you know, I heard of people getting uh getting a thousand, a thousand likes, making a couple bucks, and somebody that got 80 likes but a bunch of comments and shares that made much more. Right. So I'm like digging into it, and after a little while, I'm like, well, it's all about the engagement. You know, it's all about the engagement. We we need to I need to figure out how I'm just gonna get people to engage. Right. But also keep it in boundaries, which keep it close on. Keep it close on, uh, you know, in a sense, watch what you say, but also which I've had a problem with because I've I'm currently shadow band. Currently shadow ban and and I'm on my second account. And uh, but but I I try.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

You know what? That's that's an interesting thing because you know, a lot of times people don't understand what shadow banding is, and it's a real thing, but it really happens where people can't see your post. Like Facebook or Instagram, like they if they they shadow ban you, you're you're tied up, and it might be for something you don't even they don't even tell you why they shadow banned you.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

You know what I mean? Like it could be it could be a music, could be a song that maybe you didn't have the rights to or something that you didn't even tell you.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

There's there's so many reasons that the the algorithms are just off the charts. Yeah. Um you know, you you could just use a keyword and you meant it in good context, but it they they're gonna they're gonna serve, you know, that keyword is is what got you shadow banned. Right. And it's kind of easy to easy to see when you know what's going on. You're you're making posts and you're getting all this engagement, and then all of a sudden you're just kind of doing the same thing and nothing. Right, right. And they may not even tell you. Right. Sometimes they do. In my case, they they they told me what was going on, but um so uh you know, I'm doing my own thing on my own page, my own Facebook. How do I get this engagement? And I'm like, I I just I I gotta figure out how do I get this engagement. So topics, right? Right now, life is all about balance, and I'm not gonna get on Facebook. I'm not always gonna be positive, I'm not always gonna be negative.

SPEAKER_00 37:17

No, but I'll tell you what you are. You're funny. Well, you're funny. I I'm I've seen a few of your posts, man. I appreciate you chuckle every now and then. I appreciate you, but I also deserves a good laugh.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

I appreciate it. And and and but I also I also like to be wholesome, and I also like to be positive, and I also like to speak things that maybe somebody will go home and you know they'll think to yourself, you know what, man, I saw what Mike posted, and I felt that.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

I I don't want it to always be just comical because you know, life's not always funny, right? You know, no, it's true. Um, so I I I try to keep a good balance, and I think what's what's helped me with that is now I'm attracting people from all angles. You know, I'm I'm attracting the the the older woman. When I said I was, hey, you know, you need to, you know, the the the grandma that might knit because hey, you know, uh you you you need to stay positive and cherish everything, and and and so that's something that might attract it to her. Right. Or I'm I'm making a funny joke, and now I got uh this demographic and these younger kids, you know, following me, and it's just a mixture of everything. Right. I didn't ever want it to be just one thing, I wanted everybody. So all my engagement and my topics, uh, you know, how can I get just just you know this genre to engage, this age group to engage, just thinking of topics of of things to do. Right. Um, you know, yeah, but so you put time and effort into that. And that's all you think about it. Yeah, you you think about it. And and and don't get me wrong, there's a lot of a lot of times where there was I didn't think about nothing. I just got on there and I and I posted. But you know what? Let me let me think about this. How how are we gonna get these these folks to talk? You know, uh recently, not not that long ago, I just I made a post about uh man, I'm you know, I don't know what the the age is to start bingo, but I'm ready to go. Yeah. And and and these older folks that I never even knew, I guess they were following me. Uh-huh. All about the bingo. All right. They're talking about bingo, they're talking about, you know, hey, you know, I'm I got divorced and I meet my girls every every Friday. We go to bingo, and it just brought that crowd out.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Damn, now you're gonna be selling dirty D doppers.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

The dirty D doppers, you know, whatever, whatever. Start up your store again. Whatever. Clean D, clean D. Whatever it might be, you know, but it brought out this whole whole different demographic of followers that I didn't know I had. Right. And they're all engaging. But you just you you you think of things that how are we gonna get people to engage, to talk amongst each other. And you know, to be honest with you, sometimes it's you, you I'll post something that I may not even uh truly believe in or feel that way. Right just because I know it's gonna spark something up. Now, you know, at the end of the day, you know, always be yourself and stay true to yourself. But to me, Facebook and social media is nothing but a playground, you know, because it it's it, you know, there's there's so many people that are portraying something that isn't going on.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

And and that's why people look at the colour.

SPEAKER_00 40:38

A lot of time you see the highlight rails, right? You know, you see the you see the filters. They want to put the filters on, but that ain't really how they look and how you know what they think. But then there's other people that that's all they got, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, especially the older crowd, like they look for purpose in life. And right if their kids ain't coming and visit them, then that's that's their world right there in their hand on that phone. That's it. You know what I mean? So they're looking for things, how to engage and interact. That's it. So if they do get engage and interact, it's because that's all they can do. That's it. You know, so um, so it is a blessing for those those types of people.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

And and and you know, to your point, just people commenting. You know, uh, you know, it could be a photo of uh, you know, me having a picnic with my grand, you know, or uh with my nephew or my daughter. And then again, like you said, you know, people that don't maybe don't have much family or or whatever might be. Oh, you know, God, that reminds me of back in the day, and you know, me and my mom used to do the same thing, and it just kind of connects. Sure. You know, but it's a way to reminisce.

SPEAKER_00 41:45

I mean, it is it is back in the day before there was internet, and I remember I'm showing my age now, but you know, you know, family, yeah. We used to have company, right? Company would come to the house and you would talk and you'd talk for hours, you know what I'm saying? They drink coffee, whether it had a verbal.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Now, whether uh whether it's an Italian thing or not, but my grandmother always had a cake. Oh, yeah. That's definitely you didn't touch that cake because the cake was for company. That's right. Always. And that's it. You couldn't eat it until the company showed up. My grandmother always had this little Sarah Lee cake. Yeah, and she kept it until until company would show up. That's right. And we also we always had a had a table, you know, that we we nobody was ever allowed to sit at. You just looked at it.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

That's right. It was set up, ready.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

It was just set up, ready. The you know, the little doilies were there.

SPEAKER_00 42:32

But here's the thing, too, man. You didn't have to call ahead to say, hey, are you home? I'm gonna come by. You you just popped in. You just popped in. You popped in, and that was okay. That was okay. Now it's not okay. I can't even go see my kids. I gotta let them know. I gotta let them know I'm coming. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Why is that? Uh generations are different, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

Yeah, and yeah, I mean, I I know you're in a different generation than me, but I'm I'm glad to, you know, even as a child, been a part of kind of the last cusp of that.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

Dude, we were taught, we were taught growing up, don't get in a car with strangers. Right. Now, every day people get in cars with strangers. And they beat them. You call Uber now. You know what I mean? And the whole non- You know, don't take food from strangers. Now DoorDash shows up with food. Uh every day. I get it.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Yeah, don't take candy from strangers, but you're gonna eat that burrito he just brought you. That's right. Yeah, but to grow up on that last cusp of no cell phones and and and and playing outside and throwing sticks and and and the and the cakes the grandmothers kept for company, you know, I'm so glad that I was able to experience that. And even at a young age, you know, just because I I still remember it and just this time and age, I mean, just where we're at. You know, I don't know. But the world is there.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

It's right here. It's right on your hand.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

All you got to do is pick up the phone and there you go. It's right there.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

So what's in it for Mike nowadays? So obviously, you know, you got your Facebook page. You stood out of that, but now you're regrowing it. You know, you're monetized again. You're making money off it again. You're doing things differently. You know, are you are you concerned about, you know, the way people are, you know, gonna attack you? Do people try to still attack you? No. From the old Mike, Mikey, dirty D. No, I don't know. Page from before or what?

SPEAKER_01 44:31

I know. I you know, I that was uh when I made that, it was about 10 years ago. And I'd like to think I'm a little bit more mature now. Yeah. But you know, my daughter's older, and back then I I wasn't seeing anybody. And you know, I have a beautiful girlfriend now, and I got a seven-year-old daughter. So you you you now I in my mind I have to be mindful with what I post. Sure. Because if if I was in my daughter's shoes and I happen to read something my mother or father posted, you know, I I yeah, I got so I think about that. So it's so yeah. So you know, don't get me wrong. It's every now and then I might I might throw something out in left field, but we're just I mean, we're we're we're in a different realm. We're in a I'm at a different age, I'm at a different point in life, and yeah, I I'm still trying to have the engagement and and grow the followers, but I'm also trying to do it in a different way. Sure. Because I don't have to be Mike Dirty to do it. That's right. I can be Mike Diramaka and grow in a different way.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

There you go. There you go. I like it. I like it. That's awesome. You know what? Being uh a Forsyth County, obviously you're you're here in a county, I'm here in a county as well. You've seen a lot of changes grow, go, go on in here. And there was a big, big thing that just happened where they built this huge, huge building. Oh, yeah. Millions and millions of dollars. Millions of dollars. With that, um how do you feel about this? Uh so being they built a whole town hall out of the county, out of the city, into the yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

So I'm not I'm not the politic type. Yeah. Um, I'm not the type to speak on politics. I think politics is is important, yeah, but I'm not the politic type. But when you you see it and you live here and it's it's right here in your community, it's kind of hard not to venture into it in a sense. Yeah, and that's kind of how I dragged myself into it. And a few of them commissioners with just just uh the the galas, the best of scythe, the the the social media. Um, you know, I've I've ran into a few of them and and and I know some of them and and kind of got the lowdown of what was going on. And I made a comment and I said, Look, I said, you know, anybody in this town can go to one of, you know, 80 liquor stores, but nobody has a mental health clinic they can go to. Right. And nobody really had anything to say. And that, you know, originally that was kind of that was the idea of what was going to go on with that building. And it's just, I mean, it's it's comical to think that they decided against that. And well, we built a building that we want to vote in, but we can't vote in it because it's outside the city limits.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

Yeah, they built it outside.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

It's just a playground. I mean, uh, you know, with a with a nice gym. It's beautiful. And you know, we all that you can't work out. Yeah, yeah, we all footed the taxes, and you know, at this point, we all need to cancel our Planet Fitness membership and go out there and work out because we all paid for it. Sure. But, you know, this is this is where we live, and this it's happening in in front of us. And, you know, a lot of people want to see change, and a lot of people are for it, but I I had to say something, and it was something that I didn't really want to get into, but I just yeah, it was tough because I drive by it all the time with it being right down the street, and I'm just every time I drive by, I look at it. Ooh, that's what we pay for. I could have, you know, mental health, and you know, there's so many folks that need it, but didn't do nothing about it. Didn't do nothing about it. We got it, you know, they got a gym.

SPEAKER_00 48:19

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 48:21

It's unfortunate.

SPEAKER_00 48:22

All right, Mike. This is where I do a rapid fire questions part of the segment in my show. Okay. So rapid, I'm gonna ask you a bunch of questions just quickly. What comes off to mind? Okay. What was the first post you made money on?

SPEAKER_01 48:36

Um, the first post I made money on, I said, uh, if you message a woman 80 times and she don't respond, you should probably message her 81.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

Okay. When did you realize this was real money, not just a side hustle?

SPEAKER_01 48:53

Um, real money. Uh probably when I bought a boat. Yeah. I bought a boat and just off social media money. Nice, nice. Yep. Most you've ever made on a single day. Most I ever made in a single day. What's social media? Social media. Um$2,800?

SPEAKER_00 49:16

Nice. One post that blew up that you didn't expect.

SPEAKER_01 49:20

It's always the ones I don't expect, to be honest with you. It really is. Um uh God, that's a good, that's a good question. That is a really good, it's it's it's usually the ones that that I don't expect. Um let's see here. One I didn't expect to blow up that really did. Um I made a post and I just uh I I was dressed up as uh I had a little scrub on and I just said, hey, I'm here to do some C-sections. 107,000 Just like that. Just like that. Uh and to me it was just it was filler and it just took off. It just took off.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

Yeah. Alright, so there's a gun to your head. All right. Which one are you picking? Facebook or Instagram? Facebook. All right. The biggest mistake people make trying to monetize.

SPEAKER_01 50:17

Um the biggest face uh trying to monetize. I I there's so many mistakes. Um they need to you kind of gotta go out of the realm. It's not just how you feel. How do you think this post will make other people's feel?

SPEAKER_00 50:43

Okay, there you go. Get in their feelings. Right. Get in their feelings. Okay. What's more important, content or consistency? Uh consistency. So the important to keep posting regardless. And and and and a lot of times people say that, but it's too much, and sometimes they're like, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 50:58

Right, and and and as we as I mentioned uh uh before, it consistency, and I and I wish I would have done that across all platforms.

SPEAKER_00 51:06

Yeah. Um, last one, what gets you shadow banned the fastest?

SPEAKER_01 51:11

You know, to be honest with you, I think it's probably having a couple of drinks and me logging on to Facebook.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

Yeah, I should probably probably not do that. I should probably do it before. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:23

Oh, I gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 51:24

You know, sometimes I feel like that brings the best content, you know.

SPEAKER_00 51:27

But yeah. Well, good. Well, listen, Mike, been a pleasure talking to you today. It's been beautiful. Before we go, man, tell the viewers, give the viewers out there, some of these people there, they're trying to, you know, produce content. They want to be on Facebook, they want to make a few dollars. Give them some advice. Um, get on there.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

You know, be yourself, stay true. Life is all about balance. Stay positive, you know, be funny. But at the end of the day, be yourself and and and be consistent. You know, you if you take breaks, you're you're gonna lack it. So be consistent, stay positive, and hey.

SPEAKER_00 52:02

There you have it, baby. You heard it from them himself. Be positive, baby. As your boy Wham Bam always says, if your life was a movie, would it be worth watching? And if the answer is no, stop being ordinary and start being extraordinary. So next Wednesday, stay positive, baby, and keep testing negative.