How to Use Social Media During a Crowdfunding Campaign
-
- June 17, 2014
By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)
The importance of social media for a filmmaker cannot be over stated, especially when you’re conducting a crowdfunding campaign. And while using Facebook, Twitter, and a host of others can be a full-time job all by itself, it’s important that filmmakers understand that they’re building a community, as well as raising funds. Here’s a few tips in how to lay the solid social media foundation.
Community building and awareness are the key tenets of any marketing planand if you're crowdfunding, that means social media should represent a healthy percentage of your efforts. If you want your voice on social networks to have an impact, the work can be time-intensive. But the rewards are many ... Kristen McCracken, Seed and Spark
These tips come from Kristin McCracken, who developed the social media strategy for the Tribecca Film Festival. Kristen is a social media consultant for the film industry and she has several tips with which to develop a thriving social media presence, and it’s all wrapped around the same thing that filmmakers have always had to do... find their voice. How you present yourself in your social media campaign will set the tone of your feed no matter if you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or even Instagram.
“Decide on a personality for your social media, similar to the tone of your film,” Kristen writes. Kristen says that if you shoot dramas, a more serious tone may help, if you’re a comedy filmmaker, then a lighter hearted tone will serve you well. But Kristen also says that matter what it is, you want the voice to be informative, insightful, smart, and feedback-friendly.
Branding your social media is also important, as it creates a consistency across all platforms. So whatever your movie project is, use a handle that will always keep your project in the community’s mind. “If your title is a common phrase, you can add Film or Movie to the end (ex: @LincolnMovie),” she says.
Kristen also reminds to keep your audience demographics always in mind. Fourteen year olds are always on YouTube or Instagram, but you seldom find them on Facebook or Twitter anymore. So understanding where you’re core audience spends their time socially, will help you to focus your social media campaign and not waste time where the audience isn’t.
And since today’s filmmaking community is social savvy, everyone from production assistant to your a-list actor has a Twitter or Facebook account. And more and more are discovering Instagram. They all have followers. And so if you get your entire team pushing the project from their own social media sites, it extends your reach exponentially. So encourage them to share, retweet, and talk about the film. “Tell them you expect them to share and promote with friends and family, and give them clear instructions on how to do so,” Kristen says.
Other tips include:
- Keeping your account fresh and updated. Don’t let it sit or grow stale.
- Start small and grow as needed. Don’t spread yourself everywhere. And if you have the budget, it’s helpful to hire someone with experience to run your social media campaign.
- Pay for targeted promotions. Social media sites are free, but they also offer sponsored posts that get everywhere. And they may be worth getting the news out at the very beginning to grow your social media presence.
- Stay away from promises to grow your community. Click farms and false twitter accounts will hurt you, they won’t help you. So avoid experts that promise they can deliver hundreds or thousands of international followers. Chances are, they’re fake.
To read more of Kristen’s tips, and everyone should commit them to memory for the wisdom they bring, check out her article here.
The post How to Use Social Media During a Crowdfunding Campaign appeared first on Doddle.
