Please Don't Do This!!!
As someone who has promoted myself as a voice actor on social media for almost twenty years, I’ve made my share of mistakes. I try to learn from them as I go and share the wisdom I’ve gained with my students so they don’t make the same mistakes I have. There is one mistake I see new voice actors make over and over again on social media and it has the potential to destroy your voice over career before you’ve even gotten it off the ground. And that mistake is…posting voiceover audition videos on social media!
Why?
CONFIDENTIALITY!!!
This is true for both broadcast and non-broadcast voiceovers.
For example, if you’re auditioning for a commercial, that new product or service or business may not have been revealed to the public yet. You could be royally screwing up the marketing campaign as well as the legal & financial status of a company by leaking what is essentially a company secret.
If it’s a non-broadcast project like a training video, content like that is only allowed to be seen by the people who work for that company. It could be talking about internal security protocols, food preparation that has a secret recipe, or their company’s next marketing campaign.
From now on...
Assume that everything you audition for is under an NDA. That means Non Disclosure Agreement. And NDA means that you will not tell anyone anything about the audition. That way you won’t put yourself at risk either legally or financially.
If you do insist on posting your auditions on social media, I do have some tips, but I’m not giving them to you. I can’t in good conscience encourage anyone to engage in potentially self-destructive behavior.
You may be asking yourself...
If I can’t post my auditions on social media, what should I be posting?
First off, the vast majority of voice seekers aren’t paying attention to anything that you’re doing on social media anyway. If they are, they’re likely vetting you to see if you’re an NDA violator, a client basher, or some kind of whack job.
What social media content SHOULD I post?
If you want to post effective content on social media that has the potential to move your voiceover career forward, make content about you being you. Not about the silly voices you can make or the latest cartoon you booked for no money on Discord. Be you. Try to demonstrate that you’re a good human trying to connect with good humans. Talk about your dog, your love of cooking, your favorite soccer team. People want to work with people that they like & trust. Creating social media content that demonstrates your humanity & likeability will give you credibility.
Thanks For Reading!
To learn more about me, hear some samples, or download my demos, just go to www.tomdheere.com.
Tom Dheere is a voice actor with over 25 years of experience narrating just about every type of voiceover you can think of. He also helps other voice talents navigate the voiceover industry as the VO Strategist. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.
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