As actors we all love the spectacle (self included). It’s just our nature. When you start to think of it in terms of what this might do for your career, it’s kind of a double edged sword.
There’s a time and a place for everything, of course.
When I first heard of what we’re talking about today, I have to admit. I brushed it aside for a while. It made sense. I knew that it could work for actors but there was no “spectacle.” The creative side of me just let it go.
Recently, I started hearing about this again from fellow actors and other people in the public eye. My interest was piqued when I saw it happening in real time, with my own two eyes.
Before I reveal what the strategy is, let it be known that it is devoid of spectacle and flash…and therein lies it’s true power. You will see why in a moment…
See, we all get caught up in the search for the magic button. Some of us are looking for a phone number we can call that will lead us to producers just handing out roles. Others are looking for a secret audition room where the CDs congregate, waiting to cast the next person that walks through the door.
The truth is the only way you can manifest an easy button for your career is to wield massive attention. Only then, will you force casting directors and the powers that be to take notice.
The way you do that is to dominate social media.
And in fact, it’s easier than you may have thought to this point. So many actors just manage their social media by accident and wonder why not much is happening. When you make the switch to managing your social media on purpose, you create the narrative, and can dictate where things go.
I’ll show you how to leverage this for your acting carrer in a sec but first, you have to understand the way to grow your social following and community.
Gary Vaynerchuck, social media architect to superstars and the Fortune 500 calls it the $1.80 strategy.
Typically, the way actors manage their social media is to post about their hopes, goals, quotes, Sunday brunch, etc. They add a few hashtags and call it day. While that’s ok, it’s a really long shot that people will discover you, follow you and join your circle.
Instead, what the $1.80 strategy does is create the conversation. See, people will follow you because of who you are, not what you post.
Boom! Think about that one…
This is evidenced by the fact that no single piece of content will make or break you. You can have a post go viral and gain a following but if they don’t like who you are after that, it’s game over.
However, if you build a following of people that have truly bought into you and your movement, they will be around for the long haul.
This is the reason that actors go on the talk show circuit when they have a new project coming out. That environment provides a platform for the audience to bond with the actor and go see the movie or tune in to the show, simply because they like who is in it.
The $1.80 strategy takes this online, in a way.
Here’s how it works. People will follow you because of who you are, remember? So, show them who you are.
You do this by giving them your 2 cents. Find the top trending topics (hashtags) and join the conversation. Create your own post about the topics and then visit other people’s pages and post a comment about their post.
Don’t do it in a spammy way, just be genuine. This is where most people go wrong. They will post a comment and follow it with “check out my reel.” Instead just pretend you’re adding your 2 cents in a conversation with a friend.
People will click through to your profile for more and those are the followers that will be with you to the end. They will support your projects and share your stuff. That’s what makes this so powerful; their followers will be similar to them and become your followers too.
Once you gain some traction, the growth becomes exponential.
Give away $1.80 of yourself every day, 2 cents at a time. Full disclosure: the payoff will not be immediate. You may start with 2 or 3 new followers a day, but that will soon become 20-30 new followers a day and then 200-300 a day soon after.
As an actor, you can then leverage this attention and use your platform to get to the people you most want to reach. The people you want to work with all have social media accounts too. Use the $1.80 strategy to get to them.
A fellow actor used this to get on the daytime talk shows radar and ended up being invited on over a half dozen shows as an “industry expert” even though you probably have more credits than she did at the time.
This made her industry credibility and reputation go through the roof and shortly thereafter, the big time offers came rolling in.
There is absolutely nothing stopping you from doing the same. While studying the accounts of other actors that have used this strategy to make big things happen, I noticed a couple things.
The most important was that attention gets attention, so having a following that is growing helped them get going faster. Here’s how to “get the party started” so to speak.
I studied an actor that used this strategy as a reputation management tool. He ended up getting a bad name in town a few years ago when he was “young and dumb” in his own words. It did effectively help to change the public narrative about who he truly is, but the industry’s perception of him was still damaged.
Be sure that your industry reputation and credibility are in good standing and match your potential. Here’s how to get a massive boost in industry credibility.
And that’s it grasshopper.
Like I said, there’s no spectacle, nor frills or fluff but don’t let that distract from the power of this strategy. Try it out yourself instead, before making a judgement.
Take the road less traveled by and see what kind of a difference it makes. Remember that I’m always only a comment or an email away.
My biggest goal in life is to:
See you at the top,
Scott