Word of mouth is king in the film industry, but as social media grows and it’s influence holds more clout people are using it to find and get work. I started using Twitter in 2009, right before it was on the brink of exploding on the web. If you aren’t on Twitter I highly recommend doing so as soon as possible. Michael Hyatt has an amazing and very thorough beginners guide to using Twitter. I recommend reading it, and following it step by step if you do not have a Twitter account already. His guide is good to skim through even if you are a seasoned user.
While this post is not meant to be a beginners guide to using Twitter, view it as a resource if you already have a Twitter. Since I have been using Twitter, I have secured about a dozen film gigs just from Twitter. In the past I used to be shocked about getting a job on a social media site that limits conversation to 140 characters, but then it clicked. Twitter is as close to word of mouth as you can get online. Most of the jobs I have locked down have been from someone asking something like this “Does anyone know any good video guys in New York City?”. So the great thing is someone can recommend you instantly, and then you can connect with others as well because then their followers see that information too . It tends to have a snowball effect.
I primarily use Twitter for four things.
- Connecting with friends and professional contacts
- Reading and sharing relevant news
- Building my person brand
- Obtaining open and honest feedback
