How Social Media Can Help Your Acting Career…and It’s Not About Numbers
I know that social media is important for actors. They’re always keeping up to date on current social media trends and ways to grow their audience to get noticed. However, I was surprised when the directors looked up the social media accounts of the talent they were interested in at an in-person commercial callback…and they weren’t looking at the number of followers.
Let’s look into why they were looking and consider the positive effect that social media may have on your career.
Why Casting Directors Look at Actors Social Media Pages
Taking a deeper dive into the phenomena of why a decision-maker may check out your social media, the glib answer would be because they can. Why not, aren’t we all on the internet all day long Googling everything? If we are having a meeting with someone we have never met before, don’t we look them up? Don’t other careers take a look at a person’s social media as part of their hiring process?
I knew there was something more to it than the fact that directors are curious, creative people interested in who they are considering as a choice (and having fun doing so).
I always thought it was quite amazing that a creative team could confidently make a talent choice to fulfill a role with so much commercial production money riding on their decision…all by just seeing them in an audition for five or 10 minutes. Using social media as a tool to look further at who they are choosing started to make sense.
For this particular commercial callback, there was acting involved, but it was also image-based due to it being a commercial for a personal care product. In the images the directors were looking at on Instagram, the talent came to life relating to friends and doing things of interest to them. The directors saw how the person photographed from different angles, all resulting in a positive glimpse into the talent’s life.
Was it a deal breaker? No. Seeing positive, authentic images gave them a feeling of knowing this person better and most importantly, added a reassuring feeling to their decision-making choice.
Having said that, let’s look at what makes up a good social media branding image for yourself as an actor.
Social Media Branding for Actors
Everyone is an individual, so fill in the blanks for your social media pages to be about you.
Show images of you doing things you are interested in, whatever that is. This includes hobbies, sports, theatre, arts, travel, cooking and anything else you can imagine.
Now for your image. To start with, keep the content on your social media accounts positive. Don’t post anything that will put you in a negative or controversial light. Stay away from politics and sexy booty shots, unless that is particularly what you want as part of your professional image.
Once you are aware that your social media accounts are creating your professional branding image, you will be headed in the right direction and things will fall into place.
For instance, if you are the artistic type, clothing, colors and surrounding images would have an artsy feel to them. Whereas, if you are the more edgy type, your photos will reflect that in the clothing and colors you are wearing and in the places you frequent. If you are more of the theatre type, a lot of your images will gravitate around theatre life.
There is no end to how different people are. Social media is your platform to express yourself.
Keep the images balanced with situations between work and personal interests. Announce your avails, bookings, work you are doing and readings you are in…whatever it may be.
Choosing How You Connect on Social Media as an Actor
Do you need two separate social media accounts? It’s always a good idea to have one account for posts related to your acting career and industry professionals and another for family and friends outside of the business or for information you don’t want public. Maybe your other account would be used for friends’ weddings or kids, births, nieces, nephews, or extended family events that you want to keep more private.
Think about whether you want to add political statements to your social channels. Some people want everyone to know their political stance and others don’t (you may want to save that for the personal social media page you have created). It’s up to you.
We are all looking to connect, and like it or not, social media is a way to have other people in the industry get to know you. I know social media is working because there are many actors who I often see on my Instagram, resulting in when I see their submissions. If they have auditioned for me, I now feel familiar with them in a positive way. The icing on the cake might be that I think of them for an audition they have not been submitted for.
The main thing is to be aware that producers, casting directors, writers or anyone else in the business might be looking at your social media at some point. The exciting thing is you can choose the authentic image you want of your life and create it on your social media. You are in charge.
Casting directors use Casting Networks every day to discover people like you. Sign up or log in today to get one step closer to your next role.
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For more information about Terry Berland Commercial Acting workshops click here. To sign up for the Berland Casting newsletter or to communicate any subject you would like covered, click here. Reproduction or usage of this article on other websites must be credited to Terry Berland, Casting Director. Instagram: @berlandcasting Facebook: facebook.com/terry.berland.casting/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/berlandcasting/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp6K5OZCaSGE_YHaMj2lDXg
