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Social Media Tips Warn Filmmakers Against Making it All About Them

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

When it comes to mounting an effective social media campaign for your film project, it’s important to keep in mind that you are creating a community of fans and supporters. Even more so when you’re trying to run a crowd-funding campaign to raise money for it. And keeping those two in balance is crucial. So much so that there’s an etiquette that filmmakers need to be aware of when participating in social media, and the slightest faux pas can cause your community to question. Thankfully, Seed and Spark has a nice list of do’s and don’ts that will effectively keep you on the straight and narrow and bring you the success you are looking for.

 

DO “commune” with your fans. You're trying to build a community, and there’s a reason “community” and “communicate” share the same roots. - Seed and Sparks

Of this list of ten do’s and don’ts, my personal #1 do is to understand that you, as a filmmaker, are building a community. A place where fans and filmmakers can communicate, share common interests and passions, and to have a genuine back and forth. It feeds into the notion that your fans have “inside access” to you and your cast and project. It allows them to have a place to congregate. And if they feel your social media is only a place to lob drive by advertisements for your crowd-funding campaign, or for seeing your film, they’re less likely to participate.

Seed and Spark social media expert Kristin McCracken says that if users RT your post, or ask you a question, or tag your project, it’s important to honor that. To thank them. And sending them private message or a message directed at them makes your fan feel appreciated. And is shows that you’e participating the in the community you’re giving. And it also shows that you’re not being a narcissist about it, one of McCracken’s primary “Don’ts.” ”Once you attract followers, you want them to engage, return and remain. Give them something to latch on to,” writes McCracken. ”Watch my movie!” or “Donations welcome!” or “I’m so great!” gets old, and fast.”

DO give people insider access. Most people have never made a movie, and those who follow films and filmmakers are curious about how it’s done …

And posting behind the scenes photos and video clips of characters saying hello to their fans is a great way to give them what McCracken calls “a peak behind the curtain.” Nobody does this better, in my opinion, than Downton Abbey on their Instagram page. They post shots from the set almost daily and then you have a dedicated following of fans just waiting for the next season’s twists and turns, these bread crumbs lead them back to you and set you up for a fantastic premiere.

Another key “do,” according to McCracken is that many filmmakers need to take their time posting things. Make sure there are no spelling errors or typos. Make sure the quality of your artwork and photos are at the highest quality. Because if you post things that are misspelled or at extremely low resolution, it may cause your audience to question if your project is going to be at the highest quality it can be, and that’s even more vital when you’re running a crowd-funding campaign to boot. But that doesn’t mean you have to make sure every post is officially signed off or vetted either. That can make your posts appear canned. “Spending a day and a half vetting every post with every member of your team is counter-productive,” says McCracken. “Go with the flow and get the information out while it's still timely. And then start thinking about your next post.”

DON'T be lazy. As tempting as shortcuts may be, automatic cross-posts between platforms (Twitter to Facebook, Instagram to anywhere) are a no-no.

And that leads to this … avoid the temptation to automatically cross-post from platforms. If you’re posting your Twitter feed to Facebook, it may make your Facebook fans feel neglected. “As tempting as shortcuts may be,” McCracken says, “automatic cross-posts between platforms (Twitter to Facebook, Instagram to anywhere) are a no-no.”  This is also imporant because McCracken says that often #hashtags and @handles don’t travel well from platform to platform. It may be easier from Facebook to Instagram because they’re from the same infrastructure (Facebook owns Instagram now), but from there to Twitter, not so much. And Instagram photos don’t embed in Twitter. So it pays to have independent postings for each.

DO be creative. You’re a filmmaker! You have ideas! Let them flow! Try new things

No wonder that many projects often have a dedicated professional handling their social media. It takes the burden off you and provides focus to achieve the goals you have set out for your social media presence (and it gives you someone to fire when things go wrong).

For more on the do’s and don’t of Social Media, check out IndieWire.com and you can follow Kristen on Twitter at @kmc1213.

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