A few posts ago I talked about the necessity of capturing emails on your film’s Facebook page, which in turn led to some confusion…. so I figured, let’s go back to basics and talk about your film’s WEBSITE instead, and the role it plays in aggregating and growing your audience.
First things first: what are the actual goals of your film’s website?
Your main goals should be:
1. to market & promote your film
2. to AGGREGATE and GROW your audience.
And why do you need to aggregate your audience again? Well let me put it to you this way – if you are planning on Festivals, Screenings, Theatrical Releasing, Selling DVD’s and/or Downloads, or even Traditional Distribution (guess that encompasses everything, right?), then you’ll need a dedicated website for your film. You’ll also need your Social Networking pages but I’ll save that for another post….
Here’s an example of a great looking website with an effective email capture mechanism at the top. This filmmaker has collected a significant amount of email addresses (I can’t say specifically the amount to protect her privacy). Furthermore, she regularly engages her audience with colorful newsletters – giving her audience updates and upcoming screening dates, etc. As a result, her audience is continually growing.
And here’s a close up of the sign-in box itself
By the way, I want you to see all this as an investment over the long term, over the course of your entire career. Because once you build an audience for a particular film, and provided you engage them properly and treat them right, then they will be your audience for life. And you can do what Robert Greenwald (WalMart: The High Cost Of Low Prices, Iraq For Sale, etc.) does and continue to go back to your audience every time you make a film (for funding, promotion, and sales). If you play your cards right, your audience will be in it with you for the long haul because they’ll always want to see what you’re coming out with next.
Now the question becomes… what do you do NEXT once you have your film’s website in place (not just a show piece website, but an EFFECTIVE website)?
You ENGAGE your audience and continue to do things that GROW your audience.
Here’s a few ideas on that to get the juices flowing….
• Build out your Social Network: Facebook Fan Page, You Tube channel, and custom Twitter page
• Video Marketing via You Tube (linking back to your Film’s website)
• Facebook Ads: Obviously you need a small budget for this AND a specific targeted audience for your film if you want to utilize this option
• Forum marketing & Guest posting on related Blogs
• Joint Venture partnering – via email & video marketing
• SEO (search engine optimization)
• Social Plugins
The good news is that you only need to do a few of these things effectively in order to really start growing your audience….
Hunter Weeks is a great example of a filmmaker who really knows how to engage and grow his audience. He’s been at it over the course of 3 films and here’s an example of his 3rd and most recent film “Ride The Divide”. Hunter is particularly adept at growing his audience exclusively via Social Media. Check out his set-up here:
AND…
These are just a few ideas on how to grow your audience once you have the proper Website in place.
What are your thoughts? Have you used any of these audience-engagement tools successfully or NOT successfully? What’s working for you or NOT working for you? Please place your comments below and let’s get a discussion going!
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Great post Stacey. I had heard that the magic number of email addresses/FB fans was 5,000. That is, distributors start to take notice if you have pre-built your audience to at least 5,000 before your film is released. Have you heard of any specific figures like that?
Lorie, you might consider posting character profiles, casting ideas, excerpts from your screenplay, set designs — or other digital media elements that you develop along the way.
SB
Hey Scott,
I have not heard a specific figure like that in fact – as far as I know there is no ‘rule of thumb’ when it comes to number of FB fans as of yet.
Stacey
Hey there, Stacey. We’ve been working to attract and build our target audience for “Lost in Sunshine” since we launched our website this past February (we’ll be launching Version 2 the end of November).
Our EXTRA challenge is that we’re not fully financed, yet, to even shoot our movie! We’ve been embracing ways to expand our story, characters, and themes via the website, our Twitter feed, You Tube channel, and FB page – but, without a finished movie to promote, or a specific end-date in mind.
We had first hoped to shoot this past Spring, and then this Fall. Now, we’re hustling anew for next Spring.
So many sites and blogs say, “Start early!” but, they don’t talk about how to keep up interest and momentum among Fans as you continue the long and unpredictable process of seeking financing. How do you make your project relevant (without a movie finished?)? How do you deliver entertainment (without a movie finished?)?
It can feel pretty lonely. Like we’re a tree falling in the woods…
I do believe that what we’re doing is essential to setting us apart when we do have a finished film. We’re learning more about which of our assumptions about our target audience seem to be accurate, and which don’t. We’re learning how to better articulate our transmedia elements (blog fiction in our two character blogs, for instance), as well as how to execute them.
I’ve wanted LIS dot com to do something that I haven’t seen before, and that’s to use digital media and interactivity to augment a comedy-drama. It’s been done with documentaries and genre movies, but not with indie comedy-drama.
But, who knows? I may learn, in the end, that we’re barking up a tree that’s alone in the woods.
Hi Lorie,
That’s a very interesting question you pose — how to keep the audience ‘engaged’ during the pre-production/production/post process…. essentially before there’s a finished film!
First of all, see Scott’s comments above – he had a few good suggestions.
I would also add that you could offering compelling and ‘related’ content to your audience – for example, is there some kind of unique hook or character in your film of which you can find related articles, blog posts, and any other supporting material out there to share with your readers? You could also start your own blog and write about themes that surround your movie’s theme.
For example, I have a client doing that right now with her blog “Nuclear Families”. She has a film by the same name, currently in development, and she’s already been reaching out to potential marketing partners and blogging about the theme of the film – and it’s a narrative, not a doc. Take a look and you’ll see what I mean:
http://nuclearfamiliesthemovie.com/blog
In fact, let me see if I can get her on here to comment!
Stacey