TOP 10 WAYS TO CREATE AN ACTING CAREER: THE SOCIAL MEDIA WAY-PART I

Top ten lists seems to work for David Letterman.

So I figured why not give an acting career a top ten list using the top ten social media best practices? According to Career Builder, social media is crucial to the recruiting process on any corporate level. As actors we are constantly seeking to be recruited as opposed to doing the recruiting (seeking representation aside). Social media practices can seem foreign to many people who aren’t familiar with what it has to offer. I decided to explore Career Builder’s suggestions and apply them to an acting career.

1. SET A GOAL- What do you want? If you just want to be famous, do something stupid and spread it all over the internet. If you want to build a career, decide specifics for yourself in terms of how you want to market yourself. Setting a clear goal for yourself is key before you jump into this often times unrewarding career. Having a goal that you’re always striving to achieve, will help prevent you from losing focus or getting distracted by the low moments that you’ll inevitably face.

2. MASTER ONE MEDIUM- Building a strong profile on Actors Access is a great place to start. Actors Access is not only a popular source of talent for casting directors, but it’s also widely used among managers and agents. Keeping your profile updated and complete is incredibly important. Putting too much information is even better. The more specific information provided about yourself, the less likely casting directors will pass over you as they search for that one specific talent or look.

3. MANAGE YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION- Beefing up your SPECIAL SKILLS on your resume or sharing with your different networks on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter about a job you just booked or an audition you nailed is so smart. The more people that know what you’re doing and how well you’re doing it, the better. Word of mouth isn’t a myth. It’s real. People love to tell other people about the cool happenings of the people they know. So don’t be shy. Talk about yourself! Doing it on social networking sites will spread your word faster and to more people.

4. CREATE A USER EXPERIENCE- Build a fan-base. For every job you book, you have to create that buzz for yourself. Same thing applies to your auditions. Every time a casting director meets you, you want them to become a fan. This will build a lasting and supportive relationship.

5. LISTEN, LEARN, AND ENGAGE- Actors naturally tend to listen to our audience. We can always gauge how well a performance is going based on that instant feedback or instant gratification… the applause. The same must apply when you’re not on stage or on set. Listen when the phone isn’t ringing. take it in, examine what’s going on, and do something. Trust that you’re a part of an indutsry that is cut throat for a reason, therefore engage so you can develop in new ways.

TOP 10 WAYS TO CREATE AN ACTING CAREER: THE SOCIAL MEDIA WAY-PART II

Here are the last few social media best practices that coincide with building an acting career. I hope you’re coming up with new ways for yourself as you’ve been reading. What works for one person, may not work for the next.

6. HIGHLIGHT SPECIFIC JOBS- I’ve always felt that the people who are in decision making positions in this industry, lack imagination. So you have to show people and tell people what specifically you can do. People stop listening when you say you can do it all… “If I gain 30lbs. and you put a gray wig on me I could play a grandma.” Why bother imagining something like that when there are thousands of people in this town who fit that same description, that can be here in twenty minutes to audition? Be specific and stick to your specific highlights.

7. VISUALLY STIMULATE- This is the number one way to stand out. Seek the best pictures. Spend the money and get the best. If you put forth half efforts into your company, you will achieve maybe half of your goals. Also, seek the best quality for your reel. This is your shot to prove you belong in front of the camera.

Image via Wikipedia

8. BOOST YOUR RANKINGS- The Internet Movie Database is a prime example for boosting your rankings. The more people who view your profile on this site, the lower your starmeter is. To put this into perspective, Emma Watson’s starmeter is 1. This means she has a high level of public awareness or interest and more people are clicking her profile than any other celebrity. My starmeter is 49,449…huge difference in click traffic!

9. PREPARE TO CHANGE- Social media is evolving so quickly and most people aren’t even sure what will really stick. Try out many different sites so you can be everywhere, no matter which site gets stale.

10. PROMOTION- Let people know where you are on these social networking sites. Add it on your resume, your website, and email messages. Promoting doesn’t end once you’ve created a profile. It never ends.

If you take on each of these best practices it would take a tremendous amount of courage and risk. Literally putting yourself out there in such an exposed way is challenging and scary, so do it. Put yourself out there as if today was your first day you decided you wanted a career as an actor.

ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE

New social media offers specific tools for corporate communicators, PR professionals, and investor relations professionals to get there message out quickly and effectively through engaging and brief online video demos. In the social media world, these demonstrations must draw the consumer in and keep them engaged enough to want to buy their products.  In a recent post titled You Are Your Own Company, I stressed the importance of actors treating themselves like a company and they are the CEO. We are the product so the messaging must be clear and concise, and the branding has to be on target with what you’re trying to “sell”. This doesn’t mean you sit back and let social media do all of the work. Social media can help but there is plenty more you can do for yourself before social media can show progress.

In my last post, Staying Connected, I was able to introduce SpeedReels to you and just one of the many services they provide. Another cool service SpeedReels offers allows industry professionals to get their reels viewed by as many people online. This is their title feature, the speed reel. It’s a 60 second or less version of your full reel, which is comparable to the video demo I mentioned before. In terms of the entertainment industry, no one wants to take the time out of their day to view a reel! Now this  is a broad generalization, but believe me it’s true. You may recall in a recent post, when I mentioned that it is very hard to gain the attention of a casting director, agent, or manager, but if you have a trailer size version of your reel that you could email directly to them, you’re almost guaranteed they will view it. Take a look at my personal SpeedReel to get the gist!

In an interview with the  owner of SpeedReels, Matt Draper, he goes in depth about the quality you should seek for your speed reel. The advice he offers is really helpful and falls right in line with social media tactics.

STAYING CONNECTED

Most people are aware that the center of the entertainment universe is Hollywood. But in recent years major cities like Toronto, New York, and New Orleans have become entertainment hubs for television and film. As a Los Angeles based actress it can be extremely disconcerting when a role is being cast in New York. Granted, most times for larger projects, casting is being held on both coasts. However, I have lost out on several opportunities in the past due to distance. A key social media theme is connectedness. With distance being an issue sometimes, staying connected may feel difficult.

SpeedReels, a fully interactive service for actors helps solve this problem by allowing actors the opportunity to audition for projects being cast on another coast. Some casting directors will accept “self-taped” auditions. Every actor should take this opportunity but make sure you do it professionally. I can’t imagine some of the low-budget auditions some casting directors may see with actors recording their audition in their bathroom!

The process is very simple. They tape your audition, you quickly choose a take, you next-day mail it or SpeedReels will email the link to the casting director via a service called  you-send-it. This way they can view it immediately. There have been times where I’ve ended up auditioning before they even held casting sessions. Unfortunately, not all casting directors are up to speed with what new social media has to offer. They end up refusing the link which is super fast, cheap, and convenient, and rather accept a next-day mailed package which is $35 bucks out of my pocket, plus the fear that it never even gets in their hands. Take a look at an audition SpeedReels taped for me so you can get the gist of what this service really has to offer. And REMEMBER… it’s just an audition, so be nice!