I’ve been running gluten free social media accounts in one form or another since 2019. First it was my Instagram page sharing GF life in the UK. It had a humble following of around 1,800 people.
However it wasn’t until I moved back to Australia that I started doing more for the gluten free community.
I found myself confused in the supermarket and constantly reading product labels all over again. I wanted a resource of gluten free options at the store so I could just buy things with a little less thinking and a lot less stress.
In 2022 my husband purchased this domain, katikeksi.com, which was the final push I needed to launch my website. My first gluten free shopping guide covering Easter chocolates was a huge success with thousands of visits in the lead up to Easter.
It also prompted me to create my Facebook page, which in 2024 absolutely exploded in popularity as I began weekly postings of supermarket specials at Coles and Woolworths.
Around this time comments came in saying I should be sponsored by the stores, and offers to pay a subscription.
To be honest, I don’t want to gate keep any of my content. I want it to be free and accessible for every coeliac or gluten free person.
How Kati Keksi is funded
I’m a full-time stay at home mum with my young daughter. I don’t engage in any paid work outside of Kati Keksi.
The ads on my website help cover the cost of hosting (just!). There’s a small bit of income through Facebook posts, though it’s very unpredictable and honestly quite low.
I put in at least 30 hours a week on my website, though probably more by the time I take photos in stores and reply to messages on my social accounts.
If I were to put an hourly figure on it, based on me working full time, it would be about $4 an hour. Pretty grim really!
But, I enjoy what I’m doing and I love all the positive feedback I get for it.
Free ways you can support Kati Keksi
There’s a few ways you can support Kati Keksi without spending a single cent.
Follow me
Follow me on all my social media accounts. More followers gives me increased reach and a stronger bargaining power when engaging with brands.
I’m active on
- Facebook which covers supermarket specials and new products, as well as promotion of new guides
- Instagram which shows my day to day foods (in stories) and a bit of dining out
- Pinterest which has a number of pins for my website articles.
I’ve only ever made four sponsored posts (as of July 2024), but hopefully with more followers this will increase.
Engage with my social media content
By engage I mean, like and comment on my posts. If a post isn’t super relevant to you, just click like and scroll on. It still helps me, and shows the algorithm that you’re interested in my content 😊.
The biggest thing you can do with engagement is share my posts. Sharing my content, particularly to GF groups on Facebook and to your stories on Instagram allows me to reach a much wider audience.
I can tell when you’ve been sharing my posts or talking about me in groups because I’ll get a sudden influx of new followers or an increase in visits to my website 🥰.
Oh and I literally cheer when I see you all recommending my guides on FB groups! It’s great when someone else answers before I get to because it’s so much more genuine.
Sign up to my mailing list
You’ve no doubt seen prompts to sign up while reading my articles. If you’ve signed up, thank you! It does two things, it verifies you as a user (which means you get better ads too) and subscribes you to my mailing list.
Mailing lists are super important to keeping websites active and growing. A mailing list gives control to the website owner (me) rather than relying on fluctuating social media algorithms.
I promise I’ll start a newsletter in 2024!
Shop to support Kati Keksi
I have affiliate accounts with three stores, Happy Tummies (an allergy safe online store), Amazon Australia and Etsy.
How do they work?
If you click the link to a product and end up buying it (within that same day) a part of the sale price goes to me as a commission for recommending it. Using these links does not increase the price for you. I cannot stress this enough, I don’t want to rip anyone off!
If you’re planning to do an Amazon, Etsy or Happy Tummies order you can also just come to this page, click the links above and any commissions available (it’s not all products) will go to me.
Have I made much money from it?
Nope! Probably enough to buy 10 coffees in the last year. So about two months of website hosting 😅.
Where’s the value in it for you?
Being an ambassador for Happy Tummies means I review their products and post it on my website.
I’ve also recently created an Amazon storefront. It’s not my store, but a collection of products curated for gluten free folk. It’ll save you endless hours of scrolling and searching!
Encourage brands and venues to work with me
Honestly I’m not sure this will work but it’s worth a try! If there are brands or venues you’d really like to see reviews from, or if you’re over seeing non-gluten free influencers promoting GF products – let them know!
I can think of one brand that recently used a sportsperson to promote GF crackers. I was so shocked, thinking “Oh my goodness they are coeliac!” only to click through their Instagram page and find out they were promoting wheat-based products two days earlier 🤦♀️.
Most brands tend to go for the biggest accounts (40,000 or even 100,000 followers) but I think small, genuine followings are just as good, if not better.
I’ve worked with Mingle, Bask & Co and Charlie’s Fine Foods.
I’d love to work with Coeliac Australia, Arnott’s and dedicated gluten free brands like Simply Wize and Senza. Maybe one day 😊.
That’s all I can think of for now, thank you so so much if you read all the way down to here. As always, I appreciate the support and positive comments I get, it really keeps me motivated to keep going.
I do at times question if all this is worth doing, so any support (financial or otherwise) is very welcome.
Kati x