Ask Sermon: What Do You Do With Visionary Music Group?
Welcome to the brand new ‘Ask Sermon’ series. This was created simply to inflate my ego. I’m only half-kidding. The basis is cool people like you reading this send me questions and each week I’ll answer one. It can be personal, professional, or downright weird. I hope to use this series to further fuel creativity, while connecting with my fantastic audience a bit more.
My good friend Jimmy Branley asks:
“What exactly do you do with running social media for Visionary Music Group? How often is it your own content? How often do you respond to fans? How many spicy drafts does this man have!?”
Currently, my bread (still waiting on butter) is being the social media manager for Visionary Music Group. What does that entail? Well, all the content you see on each platform — Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. — is created by me in some way, shape or form. When it comes to photos of Logic and Jon Bellion, I get them from the photographers who work closely with them. My spin is which ones I pick and the caption I create, often times being humorous. People love to laugh.
Being a social media manager means developing the brand’s voice. I’d describe my work with VMG as a mixture of positivity, motivation, and comedy. I believe those three things work so well together, because it all fuses together to create happiness. On the internet, it’s like 90% toxic, so I take pride in having built a community that’s 99% positive.
I’m no wizard with photoshop or various programs like it, but I realize how important visuals are. So, I do my best twice a week to create some kind of graphic with words for fans to enjoy. Monday Motivation has been a staple for VMG for well over a year or two at this point. I have a day where I’ll pick a lyric from one of our artists to make a graphic out of. I tend to keep the designs the same, because you want familiarity especially in a series of sorts.
The biggest aspect of any career is the fans. Without them, you are nobody. It’s always been weird to see so many people in the music industry neglect this fact. I treat VMG the way I’d want a label to be if I was a fan. Imagine being acknowledged by Def Jam in their prime years. Every single day, I look over countless comments on every platform. I’ll respond to some and make sure at the very least I’m acknowledging them with a heart or a like.
I wish I had some spicy drafts, but most of the stuff I do is on the spot. I don’t believe in having drafts laying around. If anything, I’ll keep an idea in my mind for a bit before putting it out there. The riskiest thing I’ve tweeted was this. Without context, it’s just a .gif, but Logic’s stalker went on Twitter to cry about what he said and I felt this was the best response.
Outside of that, there have been minimal instances where I went too far. I have so much creative freedom, and know what’s acceptable and what’s not. I’ve poked fun at Logic so much that if this was Death Row Records (with social media) and I did the same to Snoop, Suge would’ve murdered me by now. It’s all in good fun.
My approach to VMG on social media is just an extension of myself and my personality. Looking back, it was perfect to get my start in social media. I know that no future job will let me do what I’ve done with them and I wouldn’t want to. I continue to grow, study and learn often. Predicting the future is tough, but I’d hope that I’m always with VMG. My DNA is embedded in it. I put my heart and soul into developing it, because Chris Zarou gave me a shot when I had little experience. He didn’t have to. I made sure to be the best social media manager I could possibly be, so he knows how grateful I am for the opportunity.
