Is it a humble brag?
Is it marketing?
It it validation seeking?
It is legal???
Thinking about sharing your voice over projects all over social media? Watch this first.
One of the marketing lessons I teach is the importance of keeping yourself top of mind. This is something that’s done more easily now than ever before thanks to social media. We have the ability, on any given day, to engage with our voice over leads, prospects and clients through any number of platforms and networks.
And we can do it without selling a thing!
That, by the way, is extremely important. Keeping yourself top of mind DOES NOT mean constantly trying to solicit voice over work.
Last week I received an email from a coaching student, voice over colleague and friend who had recently launched a new website to go along with her new demo. She asked if I’d mind checking it out for her and providing any feedback I have may have.
Last week I was neck deep in some major home renovation projects, as well as a huge eLearning voice over project. At the time her email came in, I didn’t have an opportunity to check out her website.
A day or two later, I posted something on Twitter and this person responded to my tweet. Immediately I thought to myself, “I need to check out her website still.”
A day after that she left a comment on a Facebook status I shared. Again, I had the exact same reaction, “I need to check out her website still!”
A couple days later, she replied to another tweet and we had a bit of back and forth dialogue. All the while, I was thinking, “I need to check out her website.”
The key in all of this is, outside of her initial request, not once did she ask me to check out her website again. Not once did she remind me I hadn’t done it. Not once did she question when I’d be able to get it done. In fact, I’d venture to guess that her social media engagement wasn’t even as much about her request as it was just her being her.
Nevertheless, each time she popped up in my notifications, it reminded me of what I had to do.
After a couple days, when things had settled down around here, I checked out her website and provided her with some feedback.
That’s how it’s done, friends. That’s how easily, simply and professionally it’s done!
Marketing is about building relationships. I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it a thousand more. It’s about connecting with people. Taking interest in people. Do all of these things and you’ll keep yourself top of mind with people. Stay top of mind with people (without being annoying) and opportunity will come!
Who do you need to engage with today?
PS: If you’re looking for a really great female voice actor, check out Christy Harst’s new site and demo at christyharst.com
“What exactly is marketing?”
I’m glad you asked!
The answer; everything! That’s right… everything is marketing!
I’ve found clients via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Vimeo, Google Searches, Email and more. Leads are everywhere and every good lead becomes a potential client if you play your cards right.
The flip side of that coin… clients have also found me via all of those different channels.
And that’s why everything is marketing.
As you put yourself out there on the interwebs, your name and thereby your brand / business, becomes something that can be found. Discovered. Examined. Researched.
Ask yourself; What kind of marketing messages are you putting out into the world? Not the intentional ones. I’m talking about the unintentional ones!
If a client finds your Twitter stream, what will they see? A person / voice actor who seems to be happy, easy to work with, fun, engaging and professional?
Or will they find a miserable grouch with strong, polarizing opinions who consistently shares inappropriate content?
In other words, the kind of person a business would never want to have associated with their brand.
Marketing can find you work or cost you work. It all depends on how you’re portraying yourself and how others perceive you.
As I always say, “Beware what you share!”
When clients have found me via social media and ultimately reached out to me with voice over opportunities, they’ve already done their research. They know a lot about the kind of person I am, and the kind of business I run. They know they can trust me to be a voice associated with their brand.
Are the things your sharing offering the same reassuring messages?
Using social media to build your brand isn’t just about posting links to your websites, demos and projects you’ve worked on. It’s not about telling the world over and over that you’re a voice actor looking for work. It’s not all about posting pictures of your studio or talking about the latest gig and/or client you booked.
As a voice actor, you are the brand!
Beyond how you promote your business, how you live (and share) your life and personality online also becomes a very strong marketing message.
Odds are you’ve seen someone do this, or maybe you’ve done it yourself. Broadcasting an audition live on social media using a platform such as Facebook Live or Periscope. The question is, should people be doing this?
Today’s special guest contributor is Rob Sciglimpaglia. Not only is he an attorney, he’s also an actor and voice talent. He knows our industry and he’s got some really great advice!
I’m sure many of you have noticed the increase in voice talent filming themselves auditioning for a project and posting it on social media, or even now using Facebook live or Periscope to broadcast the audition live. I don’t understand why voice talent would risk doing this. Psychological explanations aside, this is a very dangerous practice that can lead to serious legal and career damaging consequences.
Even in the absence of a talent signing a non disclosure or confidentiality agreement, audition material should be protected as confidential property belonging to your potential client. What client would be happy seeing their project that has not been released to the public by them, being released to the public by the talent they are looking to hire? This is clearly actionable in a legal sense in that the talent can certainly be held accountable for any damage caused by “leaking” this proprietary intellectual property.
More practically speaking, this can also get the agency or casting director who sent you this material in a whole lot of hot water as well. In the words of casting director Marci Liroff who wrote about this topic in her September 10, 2013 column in Backstage magazine:
“Your auditions for my project should not be available for public consumption. They should only be viewed by me and my filmmaking team, the network, and the studio. The material (the script and audition scenes) are not meant to be viewed by the public at this preproduction stage or, frankly, ever. You’ve heard of spoilers, right? If I’m casting a project that has a top- secret script, it would be extremely detrimental to the project if there were auditions popping up all over the Internet that would reveal the storyline. On my last project, the producer found three actors who had posted their auditions for our film on YouTube and berated me because I didn’t control this better.”
You better believe that if it was your posting that caused the casting director to be berated, then that casting director will think twice, or even three or four times, before sending you another audition.
In my opinion, voice talent should NEVER post their auditions on line, even if they have received permission from the client to do so, because it puts the talent’s need to be seen ahead of the importance of the client’s project, which for an audition, and even the actual job, is the ONLY thing that should matter.
Rob Sciglimpaglia practices in Entertainment including trademarks and copyrights, as well as workers compensation, personal injury and real estate. robscigesq.com
Rob is also the author of the Amazon best-selling book, “Voice Over Legal.” I’d be putting this one on your Christmas Wish List to Santa! Get your copy at voiceoverlegal.com
It’s a question I’m asked on a fairly regular basis. In addition to, “should I advertise on Facebook?” Also, “Should I advertise on Twitter?”
For now, let’s focus on LinkedIn. Why? Well, recently I received another offer from them to test their advertising platform with a $50 credit. This time, I was unable to take advantage of the credit offer on account of having accepted it in the past.
My LinkedIn ad campaign (which I ran well over a year ago) didn’t result in any direct work. That said, it did bring me a few leads which I’ve continued to develop relationships with. In the interest of full disclosure, my ad could’ve done better if I was better educated in how to take advantage of it. At the time I was fairly new to pay per click advertising and admittedly I didn’t put together the best campaign.
If you’re thinking of trying it, take advantage of one of those offers from LinkedIn. After all, it’s $50 for free! As you’re creating your ad keep in mind these points:
Have a Clear Objective: What specifically are you trying to accomplish? The mistake I made with my ad was simply throwing out a general “Need a voice over” advertisement, and then hoping the people would come to me. I didn’t have a solid plan, and without a solid plan, most efforts will fail… as mine did!
Target Intentionally and Specifically: One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in online advertising is the importance of targeting. The absolute worst thing you can do is create an ad and throw it out to all male and female users between the ages of 18 and 65 on any country who speak English (as an example). That’s exactly what I did when I tried my first LinkedIn campaign. Bigger isn’t necessarily better when it comes to creating an audience. A small, highly-targeted audience will produce far better results than a really large, entirely general one.
Don’t Just Sell: Good copy for an ad for your voice over services is not, “Professional voice over services.” With a LinkedIn text ad, you only get a sentence or two. Use it wisely and make it compelling. Think of copy that will draw the person in. Your goal shouldn’t be to sell them a voice over from one ad impression. It should be to start a conversation with them.
LinkedIn is a professional network, and if you’re building a solid one – that is, one that doesn’t just consist of other voice actors – there’s potential for you to have success with a well built ad campaign.
The next time one of those $50 credit offers comes your way, put something creative together and see what happens. In this case, you’ve got nothing to lose! 🙂
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