Social media is a free marketing tool that can make the difference in your VO business, provided you update your profile regularly. With Facebook reaching 10 years of age recently it brings to mind how big a part social media is playing in all our lives.
As voice over artists we are increasingly using social media to promote our VO services and with the plethora of social media out there we’ve probably got various profiles across all sorts of accounts.
No doubt you will have profiles set up on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+ and you may still have old accounts on sites like MySpace. In fact some of you might have been on Facebook for the full 10 years that it has been going!
In this time how many of us can honestly say that our social media profiles really represent us and our business appropriately? It’s well known that HR departments check social media accounts of potential employees and it wouldn’t be too surprising if our VO clients checked our profiles out as well. With this in mind it makes sense to give your social media a bit of a make-over so that the sites you are on create the right impression for you.
So what do we mean by this social media make-over? Well, here are a few things that you could do;
– Update your profile/header photos and photo albums. Do you really look like that now? Does your photo look professional on LinkedIn? Do you really need those photos of you on Facebook at that stag party !? Take a moment to refresh your profile with some new images and be discerning about what you keep on there.
– Update your profile/bio section so that it gives an up to date representation of the services you offer. Do you need to update any links to your website or best demos? Could you add some of your YouTube links on there? Check it out.
– Have a tidy up on the people you are following on Twitter. Over time this can get crammed with all sorts of random contacts that probably haven’t tweeted in years. The more people you follow, the more difficult it gets to keep up with what’s happening so be more selective about who you follow and create groups for those contacts where you have a particular interest in what they have to say.
– Could you be connecting with more people who might be able to help you? Have you met anybody at a networking event that you should connect with? Go through your business cards and emails and you might find some people who it will be useful to connect with.
– Get rid of accounts you don’t use anymore. Do you still need that MySpace account? Be ruthless!
– Do you need to be represented on another social media platform? Have you got a Google+ account yet? Would it make sense to upload your demos to the soundcloud? Do a bit of research and see what your fellow VO artists are doing?
– Get your social media links in place. Make sure that people can connect with you through your website, blog and on your email signature.
If you can take time to do the above you will find that your social media will become easier to deal with, more relevant and it will be representing you more appropriately.
What do you think? Do you have any more tips? How much are you using social media to promote your VO business? Please let us know.