Voice Talent Finding Jobs on Twitter

Voice Talent Finding Jobs on Twitter

by The Lowry Agency voice over talent Trish Basanyi

The social networking giant, Twitter, continues to mystify some and make money for others.

Heck, even the money-makers are mystified. (Try saying THAT three times fast.)

Yet the ones who have tackled the site head-on continue to bring in revenue in their desired fields – and voice-over talent is no exception.

Are you on Twitter? Have you signed up and then abandoned the account after two “tweets” citing an excuse of something like, “I just don’t get it” or “it’s a waste of time”?

STOP.

The Internet is an amazing thing, and some still don’t grasp the plethora of knowledge just waiting to be found …when you ask the right questions.

All of the social networking sites are connected. We’re only going to talk about Twitter in this article, but by using one you will learn how to use the others!

For instance, there are thousands of two- to three-minute videos on YouTube, which show you how to use Twitter. All you need to do is search for them. The same goes for Facebook.

These videos explain how to use these sites and make the most of them. And they’re yours for the viewing, absolutely free.

There are hundreds of applications for Twitter, which maximize Twitter’s search potential for you, and streamline the process of finding voice-over work.

Trust me, the work is out there.

I could make recommendations about the applications, but everyone I know uses something different – kind of like the path of every voice talent on their way to success. Different things work for different people.

One of the more popular desktop applications is Hootsuite, but if you’ll search online you’ll find dozens more.

Spend just one hour on Twitter and you’ll begin to see the enormous potential.

Don’t know what to talk about? Just be yourself!

Make jokes, ask questions, and talk about your everyday life – both personal and business.

As voice talent, we’re not always selling our voices – we’re selling ourselves, as people. When we’re real and interactive, people will respond, and will want to “follow” you in the Twitter world.

Even if you don’t have a lot of followers, you can still find jobs – again, just use the search engine for the site!

If you’re searching for VO jobs anywhere else, you already know how to use a search engine.

Step outside your comfort zone for one hour and see what happens.

Maybe you’re on Facebook but only using it for personal connections. That’s great! But if you use Facebook already, you’re 10 steps ahead of the learning curve when it comes to using Twitter.

Twitter is an easier site to navigate than Facebook – in fact, the confusion most people express for Twitter seems to be the concept rather than the actual functionality of the site.

Once you understand the concept, using the site is a breeze.

Twitter is responsible for about 20% of my income in the past year. I have:

  • Landed several high-dollar jobs through clients I’ve connected with there originally,
  • Acquired roughly 20 new clients that now hire me on a regular basis, and we continue to have a great relationship both online and in the VO booth.

It didn’t happen overnight, but the process has been fun and a huge learning experience.

6 comments
  1. I have been amazed by not just the interesting folks I have met on Twitter Internationally but by the number of projects I have gotten involved in by tweeting and reading and being a part of this new and ever growing community. Thanks for the Blog! Melody Mooney

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  2. Do you have any suggestion on good #hashtags to follow? I follow the typical #vo #voiceover #voicetalent but I’m sure there are better ones out there that will reap more jobs?

    Any suggestions?

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    • not really. #voiceactor #voiceacting Look at Twubs.com and put in various tags and see what the stream pulls up.

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      • David- Great post!

        Kimi- I would offer that you try searching for peripheral #hashtags, too such as #casting director #CD #production company #audition #dialect etc. since you never know which of your contacts might lead to a booking. Make your primary mission about meeting interesting and like-minded industry people and the jobs will follow.

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  3. Hi David,

    Very encouraging post, the VO biz it’s lots of hard work…recently read a post with heading that sums it all up – “Voice Over is 1% Inspiration, 99% Perspiration!”

    So far met some very interesting folk…people like you!

    Back to the grind!

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  4. Excellent post! I try to explain the value of Twitter to my fellow voice actors, especially as part of an overall social media marketing strategy, and many of them just don’t seem to get it. You’re right; they do give up on it after a few minutes because they can’t immediately grasp the usefulness and power of it right away. It took me a little while too, quite frankly, and I consider myself to be a pretty web-savvy guy. Ultimately, I tell them that anything that draws attention to you (in a positive way!), helps build your reputation and name recognition and brings traffic to your website is a very, very good thing.

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