Entries Tagged as 'linkedin'

How Voice Talents Should Treat Their Voiceover Clients

Code of Conduct - Peter K. O’Connell VoiceoverI have been enjoying the promotional posts by my friend and fellow voice talent Tracy Lindley, who is celebrating her 10th year as a professional voice talent.

She is also rightly celebrated on the voiceover podcast and convention circuit for her LinkedIn presentation.

In her 10 day series “10 Lessons from 10 Years in Voiceover”, Tracy offers reflections and advice on how her voiceover business practices may help others as well.

One of her posts that caught my eye was “Treat Others the Way They Want to be Treated”. Briefly, Tracy’s sales and marketing concept here is for business owners to be aware of and adapt to the likes, wants, needs and in some cases personalities of their clients.

The reason it caught my eye was that it reminded me about something I wrote all the way back in 2008 and that is still posted to the audio’connell Voiceover Talent.

It’s the audio’connell Voice Over Talent (and O’Connell Communications, LLC) Code of Conduct.

Why a such a formal sounding document for what is essentially a one-man band business?

My thinking is simple – tell clients the kind of business relationship they are entering into while also reminding myself how to behave and how I should also expect to be treated.

Do most clients even notice it? I don’t know as it really has never been discussed. Ultimately, if a client or vendor didn’t like how they were treated, someone would be fired or not renewed.

My feeling is, for those prospects or clients who DO care about such things, my company’s long established policy is posted for the world to see.

“Treat Others the Way They Want to be Treated” and “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you” are both worthwhile business strategies, whether you been a professional voice actor for 10 years (like Tracy) or 42 years (like me).

 

a linkedin voiceover profile message that was for naught

Peter K. O'Connell Voice Actor at peterkoconnell.comBack in the day, the folks at LinkedIn used to let users post a little video about themselves that you could see in the profile picture.

I was always delaying doing it – mostly because I don’t like being on camera and because the world is absolutely FINE with me not being on camera.

However, this week, I was inspired! I decided I would make a quick :30 second video welcoming the masses to my LinkedIn profile page.

I wrote a little script and practiced it.

I set up my unfancy ring light that has a holder for my phone.

Then I hit record.

I hit record again.

I hit record about 75 times before I read the script (that I rehearsed with) with vocal clarity and the motions of my mouth, head and hands did NOT look like I was having a seizure.

Did I mention how I don’t like being on camera?

Anyway…I edited the video and went on the LinkedIn app to upload it.

Except it wouldn’t upload.

That’s because it couldn’t upload.

A quick search showed LinkedIn stopped adding profile videos this past June.

They must have heard I was coming.

Anyway…now you have to watch it…do not avert your eyes!!! If I had to record it you have to watch it! 🙂

i have never been more “liked” – a heartwarming social media story

The following story has a Buffalo, NY connection to someone I do not know – because that’s how social media works 🙂

In social media terms, the more “liked” your post or comment, the better it reflects on your posts, awareness and (I guess) status as a human being.

Well I am not sure about that last part but the rest of it summarizes an otherwise long, blow-hard explanation of what the audience’s interaction with your social media posts mean (be it blogs, vlogs, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), LinkedIn and on).

So here’s the deal…on my Instagram, I came across an artist – who I later found is from Buffalo (Western New York) – who paints tiny outdoor art that she color matches. The art amazing and wonderfully color matched and she’s very talented. Her name is Lisa Cornwell. She has over 109,000 followers and growing, I’m sure.

instagram logoWell on a recent day, she was color matching a Ferris Wheel (that was not moving) and she was not sure the painting was coming together (but she WAS wearing her Buffalo Bills hat!). Well of course the tiny painting was terrific!

I think I was one of the first people to comment on it and I wanted to squelch her negative about her art (which is so great) so I said:

“Nice job. Don’t be so critical – it looks great as always.”

My message was for the Lisa (who I don’t know) but I forgot about her 109K followers like me. A lot of them agreed with me – as of this writing 1,349 people have liked my comment.

This doesn’t make me happy for me or for ego etc. This makes me happy because me and almost 1,400 of my closest internet friends want Lisa to know that the work she’s doing is great, it makes us happy to watch her and she should not be so hard on herself.

Also, it occurs to me that the internet and social media is NOT well know for POSITIVE comments – let’s all try and buck that trend. Join me in promoting the positive comments trend (which I too sometimes forget to do).

 

social media graphics update

Peter K. O'Connell_Linkedin_2018FIRST OFF, I WILL ADMIT I was sooo late to the table on this one. But nobody let me know!

It turns out in April 2018, LinkedIn AGAIN changed their profile page design.

It tightens the key information on your LinkedIn profile into most of the top third of the page (information like company name, college, contact info and total number of LinkedIn connections).

Why this is important to you is that you may need to or (indeed) want adjust your LinkedIn graphics…especially the big display graphic.

In my case, I very much like the ability to widen out that display graphic which, prior to the change on my page, just carried my brand logo. This display graphic layout seems to be much more flexible than the old version.

Plus I get to highlight one of my favorite pictures of Bond Lake here in Cary where I walk in the early morning. I included the ducks at no extra charge!

So anyway, if you have a display picture in your LinkedIn profile, just check to make sure it looks ok in the new dimensions.

And if you don’t have a display picture, why would you throw away an opportunity to brand your business or have your LinkedIn profile page look incomplete…or at least like you don’t care or aren’t paying attention?

Get ‘er done! Hope this helps.

now 400 facebook business page likes

Peter K. O'Connell Facebook Business Page Likes 400Not for a moment do I claim to truly understand the analytics of any social media platform. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter et al with their likes and followers are about as deep as I get into it. Whether it’s a science or a sham, I don’t understand most of it, I don’t pretend to nor do I lose sleep over it.

Yet again this morning, however, I was putzing around my Facebook business page in another futile attempt to figure out if I was passing or failing my on-going social media exams. I do this occassionally as some sort of weird self-torture.

When what did my wonder eyes did I see but the number 400 next to ‘business page likes’ (or followers or zombies or something), none of that matters. What matters is that there were 400 of…something interested in what I was saying on my Facebook business page, Peter K. O’Connell – Male Voiceover Talent.

I assume (without any real research, of course) that there are voiceover talents who also have Facebook Business Pages who may have 10 times as many page likes as my 400 that they may have obtained organically or via purchase — and good on them.

Just from a personal stand point, 400 likes seems like A LOT. Call it egotistical or even naive, but it seemed like a nice number and I was weirdly pleased with it.

Alleged Facebook Logos Past and Future

I know enough about social media analytics to understand that likes and followers don’t tell much of the social media effectiveness story unless these followers are ” actively engaged” in the content they are following and that there is indeed quality content to actually follow.

But since starting my  Facebook Business Page back in 841 B.C., I’ve evidently said enough stuff that 400 people enjoyed it enough to like the page. That to me is stunning. It is also worthy of a very humble thank you if you liked my Facebook business page or followed my Twitter page.

Thanks.

voice-over lead generation and avoiding the social media time suck

If you have any connections on Facebook in the voice-over business (or Twitter for that matter), you’ve probably seen some of the most famous and public wastes of time ever written. What do I mean?

Have you ever seen posts like:

“Just finished doing a voice-over session for Joe’s Choke and Puke Cafe…ready to do one for you!”

“Looking for voice-over talent for your business, I’m your gal!”

“Boy am I wiped out after doing a narration, a commercial, and an audiobook, phew! What kind of tea are you drinking?”

Oy!

I have friends who post this stuff…people I like and respect yet I cannot for the life of me define one legitimate SEO or financial opportunity such posts create. It smells to me like a complete time suck for voice talents who in reality spent about a 1/2 hour doing any kind of productive recording and the rest of the day on social media trying to make themselves feel and sound important in between P2P auditions.

It’s also possible they are way smarter than I am.

I know VO people tell me they make money off of their posts on Facebook and Twitter but it all smells of “Fiver” (desperation) to me. None of them are generating voice-over income six figures (but neither am I) and most of them I fear are praying to hit four figures by December 31st (this is where I hope to help them).

Harsh, no. Opinionated, probably.

The good news is I’m not really trying to start trouble or hurt anybody’s feelings – I’m leading up to a couple of solutions that will help your business.

I’m going to tell you what I think would not only be a more useful expenditure of your business time on social media but also an exercise that will be quantifiable.

You know, more ROI than BS. Less fishing for compliments or pity on social media and more target shooting for new leads.

And because it’s voice-over, there’s not a lot of math involved.

First, turn off Facebook and close your Twitter and Pintrest pages on your browser.

Now open LinkedIn. You know, the Social Media tool where you can access the email addresses of your connections? Yeah, that one.

NOTE: If you plan on using the emails of your LinkedIn connections to communicate with them (sparingly…very sparing I would add), I HIGHLY encourage you to say that someplace prominently on your LinkedIn profile.

For example, on my profile summary it says “When you connect with Peter on LinkedIn, you’ll be updated periodically via email on his many adventures…enjoy the ride!”

Under “Advice for Contacting Peter” I have also written “When we connect, I’ll share with you or email to you my new ideas, best practices (ask questions, offer answers and be a resource for each other) and even communicate about whether there are ways we might be able to do business together. If you prefer not to receive emails from me (however infrequently) on the above topics, we probably ought not to connect.”

To me, if you are THAT transparent and people take the time (like I always try to do) to review the profile of a totally new contact that they might want to connect with, then it is a fair and level playing field…carry on.

Next, open your “Groups” tab. If you belong to more than 5 voice-over related groups in LinkedIn, you need to decide which have been the 5 most useful or informative groups resign from all the others. You get 50 group joins and you’ll see soon how you’ll likely need the other 45 (at least) to make possible connections with folks you don’t know in a professional, thoughtful way.

#1 Connecting to Your Contacts’ Contacts
Go into your contacts. Don’t open ANY contact that works as a voice-over talent.

Rather look at your non-VO connections (please tell me you have some). Pick one maybe that works in advertising or media production. Then open up that contact’s contact list…as a 1st degree contact, you should be able to see them unless they’ve blocked that view (if they blocked you, move on to the next contact in your connections…there’s more than one fish in the LinkedIn sea).

Look at your contact’s list. Do they have a contact that maybe you’d like to be connected with? Yes? Good.

Now you’re not always going to easily connect with a relative stranger on LinkedIn. First of all, some people aren’t open to connecting to new people on LinkedIn; whether you agree or disagree doesn’t matter, it’s their call. LinkedIn also really wants people only connecting with other people they know (which makes the took fairly useless in my opinion) UNLESS they’ve paid for a premium LinkedIn membership.

But here is one way you can connect with someone else’s connections in an unoffensive way that could lead you to some valuable connections.

With the contact you’ve found with whom you want to connect, click on the “Connect” button. Since the person you are connecting with is likely a stranger, LinkedIn will ask how you know the person.

Here’s where “Groups” come in. In the most fortunate circumstance, in that list of “how do you know NAME HERE” there will be a button called “Groups”. This would indicate that you both belong to the same groups and you can immediately request a connection.

NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT. Write a short personalized note in your request to connect, do NOT use the stupid form words that LinkedIn provides. You’ll come off looking like a phony.

Not everyone uses Groups on LinkedIn and sometimes those that do use groups aren’t going to be in the same groups that you belong to…which is why I asked you to pare down your VO-related groups.

#2 Groups Where You Can Find Business Leads
Start researching Groups (in addition to your contacts’ contacts). See if in some of those groups there aren’t people who you would like to connect with. If you find 5-10 possible prospects, join the group.

First step after you get accepted to join would be to ask for a connection with those 5-10 prospects. Then look further into the group to see if there are other folks you might consider connecting with. Sort of like “Shampoo, rinse, repeat.”

The other thing that might prove valuable, depending on your depth of knowledge regarding the LinkedIn Group’s main focus is to possibly post question or even an answer in the Discussion forums of a Group.

And if you’re feeling really motivated, start a Group of your own! Boo-yah!!!

#3 What to do with all these leads
Collecting all these new LinkedIn leads could end up being a time suck if you don’t do anything with them.

First off, you now have email addresses for all these folks. If you’re doing a quarterly email blast or something, include them in that.

Second, make sure you export that LinkedIn database into your main contact database or contact manager.

Third and this takes a bit of work but can pay off in bigger dividends, research the FULL contact information of your new contact and send them a letter of introduction or maybe even a handwritten note of introduction. This would be better to do, in my opinion than just sending them something as part of a blanket direct mail campaign. The one to one connection always has a better chance of working in my opinion.

IN SUMMARY, to me what you’ve just done in THIS social media exercise with LinkedIn is alot more profitable that looking at videos of kittens on Facebook. You’re doing real marketing work…social marketing combined with lead generation. If you then combine that with a strong marketing plan…you’ve escaped the time suck.

Please let me know if you think this post was helpful or just a different kind of time suck.

If you want to know more, check out the Voice-Over Workshop.

Thanks.