So I was thinking the other day of how I use different social media platforms and wanted to share how I’m making it work for my business, and using it to build relationships in our drumming community.

As most of you know I mainly teach drum lessons in my hometown but I also have my website, and Behind The Kit Podcast. Having all of these call for different actions for each platform. This is not a post to say that one is better than the other but just to show you how I’m applying it. Again, this is what is working for me so far and may not work for everyone. Maybe you can take something from this and apply it in your own way.

Twitter @mattdudleydrums

Twitter is my go to platform at this point. I’ve used Twitter since 2010 but really dug in to learning the ropes in early 2014. I use twitter to mainly build relationships with other drummers and promote my website. I would say that at least 90% of my interviewee’s for the podcast come from Twitter. I’ll find someone interesting and shoot them a message introducing myself and build a connection. From there we might switch over to email to discuss matters further. I also have a small group that are involved in a group chat through direct message. We talk about gear, coffee, drumming, and whatever the hot topic of the day is. I also use twitter to just follow what’s going on in the industry to stay fresh with what’s new. The “lists” feature is also really cool to compile all of your favorite people in one place. I have a list called Mainstream Drum News that is a list of all of the big name drum companies in our industry. This list helps me stay current with news from these companies, and all in one place. I also have one for the Behind The Kit Podcast account called Guests from our show. I try to follow only people within my niche (drums). Each person that follows me gets a little personal message sent to them thanking them for doing so. something like “Thanks for following!”. No links, or spam, just a simple thank you. Sometimes people respond and sometimes they don’t. This is supposed to be about connecting and being social right? I’ve been able to engage many drummers that I thought I’d never get the chance to meet or talk to through Twitter.

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/matthew.dudley2

Facebook is much different for me than the other two. I use it to keep in touch with mainly friends that I hang out with on a regular basis, old classmates, and my drum lesson business here in my hometown. I advertise for my private lessons in local classifieds. This is normally a group of about 12,000 people from my county that constantly are looking for items, services, etc. I’ve had much success from posting to those groups at least once each week and also on my personal profile. I also have a group on Facebook for my podcast which gives listeners a little bit of a heads up on upcoming interviews and episodes that no one else gets until the actual episodes are released. Facebook is also great for creating events such as clinics, any shows I may be playing for the upcoming months, etc…

Instagram @mattdudleydrumming

This is where anything goes. Kind of like a personal blog for me. It’s a mixture of what’s going on each day in my crazy life and drumming. Recently I’ve been posting videos of me playing to some of my favorite tracks, showing off a new groove or lick, or where I’m playing. There’s also some randomness occasionally ha! Why not? I’ve also been able to build a few relationships on here as well and grab a few interviews. I’ve found on Instagram that drummers are pretty friendly and are willing to answer your questions on what gear they are using, how they played a specific groove or lick… etc. What am I telling you that you don’t already know? ha! Drummers seem to be friendly and willing to share wherever they go 😉

If you have a specific way that you use each of these platforms please feel free to share in the comments below. I’d like to hear what is working for you!