“You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies...”
Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and lets not forget Pinterest and Google Plus. The inter webs are full of glorious places to share information--and well let's be honest, waste time and look busy. Each have their own place in the world of production and promotion.
My first learning experience was from a colleague of mine about the connection between social networking and production:
“Post as many pictures as you can so people can see you’re busy...”
This translated to (yes, this is what he really meant, if you meet him you'll get it): Start showing off your best set photos and glamour shots while you're shooting. Start your marketing and promotions now! Cover the market to reach your audience. BUT... and there is a huge butt... You have to diversify what you post.
That means certain things go on Facebook and not Pintrest. Cross sharing across different networks may be good promotion, but you may turn off some of your target audience.
Let's dive in to the different type of Social Networks and see what they help us promote.
Basic Food Porn
Pinterest is highly image focused. You can post graphics, image manipulations and Food Porn. This social media network is geared to restaurants, women's clothing and, of course, the infamous FOOD PORN. But, this shouldn't limit us as film-makers. We can leverage our careers and showcase our craft and our PASSION.
It can be utilized to your advantage. Share some great SFX photo.
Taken from Stephanie Stephens Pinterest
Breakfast Caserole
How about a really great meal provided by your craft services team? Each post or pin can showcase that department's strengths and we all know the saying " an image is worth a thousand words." Lets tell the world how great our crew is.
Each of these specific posts or pins highlight a focused area of a crews ability more so then a Facebook post.
Let's break this down by numbers...
36% of all pins with prices get more likes
2.2 Million Active users VS 1,310,000,000 by this breakdown Pinterest is not as over saturated. This means that when you post just images, they can be shared and re tweeted, growing your reach and market but also highlighting one focused area.
Top Twitter Followers
A lot of people missed the boat on Twitter, including myself. I didn't start understanding the platform's full depth until recently. Twitter is really terrific for lead generation and business-to-customer relations. Utilize Twitter with some great clips or imagery to help connect you with your next executive producer.
`Top Tweets
Twitter is also about engaging with fans and finding your audience. Twitter's reach maybe global, but it's a more centered around one-on-one connections than Facebook.
Meet your fans and engage them. Offer them a more one on one connection.
Check out some of the stats from Twitter Counter. Another great example of connections via Twitter is Will Wheaton.........
Brand yourself on Twitter. Quick 120 character quips or updates with pictures can change your business and help connect you with the fans that can and will be following you.
Facebook is the kingpin of all that is social media. You have Facebook Pages, Groups and a large potential fan base (1.28 Billion users) at your disposal. It's great for targeting specific audiences and let's face it, who doesn't have a Facebook account. There is one downside: Facebook is changing how their organic reach works, increasingly making it a pay or play market which can downplay you posts.
“Mr. DeMille, I’m Ready for My Close-Up”
Instagram is the new kid on the block. It's a crossbreed between Facebook and Pinterest, but has unlimited potential. This is a great way to showcase your set photos and dressings before and after the shot.
Or that selfie of you in a great SFX makeup.
Let's look at Ian Somerhalder. He knows how to connect with fans and leveraged himself, making him a marketable Actor. Imagine what you a Producer, Director, or even a GRIP can do.
Twitter Counter Stats
It's great to the celebrity fan base or the PR stage to help promote them. To help prove the point lets look at a Indie scale...
Sam Green of VP of Atlanta based R.i.T.E. Media Group was recently interviewed by CNN as saying
““It’s all about the visuals,” he said. “We could post a (text) saying we’re on the set with Ludacris or we could post a picture with Ludacris, and that was getting a lot more views. People like to be able to see the proof behind the text. It’s a much more honest way to engage for the audience.””
Sam strategically increases his presence online and offline by showcasing what he and his team are doing on a daily basis. He streams videos across all social media and has increased his sales and marketability by `15% over 10 months
I think that is enough of a sales point alone! Get your cameras ready....
Google Plus
Google Plus is the red headed step child of social media. While highly utilized for the Google search algorithm, it's not saturated at all in fact. You could promote your films and video's and keep your name at the top of the SEO ranks. Even though it's empty, doesn't mean it's worthless.
We all know Google runs the internet, so we might want to play by their rules.
I push SEO with Google Plus, because it controls the internet. We use Google, Yahoo and even Bing for those Wild and Crazy net travelers. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is many search engine Robots, or Bots for short, that scour the internet to find websites to rank and add them to their database.
This is why you may find some content on Bing vs Yahoo or vice versa....but, we will get to that later....
Bottom line: if a Search Engine can find you, they can rank you.
So, I guess what I'm saying is, play in their court.
Linkedin is the kingpin of business to business connection. Use this to help broaden your search for your next team or investor. Most people think of LinkedIn as a online resume, which it is.
Did you know that you can broaden your social circle and meet dedicated business professionals in your field? We do this by joining groups online and offline and on set instead of just creating the industry standard Facebook Friend.
Make a Linkedin contact and have them give you a recommendation.. That recommendation showcases how much of a phenomenal film-maker you are.
Klout
Klout is a wonderful tool. It's a social media and online presence scorecard that tells you what you are doing right and wrong. The higher the score, the more influence you have. Klout measures the size of a user's social network and correlates the content created to measure how other people interact with the content.
With these tools in hand your can take control of your online presence and stand on top of the mountain screaming to the masses "I am the biggest and best at what I do".
With these tools in hand, we can not only filter our online postings and give our social networks a good ol' scrubbing, but take our careers to a whole new level. Get the respect you deserve.
And if you want to post a random cat picture on all your networks, do it..
We all love cute cat photos.