This week we'll look at developing your social media, whether you should create a newsletter, and how to engage with the press about your film. As it did with making your website, it may seem unfair to have to work on social media when you're already putting all that work into your film. However, you need a social media presence so you can create an audience for your film, and so that you can prove to potential funders that you're committed to getting the word out about your film. Before social media, filmmakers tended to rely on film studios and on publicists to get the word out about their film. However, now that so many of us have access to the Internet, that responsibility is shared with filmmakers. This is true even for filmmakers who work in the studio system. If you're an indie filmmaker, the responsibility is even more pronounced, because there isn't a big studio backing you, so you need to take your image into your own hands. As with grant applications, being able to make arguments about the value of your work on social media will help you figure out why your film matters. As you plan out your social media, you want to figure out whether you will create an account for your production company or for your film or whether you will create accounts for both. The benefit of creating a social media account for your production company is that you'll be able to keep your followers from project to project, instead of having to start from zero every time you have a new project. The drawback is that it may be hard for people to connect your production company's account to your film. You can create social media accounts for each film. The benefit is that you'll have one account to which everything about your film is connected. The drawback is that you have to start from zero every time you have a new project. You can, of course, have accounts for both your production company and your film, which allows you to keep your followers from project to project, and for fans and the press to easily find your film. The drawback here is that you'll have to maintain two different accounts and to come up with at least some content that's different for both of them. You can also create an account for your production company and turn the name of your film into a hashtag. That way you'll have some of the benefits of having two accounts without having to do all the extra work. Social media is indeed social. If you only post content about yourself and about your film, it will be difficult to increase followers. Make sure to also like and share contents by others that is close to the theme of your film and to the mission of your production company. If you share content by others, they're are a lot more likely to share your content in the future. As you develop your social media presence, you should consider staying out of controversy. Although controversy can bring you attention, it can also hurt your career, especially if you're an emerging artists. Resist the temptation of getting into social media fights, and instead, put those kind of arguments into your film. In the long run, having a friendlier and less contentious social media presence will help your career. In the next video, we'll discuss the platforms available to you as you build your social media presence.
