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There are two or three voiceover coaches who post so much on Facebook, Voiceover Universe and Twitter et al about their latest seminars in Tupelo, Mississippi or where ever that I’ve simply unfriended them. Social media for them is an endless informercial, I guess.

Oy.

Evidently so many voice talents have sooo much new business – based on all the Facebinkedinwitter posts I read from them – that there may be no voice over jobs left for me (or you for that matter) so we all should just quit. It’s like an accountant in April posting “I just completed another tax return!” Um, pal, that what you’re supposed to do.

The debate over the best microphone has become so intense that two voiceover talents will duel to the death tomorrow morning– their weapons of choice will be a Neumann TLM 103 and a Sennheiser 416. It begs the question if two voice over talents die in the forest, who will announce it?

And it will surprise you to learn that voxmarketising is NOT the only blog on the topic of voiceover – at last count there were 14 billion voice over blogs, all of them debating whether breaths should or should not be edited out of narrations.

Obviously I’m being silly but the truth is: in the voiceover business, we talk a lot.

When it’s not on mic, it’s on line.

The trouble is we’re ALL talking about the same things…over and over. And I think I’m getting burnt out.

That’s a bad thing because while I thought I was contributing to the conversation, I wondering now if I’ve simply been contributing to the noise.

Paul Strikwerda, my Double Dutch voiceover friend, recently wrote about this issue, which I have been bandying about in my head for a while. He’s felt tad bored by what he’s read.

My concern is not that I’m bored (I know how to fix that – change the channel, hit the off switch) but rather that I’m the one being boring. I’ve actually cut back a bit on my social media and blogging because I didn’t feel I had anything interesting to contribute. I’m not sure “my perspective” is always enough.

Thinking about it that way made me feel a little better because at least I was thinking before typing. I think when it comes to Social Media, that’s not done a lot (and it’s not an issue exclusive to voice over talents, believe me). I’ve also been guilty as charged so don’t think I’m casting aspersions (so please, no emails from aspersions looking for voice work).

It seems we’re now all (and that “all” was a lot smaller when I started in Social Media) talking about the same voice over topics and from where I sit (just one man’s opinion here) the individual perspectives don’t always seem unique enough or even thought-provoking…and again, myself included.

I know we all just want to be heard and we all enjoy freedom of expression and that’s great. I don’t want it stifled but shouldn’t we all consider a little self-editing? Just a little?

I don’t know about you but I do NOT want to be the “oh not THAT guy again” brand. The line between frequency and obnoxious gets thin fast in social media; brands are now suffering (and not reaping).

SEO and marketing opportunities available through Social Media are so enticing (based on cost) that I think we all forget sometimes that for Social Media to be effective, we have to be maybe less frequent but certainly more interesting. And that’s not always easy.

Nor should it be.

What do you think? Or are you even paying attention anymore? 🙂

Tags: advertising, blogs, branding, commentary, commercials, facebook, linkedin, networking, public relations, social media, social networks and links, technology, twitter, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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About 100 years ago, I joined a free online service called Referral Key.

Conceptually, it’s a networking group where you can refer your buddies when you have business opportunities for them. You can even pay them a referral fee (although you don’t have to).

I had forgotten about what I had for lunch yesterday even before I was done eating so this web site was LONG off my radar.

Then somebody got the bug and found me (a voice talent, naturally, we’re all social media parasites). Then another invite and another. All my friends, all people I’m glad to connect with on yet another social media platform.

But for what purpose?

If I think one of my friends is right for a voice over job, I’m going to recommend them (as I have in the past) with no strings attached. I don’t expect any referrals from them and I’m OK with that. They are my friends – that’s enough for me.

What I need to do is step outside the VO click and meet some folks on this site who are fresh referral meat.

And when exactly will I have time for that?

Tags: networking, social media, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Truth is this was a simple idea that I should have caught on to long ago but last week is when inspiration hit. My hope now is to give you an idea that you can customize to hopefully benefit your business.

I graduated from the University of Dayton in 1986 which didn’t seem like a long time ago at the time.

Looking at LinkedIn recently I was checking on UD groups and such and saw some called “Business Connects”; these were city specific networking groups made up of UD Alumni in that city.

Ooof! Simple. On-line. Free. Double ooof!

Now I had tried creating an in-person UD alumni group in Buffalo and long story short, it no longer exists but not for lack of alumni interest.

So I created University of Dayton Business Connect Western New York. This group would include any UD alumni who have or currently do live anywhere roughly between Buffalo, New York and Rochester, New York. But those are the only requirements (so if you don’t meet the requirements, don’t ask to join cause I’ll say no – but I’ll say it politely and with a smile).

I gotta think that if you graduated from a College or High School, something like this exists BUT if it doesn’t, I can tell you it is not that tough to slap one of these groups together. If you are willing to spend a couple of hours prospecting, ‘er, researching your school name and your city name on LinkedIn, I bet you can find folks who you can invite to join.

Over about 2-3 days, there are 11 members in our group. A ton? No, but a start. I’m not sure if I can give you a better example of social media at work.

To be fair, I have no idea how successful this could be but I have nothing to risk and individually and as a group we have everything to gain.

Do you think this would be worth doing in your area for your school?

Tags: commentary, community, linkedin, networking, social media, social networking by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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