Love it or hate it social media for actors is part of the entertainment business in a very big way now. You know why? Attention. More importantly, free attention.
Producers, filmmakers, studios have all used billboards, posters, commercials, ads, and all sorts of other tactics to get attention on their projects. You can’t blame them, right? All the money, time, resources, and people’s lives invested in the effort to create something deserves to have its time in the sun to win you over by asking for a little of your attention.
Should Actors Social Media Followers Effect Casting?
Now considering that all creators are invested in getting attention on their projects, it would then follow suit that they would be looking at how the people they attach to those projects use these free attention tools themselves. Again, you can feel however you want about casting directors and producers looking at your number of Instagram followers when they consider you for a role, but with all things being equal when you have 3 actors up for a role (same great talent, same great look, same great resume, same solid work ethic) but one clearly takes their social media presence seriously and has built a following because of it…well, you can see how it would be an easy decision.
The good news is you have the same access as everyone else. This dynamic platform is already in your hands, you no doubt use it, and you have the ability to leverage what it does well to bring the right kind of attention to your acting career. The challenge though is connecting with the right kind of audience who enjoys who you are and what you do.
How Can Actors Build Their Instagram Audience?
Here’s a piece of hard truth: “If you build it, they will come” is a myth. (Sorry Kevin!)
The fact is just creating an account and posting your headshots and a few old pictures of your past work is not gonna cut it.
You have to be creating content in a regular fashion. That’s what keeps people engaged, and honestly, that’s why you still follow your friends on social media. You like to see their status updates and hear their jokes or see their fun pictures. If they didn’t post that stuff, you would not pay them any attention. You’re not using that phone in your hand to call them, right?
This is the type of content that Instagram loves with Stories being the most active right now, then video, and then images.
Make the content about who you are and what you do. You’re an actor. Great! Post about your auditions. Post about your preparation. Give us a glimpse into your daily routine or a “day in the life.” Share as much or as little as you like about your family and friends. Share behind the scenes moments. Share how good or bad you’re feeling about anything related to what you do in this business or the industry. You are a person – a person whose job it is to embody the emotional life and human nature of another person so as to tell a compelling story. That’s a pretty great job and people want to see it in as much detail as possible.
How Do I Get More Followers on Instagram?
So now that you have a flow for creating content for Instagram, you should focus on growing your audience. Here is where it’s important to pay attention to who you want to follow you. Forget about paying for hundreds of fake ass bots that will like your posts or joining some “follow club” where everyone is just liking and commenting on each other’s content. Not only is Instagram shutting down a lot of that, it’s not what you need. You need real people who are actually interested in the type of content you put out.
Just check out these results and reviews!