*Notification* *Post* *Tweet* *Swipe* *Click* *Snap* *AHHHHHHHH!*
Ok. Real fact time. In the month of June (2017), over TWO BILLION people were active on Facebook. BILLION! WIth a B! And that’s JUST Facebook.
In our daily lives, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat…(does MySpace still exist?) are also a constant presence. There are so many places to get social, it’s hard to know where to spend your time, or even make an account! This is especially tricky when it comes to marketing for your business. Time is money and you don’t want to get stuck in a social media wormhole during prime business hours! Anne and Gabby talk about how to avoid that, along with where you can use your social media time most effectively and which sites you should incorporate into your marketing plan.
Takeaways
Quick Concepts from Today’s Episode:
Be careful what you post on social media. Remember, your social media posts reflect on your business, even on your personal page.
Use the social media platform that your clients are going to use. Make yourself visible in the client space, don’t just network with other voice artists.
Facebook has the largest social media impact. Consider taking out a Facebook Ad for your business.
Find ways to monetize your passions. If you already spend time taking pictures of your cats, for example, find a way to make that a part of your business.
Set a social media schedule so you can use social media in a productive way for your business.
Referenced in this Episode
Direct links to things we brought up ++
Anne loves taking pictures of her cats, and made their own brand: Check out Studio Cats Here!
VO Peeps! Anne’s First Facebook Group!
Full Episode Transcript
VO: Today’s voiceover talent is more than just a pretty voice. Today’s voiceover talent has to be a boss, A VO BOSS. Set yourself up with Business Owner Strategies and Success with your host Anne Ganguzza, along with some of the strongest voices in our industry. Rock your business like a boss, a VO BOSS.
Anne: Welcome to the VO BOSS Podcast. That’s VO BOSS, Business Owner Strategies and Success. I’m your host Anne Ganguzza, along with my lovely, beautiful co-host, Gabby Nistico. Hey, Gabby.
Gabby: Oh, hi, Anne.
Anne: Gabby, today we’re going to talk about a huge, broad topic in helping grow your voiceover business, and that is social media.
Gabby: Oh, boy. This is your jam, girl.
Anne: Well, there’s a lot to talk about.
Gabby: Oh, I know.
Anne: A lot to talk about. There’s a lot of chaos out there in social media, and I think that over the years it exponentiates, and it’s hard to figure out, what do we listen to? Where do we go? What platform should we be on? How do we market our business on it? There’s so many questions. I get this all the time.
Gabby: There really is.
Anne: I’m sure you do too, about how to effectively use social media to market your business, and not spend thousands of hours on social media not conducting business.
Gabby: Well, look, I will say right from the start here, you’re in the driver seat on this topic. I am totally just in the passenger seat next to you, so you go for it. Dive right on in.
Anne: Well, thank you, Gabby. But I think you’re more than in the driver’s seat here, or the passenger’s seat. I think, yeah, I think you’re just being modest over here. So I will start though and say that there are a lot of people out there that use social media to be social. And when it comes time to using social media for your business, they don’t know how to go from personal social, to business social. And I think it’s so important that you recognize the difference between the two of them. And I know that there’s a lot of people out there that are part of Facebook groups, that are part of Twitter chats, Instagram. Where do you even begin? And so what I want to just take from the get-go, is that how you conduct yourself on social media is how people will see you and your business. And so one of the, I guess, prime rules that I have for conducting myself on social media is to understand that everything that is put onto social media by you is a representation of you and your brand and your business. And if you want to get–
Gabby: Very true.
Anne: If you want to get personal, then I say use text chats, or pick up the phone, or go out for a cup of coffee, and really start to take a look at social media as something for your business only. And conduct your social, either in another account or in a different way, because I think, Gabby, you’ve been there, and I know I’ve been there multiple times, we go through, let’s say, a Facebook feed, and we’re reading something, and somebody will say something that just sets us off, or we look at it, and we’re like, “Really?” And I think that that speaks volumes. Keep in mind that if you’re that person that’s posting that controversial text that we’re all going, “Really?” that we have in our own minds, we have already kind of put you off to the side if we don’t agree, or we get angry, or there is an emotion that is evoked in us that is perhaps on the negative side. And it only takes one post, really, because I kind of don’t forget when somebody’s posted something idiotic. So you have to be really careful that what you’re putting out there on social media is not representing your business in a negative light.
Gabby: Well, and keep in mind too, I mean, you say idiotic, and I know what you mean when you say that, but that’s like an almost, unto itself, that’s a subjective idea. You know? What’s idiotic to one is not idiotic to another. I think the thing to remember is there’s difference between being fun, being silly, being lighthearted, maybe poking fun at something, but then what Anne’s really talking about is the folks who cross the line, when it becomes heavily political, when it becomes very venomous, when it becomes personal to the point where you go, ooh, this is not something that you would feel comfortable talking with, let’s say, out in the open in your office or your place of business, so why are you doing this on your social page?
Anne: Gabby, I have question for you. Have you ever taken a screenshot of something in social media that was offensive, or anything to you, any extreme emotion–
Gabby: Oh yeah.
Anne: And then pass that along to your friend in a private text message?
Gabby: Yeah, of course.
Anne: Yeah. And so remember folks that when you do something like that, that it’s very possible for anyone to take a screenshot and then share that privately with another group, I call it the social media underground, any other group, and make comments, and pass judgment, so to speak, if they choose to, or just discuss. I mean, “Can you believe?” or, “Look at, this is what I just saw.” And so then there’ll be another kind of second channel discussion on that. So I want you guys to just think about that, think about how you act in social media in a social way, and realize that if you’re taking screenshots, or your private messaging somebody about how somebody else is acting, kind of put that into perspective and think about what you post before you hit that enter key.
Gabby: I think what people need to remember is that it is still a part of the internet, it never goes away.
Anne: Embedded in aethers.
Gabby: It is there for all, I hate to say it, in a sense it’s there for all eternity. There’s always a way to call it back up. There’s always a way for it to resurface. Even if you delete it, it’s never really deleted, so that’s important for people to know. And for the sake of understanding, ’cause you said something important earlier about how people are always asking you, you know, which platform should I use, all that good stuff. Let’s talk a little bit about the demographics of social media users, and where you’re likely to find certain groups of people. Who’s using it what?
Anne: Well, that’s an excellent question, and that’s something I get all the time. I think right now when we are on social media a lot people that are new to the industry are necessarily thinking about where their potential client is in social media, and what we tend to do is kind of just group ourselves together with other voiceover artists. And to be honest with you, that’s great for us to have the networking and the community, however, it’s not the place that you’re going to be advertising your services, or you’re not going to be able to access your potential clients, perhaps, on that same platform. So one of the biggest things you’ve gotta think about is, where does your potential client sit in social media? Now, I’m gonna go ahead, and this is probably not something that is too bold to even say, but Facebook probably has the largest user base of all of the social media platforms. So chances are that your potential client is on Facebook in some form or fashion, whether they are using it at work to look for talent, or look for services or products, or if it’s something they do when they get home. It really depends. I think what you need to do is to really kind of step back, take a look at who your potential client is, or potential ideal client is, and how are you going to access them on social media. Where do they hang out? I know that a lot of B2B, business to business people kind of hangout during work hours, LinkedIn used to be very popular platform. LinkedIn has changed over the years. And that was one of the few platforms that was allowed for corporate entities, and I think that most corporate entities felt safe in allowing their employees to have access to that. And that’s how a lot of human resources would go and hunt for candidates for job positions, would be in LinkedIn. Facebook may or may not be something that most people are doing during the day. I think probably now most companies will allow it in some form or fashion. I don’t know how many people actively are using Facebook right now during work hours to look for voice talent. It’s very possible that casting directors are, or talent agents. Maybe companies are, you just really can’t tell. But chances are that in some form or fashion your potential client is on Facebook. But in what capacity? That’s the next thing you have to ask. Is it in an entertainment capacity. For the most part, when I’m on Facebook, I read it at night, I read my feeds for entertainment. So you as a business have to kind of remember that, that most people are looking at and looking for some form of entertainment. If there’s any type of hard sell that’s happening on Facebook, typically we don’t even, how many people here have complained about Facebook Ads? Like probably 99% of everybody. And I always caution people about that. You know, you can complain and yell about Facebook Ads all you want, but in reality, it’s the largest social media platform that has the potential to capture so many thousands and trillions of eyeballs to look at your work, and what it is that you have to offer. So the next time you think about complaining about a Facebook Ad, think again about how you might be able to use Facebook to attract your potential client in some way, in some fashion. But either posting a video of you doing a great character voice that has entertainment value, YouTube channel with your character voices, or something fun, something that’s entertaining that can subtly convey who you are and what you do.
Gabby: Now, what about things like Twitter? And I know Twitter is even, I think, Twitter confuses a lot of people, it confuses me, that’s for sure. But Instagram, I’ve noticed, seems to be a trend with much, much younger millennials. Younger folks tend to really be on Instagram, and it’s kind of poopoo Facebook.
Anne: Oh yeah, absolutely, and SnapChat. So if I think about my, if I think about who is possibly interested in my voiceover services, let’s say, I’m going to channel corporate entities, because I do a lot of corporate narration, so I would try, of course I would have to have a presence on Facebook, ’cause, again, I think just about everybody’s on Facebook, then I might consider other platforms. Do I think that my corporate entities are on Instagram, and is that an effective platform for me advertise or maybe not even advertise, but just kind of have a social media presence, so people can get to know me and get to know my brand? It’s very possible if you have youthful voice and you’re voice lends itself to products and companies that you’re their target market toward youthful voices. So try to figure out where your voice fits well in the market, and then what products and what brands, and then figure out where the companies that produce those are on social media, and if they have the same target audience, where are they advertising? That’s a great way to find people out there, potential clients, is figuring out your voice. If you have youthful voice, then maybe your voice would sound great doing toys, and so therefore where do the toy companies hangout? And are they on Twitter? Are they on Instagram? Probably a lot of Instagram, ’cause they’re very visual, right? And you can do videos and photos. I’m sure Instagram would be a good platform for that, as well as Facebook, and even LinkedIn, I think, having a presence in some form or fashion, because that is like an online resume.
Gabby: It’s so much. There’s so much. So how do we manage the time? That’s the big thing for so many people. Like I’ve really had to restrict my time on social media during my business day, because I just fall into like these wormholes–
Anne: It’ll suck you in.
Gabby: And, you know, yeah, like 45 minutes goes by, and I’m like, “Oh my God, what have been doing? “Why am I still watching this cat video.” So what do we do?
Anne: Well, I can understand that, Gabby, of course. I produce my own cat videos So interestingly enough, VO Studio Cats, they have a huge Facebook following, and Instagram, which I’m growing. And it’s a really interesting study on marketplaces. And so I wanted to see what it was like to manage a large fan base, and so I created a VO Studio Cats Facebook page, and grew their fan base to over 30,000 today. And it’s very interesting experiment in marketing. Because now what I’m trying to do is sell swag, Studio Cat swag, so I have T-shirts and mugs, and all that good stuff. And so it’s very cool educational tool, and I allow myself a certain amount of time per day to actually be on that platform and to interact with people, and for me it is a learning experience. And it is hard not to get sucked into it, it really is. But I think if you have a very strict schedule of like, okay, these are the times that I’m gonna be logging in, and it could multiple times a day, but set a timer. You know, there’s actually some applications out there that can log you out of Facebook after a certain amount of time, or log you out of a platform, so that, yeah, it can help you to not get sucked in to the social aspects of it. But I do because I teach a lot of social media, and I also promote a lot on social media. And so I kind of have to be there, and so for me to not get stuck on there is very important, so I have to be very, very strict with myself, in terms of, these are the times of day that I’m going to be on certain aspects. And one thing I want to say is that, actually, if you have a group, like I have a VO Peeps Facebook page, we have our VO BOSS Facebook page, we have our VO BOSS Twitter, and so if you set a schedule where your fans come and expect, they say, oh, VO BOSS is gonna be posting on Facebook at these specific times during the day, or we’re gonna be doing a live video on Facebook, they come to expect that, and that’s something they can plan for as well. So it’s almost better to have a schedule, because it becomes consistent, and then people depend on that, ’cause your fans want that consistency, and they depend on to show up. They know, “Ooh, I’m gonna go on Facebook, “because VO BOSS is doing a Facebook Live “at 10 o’clock tomorrow.” And we’re gonna be talking about such and such in the business. And so that’s kind of cool thing, that you set a schedule and you stick by it. And the other thing is to actually schedule certain things that can be scheduled, you don’t want it to be like completely fake or robotic. You do want it to be live and authentic as much as possible. I’m sure everybody knows that I do schedule posts, but I also show up for times when it’s needed to be interactive. And I actually, just for VO BOSS, we’re gonna start doing more the VO BOSS Talks, like we did a week or two ago, which are recorded Facebook Live.
Gabby: Yeah, those were fun.
Anne: Yeah, recorded Facebook Live videos where people can engage and interact with us. And it makes a nice, especially for us, ’cause we’re in a isolated kind of industry, it makes it great for us to kind of gather around the water coolers, so to speak. There’s lots of people that are doing that these days, BOSS Talks is one of them, and so we will have a regularly scheduled monthly VO BOSS Talks.
Gabby: What would you recommend for folks who are just getting started in their business social media, just getting going with their posting, and they’re having a hard time coming up with relevant posts. They’re just having a hard time figuring out what to talk about, and what would be engaging. What do you recommend to those people?
Anne: Well, the first thing would be to, don’t overwhelm yourself with so many different platforms, try to just start with one. Facebook is a good one to start with. Join groups where, and I’m gonna say, join the groups where voice talent are and where they’re talking, so you can kind of get yourself educated in that aspect, so that you can get your questions answered in the voiceover industry itself. And then I would create a Facebook. You know, a lot of people have reservations about Facebook business pages, I think they’re a great idea, again, Facebook is one of the largest platforms out there, so having a Facebook business page and growing along with Facebook and how they are changing the platform on a daily basis to accommodate businesses, I think is a good thing. A lot of people are upset about the fact that you don’t get a lot of organic reach with Facebook business pages, but I will tell you that Facebook business pages are still the most convenient place to host a Facebook Live video chat, and it’s something that you can share from your business page to a group page, or to your personal page, and it can essentially have a conversation that starts on a business page, and you have a lot of different capabilities on a Facebook business page. So start there. And just kind of listen first, listen to what other people are talking about, be a part of the groups, listen, set a time, so that you don’t get sucked in, and you’re not in there for hours upon hours, and understand that you want to also perform searches in social media. So if you happen to have maybe two social media accounts, like a Twitter account, you can always search for terms that are part of your potential ideal clients. So for example, I’ll do a search in Twitter for E-learning or E-learning developers. Or let’s say I have, a part of me that I love really doing, automotive spots. So if I want to find out what people are talking about in that aspect of the industry, I’ll just use the search term automotive in Twitter, or automotive in Facebook. And you can find out what groups are there, you can find out people that involved in it, and you can listen to the conversations happening. Once you listen to the conversations that are happening, you can get idea as to what your potential client is looking for, and then you can contribute to that conversation. So it’s one of those things I say, start small. Start by listening more than talking. And then once you get involved in the groups that your business is servicing, or you’re listening to the conversation that your potential clients are talking about, you can listen, find out what they’re looking for, and then contribute in your area of expertise.
Gabby: Wow, so it is more than just people taking pictures of their lunch. That’s amazing.
Anne: Or their cats. Or their cats. It sure is.
Gabby: And thank you so much for your expertise in this area. I am a humble listener today along with everyone else as I suck up what you’re saying like a sponge. We want to thank all of you guys for listening, for joining us for this episode. I am betting this is going to be social media episode one of probably seven. I think it’s a topic we’re gonna come back to time and time again.
Anne: Thank you, Gabby. From all of us at the VO BOSS Podcast, you guys have a kick-butt week. Stay focused and rock your business like a boss.
Gabby: Absolutely. Subscribe to us on iTunes, Stitcher, or YouTube, and visit us on voboss.com for BOSS University classes and products. This is our newest rollout that we’re hoping you guys will participate in, BOSS University. As well as other exclusive content and offers, all of which are on voboss.com.
Anne: Yeah, get schooled with VO BOSS University. Cool stuff! Thanks, Gabby. Guys, thanks for listening.
Gabby: Thanks, Anne.
Anne: And we’ll see you next week.
VO: Join us next week for another addition of VO BOSS, with your host Anne Ganguzza and Gabby Nistico. All right reserved. Anne Ganguzza Voice Talent in association with Three Moon Media. Redistribution with permission. Coast to Coast connectivity via ipDTL.