GUITAR
GROWING SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE | Chris Rocha
Growing your social media presence is so important . For some of us , social media is just a source of entertainment or a way to pass the time , but we could be missing out on a big opportunity . As musicians , social media provides opportunities for us to put ourselves out there and get ourselves setup financially . I remember about 10 years back I would use my social media every once in a while when I felt up to posting something but didn ’ t put much importance into it . I remember one Sunday morning my wife pointed out to me that social media could be a fundamental part of my job . That opened up my mind to so many other possibilities of how I can use this tool to help my music career go much farther .
A few years back I reached out to a friend that was going through a tough time financially . I offered him a chance to upload some digital products on my online store as a way to give him another stream of income . When I met up with him , I saw a broken man ; he was gong through a very hard time and was extremely unhappy . He was one of the biggest guitar players within my industry about 30 years ago . He toured the biggest stadiums with the biggest artist and recorded on the biggest albums . One would think that finances wouldn ’ t be an issue for him , but it was . I remember him vividly telling me that he wished he had what we have now — social media . He began talking about how it could ’ ve been a huge tool for him and something that he could maximize to better his situation but that it ’ s too late because he ’ s not at his prime anymore . I left that encounter not only feeling broken for him but with a renewed sense of urgency to grow my social media presence to be another tool that I can use and take advantage of .
There are many reasons why growing your social media presence can be beneficial but let ’ s go over a couple . The first one that sticks out to me is that it gives you a way to stick in people ’ s minds . I remember a while back I sat down in my recording studio ready to start my day off but fell victim to that endless Instagram scroll . After about ten minutes of that I snapped out of it and got to work . I had a song that needed some drum tracks added and I needed to send it off . I had just seen a drummer friend post a video of him recording a song in his studio and it sounded great . His tones were right on , and his playing was super solid . It matched the song I was producing to the tee . It was a no brainer for me , so I reached out to him and sent him the song to record . If I hadn ’ t seen that video of him on IG , I probably never would ’ ve given him the chance to record my song . Staying relevant and on the forefront of people ’ s minds has its clear advantages and having a social media presence just widens that net .
The second reason is that social media has become a musician ’ s catalog . In the next few upcoming weeks , I ’ m going to put time into growing my YouTube channel . It ’ s done OK without me putting much effort into it but I ’ m close to hitting 100,000 subscribers so I think it ’ s something that ’ s worth investing time into .
I ’ m going to dive into demoing different types of guitars from different companies because I feel that there are so many awesome guitars out there and people should get to know them . I ’ m a Gretsch artist so talking to them and getting an OK about this next adventure of mine is just the right thing to do . They OK ’ d it , so it ’ s on . I ’ ve already requested about 6-7 different types of guitars from different companies , and they ’ re all excited to jump on board with me . Some companies are going to send me the guitars and I get to demo them and keep them as payment , and other companies are going to pay me as well . The only reason why I ’ m writing about this is because it wouldn ’ t have been an option for me if I hadn ’ t put that grind in to grow my social media presence .
Our social media has somehow converted into our catalog . Companies pay attention to who ’ s putting in that work and who ’ s worth investing into .
Chris Rocha Chris Rocha is an American Christian producer , guitarist , business owner and pioneer in the Spanish Christian music industry . He is a two time Dove Award winner , has worked on two Grammy award winning records and has produced or recorded guitars on 5 Grammy nominated albums .