Wow … so no one had any insight what so ever to add in the comment section of my last post. Honestly I thought people would be dying to inundate us with their twitter gained experience and little birdie tips and tricks.
Its not like twitter is a new technology… its been around for a while now and I figured that the best way to get insights about using twitter was from voice actors who had tried and true methods.
So here is what I’ll do.. I’ll do the research and compile a list of articles on how to generate money using Twitter and include them in this post… and if this post gets beefy enough (has tons of sources) then I’ll add it as a permanent resource page for everyone.
What I’ve Understood So Far
Well I’ve read a whole bunch of articles about this so far and these are the elements that they have in common:
- You have to have an active twitter account – Meaning that you do use it and it doesn’t just have one tweet or something. Lots of people block accounts that have one or two tweets because they are usually from spam bots
- Follow the twitter accounts of relevant clients – So you can follow the accounts of casting agents or casting agencies and when you find them posting about a job that suits your particular skill set then contact them about it and open a dialogue.
- Search for Keywords in the search box on your page in twitter – If you’ve been to your page on twitter and don’t just use it through a third party application you can search for keywords (that are emphasized using hash tags #taji for instance) to look for tweets that might be relevant to what you specialize in.
- Connect with Other Voice Actors – The whole point of twitter is that it is designed to both reinforce existing relationships and create new ones. Connecting with other voice actors and talking to some of the more experienced ones one to one can help you hone your craft and maybe get to know people that will refer you to agents and agencies if something comes their way… for example… I am an Arabic language voiceover artist , if you guys get a call from your agent saying oh I have this big job but I need an arabic and chinese voice actor to complete the roster… you would say… wait I know this guy on twitter called @mahmoudtaji and he’s an arabic vo artist… let’s send him a msg! there you go.. you just got a job lead.
- Help People – People always remember kindness and if you answer people’s questions and share your experience then people will remember you and you will have a better chance of being their first pick when a job that fits you comes along.
- Don’t Hide Your Contact Info – Make it easy for people to find you. If you are using twitter for personal relationships then setup a second account just for your voice work and make sure your services website page is connected to that account.
- Make it known that you are looking for work – You are a freelancer and you are on twitter for a reason… Don’t spam people with your skill set and make them cringe everytime they see a tweet from you.. be casual about it and make your services known.
- Follow People Back – That is something I don’t do… I have to say I can get easily distracted by having too many feeds running at the same time… so I only follow those that I have spoken to before outside of twitter… which is kind of counter productive.
- Retweet to your Network – If you want to help but don’t have the right connections then retweet a tweet. Meaning you are connected to 300 voiceover agencies and talent and your friends etc. One of them says I need a German speaking VO… you are not sure if you know someone who does German VOs and is a woman.. so you retweet… hopefully a german guy voice actor who knows a female voice actress will inform her and this way you were able to help someone via referral. If you do it then maybe someone else will do it and the job they retween will fit you perfectly!
So far that is all I have been able to get from my search without getting too obsessed with it. But I do want to leave you with a few links that you might find helpful:
Social Media Tips From Dave Courvoisier and Terry Daniels Podcast:
Article About Terry Daniels And His Prowess at garnering clients from Twitter:
Click here to read the article
How To Actually Make Money On Twitter
Share this Post Please!
If you found this article helpful then share it and maybe we can get some tips from twitter experts in the comments section
Looks like a great resource you’ve written here, Taji. One which will keep me on my toes for a while. Of course my first action was to tweet it!
Hi Taji,
Thank you for weeding through all the articles and compiling a list. I realized that I refer VO people a lot, but in a more private and personal setting, usually via email. But you’re right, I can definitely do it via Twitter. I’m planning on spending some time and updating my followers to include many more VO people.
Silvia
You are Welcome Silvia,
And with a list of languages like yours you might find quite allot of people referring clients to you via twitter… you just need to keep that out there.
Thanks for reading!
Taji
Salaam Alaykoum ya Mahmoud,
I suddenly understand why I should use twitter.
You must have put in a lot of work/time into this
Shoukran a thousand times.
Take care
Alan