We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rodney Jones. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rodney below.

Rodney, appreciate you joining us today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

I have managed my own social media in the development of Rd J BeerVentures where I focus on beer-related topics and share these with my audiences through my social media channels which include my blog/webpage, YouTube, Instagram, X, Facebook, and a few others including a more recently launched podcast. I was able to choose the platforms that I felt most acclimated with. My work background is sales in the financial industry but my college background is in Journalism with an emphasis in advertising. So, social media has allowed me to join both areas around a passion I enjoy.

So far, the growth has been slower than I would like which I am sure most would say when growing a brand. But it has been steady which has been a good thing and as far as my emergence in social media for the area, that has been more noticeable in relation to other creators. This has been the case with me being contacted by other businesses looking to receive my take on their products and bringing them to my audiences to share.

As far as any lesson or insights to share, you just have to do it. Social media can be a daunting thing, but with a focused plan, it can be done. Learn and know your audience, and then build around them in what is of their interest. This goes back to my sales background, you can’t propose a solution unless you know what needs to be solved. This is no different.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

For me, it’s about sharing my passion for beer and telling the stories. I came into this with a simple mission, provide educational and interesting details about beer in a fun and entertaining way. All that I do, points back to this. I launched my brand through the sharing of beer reviews to help people learn about beer as well as to increase my knowledge as well along the way. I do everything as authentic as I can, which I believe my followers and viewers enjoy, and to which some have told me that they appreciate the honesty I share. I also believe in talking with people and not to people, and I believe this comes across in the style that I bring and is something that others enjoy.

I started this back in 2015 through the urging of my wife, who at the time I thought would want to hear these stories or watch these videos. But like many things, it turns out she was correct and one thing led to another. From a blog site and a YouTube channel, I have now grown it out to various platforms and have talks with small to large breweries across the country, to which I am greatly appreciative.

For those who watch the videos or read the blog, it’s all about providing the knowledge that allows them to have that positive experience around beer as best I can. This has also led to me helping people in stores find beer or even helping bartenders increase their knowledge over conversations I have had. Being able to just be seen as part of the beer community and being recognized as such now, is one of my more proud moments, as I had to work my way in from the outside and it shows you do the work, and you can make things happen.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I have always had a fondness for being online since the early days of the 90s, so when social media started to take off I was all for it. I was able to build my audience on social media by being true to myself and true to them as viewers. When you are online, you can not underestimate the importance of authenticity and this is what I was able to bring I believe.

I also was able to put the work in that was needed for me to do so. This means, I spent time making beer, reading about beer, asking people about beer…all of the research things that can be easily overlooked. I took the time needed to do things that increased my education level so that I could speak from a position of credibility. This is very important.

So as it relates to social media from what I mentioned, I took these nuggets of knowledge and brought them to my viewers. I started with YouTube and began there and used that as my base from which all came. Why YouTube? Well, again it is knowing where your audience is, and based on my research, YouTube offered the greatest potential. From there I was able to build followers later on X which was Twitter at the time, Instagram, and Facebook as the key pillars along with the blog/website. Later, I would add some other secondary pillars but you have to know where to start, and when researched properly, this can be found.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think for me and as noted previously, being authentic and true was a key. But also, I also touched on putting in the work on a previous question. And that gets to work ethic. I was able to meet so many people in the industry by volunteering at events and after a point, I became noticeable. I can remember volunteering at beer events and volunteering at a beer both where I would get more questions than the actual brewery employees that were right there next to me. I can also remember being invited to events by the breweries as a level of respect and being the only volunteer there. Why?

I believe it was because I had put the work in and this is something that goes a long way to building a reputation and having people take notice.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rodjbeerventures.com/#!/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rodjbeerventures/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RodJBeerVentures/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rod-j-beerventures/
• Twitter: https://x.com/RodJBeerVenture
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCasJ2pPa0BPeGUKuf8PwxSQ
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=J7xKUU5rNmpQvBfg4zly5Q
• Other: Spotify Podcast – https://open.spotify.com/show/23AbXUhoToqaNVyos6ZxK6?si=hcPL0DjhSWKXC53w4OWc-w&dl_branch=1