Can Social Media Platforms Help Your Acting Career? This will Surprise You

Hey, in this video I'm going to be sharing with you, can social media platforms really help an actor's career? Watch this until the end and here's what you're going to be learning, plus some more things. Is it really essential to use social media platforms? Which ones should you be using? What information should you be putting up there? Do agents and casting directors, industry professionals, do they really spend the time looking at this stuff? Is having a large following really that important, what information, how to use it wisely, and a lot of other things. And I've got a special bonus for you at the very end. It's 7 essential free apps that are free that actors absolutely need to know about and use. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center. Where my goal is to share really helpful information that will help you in your journey. If you haven't done this yet, don't forget, click the subscribe button, the notification bell. And if you like the video, please give it a thumbs up. That's helpful. And share the link with your fellow actors so we can continue to build a community of actors helping each other. So the real question is, Does using social media really help an actor's career? Well, yeah, the short answer is it can. It can be very helpful. Is it necessary? No, it's not. It's not absolutely necessary, but it's out there, and why not take advantage of it? Now, there are some tricky things about using social media. Here's the first thing. Do agents really use social media to find talent? And the short answer is yeah, sometimes they do. If they're like— I've spoken with enough agents and casting directors to know that sometimes somebody is submitting their headshots and resumes to an agency. Look, they want to make sure who they're dealing with. And so, yeah, they will check out your social media platforms. The other thing too is sometimes casting directors, if they are thinking about hiring somebody, especially, you know, if it's a larger part, big— bigger project, yeah, they want to make sure that they're dealing with someone who they can trust, someone who acts professionally. So, yeah, they will use social media as, as a background check and as a way to learn more about Which platforms to use? So I would say use all the major platforms. I know that sometimes actors are thinking, well, LinkedIn, that's just for business stuff. Why not have an account there? You can upload information. You just never know who's going to be passing through. Certainly you can use Facebook, you can use Twitter, you can use Instagram. TikTok, that's going to be your call. It is one that I use to share videos with. I don't use it for any other purpose, but that's going to be your call. And what you'll find is each platform offers different things. So the next question is, what kind of information should you place up there? Well, that kind of goes along with the last thing that I discussed. Instagram, certainly it's more visual than Twitter. So look, just understand the different platforms and then upload the information that makes the most sense. If you are using Twitter, let's say, what can be really helpful there? It's a great way to connect And reach out to industry professionals. Like, for instance, if you are following a casting director, here's a little bit of advice. It's kind of like you're going out on a date for the very first time. It might be a group date because there are a lot of people who are going to be following. But, you know, first of all, you don't want to sound desperate. And you don't want to sound too pushy, and you don't want to blow a good opportunity by— and I've heard of people doing this— they follow somebody and they very— the very first thing they do is they will send information, send a message to, let's say, the casting director on Twitter saying, oh, hi, my name is such and such, I'd like to send you my headshot and resume and reel. And Don't do any of that stuff. It makes you look a little desperate. It makes you sound a little unprofessional. Look, once again, think of it as going out on a date. The very first thing you say shouldn't be, hey, I want to be boyfriend-girlfriend, or whatever you want to do here. Read what they have to say. Like it, comment on it, and slowly build your way up. Maybe you'll get a response from the casting director or the industry professional, and then you can follow up. Start slowly and begin to build a relationship with that person. And then at some point, if you've had some conversations and the person seems to feel like they're connected with you, even if it's in a small way, Maybe at that point, you know, you could say, hey, just wanted to find out, I'd love for you to have, you know, my headshot and resume, or I'd like to send you my reel, whatever it is. But don't just jump in there immediately and start pitching yourself. That's just not a good way to do this on social media, and it's not a good way to do it in real life either. Okay, there are a couple other things I wanted to discuss with you. How important is it to have a large following? Look, it's not going to hurt you to have a large following, but how helpful is it? Look, I'll tell you where it can be helpful. Most likely not in a big production, you know, big major films. I mean, unless you are a star and you've got millions of followers, yeah, that, that can be helpful. But I'll tell you where it can be really helpful if it's a smaller project, maybe an independent film, and if you can bring hundreds of thousands of people and share information and help promote the project. You know, if it comes down to you and one other person, they really like both of you very much, they're having a tough time deciding which one, and one person doesn't have any kind of social media presence and you have hundreds of thousands of followers and subscribers, yeah, that could make a difference because they want to be able to promote their project to as many people as possible, and you have that ability to do that. So in that sense, yeah, it can be helpful. But let me also just tell you, unless you really love doing this and you're really skilled at it— because there are people who do this on a full-time basis You know, that's their job, to help people get a lot of promotion, to get a lot of notoriety. I can tell you, for me, I spend a lot more time just with acting, auditioning, and doing social media. Yeah, it's important to me, but I really don't do it for those reasons. I do it because I like sharing information with others. If it does grow, that's great. I love building, like for instance, on my YouTube channel. I love having a community of people who comment and share information. And as a matter of fact, if you have any thoughts at all about social media, please leave a comment below. Love to hear your ideas. And that way we can all learn from each other. But I really don't spend a tremendous amount of time, and my thought and my goal is not to have hundreds of thousands of followers. If it happens, great. If it doesn't happen, great. Doesn't make any difference to me. But anyhow, that is where it could be helpful. Now you have to be really careful while you are growing your social media platforms. I was just talking with an agent the other day and she told me she has an actor who also does modeling Was cast to do a big campaign. I'm not going to mention the name of the company. It was a cosmetic company. And she had posted information. I guess she had been out drinking with friends and it showed her pretty drunk and kind of stumbling down the street. And, um, In, in a pretty bad state, uh, and the client saw it because the client did want to see somebody, um, and look at, you know, what they have on social media before, um, you know, actually shooting anything, making a final decision. They decided to pass on her. They, they told the agent, look, she's our number one choice, we just want to do a little bit more research. This woman lost a $50,000 campaign. And who knows where that campaign might've gone in the future. She lost it just because she had things on there that weren't professional. So definitely keep that in mind when you are uploading videos, um, or comments. You know, you gotta be really careful, even just with getting involved in politics. And look, this is your business. I never tell people what they should do or shouldn't do in their lives, but keep that in mind if you decide to get very political on your social media platforms. And once again, I'm not saying don't do it, but just remember that could have an effect on your career. And once again, if you're in, you might say, well, I don't care. These are my beliefs. And that's great. I mean, that's fine. Something that some people might do is they have a fan page, and that's where they direct everybody from the industry. And that is just, you know, straight industry related. And then if they want to have a fan— just their own personal page, and then they can put up there whatever they want. But that is still available to the world, and people can see it. And also remember, once it's uploaded It's there. You can take it down, but it's still around because people might have downloaded it and they might upload it at some point. So just be very conscious of what you are placing there. So anyhow, just to kind of wind things up, is having a social media presence helpful to actors? Yeah, it can be. It's a great resource. But like with anything else in the industry, you've got to be careful with it. You have to use it wisely. And also, it's up to you to decide how much time and energy you want to invest in, you know, just doing social media. Once again, if you haven't done this, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell. If you like it, give it a thumbs up. I did promise that I was going to give you a special bonus, 7 essential Free apps that actors absolutely need to know about. You'll see it here. I'm not pointing— I said this last time too. I'm not pointing my finger. You guys can see the little, the little I up there or exclamation point. Actually, I'm not sure what it is. Maybe you guys can tell me in the comments section because I'm not sure, but you'll see it up there and just click on it. Enjoy it. And yeah, I'm Aaron Marcus. Can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.