Personal Online Branding
For Filmmakers
by Isabel Delgado
On this post we will talk about the main steps you need to take to construct your personal brand successfully, gaining visibility for your work.
1. Who do you want to notice your work? How are you going to show them?
First of all, you got to know your audience. If you’re a screenwriter or director, most likely you will want producers or content platforms to notice your work; in other words, any agent who can become involved in the development of your project. Once you have decided on this, you need to think, how do you want to approach them? You need a style, values and, above all, specific objectives. These three elements will be the ones that will help you create an identity. It won’t be complicated if you keep on writing, directing…you probably already have a pretty defined style, so you’ve got somewhere from where to start.
Having defined all these elements, it will be easier for you to prepare a strategy, a communication plan that will bring you closer to the people you want to read your script, check out your previous work or to get to know you and count on you when working on a new project.
Don’t see this “selling yourself” part as a boring thing you must go through to grab the attention of producers. See it as an opportunity to exploit your talents; you’re a storyteller so, take advantage of that!
2. Create a blog or website
It doesn’t have to be a professional website, you can start off with a simple blog, on platforms like Tumblr. The important thing is that you create a window where you can show whatever you want from your work: your portfolio, your CV, etc. You can also write about subjects related to the industry, give advice about what you’re most knowledgeable at, analyze interesting subjects, comment on news, etc.
3. Social media can definitely help you get to more people
We know that social media isn’t that popular today, with all the fake news and criticism it’s getting, but you should give it a chance. It can be a great tool which can help you a lot, as long as you know to use it properly. It will allow you to share the content you create on your website or blog, getting to many more people then otherwise you wouldn’t. Facebook, Twitter or Instagram are the most well known, but not the only ones. Explore which one is the one that adapts best to the way you want to express yourself online.
4. Use your email
Another way you can reach your followers is via email. Make it easy for them to contact you, or take advantage of the contacts you already have within the industry: send them emails with whatever news you’ve got about your work, send newsletters to your blog followers, etc. in the end, it is what and how you want to inform about something that will help you build that personal brand you’re looking for.
5. Update yourself
All this advice isn’t going to pay off if you’re not constant. Creating a personal Brand takes time and hard work, as we mentioned in earlier posts. For example, a personal web page shouldn’t be something static, once done, it needs movement, updates etc. You should add new content every now and then, as your work advances and you have new projects coming in.
We have mentioned this earlier but we will keep insisting on it: exploit your creative side, it is what will make you different from the rest.
You can start by thinking about the first question we posted on this post: who do you want to get this message to? how do you want to tell it? Asking these questions you will establish the basis for your personal brand.
