The Guerrilla Rep
The Guerrilla Rep
  • Home
    • About
    • In the Press
  • Blog
  • YouTube
  • Projects
    • Cicada Moon
    • Film Insight
    • Events >
      • Producer Foundry >
        • Producer Foundry Pitch Workshop
      • Archieve
  • Resources
  • Contact
  • Submit
    • Early Stage
    • Completed
  • COVID-19
    • COVID-19 News/Affects
    • COVID-19 Resources
  • Home
    • About
    • In the Press
  • Blog
  • YouTube
  • Projects
    • Cicada Moon
    • Film Insight
    • Events >
      • Producer Foundry >
        • Producer Foundry Pitch Workshop
      • Archieve
  • Resources
  • Contact
  • Submit
    • Early Stage
    • Completed
  • COVID-19
    • COVID-19 News/Affects
    • COVID-19 Resources

5 Do's and DON'Ts for Selling Your Film on Social Media

2/14/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
I sell a lot of stuff on social media.  In fact, that’s probably how you’re reading this blog right now.  Since I’m very active, I also get a lot of people trying to sell stuff to me on social media.  This blog is an amalgamation of some of what I’ve found works on social media, and some of the stuff I’ve found does more to harm your brand than build it.
Before you ask, yes I’ve been on both sides of pieces of this article at various times.
​

Picture

DO: Provide Value

Far and away the most important rule of building a brand on social media is to ALWAYS provide Value.  Even when you’re trying to sell something, you should be providing value.  It will take several impressions with a potential customer for them to engage with your content or buy your service, and in that time you’ll need to provide that potential customer quite a lot of value. 

DON'T: Post Nothing But Sales Links

Even if your service provides value to members of a group, or your carefully cultivated following.  If all you do is post thinks like “BUY MAH MOOOVIE!” then you’re failing to provide value, and you’re not going to move too many copies.
​

DO: Focus on Building Relationships

Building a relationship with your potential customers is the only way to turn then from potential customers to single time customers, to regular, recurring business.  Essentially, these relationships rely on trust.  In order to build that trust, try posting relevant articles from your blog, behind the scenes footage, a piece of press you got mentioned in, or whatever else that gives you a touch point with your fanbase without asking them to spend money. 

DON'T: Treat All Your "Friends" Solely as Potential Customers.

If you’re like most people, you have everyone from high school classmates to people you know from the bar to great aunt Gertrude on your facebook.  Be congniscent of the fact that most of those people may or may not want to actually buy your movie.  Don’t forget to post the standard facebook posts alongside talking about your project.
​

DO: Start a Conversation

If you want to share something you’re working on or the movie you just made with someone via a messaging system, start by saying hello.  If you open up a conversation, and show genuine interest in what they’re working on, it will be far more likely that they’ll be genuinely interested in what you want to sell them. 
​

DON'T: Send a Form Message with a Link to All Your "Friends"

When I say Start with Hello, I don’t mean a message like this.

“Hello! How are you? I hope you’re well. It’s been a while since we talked, but I just wanted to let you know about this movie I just finished called “I’ma Spam You!”  If you could check it out via this link below, I’d be super greatful”

https://imgflip.com/i/23nduh

Doing that is more likely to lose you connections than convince people to buy your content.
​

DO: Know Who You're Talking To

Are you reaching out to someone you went to High School with?  Maybe you haven’t spoken in years.  If that’s the case, you’ll definitely want to try to catch up before you ask them for money.  If you have powerful people on your social media, you should be careful how you approach them.  I’ve had people try to sell me their unproduced scripts on Amazon, then go off on a fiery tirade when I didn’t want to buy it.  They are now blocked, although a mutual friend said they were still looking for some of the services I offer.  Don’t do that to yourself.
​

DON'T: Try to Sell Your Movie to Someone Who Has No Reason to be Interested.

Someone you know who is incredibly christian, probably isn’t going to buy your body horror feature film.  Similarly, the goths on your friend list probably aren’t going to buy your faith based film.  Know who you’re trying to sell your movie to, and take note.
​

DO: Post Relevant Content to Relevant Groups

Maybe you’re putting some content into a filmmaking group.  If you are, you should make sure that whatever content you’re posting provides value.  The long and short of it is: Don’t post irrelevant content and expect people to engage with it in a positive manner.
​

DON'T: Be an Asshole

This point originally read Don’t be Spammy, but in a way the two are synonymous.  They also both very eloquently summarize this entire article.  If you’re not sure whether or not you’re being an asshole, then ask yourself the following question.  “Am I being an asshole?” if the answer is anything other than “No” you probably are being at least a bit of one.

Thanks for reading! 
Picture
If you like my writing work, I should tell you that I do FREE Strategy sessions for readers.  IF you'd like to get one for yourself, all you have to do is click the button below to schedule a call.  In that hour long call, we will go figure out where you are in your film career, as well as the next steps you need to take to become a full-fledged executive producer.  
Book your Strategy Session Now!
 It’s a real grind to turn out 2 blogs a week, so I’ve launched a patreon!  Check it out, and if you find this content valuable, give a few bucks a month.  It helps more than I can say.  Plus, if you’ll get input on upcoming topics, access to patron only livestreams, and potentially even your movie in the footer on all my blogs.  click the banner below for more details. ​
Picture
Picture

Right Below our Sponsors (Who you Should Visit)

2 Comments
appointment setting company link
8/18/2022 10:32:17 pm

In order to build that trust, try posting relevant articles from your blog, behind the scenes footage, a piece of press you got mentioned in, or whatever else that gives you a touch point with your fanbase without asking them to spend money. I’m so thankful for your helpful post!

Reply
William Milliman link
11/17/2022 10:55:12 am

The long and short of it is: Don’t post irrelevant content and expect people to engage with it in a positive manner. I truly appreciate your great post!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    My name is Ben, I'm an Entrepreneur, Producer's Rep, and Author.  I'm the founder of Guerrilla Rep Media, Co-Founder/CMO of ProductionNext, and founder of Producer Foundry.  Together, the organizations seek to help make filmmaking a more economically sustainable endeavor.  I am dysic, I have capitalization issues, and the blogs are often unedited. opinions all my own.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Join my Mailing List for FREE Resources!

    I'm happy to offer a FREE Resource Package to anyone who joins my mailing list.  You'll also recieve monthly digests of my articles and other valuable resources.
    Sign Up!

    My Books

    Picture
    Find it at
    Your Local Library
    Books Inc
    Barnes and Nobles
    ​Amazon

    Audiobook Free through Audible.com

    Picture

    Available exclusively through Amazon.com​

    Archives

    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    February 2015
    August 2014

    Categories

    All
    Affiliates
    AFM
    Aggregation
    Angel Investing
    Angel Investment
    Audience Engagement
    AVOD
    Branding
    Business Plan
    Business Planning
    Career Growth
    Community
    Contracts
    Crowdfunding
    Data
    Deck
    Distribution
    Distribution Agreements
    Distribution Deliverables
    Distributors
    DVD
    Email Marketing
    Entertainment
    Entrepreneurialism
    Executive Summary
    Film Budgeting
    Film Distribution
    Film Festivals
    Film Finance
    Film Financing
    Film Industry
    Film Investment
    Filmmaking
    Film Marketing
    Film Markets
    Film Money
    Financing
    First Feature
    Genre
    Grants
    Grantwriting
    Hustle
    Indiefilm
    International
    International Sales
    Look Book
    Markeing
    Marketing
    Marketing Materials
    Packaging
    Packaging Documents
    Physical Media
    PR
    Press
    Producer's Rep
    Publicity
    Sales Agency
    Sales Agents
    Screenplay
    Script
    Self Distribution
    Short Films
    Social Media
    Staged Financing
    Studio
    SVOD
    Tax Incentives
    Technology
    Terminology
    Transparency
    Venture Capital
    Waterfalls

    RSS Feed

Home

About

Services

Menu

Contact

Copyright © 2019 Guerrilla Rep Media.  All rights reserved