WHY SHARING IS IMPORTANT?
Creating videos is a lot of work – and what most of us are good at. The worst
feeling in the world is when you click the upload button and wait. After a few
days it looks like you’ve only received 5 views.
You share it on your Facebook and get a few likes from your uncle and best
friend – but nobody is checking your film out. You may come to the conclusion
that it’s not that great of film – I’d argue otherwise though.
You’re a filmmaker – you create awesome art. However, most of your friends
don’t resonate or connect with the piece of art you put time and effort into.
That’s why I’ve put together this list of 10 places for you to share your film.
You can get your video in front of thousands of individuals and get comments,
likes, and feedback through the process. Does this sound like something
you’d like to experience when you post your next film?
THE TECHNIQUE.
Using the technique below, I got my film posted in The Huffington Post, The Atlantic, and countless other online blogs and news sources. Sinbad even tweeted my film out!
USE TOP BLOGS
You’ll hit the jackpot if you do this right.
Go to google again and type in the subject of your film + ‘blog.’ You’ll get a ton of results. Let’s say your making a film about ‘puppies.’
Now start opening tabs of some of these blogs. What you want to do now is
find a contact for the blog or the author of the blog. You are going to send
them an email with your video. We’ll get to that in a bit!
First focus on collecting as many sites / sources as possible!
Open up an excel spreadsheet and organize these sites / email addresses.
Here’s an example of one that I use to track my promotional efforts:
FIND MORE PEOPLE TO REACH OUT TO
This is a way to find even MORE people to share your film with. I’m not talking about your grandma either. I’m talking about reporters, influencers, people that can choose to share your video with thousands of followers.
Go to buzzsumo.com in a new tab.
Then make sure you check ‘Videos’ under content type and do a search for the ‘topic’ your video falls in. You’ll get a giant
list of videos similar to yours sorted out by their number of shares.
You can use now use this site to check sites that these videos were posted on, and people that were big influencers in sharing them.
In essence, you’re reverse engineering the success of other films that are similar to your film. Your creating a list of people who have shown interest in similar content that will most likely love your film!
So go ahead and start adding websites and emails to your excel spreadsheet. Now let’s jump into how we should reach out.
MAKING CONTACT
Now you want to start reaching out to these folks. There is some important things to consider before sending them an email. Make it as easy for them as possible to view their content – include a clear link in the email (you’d be suprised how many people make it confusing).
Also the email itself can make or break whether they view your video. Don’t confuse them. Summarize the story and even build rapport by stating you saw they enjoyed a similar video. Your main goal is to get them to click the video link!
Lastly, ask them to watch it and give their thoughts. Don’t be shy. You spent time and effort creating this awesome film – don’t let that effort go to waste! Tell them you want feedback. Also give them the option to share it!
Here’s a sample script you can use:
“Hi ____,
I stumbled on your blog the other day and you are putting out some great content on puppies. I recently directed this short film about puppies here and really think your readers would enjoy it.
vimeo.com/puppyfilmI’d love your feedback on the film, feel free to share it if you need another piece of content on puppies!
Best,
Chris”
Start emailing your list and start getting your film in front of viewers that love your films!
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