How To Market Your Documentary on Social Media

Social media marketing has revolutionized the way people market their business, and documentary filmmaking is no exception. It’s true that nothing can replace the buzz created by a festival screening, but using social media can effectively create awareness around your film. Perhaps even helping you land big opportunities like those all-­important festival screenings! Failure to take advantage of these platforms in your marketing strategy can be a serious misstep. Learning how to market your documentary on social media will help to further your film’s exposure and reach a wider audience. So, where do you start when you’re ready to consider marketing your documentary film?

 

 

1. Build A Marketing Strategy Into Your Project

Some documentary filmmakers cringe at the idea of building a marketing strategy for the film before they even start shooting. But, considering how you’ll market your film before you start filming doesn’t have to detract from relevant social issues.

In fact, considering how you’ll market your documentary before you start shooting can actually help increase awareness of a particular issue. By capitalizing on the social issues highlighted in your documentary, you’ll be able to build a marketing strategy that can connect with other individuals, organizations and industry professionals. Better yet, you can reach an audience already informed on your topic and let them serve as a springboard to bring more attention to your film from more uninformed audiences.

 

 

2. Promotion via Social Media

Most of us are familiar with social media in some form or another. We’ve likely all come across marketing campaigns in our social feeds from a range of different companies. When it comes to promoting a documentary, finding success through social media lies in creating content that is authentic. 

Filmmakers who promote their work on social media and fail usually do so because their outreach lacks passion and authenticity. Simply repurposing a post in hopes that someone will engage with your content may not get you the results you’re looking for. Instead, opt for eye-catching, original content that peeks people’s interest and attention. 

Documentary filmmakers can particularly take advantage of social media as a marketing tactic. By incorporating the issue at hand into your film’s marketing strategy, you’ll not only bring awareness to a wider audience, you’ll also encourage them to take action and contribute to the cause. 

 

3. Sharing Work Through Social Media

Sharing clips and snippets of your documentary is integral to building visibility. Few people are willing to go out to a theatre and buy a ticket for a film they don’t know anything about. Give them something to snack on while they wait for the main course! Posting video teasers from your documentary will likely result in more engagements and it will leave interested viewers wanting to see more.

When you upload clips to social media platforms, it’s important that they be as sharp as possible. Present high­-quality snippets of finished material to generate interest on any social media platform. Make sure your film has it’s own dedicated page on each social network you want to use. Remember to ensure that the page isn’t cluttered with personal or off-topic posts.

Remember to clearly link between your film’s social media accounts. Most important above all is having a clear link to your film’s website.

Finally, when it comes to publishing larger clips, many film industry professionals turn to Vimeo for uploading high-definition videos. These uploads could be used for publicity, for submitting work to film festivals, or even getting the attention of producers and distributors.

 

GUEST BLOGGER: Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer and accomplished online marketing professional in the Los Angeles area. Her writing covers everything from social media marketing, health, real estate and technology.

 

 

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