Last year, I mentioned that I thought the days of using a website as a primary marketing tool were over and speculated that social media would assume the mantle of being the best way to promote voice-overs. All social media platforms are not equal though, especially in the world of voice. Below are my top choices for social media from a talent perspective with various pros/cons and comments. LinkedIn: Not just voice talent, but every professional should be on LinkedIn as the platform has become the most comprehensive workplace data tool in the world. Linking-In to contacts is also an excellent way to get attention from former and sometimes potential buyers. With all that said, what could possibly be the cons? I strongly feel that LinkedIn is too professional and is geared more to executives and salespeople. Voice talent and the majority of people who hire them view themselves as artists and I don’t think LinkedIn allows enough artistic expression between their lines. I also don’t believe their data tools are that easy to work with and often scroll through pages of contacts to remember a contacts current employment or to find a new email.
Facebook: Whereby I think LinkedIn is too professional… I don’t think Facebook is professional enough. While I too believe almost every talent should be on Facebook, I also feel Voice talent should only promote or professionally communicate on Facebook with real friends and relatively close acquaintances. For instance, if your brother-in-law has hired you and you have a relatively professional inquiry with him, I think Facebook (if not email) is the appropriate way to reach out versus LinkedIn. I also think it’s appropriate to post work on Facebook but as an exercise, I don’t think you should expect anything out of it except to share your life with others.
Youtube: It’s very easy to forget that Youtube is social because it’s so passively entertaining but I don’t think Youtube’s value is in garnering comments and conversations. I think it’s a great free repository for all your video work and an easy way to send links to buyers.
Instagram: Due to the nature of voice, Instagram doesn’t make much sense if you are working a ton at home but where it is great is for sharing encounters with buyers or other talent. In New York, for instance, if you are going to a casting session, it’s a great idea to take pictures of other talent/the casting director(s) and the environs as well anything else you may want to share. More specifically, it’s great to post pictures at jobs. For instance, if you working in animation, there a thousands of interested people in seeing cast mates or the director or even the inside of a studio. The same can be said of virtually any other job in which you are working away from home.
Tumblr: I have to admit I’ve never looked at it comprehensively enough but I hear great things about the interface and I think it’s worth more exploration. In fact, I have that on my personal list of to-do’s.
Google Plus: Realistically, I don't know anybody in the Voice Biz really using it.
Twitter: I’m leaving Twitter for last because I think it’s the best and still has the most potential. Here are some of my reasons: 1) It’s truly social in the ways Facebook and Instagram can be versus the impersonal way of LinkedIn. 2) The brevity forces me to communicate and/or market myself easily and concisely which I believe my followers want. 3) It is the easiest way to share links of my work and pictures (including those from Facebook and Instagram) with my audience. 4) In my opinion, it is socially oriented more in the world of entertainment than the other platforms. 5) The app is excellent and I actually prefer it over the web version. So do I have gripes? Sure… I wish I had about 20 more characters as I admit I’m little longer winded than most. More importantly, despite Twitter being the twelfth most active website in the world, there are still so many people who either are not on it or barely use it. Regardless, it has an incredibly enthusiastic daily audience that is constantly sharing and communicating and that makes it my platform of choice.
Given all that… please follow me @philsutfin or ACM @acmtalent as we are relatively active and I look forward to hearing other people’s experiences and even whether anyone can trace new work or better yet, an account, to social media.
