Becoming a Social Media Influencer with Eric Rhodes – E144

Welcome everybody to the wedding songs podcast. I am Matt Campbell today We have a very special guest who blew up on social media and is very well known across the internet It is DJ Eric Rhodes. He is based in Boise But if you follow him, you know, he goes worldwide as any popular DJ does so welcome to the show Eric Hey, thank you.

Appreciate it. So Eric, I’m going to start off the way that I start off other podcasts. Can you just give a unique moment that you’ve had at a previous wedding? Sure. Sure. several years ago started taking Mark Farrell classes and learned. About sharing a couple’s love story and I did that for several years and I remember one Particular love story that I did in Sun Valley, Idaho It was special like all of them But one thing that really stood out to me and I realized that I got I was getting good at it was after the wedding People were just coming up to me and what in the groomsmen in particular.

He’s like, oh man How do you know this couple like? And I said, I, I don’t actually, like we just met about a year ago and I got to know them through that. And he said, that was unbelievable. I would have swore that you guys were friends for years. And at that point, I knew that all of the, all of the training, all of the things, all the practice, it all paid off.

And that, Moment that I shared their story will stick out with that crowd forever. And I’m not trying to make it about me, but it’s just, it was just, it really was impactful, to know that all that hard work paid off and people really believed what I said. Well, and I think that you’re connecting with them.

That’s what people are going to remember, especially like an officiant that tells their story instead of here’s the couple and using their names. And I think that that’s just so important at weddings. Yeah, it really is. And it, it, it’s everybody wins, right? The couple has their, their moment where they’re shining and I’m helping make that happen.

And then everybody else will remember that more than they might have otherwise. Before we go any further, please introduce yourself to those who’ve been living under a rock for the last year or two. Yeah. So I DJ Eric Rhodes. I started posting on, well, I’ll go back.

I’ve been a DJ since 2000. I did it as a hobby, spinning house music and things like that for about a decade and in Boise, Idaho. And then. And in 2011, I started a, I decided I wanted to be a full time DJ. I wanted to get out of my career in TV news, started my wedding DJ business, had no idea what I was doing and left my career just hustled.

And just over the, that decade of 2010s, basically I, I grew my business, my brand, just try to figure it out. In 2021, I started posting on social media, well, I’d always posted on Instagram, but I started posting on TikTok because I knew that was a, an opportunity. I kept hearing about it and I just started posting some mixes on there and within a year, about a year, I got I had a million followers on Tik Tok.

so June 2022, I hit that mark and it was, life changing. And I went from being kind of this local, you know, wedding DJ doing some things in our industry. People kind of knew me cause I was actively going to shows and trying to help people on the Facebook groups, things like that. But this was a whole nother level.

And since then, I’ve just been able to really change. My business, I travel all around doing different events and, hardly any weddings anymore, to be honest. And yeah, it’s just been a whole new adventure. Pretty incredible. And now I’ve, I’ve grown my Instagram and Facebook and all these other, platforms as well., I have to say, I’m, I’m proud that you were able to do that coming from the Idaho area. I’m from the Montana area. So, you know, we’re not densely populated. We’re not known for. for famous people, probably famous people coming to live in our places, not from that area. So I think, you know, I commend you for, for what you’ve been able to do and that’s.

That’s kind of what I want to talk about today. Your, your success in business and your social media. And, just wanted to find out how you’ve been able to build a social media presence. What top three tips would you give DJs to effectively use the social media platforms? Sure. well, One, you have to actually post.

Thinking about posting, talking about posting, and actually posting are two different things. So you actually have to do the work and put content out there. I had been marketing my business on Instagram and Facebook since 2011 and never grew past 2, 000 followers on Instagram in about a decade. But I constantly, well not constantly, consistently put out content and that forced me to, Get creative, try new things, come up with new ideas.

And eventually I found something that worked for me. It took 10 years, but I figured it out. So you actually have to post, if you don’t know what to post, I recommend just going on the platforms and studying other DJs or other people in the wedding industry, wherever, whatever fits you and see what they’re doing and just start compiling these ideas like ideas of what other people are doing.

Find out what. resonates with you, what, what you think like, Oh, I could post that kind of video or that, like, that makes sense to me. Because I did the same thing. And then just do it, but do it in your way. Like, it’s okay to copy people. I wasn’t the first one to do mix mashup videos, there were other DJs out there doing it, I just did it in my own way.

And by showing myself and my personality, and That’s, that’s what it is. And then be consistent. When I started going on TikTok, I was only posting about two to three times a week. And that was enough to. Grow my following. so just be consistent. Just figure out how much, how often you’re going to post and, and do it for a long period of time.

and then I’d say show yourself. I know it’s difficult to show yourself and I see a lot of DJs post videos of their events and it’s just a dance floor or a picture of a bride and groom, which is great, but also show yourself. When I was doing weddings, I’d ask people like what they’d like to see when they saw videos or pictures on websites and stuff.

And they’re like, I want to see the DJ. I want to know who he is or she is and get to know them because they’re going to be out there on my wedding day. I don’t want to just necessarily see other brides. So. Show yourself and if you have a difficulty with that, look into your, like, figure out why. Why am I so insecure about putting myself out there?

What is it? And if it’s something that can be fixed and you can work on it, do it. If it’s, even if it’s a physical appearance or if it’s a, you know, a mindset thing or your insecurity, like, work on it. I used to be terrified of public speaking. I knew that and I worked on it. For four years by going to Toastmasters, just, that’s one example, but you got to work on yourself.

If, you are the brand in this world, in this DJ world. So you have to really put yourself out there like that. It’s totally true. Even in the newsletter space where you find out what people want is by writing. And then you get that feedback from writing in public. I think the same thing, you don’t know what’s going to work for you and your audience.

Just do something, get it out there. And the public will tell you what they like and what they don’t like. That’s so true. Yeah. I didn’t know that my mix videos would be popular. I had no idea, but I put them out there and I was like, Oh, people like this. I’ll do more of that. And, and I actually enjoy doing it.

So it worked out. Yeah, for sure. Besides consistency, we, we know that’s probably the number one thing because so many people fall, fall out. And I can tell you that, you know, the number of people that start a podcast, it’s like 50 percent only do. Less than three podcasts and then they quit it’s it’s an it’s astounding number.

So not quitting is very important So, how have you been been able to create engaging content on social media?

Well being a DJ We, at least for the kind of videos I make it, there are endless possibilities for mixes. So that’s been easy actually, because I can take any even simple transition that I’ve done at any event and just put it out there on social. Am I. I’m proud of it. Like it’s the best thing in the world.

No, maybe some of those aren’t, but at least it’s video, a video that I can put out and just stay consistent with. like I mentioned earlier, studying other people, I still continue to do that. I’ll see DJs with 5 million followers. What are they doing? And for example, I, I started, I don’t know, a couple of years ago I started putting out like 10 hits from 1997 and there are other people that have done that, but I did it in my way.

And, I’m just constantly just seeing what other people are doing and trying it out. I try new things outside of my core videos, too. So I know I have my core videos. I’m gonna stick with that. That’s consistent. but I’ll also, you know, I don’t know, a couple weeks, or I guess it was a couple months ago now, I did a selfie video.

I, I committed to posting a video a day for a couple weeks. Trying something new and I did one where I just held my phone up and I said, Hey, what? One song will get you out on the dance floor. I told them mine and I said, tell me yours. And it did really well.

And all I did was just put my phone up and talk for 15 seconds. And so I’m just trying new things. And that, that helps me put it down. I don’t know. Just put it out there. I’m trying motivational content educational contents, personal, more personalized stuff, messing around with static posts, not just videos, seeing how those do.

So it’s always just an experiment. And I make it a priority. I think that’s so valuable. Even somebody with your large following, you’re still trying new things. It’s not the same old stuff every time and trying to relate to your audience. Fantastic. And that really takes us into my next question that I had is what strategy do you use to communicate because you have such a large following?

Do you have somebody that helping you out with that and answering questions? Yeah. When I first blew up, it was Insane, I was overwhelmed with leads and people were just going to my website. That’s where I was sending them. I had no, any sort of pricing barrier. It’s so I was just getting leads from all over the nation.

It was crazy. I, yeah, it was overwhelming. So I, at that point. I said, okay, what do I want my minimum price to be? Because a lot of these people were just, you know, Hey, can you do my wedding for 700? I’m like, I’m not flying out to Georgia to do a 700 wedding. So I had to figure that out, set my price and I just put it on my website.

This is my base price that cleaned out a lot of leads. and then I realized people were going into my DMS a lot and that got a little overwhelming. So in my bio, I put a, you know, this is who I am. If you were looking to book me, go here that directs them to my link tree, my link tree It has different places they can go, but one is my website that website takes them to the,contact form and they can learn more information about me and all of these things.

So if I can get them there, that takes a care of a lot of a lot of the work and a lot of eliminates a lot of the conversation I have to have on an email and in DMs. Now, last year I hired a. assistant she handles all my leads now, which is freed up so much of my time. I was trying to do all this on my own and I honestly have almost nervous breakdown.

I was so overwhelmed with all the work and contracts and everything, but having an assistant really helps me manage everything and not have it be so stressful. And I think it’s even, I’m more consistent and not accidentally ghosting leads and things like that. Yeah, because it’s your reputation on the line.

You want to make sure that you’re following up. And I, I think one of the most valuable tips you said is you set that baseline so that way you are getting your more ideal, customer. So how have you been able to leverage your social media to book the events that you want to book besides having that minimum, having that VA?

Is there any other tips that you have for that? Well, When I gained a big following, I realized I had to change my website. So my website had to reflect who I now am. So I’m like, okay, people are going to my site and they’re seeing Idaho, Boise, Idaho wedding DJ.

Like, I’m not really that anymore. So I had somebody redesigned the whole site to make it look higher level, more worldwide. And I just had the language changed a little bit. And so I just had to adjust that so that my presence looked like I’m, I’m available for any. Type of high level event. And then just showcasing what I’m doing, you know, showing that I’m in Florida at this resort, doing this cool party, putting it in my stories, talking about it and making it part of my regular social media.

Regimen, making videos showcasing where I, where I’ve been, things like that. I just heard another influencer say that if you want to do these high end events, you have to put it out there. The events that you’re doing, you have exactly what you’re saying. It’s not just the dance floor. It’s you performing.

What are they actually going to get for that 10 X of the normal DJ. Price for your services. And I think that’s really, really important that, you know, like you were saying, showcasing what you’re going to get. Yeah. And I’m fortunate too, though, that my, my Instagram and Tik TOK. Page does a lot of the work for me.

People just come to me and want to book me, but they also ask it’s less frequent now, but in the beginning, it was like, do you travel? Do you travel? Do you travel? I was like, okay, people don’t know. I travel. How do I show that? And so that that really is listening to your audience. Like you said, if they’re asking you the same question, how do you answer that without having to answer that?

In a DM or email every time. Just as a side question, I was thinking about this. You’re traveling everywhere. You’re a DJ. Do you carry your equipment? Or do you ship your equipment? How do you manage that? Or do you have a service that sets everything up for you? I have a tech writer that gets sent out to the client and then they handle everything or my EA does now.

So it’s kind of situational, but in the beginning I would, I would be the one trying to find the local DJ company who had the equipment that I needed and then the client would cover it. And sometimes they did, if they didn’t have my controller, I would travel with my rev seven. That was kind of a pain and it got beat up.

So now I just have a strict. Here’s my rider. We need, all of this has to be covered. I’ll just bring my laptop and headphones, backup cables, and, and it’s usually taken care of. Sometimes I have to reach out to a DJ company and figure it out. and I’ve had some great support from local, partners, I guess you will, in our industry, which is awesome.

But yeah, I don’t travel with anything anymore. I don’t have to.

Do you think that being in Boise is a hindrance to doing the big time gigs?

I don’t know if it’s affected me at all, just because of the way I’ve been able to connect with people. The only thing, the only downside of being in Boise is the, the reaction I get when I tell people where I’m from. Oh, you’re from, you’re from Boise. Like, I thought maybe you were from LA or wherever.

So there’s always that kind of like awkward moment, but no, I don’t think it, I don’t think it affects me too much. I wish. Not wish. I love, I love where I live, but I, I think it would help if I was in a bigger market to do more consistent, the bigger events, but it is, it is what it is. I talked to somebody the other day and I said, I’m from Montana and they thought I was in from the Midwest.

Oh, what’s the weather in Milwaukee? Not good. So how have you been able to increase your pricing? You, you mentioned the social media blew up.

You have the better websites. how have you been able to keep your high demand? Is everything just from social media? Cause the only thing I, the reason I bring that up is I worry, okay, what are you going to do as a business owner? If Tik TOK. goes somewhere or Instagram goes somewhere, you know, do you have other things in place to keep that high demand?

Right? Yeah. It’s honestly, just like I built my wedding DJ business. It’s networking, building relationships. So if I go somewhere and I do a conference, I’m doing whatever I can to make sure that I’m giving the best possible version of myself, making their job easy, following up.

After the event doing all the same things I did locally. I do on a now just on a bigger scale. And so I’m, I’m building my network. And if everything were to shut down on social media, I’ve, I’ve got people I can go to that. Trust me. They’ve seen me in action. They know I’m great to work with. And, and so that’s.

That’s just how I’m, I’m doing that. And then as far as pricing, as far as like increasing my pricing and still keeping high demand, same as in my local, you know, when I was striving to get 5, 000 at a wedding several years ago, like in 2018, 2019, and it was just testing the waters, you know, can I get.

35, let’s see, I’ll put it out. This is a, you know, I have, it’s a year out. It’s a high demand day. Let’s try the high price on this one and see what happens. so I’m just kind of doing that. I just keep increasing and seeing what works. And eventually the market will be like, nah, that’s, that’s too much. We don’t want to pay you’re not, we don’t see the value in that.

And if that happens and I dip it back down and. Go to what’s the good spot is, or I increase my perceived value and work on that. Yeah. And I, there’s a big difference between getting 5, 000 for a wedding and getting 5, 000 from a Nike event. As an example, you know, there’s, Perceive value. Like you said, for sure.

So, but you know, the fundamentals of doing that is all the same as it was when I was just working in my local market. So that’s interesting. That’s key. Yeah. Like you said, it’s so important to have that network, just like DJs, a wedding DJ is going to talk to all of the venues. It’s the same thing.

You’re, you’re just talking to different clients with the same process. For sure. Yep. So what’s next for DJ Eric Rhodes? What is next? I’m just trying to see how far I can take this thing, honestly, and just trying to do bigger events, cooler events. Who can I, you know, partner with as far as brands are concerned or, you know, big event planners and just trying to grow my network.

Like we just talked about, what kind of, I don’t want to say celebrities, but maybe well known people that I would love to work with or for who are those people? How do I get connected with them? Maybe that. You know, I’ve been talking with someone who might be an agent for me or like major agent slash manager, you know, trying to see who can help me get to another level because you can’t do it all by yourself.

but I’m also trying to do things like I, I made a post about this a real the other day, the day after tick tock got banned. I don’t know when this is airing, but it’s all back now. But I said, I’m not too upset because I’ve diversified. I, I, I’ve grown my Instagram. I’ve grown my Facebook. YouTube and all intentionally.

So I’m just going to continue to do that and grow my Patreon. yeah, just build the network, keep growing, keep diversifying, and I’m sure things will work out. I also want to get into some educational things. I’m starting to, you know, I have a lot of people reach out to me, asking me questions, DJs in particular.

so dabbling in that, maybe doing more podcasts like this , and just trying to see what, where do I fit? In that and, more public speaking, those kinds of things. You would definitely, everybody would be in the audience if you’re at a mobile entertainment expo or, you know, Midwest DJs live. I’m sure everybody would be attending that, those, Speaking of celebrities, I was thinking of Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy’s kids are engaged. You know, whoever DJs that wedding, it’s going to have a lifetime of, of stuff to share from that event. So that could be something that you go after anyway.

I mean, you never know, you know, yeah, and I’ve had, I’ve had not a lot of celebrities hit me up, but I’m starting to get a little bit of that, NFL analyst got the daughter getting married. I’m like, Oh, I know you from. This X channel and the little thing, they’re not celebrity celebrities, but those are cool opportunities and they can build a network.

I helped me build a network in there and do cool things. And you know, and one thing leads to another, I know that I have a good friend, that’s a wedding planner and she was doing college football parties, but then, okay, the, somebody’s getting married from the football team. Who’s going to help us plan it.

They thought of her. So yeah, one thing leads to another, you never, you never know. Totally. But I just want to say like, it’s still all, I don’t know what the perception is of me. This is all just kind of easy now, but it’s, it’s still really a lot of hustling. Like I just, unless I want to be complacent, which I don’t, I want to keep growing and doing things.

And it’s still the same hustle. It’s just in a different way. And I feel like it doesn’t ever really stop. I thought it would be easy when I got here and it’s not. So, yeah. It’s just, and so many people think, Oh, Eric is famous now. Look, he, he just did it in a year or two. No, like you said, you’ve, you’ve been DJing since 2000.

So it’s like, it’s taken this long just to get here. You’re not an over that overnight success that, that everybody portrays. Totally. Yeah. And it doesn’t stop here, you know, just keep grinding in a fun way. Is there something that we missed that you wanted to share with everybody? I don’t know, it’s indirectly social media related, but one thing that I, I don’t want to know if I’m say proud of, but I always have been mindful of taking care of myself, taking care of my physical health, my mental health, always learning.

I almost every day read 10 pages of a book. That’s gonna. Help me in some way. So I’m always trying to learn. I’m always trying to take care of the relationships. I have being a good person trying new things. and I think all of that try to strive to be better at my craft. Like, I don’t know, set goals like all of those things.

I just try to be actively do all of that in my life. And when I and that wasn’t always that way. So But when I started doing that and taking care of myself and all the things listed, I felt like good things started to happen in my life. And I started to reap the benefits of that. And I just can’t stress enough, like work on yourself and take You know, just strive to do bigger things and do more if you’re, you know, and, and work at it every single day and good things will come from it no matter what.

That’s great advice. You know, I have something on my desk that I have that goes along those lines. It’s what’s the most obvious thing I can do today? Help the business. Yeah, that’s it. Not the hardest, just the most obvious. It’s the little things. It really is. Little things consistently done over time.

That’s all it is. And with the right intention. and being self aware. You know, if you’re doing something consistently over time and you’re not getting results, you may want to stop and try something different, but just stay consistent with that and be aware. As they say, fail. If you’re going to fail, fail fast.

Yeah, exactly. So where can listeners connect with you and find you online? Well, my favorite platform, even though people know me as kind of one of the Tik Tok guys, my favorite platform is actually Instagram these days. So Instagram. com slash DJ Eric Rhodes. And then I also have a Patreon. I started it a while ago, stopped it and then re upped it a few months ago.

And so I’m posting consistent mashups and mixes and some behind the scenes stuff. I even do a monthly zoom call. So if there’s. You know, if you want to support me in that way, that’s a, that’s a good way to do it. And also to get some, some tunes and a little bit of education. Do you have that link on the website? if you just Google Patreon DJ Eric Rhodes, it’ll pop right up, but it is in my Instagram, all my social media handle bios. Cool. Yeah. Well, thanks Eric for being on the show.

I’m very happy that you’ve grown and you figured it out and you know, you’re definitely a success story in, in the DJ industry. So, appreciate you being on the show and thanks everybody for listening. Stay tuned for another episode of the wedding songs podcast. Thanks Matt.