Twitterizing Our Acting Careers

 

Most of you visiting this blog are more than likely coming from Twitter.  Twitter is a great social medial site.  I didn't think so when someone first told me about it?  "140 characters?  Really?  That sounds kinda dumb."

Hmmm...maybe I should learn to wait before I open my mouth.

Now, you may be on Twitter for a variety of reasons.  You may be here to interact socially.  You might be looking to network professionally.  You may be a 'bot, seeking to inundate my DM box with endless spam.  

If you are in the last category, let me just tell you right now that when you misspell "opportunities" or "growth" or "money", your credibility is somewhere right around the level of Pirelli's Miracle Elixir.  You musical theatre types understand that reference (or if you don't, SHAME on you!); the rest of you need to spend more time with Sondheim.  Yes, that's right.  I just outed myself as a thespian.  And yes, my wife does know.

So, putting the spam 'bots to the side (or into that special junk box with all the "little blue pill" emails), Twitter is great to make friends and network with professionals.  Who knows, you may even find a real free iPad deal out there.  Miracles happen.

One other way to use Twitter is to self-promote.  Yes, I know we talked about this last week.  It bears repeating.  Self-promotion is part of a successful long-term acting career.  Twitter is an amazing marketing tool.  Ergo, Twitter is an amazing tool as part of a successful long-term acting career.  How'd you like THAT syllogism, Mrs. Wilson?  Boo-yah! 

In order to use Twitter to its fullest, we need to understand Twitter to its fullest.  And truthfully, most of us actors hover right around the social media "expert" level.  If you haven't been on Twitter long, you have no idea how bad that actually is.  We could be a lot more sophisticated in our Twitter use than we are.

Twitter is a bit of a numbers game.  However, it's not just the number of followers you have.  There is a way of looking at other Twitter users that can tell you an enormous amount of information in a very short period of time.  And while it may not hold exactly true every single time, it's pretty stinkin' accurate.

Do you know what your following/follower rate tells about you?  What about your listed/follower rate?  Your follower/tweet rate?  These statistics, or "metrics", give a sophisticated Twitter user lots of info about the kind of user you are, and the kind of (or lack of) interaction you will offer.

And that information is invaluable if you are trying to market yourself.  The scope of what I can tell you about Twitter is somewhat limited in this blog, but it's important enough that the next online workshop that I'm offering will be on this topic.  Again, if you would like a discount, follow my blog and leave a comment (which needs to have either your email or your Twitter handle, so I can get in touch with you).  Until then, happy Tweeting!