You may already have an agent, great photos and a listing in Spotlight. They are necessary if you want to get good work. They help casting agents and directors find you and decide whether they want to audition you.
The internet can do the same thing and it is increasingly important for actors to raise their profile online and to manage how they appear to internet users.
These tips will help you get ahead online:
- Get a website. Well we would say that, wouldn’t we? But seriously, almost everything you do online is anchored by your website. It is your public face online. Although directors can access your Spotlight CV online with an access pin, Google doesn’t index it so it doesn’t come up if someone just searches for your name. You need Spotlight but you also need a website. Seriously, even if you don’t get it from us, get a website. (But do get it from us.)
- Get your own domain name. A domain name is like your internet telephone number. For example, Microsoft.com or Apple.com are domain names. You’ll want this for your website but it also looks much more professional if your email address uses your own domain name (bill.gates@microsoft.com sounds more professional than billg37@live.com, doesn’t it?). Also, this means that when people get your emails, they can use your email address to figure out your website address.
- Use your website address everywhere. Put it on your business card, your photos, your CV, in the footer of your emails etc. People can’t visit a site they don’t know about.
- Search engine optimisation. This technical term describes the process of ensuring that when someone types your name into Google, your name and website come up top. There are two parts to this. First, you need a site that is search-engine friendly. For example, it needs to include XML sitemaps, meta tags, properly-formatted code, support for social bookmarking and traffic analysis. Don’t worry if this is all techno-babble. We do all that stuff for you (and more). Second, you need to encourage as many people as possible to link to your site. For example, ask journalists to include a link in their articles, add it to your programme bio and ask your agent to link to it from their site.
- Get a blog. Stephen Fry has one of the most popular blogs in the UK. It’s a great way to reach out to friends, family, fans, agents and anyone else who might be interested. Writing regular updates and giving a personal insight into your world is a great way to share your point of view and build up a following. (Our websites have the option of a blog or news update service.)
- Use social networking sites. You should be on Facebook, which is more social but can be a great way to stay in touch with friends in the industry, and LinkedIn which is more of a professional version of Facebook. Depending on your audience, you may also want to be on Bebo and MySpace, which attract younger visitors. Set up a Google profile too.
- Use Twitter. Twitter is a cross between text messaging and blogging. It lets you share short messages (or ‘tweets’) with people who have decided to ‘follow’ you. One actor, Ashton Kutcher, has already got a million people following his every move via Twitter and he appeared on Oprah as a result. You can’t buy that kind of publicity.
- Share videos. Register on YouTube and you can share videos, showreels and clips online. Uploading videos is pretty easy. We like Vimeo and it attracts more of an arty crowd. It’s a great place to share a short film or showreel. (If you have a showreel on DVD we can digitise it so you can upload it to Vimeo or YouTube. There’s no charge for this – it’s all part of the service.)
- Keep what’s private, private. Be careful about sharing too much information. For example, use privacy settings on Facebook and other sites to control the personal information that you share with the public. For example, you may not want to give your home address or phone number with an obsessive fan. Also, be careful about registering a domain name. By default, you can end up sharing your name, address and phone number during the sign up process. (Don’t worry, with Upstage, we register the domain and use our contact details so yours stay confidential.) For more tips about online safety, check out GetSafeOnline.org.
- Don’t delay. Once someone registers a domain name with your name, or uses your name on Twitter, FaceBook etc. you can’t get it back. The first time your name appears in a movie credit, for example, you can be sure that a cybersquatter will grab your domain in the hope of selling it on for a profit later.
