Ah, social media. The constantly moving target and Achilles Heel for both aspiring & veteran voice talent alike.
I bring this up because lately when I’ve been updating my contacts in my CRM I’ve been deleting their Klout and Google+ links, two of the most recent social media casualties. Which platform is next to fall, I wonder…?
Social media platforms in general and Klout in particular are guilty of inducing Status Anxiety.
Status Anxiety: the constant tension or fear of being perceived as “unsuccessful” by the society in materialistic terms. This definition comes from the book “Status Anxiety” by Alain de Botton.
I talked about the quest to achieve higher status earlier this year in this blog entry. As voice talent, we are doubly screwed when it comes to social media. Why? Because…
We are constantly trying to “keep up with the Jones’s” with status updates proclaiming our victories & prowess which actually make us look needy, desperate, clueless, boastful, or all at the same time
We don’t know how to use social media to land clients, much less do #1 effectively
TIP OF THE WEEK
Why do most of us attempt to use social media to advance our voiceover business and not get far? Many reasons. I think the biggest one is that when using social media, we don’t begin with the end in mind. In other words, we don’t set clear, specific, actionable goals nor do we understand the tools we’re trying to use. With that in mind, here are a few 2020 social media goals you can set for yourself:
Learn why each social media platform works the way they do. Each are designed to have a different conversation and achieve different types of engagement.
Feel free to use multiple social media platforms at the same time but pick one and get really, really good at it. Take an online course to develop your proficiency. I recommend StackSkills.
Set specific goals within each social media platform. Sure, achieving a certain number of connections is fine, but that doesn’t mean squat if you don’t know how to achieve consistent, positive engagement.
Use the social media platforms you like and ignore the ones you don’t. If you don’t like Twitter, don’t use Twitter!
NEWS AND NOTES
This is the last Not Silent Blog entry for 2019. I want to thank all of you for your support over the past 11 years and I hope to stay ‘not silent’ for the next 11. I wish everyone a safe & happy holiday season and here’s to kicking arse in 2020!
December 13-25: The Julie Williams 12 Days of Christmas Sale!!! You can get discounts on webinars from some of the top folks in the voiceover industry (and me). Click on this link to get 20% off my “The Voiceover Biz & Taxes” webinar!
2020 EVENTS!!!
Wednesday, January 8th @9PM EST: “Managing Your Money” courtesy of the fabulous casting director Mary-Lynn Wissner of “The VO Pros”. In this 2-hour webinar, we’ll talk about what to do with your paycheck and how to manage your finances, credit cards, taxes, insurance, and retirement. Click here to sign up!
Sunday, January 12th: The Voice Actors of NYC workshop, “Get Your *** Together for 2020”. In this in-person-only workshop, we will discuss how to build a voiceover business plan and set your goals for the New Year. Registration starts soon and this donation-based class will sell out super-fast so stay tuned…!
Thursday, January 16th @8PM EST: My next Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar will be “Rates, Negotiating, and Billing”. We’re gonna talk about, well, rates, negotiating, and billing. Click here to sign up!
Wednesday, January 22nd @8:30 PM EST: The Edge Studio encore presentation of ‘Online Casting Sites’. In this special one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about the pros and cons of online casting sites in general and Pay-to-Play sites in particular. Click here to sign up!
Thursday, January 23rd @8PM EST: my next Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar will be “4 Words That Will Kill Your Marketing”. We’ll talk about how think like an effective marketer. Click here to sign up!
Saturday, February 1st, 2020 @2PM PST: I will be speaking LIVE at the Voice Actors Studio in sunny Las Vegas! The topic is “THE VOICEOVER BUSINESS AND HOW TO ACT LIKE IT”. If you live in the Las Vegas area there are still a few spots left! Click here to sign up!
HAPPY HAPPYS
Happy Maple Syrup Day and Write a Business Plan Month!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Tom Dheere is a 20+year veteran of the voice over industry who has narrated thousands of projects for hundreds of clients in over a dozen countries. He is also a voiceover business & marketing consultant known as the VOStrategist and produces the comic book “Agent 1.22”.