Today, I want to pick up on his phrase, “everything is exposed”.
Using the ‘net as extensively as we do, it’s so important to remember that every single act of ours in the public arena, from social networking sites to job sites to personal blogs, is being followed, copied and archived around the world.
We no longer live in a world where mistakes simply disappear, confined to the annals of history and remembered only by those most directly involved. Now, if you make a mistake, it’s everywhere.
Facing the reality of the permanence of our online interactions is key to making sure we always consider carefully what we’re saying, doing and thinking out loud. Posting a Tweet, updating your Facebook, uploading some photos? Think. Look before you leap.
Do you want your great, great, great, great grandkids to see what you’re about to put out there? Because they will.
Although yesterday didn’t see a new post on the blog here from the #Trust30 challenge, I’m still creating. I spent the day working on plans to migrate and upgrade some of the websites I own and run, including this very blog, which the eagle-eyed among you will have noticed isn’t where it used to be.
I’ve also been working on a page to collate everything I do and advertise myself to the widest possible audience. The page should be live in the next couple of days, but here’s a sneaky few peaks:
Even after my apologetic post last week, I was unable to return to the flow of posting daily.
Instead, I’ve been having something of a break to focus on developing other things, including a programme of motivational speeches and presentations to help re-engergise and re-focus businesses, upping my programme at the gym in preparation for the 3 Peaks Challenge and working towards the launch of my new website theindiefilmhub.com – a content curation site for independent filmmakers, now just 5 days away from launch.
Although I’ve previously suggested that breaking your routine in blogging – whether about your film, your business or your personal life – can be punished with a significant drop in your readership, sometimes it’s good to take a break for a while.
Taking a break doesn’t have to mean not doing anything at all ((although we all know the times when that’s precisely what we need!)), it’s simply about re-focusing, allowing yourself to be immersed in a different project, a different goal or even a different world.
The old cliché goes that a change is as good as a rest. Remember, clichés are generally only clichés because they’re true.
My regular schedule of blog updates has been interrupted this week. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve neglected the blog in deference to other things.
I was going to post a list of reasons why I’ve been a little lax since the weekend, but rapidly realised that work commitments, the beta-testing and site building of the new website and writing the eBook were nothing but excuses. I could and should have made time for the blog, just as I’m doing now.
There’s a lesson in this for all of us, especially in this time-pressured world many of us inhabit: excuses are exactly what they say on the tin – an explanation offered to justify or obtain forgiveness ((according to TheFreeDictionary.com)) – and we don’t need forgiveness, we just need to do what we’ve said we will.
Whether it’s through workload, procrastination or fear of over-committing, we all make excuses for the things we can’t do. The answer is to stop making excuses, stop asking for forgiveness and just do them. You’ll soon find it’s far quicker and easier to get things done than it is to run around seeking forgiveness for not doing them.
As a happy by-product, you’ll also be far more organised, far more productive and be seen as far more reliable. No need for excuses.
What have you been making excuses about this week? When are you going to set things right on them?
In the pub bathrooms where I lunched with my Godson today, I was struck by the “novelty” condoms machine, which offered prophylactics in an epic range of colours and shapes, with character’s faces drawn on them and designs that were supposedly “ticklers” and, therefore, more pleasurable. Not my thing, but I do see that there may be a market for them.
Until I saw the qualifying statement:
Not suitable for barrier use.
That’s right: novelty condoms at £1 a pop (roughly $1.60) that don’t actually work as condoms.
In business (or filmmaking, for that matter), there’s nothing wrong with novelty for novelty’s sake. After all, how many sea-side resorts keep their economy rolling on frankly useless novelty tat that tourists of all ilks like to pick up?
But if you’re offering a novelty item that serves a purpose, it’s vital that the novelty shouldn’t get in the way of that given purpose. The proverbial chocolate teapot excepted ((it’s not really a teapot, it’s just a foodstuff, and you’d never consider using it as a teapot)), anything you ship, sell or offer needs to do what they say on the tin (in this case, be a condom) over and above the comedy, novelty value that they offer.
You’re right, you can’t actually make ‘The Hobbit’ as your next film, but you can learn a huge amount about creating and nurturing your audience from the get-go from Peter Jackson‘s latest adventure in Middle Earth.
Yesterday, production began on the two-film adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkein book and no sooner had the press release hit the wires than Peter Jackson himself had launched his new Facebook Page. Yes, it’s a personal one, but you can be sure that it’s going to be used almost solely to promote his current flick up until its release in 2012.
This early-bird establishing of connection and communication with the audience (which is something PJ excelled at with both ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and his 2005 ‘King Kong’ remake) is crucial for filmmakers across the budget range.
While Jackson and the Hobbit team may be walking into an audience of millions of eager fans across the world and you may be staring at an audience of less-than-eager family members at the start of your journey, focusing on and starting your social media and marketing efforts from Day 1 is a key principle in audience building for independent filmmakers.
Just ask your friendly local PMD, a post title created by Jon Reiss and being exemplified by the sterling work of Adam Daniel Mezei over at pmdforhire.com – creating your film with your audience in mind is crucial to your success and the more (and earlier) you can connect with them, the more successful you will be.
I’ve long been a loud advocate of the power of social media and digital marketing if used in the right way. The biggest issue that I try to drive home to all of my clients, however, is the simple truth that social media is – and must be seen as – an investment for your business.
It costs money in terms of resources, but it also costs far more in terms of time – the time it takes to develop a social media strategy, to build an audience of friends, fans and followers and to maintain that tribe of people in a way that makes them feel valued by both the brand and the people behind the brand.
Which is why I was so disheartened to see this article on Mashable.com this week on time-saving tips for Twitter. While I agree that there are ways to increase your productivity by developing processes and systems to optimise you and your company’s time on social media sites, I was taken aback to read this (under Number 3):
Another way to fit tweeting into your schedule is to develop tweets in bulk and schedule them to go out later.
This is possibly the single most misleading piece of advice that is bandied around about Twitter. Scheduling Tweets isn’t conversation, it’s broadcasting. Social media is specifically that: social. It’s about interaction, conversation and community, not about broadcasting your “message” ((whatever that may be: sales, social good, charitable)) – that’s what traditional media and paid-for advertising is for.
If you only take one thing away from this blog over however many weeks, months and years it exists and you subscribe, let it be this: don’t schedule your Tweets. If you’re not prepared to invest the time to be part of the conversation with your tribe around your brand, then this form of online marketing isn’t for you.
Most importantly, remember that not being on Twitter, or Facebook, or LinkedIn, or Tumblr, or Blogger, or WordPress or any other social media, blogging or online marketing site doesn’t automatically make you “un-hip” or “out-of-the-loop”. If it’s not right for you, your audience or your budget, then not being on them makes you a far savvier marketer than anyone who’s simply using them as just another broadcasting platform.
I don’t want to pour more scorn on the much-derided Spider-man: The Musical, enough of that has been done by commentators and citizen reviewers across New York, the US and, increasingly, the world. I make no comment on its artistic merit; I’ve not seen it and therefore am in no position to judge.
I did, however, see a lesson for all artists and creatives in the development and re-development of the show following this piece in the New York Post this week. The key phrase for me:
[Phil] McKinley’s going to turn the show into a shorter, special-effects-driven family spectacle more suited to the world of Steve Wynn than Steve Sondheim.
For me, if you’re creating a musical from a comic book, the tone and the feel of the show needs to reflect that of the book itself. The same holds true for making movies and TV shows of comic books, too. What I don’t understand about Spidey is why have a short, special-effects-driven family show is a change of direction – that’s exactly the sort of show it should have been in the first place.
As any social media and marketing expert will tell you, knowing your audience is key. And the audience for Spider-man: The Musical surely wants to see something breath-takingly spectacular with a simple, familiar storyline that they don’t have to concentrate on too much. From the reports abounding on the ‘net, that’s not what they’ve got.
Knowing your audience and knowing exactly what it is you’re making is crucial to the artistic and commercial success of any artistic project. Even for little indies who don’t want to think about “commerce” and “business” ((as misguided as that is)), it’s vital to understand who is going to consume your eventual product, even if they’re not paying for it.
What else would you want from a Broadway/West End show based on a comic book? I can’t think of anything other than good fun and spectacle. It’s the old K.I.S.S. message: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
This week’s Lowdown focuses on communication tools for filmmakers:
Communication, as we all know, is key to establishing, maintaining and getting the most from our connections and relationships. And it’s important to remember that “getting the most” doesn’t just mean “getting what you want” – all relationships in life should be a two-way street. As soon as we forget that, we’re in trouble.
SKYPE
The biggest and most obvious communication tool for filmmakers is Skype. It’s free, it’s easy-to-use and it offers three main methods of connecting with someone: text-based instant messaging, voice-only internet phone calls and, more famously, video calls.
There is nothing better than meeting with someone face-to-face; relationships will always be stronger and more cemented simply by being or having been in someone’s company. Failing that, however, video calls are by far the best way. You can not only hear the person’s voice, but you get to see their facial expressions, too. When you’re part of a global community of filmmakers, being able to connect with people on the other side of the world and work with them in close-quarters, Skype video calling is simply the best solution.
Voice calls are second best, but Skype still allows you to have a conversation, to hear the other person and to enjoy proper two-way communication. And, of course, it’s still free, which means you’re saving significant amounts on your phone bill.
Lastly comes instant messaging. IM can be a great tool for chatting things through quickly with someone or floating ideas while you’re doing other things, too. It’s a productive communication tool for conversations that don’t require 100% attention the whole way through – you can dip in and out with pauses between responses. The main issue with IM is that it’s far too easy to be lazy and use it when you should really pick up the phone and talk to someone.
WHATSAPP
Alongside Skype, which is often seen as the catch-all free communication tool, is the fantastic WhatsApp Messenger. WhatsApp is both brilliant and significant because it’s one of the first cross-platforms communications apps that lets you connect with friends and contacts using instant messaging from your mobile device.
It works on iPhone, Blackberry and Android smartphones and uses the same internet connections and technology that gives you your email to keep you in touch without any charge beyond your usual monthly phone service.
The biggest barrier to this right now is the fact that both sides have to have the app installed on their device, so the more we can encourage each other and our friends and connections to download the app and sign up, the more free communication we’re going to get from it.
WRAP UP
Communication tools are like all the other tools I talk about on here: they’re great if you use them correctly and for the right purpose. While all manner of free communication tools are a huge boon to us as filmmakers and content producers, they can only be as good – and as productive – as we allow them to be.
So next time you find yourself typing out an email, stop and think if you’d be better connect with the recipient in a chat. Next time you try to connect with someone in a chat, think about whether you’d be better off calling them on Skype. And the next time you connect on Skype, think about whether what you have to say would be better done using video so they can see you’re not angry, pissed off or disappointed.
Good communication is the cornerstone of good business and at the end of the day, good business is what we’re all trying to achieve.
This week’s Lowdown – part of The Production Office Live – is focused on email marketing:
TOOLS
If you’re going to be marketing your content and products to your email list you first of all need a tool to help you do it. By far the most popular are MailChimp, which starts from free and scales up, and Aweber, which is a paid service, but offers much more in terms of functionality and interaction with other programmes.
Both are good choices, but like most programmes of this ilk – and there are many – it mostly boils down to your budget and what you want to do with your emails. Take a look at them both (and others) and see what you think.
BUILDING YOUR LIST
We all have an email list, we just call it our address book. Most of us don’t like to think of sending marketing messages to our friends, and that’s why there are all sorts of protections in place (in the UK at least) for holding people’s data. Everyone you send a marketing email to MUST have consented to receiving them, either by giving you their address on a sign-up form or expressly agreeing in another manner.
There are many ways to capture email addresses and many examples of good practice. The two most common ways are through your project website – check out dontlethimin.com for a good example of Opt-In email forms – or by offering something in exchange – see Seth Godin’s offer of the first four chapters of Permission Marketing.
As we talked about previously with Crowdfunding, you have to be able to offer value to your list through your email. Which brings us to…
TIPS
54% of people who unsubscribe from email lists do so because they either receive the emails too frequently or because the content is too boring or repetitive. You need to make any marketing emails you send out interesting, informative and relevant. As soon as you lose those three things from your emails, you will start to lose subscribers quicker than you gained them.
Another great tip is the use of social media connections. Adding “Share” buttons from the major social media sites on the ‘net increases click-through by 55% – a huge advantage over all those emailers out there who aren’t leveraging social media in this way.
More than likely, you subscribe to several email marketing lists and the best way to learn what works and what doesn’t is simply to look through your inbox. Some of your emails will be out-and-out marketing, some will be sharing and some will seem to be neither. Look carefully at all of them and work out for yourself what you like, don’t like and how you could do it differently to promote yourself, your film or your products.
I hope this is all useful to your quest to gain more from your online marketing. Have any other tips about email marketing, or your own success story? Post them in the comments section below.
