VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Philip Banks]

I've just deleted my Twitter account so my only presence on social media is ...
Oh yes, I know, NONE.

A bulletin board is a community or has a sense of community and leads somewhere, this place is the perfect example. How many people have I met thanks to this place? How many have stayed here? How many genuine friends have I made? Work brought us together but once we got bored with mic settings we found out how our building blocks fitted together. If they didn't, no harm done.

For me, social media (an internet) does not work professionally and certainly does not hit the spot personally. Like an online Gym it will not provide meaningful building blocks for a healthy, full life.

I really want to make a difference to others and allow them into my world in all things and in order to allow that to happen a tweet of an instagram snapchat to my profile page via the facetube messagiser a on ZWIPP (Fphone 6 owners only) simply will not cut it.

[paulstefano]

There is an element of "need" to social media. Some people need the connection, misguided as it may be. Some people need it to market their business. I find myself less and less interested in Facebook. I seem to see the same 15 people posting about the same things, day in and day out.

I think the right approach is to treat it as a lark. Philip, I think you could be huge as a youtube personality. That video you did about How to do a Trailer voice is one of the most hilarious things I've seen on the internet.

Then again, you don't at all seem to "need" the gratification, or the exposure, so, there would be no point in pursuing it.
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http://www.paulstefano.com

[Matto]

It is really oversaturated.

But. Finding what works is key. For me, I don't assume all the things that sit under one umbrella are the same. No, that doesn't mean I have the time to try everything. If something resembles and quacks like a duck, then yes it's a duck but I might actually like the next duck I meet.

Personally, I operate in a pretty split world. We live in a rural farm area and the way things work 'round these parts is you'll arrange to "meet someone at the farmer's market sometime around 11" and you don't necessarily text or tweet them if they are not there at 11am on the dot. It's also common to just walk up someone's driveway to see if they're at home and want to go for a dog walk.

On the other side of the paddock, I fully use technology and the digital world to run my business.

Just a few points:

-I have connected with individual producers at global ad agencies and other buyers through Twitter, when contacting them via other methods had more barriers
-We have started using Instagram to foster relationships with our clients and prospects (with good results so far)
-I developed a great friendship with another voiceover on Vancouver Island (there aren't many of us here and most tend to fly under the radar). That connection was initially made via LinkedIn and the Voiceover Body Shop Show (George W and Dan L)

Although I sometimes feel like I'm hyper-connected, I find ways to step away from that. I was actually given all old school stuff for my 30th, which was pretty funny - pocket watch, fountain pen, new record player...all that was missing was the penny farthing. Though I thought I'd never do away with my digital organizational system, I yesterday discovered an analogue planning/goal management system with digital sensibilities and style - I insta-loved it and have already implemented it.

edit: Also, I recently removed myself from a lot of the Facebook Voiceover Groups - I found the environment to be quite toxic and I get pretty tired of some of the Voiceover 1.0 preaching.

I guess my point is, I agree with you and I don't. And if you treat it (social media and digital) like a lark then it will always be a lark.

If you implement a plan, measure and track it, and it works - then keep doing it. Don't be a slave to the screen though! Go out for a hike once in a while. Me - I go nutty if I'm not out in the forest or on the beach once a day.
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www.mattcowlrick.com

[Kristin Lennox]

[Matto]

It's brilliant - it's called Bullet Journal http://bulletjournal.com/


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www.mattcowlrick.com

[Kristin Lennox]

Ha! I should've guessed -- I already use that in my big, fat planner. I had to tweak it to match my OCD personality, but it is brilliant...

And I was already kind of addicted to graph paper, so this just sealed the deal...
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Always look on the bright side of life.

Dee doo. Dee doot doot doo dee doo.

my website

[Matto]

I'll be joining with my new big ole moleskin book. Perhaps we should organise a Fat Planner Symposium one of these years??
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www.mattcowlrick.com

[Philip Banks]

I'm now connecting with new business opportunities through the medium of contemporary dance. My pitch includes Reuben on the Sitar and Pentangle (his chosen lifestyle partner) on the Tabla. The performance "My Career in and of the Universe" takes about 30 minutes. I change costume for the piece about getting my first international TV commercial. I return to the stage dressed as a Touareg, a nomadic pauper. The irony is poignant.

[Matto]

And the poignancy is ironic.
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www.mattcowlrick.com

[vkuehn]

[DenaliDave]

I've been formulating my own "unified theory of everything that's wrong" -- much like a "theory of everything" in physics. Let's see if I can distill it down into a manageable and digestible morsel:

*takes deep breath*

In today's world we're more connected than ever before, but we're not connecting. We feel smaller than ever because of the globalization of our species on Earth.

50 years ago people knew their neighbors personally and had a role in their community. People felt like they mattered at their place of work and had a sense of purpose in their lives.

These days?

Not so much.

We're bombarded daily with cultural memes that tell us to be like X or dress like Y. As a species we feel more powerless, unheard, disenfranchised, unimportant without significant value. The cultural programming we receive tells us, "you're not important. Get a job. Keep your head down. Be a drone and carbon-copy. Work forever and never retire."

We live in countries where our governments don't listen to the will of the people. A Princeton study showed that in the USA, no matter what the public opinion on a matter of policy is, the US senate and congress vote however the hell they want:

[Bob Bergen]

I think it all depends on what you want out of your career, as well as where you are in your career, both geographically and professionally.

I'm not a fan of social media. And I'm not the best at it. But I also know that today's buyers, ad execs, studio and network execs, these entities take into consideration social media followers when hiring talent. I'm not talking about the mundane Facebook postings about liking a restaurant or the fact that your 2 month old just quoted the preamble to the US Constitution. Personal and professional social media should not be mixed or combined.

If you use social media to promote, rather than brag, it is an amazing tool. But it has to be done right, which is where most fail.

A few years ago I lost a series because I had only at the time 2000 twitter followers. The actor they hired had 10,000 and from a pure talent standpoint was their #3 choice. But social media followers today are the Nielsen Ratings of yesterday. They are a built in audience as far as the buyers are concerned.

I'll give you an example of how this can work to your advantage, and I'll use animation as my example as I just covered this over the weekend in a workshop. Let's say there's an animated series you are dying to work on. Go to IMDB and surf this show. There you will see every player from the cast to the crew. From Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn, connect with each and every one. From Executive Producer to assistant to actor to casting director to mixer. You will probably have over 100 possible connections. Of course, not every one will accept you. If only 10% do, with all they are already connected to, this is now in the 1000s.

Now, as you promote your career (not brag but promote) these connections will see your PR electronically. Your PR must be savvy, smart, and strategic. From the executive producers of the show, to the agents who represent the actors on the show, to the networks, you are creating an electronic career buzz. And this is all just from one show.

And it works with all genres of vo. Take the last 5 commercials you did. You should have kept track of the ad agency, the ad exec and (or) writers involved with the commercials. Connect with them. Dig deep into their social media pages and find others within their ad agencies and connect with them as well. In just one agency you will obtain 100s of connections.

Etc.

A few weeks ago I moderated a panel on social media and the vo actor at SAG-AFTRA. I learned a hellovalot! That panel will be posted online soon and I'll share it here when it's up. I'll be moderating another for The Television Academy hopefully this fall which will also be online.

Bottom line: what we are able to do for our career via social media reaches far more for free than what the Hollywood publicist can do for thousands a month.

[DenaliDave]

Twitter followers mean nothing. (well to me anyway, since I know the 'dirty secret'...)

Most are robots or automated. They "like" whatever hashtags they're programmed to.

People with tons of followers? I'd safely bet that over 70% aren't real, live, breathing human beings who use Twitter as intended.

Me? I post about 5 tweets a day, 2 Facebook messages, 1 Instagram and 1 Linked in. It's really not that hard. Despite hating social media, the importance of it isn't lost on me. I do my little thing and curate good content I think people (both clients, other VO people and fans) might enjoy.

I'm going to see about breaking the 10,000 Twitter barrier here in a few weeks/months.
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"The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve." - Buddha
www.alaskamic.com

[Philip Banks]

Contemporary Dance works much better, trust me. I did an afternoon encounter workshop on it at Findhorn. The moves, the cheese cloth and the henna tattoos ...AWESOME!

[Bob Bergen]