The Content Crib Podcast

The Content Crib Podcast is where bold ideas meet real execution. Hosted by Eric Anderson and Chris Grosse, this show breaks down how to turn content into trust, attention into opportunity, and your story into strategy. No fluff. No filters. Just what works. Welcome to the Crib.

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The Content Crib Podcast

Organic Beats Promoted

May 25, 2026 • Eric Anderson and Chris Grosse

0:00 | 17:35

Watching your post rack up 185,000 impressions feels amazing until you realize most of those eyes never cared enough to act. We share a candid breakdown of a paid LinkedIn campaign we ran to promote a book, course, and a digital trust audit, what we expected to happen, what actually happened, and why “promoted” can quietly poison engagement with the exact audiences you want most.

From there we pivot into the marketing approach we keep coming back to: organic LinkedIn content and YouTube as free marketing that compounds. We talk about why executives and healthcare leaders often ignore ads but respond to trust signals like referrals, warm intros, and consistent thought leadership. And if you still feel awkward putting your voice out there, we use a surprising proof point to challenge that fear: high school athletes in states like Indiana and Florida can now profit from personal branding through NIL style deals, so the window for building a visible, portable professional presence is wide open.

We also go down two timely rabbit holes that connect business, tech, and real-world impact. First, AI data centers, energy consumption, and the sustainability race to build cleaner infrastructure without draining resources. Second, peptides: the environmental footprint of peptide manufacturing, what FDA oversight does and doesn’t mean for compounded medications, how 503A and 503B compounding differs from mass-produced drugs, why Certificates of Analysis and batch testing matter, and why buying “research only” peptides online can carry serious risk.

If you found this useful, subscribe, share it with someone tempted to hit the boost button, and leave a review so more builders can find the show.

Paid LinkedIn Campaign Reality Check

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I think I I can't attribute book sales because I gotta figure we gotta figure out how that do that with Amazon where the where these links are coming from. But definitely got quite a few book sales, which was great. Which was great. But uh I thought it would be a heck of a lot more. So I but I'm gonna keep experimenting. I'm gonna try it on different platforms. I'm gonna try it on YouTube, try to um you know, because obviously we're on there all the time as well. And by the way, if if you don't have a YouTube channel, you need to get one today. It's the best way to have free marketing just like LinkedIn but in video form.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

All right, we don't want to start off a podcast with a negative story, but I mean I guess sharing things that don't go as planned can be something we could teach the audience.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Yeah, yeah, I um for sure. I mean, I guess it's it's reality and it happened, and uh you know, this is what they call foreshadowing, setting the stage for something that really wasn't that huge a deal, but I think it was on a lot of levels. So I mean, I uh we we before the podcast we started talking and uh I ran a paid LinkedIn campaign for my book and course and that stuff, and uh I wasn't that happy with it. I really I did I get a lot of I mean we talk about this all the time, did I get a lot of impressions? Yep. But I didn't get a whole lot of people my y what's hilarious is was my usual group of individuals who are, you know, kind of loyal people that I talk back and forth with and or have different, you know, things. There there were some new people that entered the fray for sure. Um but I wasn't happy with it. And the funniest thing is is I really did some research after afterwards. Don't do what I did. Don't if this is what you don't want to do, go and do research afterwards and you realize LinkedIn is a fantastic platform, but for paid boosting and paid campaign stuff, it's really, really, really expensive and not that effective. And I know LinkedIn's gonna not be happy that I'm saying all these things, but I love LinkedIn for organic content, and then you know, I did I need to take a little bit of my own, you know, advice and stick with the organic. Um because it looks cool. I mean you you do a you do a paid campaign and you look down at your post and you've got 185,000 impressions, and you're like, whoa, okay, this is great. And then you look at the engagements and you're like, huh. Okay. So basically I paid for people to look at my stuff that really don't care. Um now with LinkedIn you can drill down on who you want to be seeing your stuff. But you really can't pay to have those engage. Learn that the hard way.

Call-In Show Idea From Clips

SPEAKER_01 2:39

I watch Hermozzi's like clips now all the time, and they're just gold, one after another after another, where he takes phone calls and he just like is helping people with their businesses, and I'm like, Chris and I should do this.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Anyway, yeah, we're gonna do that. Alright, yeah, we'll spice it. Next week, we're gonna take calls. We'll send a group text and we'll send a group text out to like 50 people we know and be like, in the next half an hour, call this number and we'll put you on. If you don't get through, try again, and then if you don't get through, try one more time.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

It's gonna be is it gonna be like, and on line one, we have Matthew Ray. First time long time. Hey, I really love to listen to you guys. This is uh Matthew J. Scott. I don't even know. Yeah, exactly. I'm kidding. Um yeah, no, I think we should do that. That would be fun. Yeah, we should try it. But I doubt anybody would call, but I don't know if anybody, if anybody listening to us watches watch hormose's clips. I mean, they're just they're gold, and he's just taking, you know. And by the way, I found out the other day in watching one of his clips that all of the hormose highlights that are called are all done with his AI agent, does all of them. It's kind of his it's his experimentation with AI and working it with his content, and it's

Why Organic Still Wins

SPEAKER_01 3:56

really good. So anyway, yeah, but back to LinkedIn. Um we talk about organic all the time. Well, I learned firsthand exactly why I should keep sticking with my advice, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yeah, I mean, I I've been tempted many times to you know hit the boost button, and then I found out, and the the reason I didn't is I found I found out that it has to say promoted on it, which I find annoying. Like, why can't they just let you boost it without it saying promoted?

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Yeah, it does, and I think it just really that turns people off. It does, yeah. Is it an impression? Sure. They look at it and then they see promoted and they go, eh, I'm good. And away they go. And I found out, I mean, I I spent some pretty good money. I mean, I didn't spend you know tens of thousands of dollars on anything, but thousands of dollars, and and I didn't get the engagement slash what I thought I would get out of it. So for whatever that's worth. And maybe this campaign just wasn't a smart one by you know, I didn't I didn't pull the right levers, I don't know. Um and yes, everybody who's listening to this, I know that there are LinkedIn consultants out there, they can tell me exactly how to do it. I get it, but I'm learning for myself, so I know without you know, so I can pass on to others.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah, but that's why we're the organic people, right? So it was a test. We tried it, you know, we tried, we you tried, I've thought about trying. I mean, what I know is just from knowing kind of the audiences, LinkedIn paid is can be brutal for like healthcare people that pick up on the stuff quickly. Like C-suites and entrepreneurs like they don't they don't click ads. That's why I don't that's why I don't like the promoted thing about it. Like they they click warm intros, trust a referrals, peer recommendations, but you know, the ad thing I think is uh if LinkedIn did a better job of not appearing to be an ad, then maybe it would do a lot better.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

But uh you know I I really tried to I used posts that were easily optimized. I mean I went did a lot of deep dive research with AI and things like that and really tried to, you know, create something with a CTA at the end that you know that to go to the digital trust audit. And um I just didn't get I did not get the what I thought I would get. I I thought I would get thousands of people to take the audit and it was nowhere near that.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

So it's yeah, I don't think the takeaway is paid never works, right? I think it's yeah, I agree. I bet you still get some wins off it. I mean, maybe it's just kind of compounding to something.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Um Yeah, I I think I I can't attribute book sales because I gotta figure we've gotta figure out how that do that with Amazon where the where these links are coming from. But um definitely got quite a few book sales, which was great, which was great. Um but uh I thought it would be a heck of a lot more. So I but I'm gonna keep experimenting. I'm gonna um try it on different platforms. I'm gonna try it on YouTube, try to um you know, because obviously we're on there all the time as well. Um and by the way, if if you don't have a YouTube channel, you need to get one today. It's the best way to have free marketing, just like LinkedIn, but NVIDIA.

YouTube And NIL Personal Branding

SPEAKER_00 7:20

I wonder if I wonder if these Indiana high school athletes, I don't know if you saw this in the news, have are gonna start their own YouTube channels as they now can profit from personal branding, uh, which is kind of crazy. Did you see that?

SPEAKER_01 7:32

They can do they can do that in Florida now too.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Oh really?

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're they can have NAI deals. And I L deals. NAL deals, yeah. For high school. Yep. In high school, yeah. I think Texas was started it, is was the one who started it, but yeah. I may be wrong in Florida now that I see that.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

I mean, if that's not enough, like, you know, push to to you, uh, you know, someone listening that is squ scared to, you know, get off the bench and and start to put their you know, reach and thought out there, engage with people and and build your thought leadership. I don't know what it is. I mean if people are doing it, you know, as kids and making, you know, potentially six figures or more with their brand, why are people afraid to create their own? You know, I mean I know why I was afraid. I was just you know nervous at putting my voice out there. I totally understand that. Um but you know, if if we can do anything now on this podcast is empower you to do so because the world wants to hear what you have to say. Um because we all know, like, you know, we all know we have the magic in us, it's just sometimes we don't believe it. Um but I I find that super fascinating that these you know these high schools can can do that. I mean it's you know client I mean I these personal brands, it's it's not a luxury, it's an investment that supports your professional presence and becomes your biggest asset.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Well said. Yeah. Yeah, and it's yours to take with you wherever you go. It's yours to take, you know, to to utilize any way you want. And I just think of so many people that we know, I mean, you know, Johnny Cafaro and people like that who you know have gone to different organizations, different companies, and I know Johnny's brand, and so does everybody else that's in in in healthcare. And you know, that's it's just I'm I'm I'm fascinated when I hear somebody say, Yeah, I'm not doing anything like that. I don't I just don't see any value in that. I I I don't know how you can say that in 2026. There's just no way. It's the easiest way to market whatever you want to market moving forward. It just it is.

AI Data Centers And Energy

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Someone needs to create a personal brand of um being a thought leader in AI data center is not destroying our planet.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

I listened to a podcast. All right, since we're gonna go down that road, I I listen I listened to the podcast this morning, and um now what they're saying is is that they're gonna build it's all about the energy, obviously. It's all about they need the energy to run.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Yeah, and they pass the buck down the you know the regular guy like you and me.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Yeah, exactly. And you know, they're they're gonna now they're developing these turbines that strictly work off of air and low amounts of energy and da da da da. So I think if of the millions of people who are listening right now, if you can figure out a way to run a data center environmentally uh conscious, as well as don't use up all of our water and don't, you know, create a footprint that's this or that, I mean that's the wave of the future, I would I would bet.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah,

Peptide Manufacturing Environmental Cost

SPEAKER_00 10:49

I mean I was just you know in my line of work, I was reading an article this morning, I shared it today. I mean, peptide manufacturing has a huge effect on the environment and needs to be you know optimized for the future as it scales. So it's uh it's fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Um why is that? I I really I don't know. Is it is it just the waste?

SPEAKER_00 11:13

So many peptides are manufactured through a process called um solid-state peptide synthesis. And these processes, you know, they're developed almost 60 years ago. They still require substantial quantities of of hazardous materials, and um it's a process that's followed by purification and isolation of these peptides, which also involves significant uh like a like the data centers amounts of water and organic solvents as waste.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Oh, I didn't know that I did not know that. Um are the majority of peptides are they created or manufactured made in the US or no, actually it's the complete opposite.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

They're mostly created in um China and India. But they're FTA, you know, the ones we get them from before we compound them are FTA greenlit facilities that the FDA visits internationally. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Now here's another

Compounding Oversight And Batch Testing

SPEAKER_01 12:07

question. Now you got I'm fascinated by this. So are all peptides FTA green lit?

SPEAKER_00 12:14

So the so okay, yeah, we're gonna go down this rabbit hole. This is gonna be this is a good episode. Uh so we've conquered everything. Not the two-dar and horn, yeah. Yeah. Uh so peptides. Okay, so if we're talking about what I do, which is uh chain of custody medication, 503 compounding pharmacies, which requires a prescription sent in by the doctors, and then we produce that medication in the facility and then send it out to the patient or the clinic. So there's a whole chain of custody that goes along with that. We're talking about that. So we source FDA greenlit API. So we the the API that we purchase, just like any other medications we get from, come from suppliers that are greenlit by the FDA. And they follow uh GMP and everything is up and up. And we were we, you know, every batch we buy, we we require C of A's and all the correct paperwork.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Now, does everybody have to do that?

SPEAKER_00 13:15

No. No, they don't. That's what makes di that's the difference, and not everybody knows that. That's why it's really important for doctors to vet the right compounding pharmacies. And then after that, batches can be periodically tested once they're made at the compounding pharmacies, notice periodically. Some compounding pharmacies don't test every batch. We do test every batch. Some don't, because they don't have to, but they're still compliant with USP 795-797-800. So you want to work with a pharmacy that touches tests every batch.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Yeah, no kidding. See, I I did not know that. I I thought that the FDA was heavily involved in making sure that, you know, I didn't get an accidental, or I'm not just saying me, but anybody listening doesn't get an accidental shot of fentanyl or something.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

You know, I think that No, I mean they are like so they are involved and it is still rigorous compliance, but it's not the extra la extra layer that's you know, I think is that should be mandatory. It's expensive. It's you know, fifty grand a batch to to test some of these things, you know. So um to answer your question, so the FDA has oversight and the of the state board has oversight over the facilities each state, but anything compounded, whether it's bulk compounded or as 503B or 503A, none of that that leaves facilities FDA approved. It cannot be. They cannot sit in every component pharmacy, which is thousands across the country, and stamp every medication that goes out of the pharmacy. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_01 14:50

It makes perfect sense, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Mass-produced medication is a new concept for us. It started in the 50s and 60s, but it's the only the only thing a lot of people know. What we do has been around for centuries, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Okay. Gotcha. All right. Well, that's I yeah, learn something new because I I had no idea that you know there was not everybody was as rigorous rigorously tested as they should be.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Exactly. Yeah. You had a question?

SPEAKER_01 15:23

No, that's good. I uh I I've learned something now. Well, I mean, because you know it's it's you he see it all over the place, and obviously with the administration kind of a uh pushing, you know, for peptides to be.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Well,

Online Peptides And Research Vials

SPEAKER_00 15:37

I'll do a little spot right here, wearing my hat, truthides.com. So evidence-based peptide uh source locked website. So if you go to truth-tides.com, you have the ability to go through some of the most popular peptides and look at the study, so it's graded based on the studies, which most are preclinical anyway. Uh so people that are interested in learning more, definitely check it out. Um, it's a fantastic tool for providers and patients. Um beyond that plug, an important part is the other peptides that are out there that people can buy online without a prescription. Who knows where those are coming from? They say they've got purity and testing, they don't need to provide any of that. So that you know, there's a lot of people that are having successful, you know, managing their own health and not getting sick from these, but there is an insane amount of risk if you buy these online. Be the the market was created because Biden administration banned these peptides, and then all of a sudden research only vials were allowed to be a thing. It's a whole loophole, and um, you know, it's part of the market that is hopefully RFK is gonna wipe out completely pretty soon.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Interesting. Yeah, I I just I didn't know, and and it's uh I think that's good education for people. And plus you have a cool hat, so there you go.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Oh, thanks, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Yeah.

Next Week Plans And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Well, all right. We've um we've conquered the AI data center issue, uh, peptides. And then we'll maybe next week we'll LinkedIn ads, yeah. LinkedIn ads, and uh next week we'll shoot for we're doing a call, we're doing a we're doing a radio show. That's right, we're doing a call in. So we're gonna know how we're gonna do that. We'll we'll we'll have our our our group of cohorts that are out there and we'll uh we'll we'll get some calls next week. That'll be the plan.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

I don't know. We're gonna have to figure out logistics, but let's give it a shot.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Yeah, well we'll see. Or we can just have one of us with like a different voice, like off camera go. Yeah. Anyway, talk to you next week. See ya. Bye.