I’ve been talking so much about NOT getting work, what about when you do? How can new social media help you then? Getting the word out about you and your project as well as building a fan-base for yourself is huge in this business. You need a following and sometimes you have to start it on your own. Laura Roeder of Roeder Studios, talks about the importance of effectively positioning your company. For actors, “we” are our own companies. So we need to position ourselves effectively in this town. In this interview with Roeder, she discusses one way of doing this.
It was so exciting when I found this next example of getting the word out. It represents everything that social media is all about, with community being at the top of the list. There was a small independent theatre company in Australia called Happy Soldiers. They wanted to get more people in the audience for a new play that was opening. They decided to advertise non-traditionally, by assuming that people will support a play if they know someone in it. With only two people in the production, you would think this would be a difficult task. Take a look at this super creative way of getting people to support a production, without advertising.
These ideas coupled with building networks of fans on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter will be incredibly effective. The idea is to reach as many people as possible with your talents and personality. You have to give yourself a shot, instead of waiting for someone else to give you one. So if it means immersing yourself on the web and exhausting every possible social media outlet, get on it!
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=c6de9c85-27ba-4e84-bc89-28f3a6b725ba)
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
July 13, 2009 at 1:54 am
Laura Robinson
This is so true Kandiss! My brother is actually in LA trying to make it as well, except he’s a cameraman/director/writer. Anyway, he gets random jobs every now and then, mostly from his contacts from film school, but it’s still extremely difficult. But now that he’s been out there for a few years and things are picking up (he actually just got hired to write/direct a documentary about kung-fu history) he needs to market himself more. Also, maybe he could have had more success if he had marketed himself sooner! He has a facebook, but only for social reasons. If he had a twitter or linkedin account, or even a web site as a resume, he could spread his “business.” He needs to expand his contacts by marketing himself, instead of only relying on his current contacts. It’s so easy to join the free social networking sites too! I think he would get more job offers if he would do the searching, like you said!
July 15, 2009 at 1:07 am
KANDISS EDMUNDSON
It’s so true. I have to take my OWN advice too though. It’s really easy out here to get comfortable with the same old ways of networking and getting work. Complacency is a killer out here. That sounds like a really cool project that your bro is working on though! I wish him luck!!