IFH 200: How to Sell Your Indie Film Using Ninja Facebook Hacks with Kyle Prohaska

1. Condense Your Branding

The term “branding” is overused but it’s not a pointless concept. Unless you have a specific reason to keep things separated, don’t create a brand new page for every film, every short, etc. Decide where you want a lot of your content to come from, especially if you’re just getting started. Do you need a page for you specifically, that can serve as the main launching pad for the future, or is it your company, etc.?

Is the “voice” of your project more potent from an individual? Is it from a group or just from you in your bedroom? Drumming up meaningful traction is hard enough, don’t segment things more than necessary. It’s more important that you gain a meaningful relationship with a focused group of people than spread yourself thin.

2. Content Is King

It sounds cliche but it’s true. Consider the dominance that mobile (especially mobile video) has today in your overall strategy. Is your creative informed by the environment of consumption? Post things that are meaningful, well crafted, and suited to the attention span and taste of those you’re interested in reaching.

As a filmmaker who’s also involved in marketing, I’m trying to put something in front of the audience that they’ll love, not something that’s gross or fawning after cheap attention. In a sea of online noise, how can you make a different sort of noise? Maybe quiet is the new noise? Be different. Be you.

3. Quality Over Quantity

Posting 10 times a day isn’t necessary, even for the largest brands on Facebook. A small sample size will see your posts without Ad Spend, and depending on how quickly that content gets engagement out of the gate, Facebook’s algorithm will quickly determine how far the post is likely to go. When people comment, like their post and thank them. Engage deeper and be personal.

Focus on posting content best suited for engagement and spread it out. Even on my own personal account I find that one really solid post every day or every other day is best. Mix different post types. Off-site links can get less organic traction but have their obvious place. Images get plenty, but man can’t live on memes alone (thank goodness). Post at a smart time and milk it a while. Don’t hit a bunch of hasty grounders hoping for a home run. Be a social media sniper instead!

4. Have A Data Strategy

Facebook allows you to keep and analyze a lot of data. Are you set up to take advantage of that? Set up an Ad Account so you can create a Facebook Pixel. If you have a central website, research and install the Pixel on your site. Start gathering information about your visitors so you can re-target them later.

If you post videos, don’t post external video links but utilize Facebook Video where Ads can take advantage of Video Views optimization and you can retain Audience Data based on View Percentage and other Engagement. More than just how many “Likes” your page has, there is the potential for far more useful data behind the scenes.

A page may be brand new, launch a trailer or flagship piece of content with Ad Spend, and have 10,000 re-targetable users who watched the content. Is it more important to slave overbuilding that first 3,000 fans or is it better to pour your focus into measurable engagement that results in valuable data? There isn’t really a wrong answer, but maybe there is based on your time, money (which may be $0), and goals?

5. Make Movies, Not Marketing

It’s been said: “Make Movies, Not Meetings.” The same is true for marketing. Without confidence, without vision, without a voice that’s uniquely yours, and without serving your art with relentless passion, there’s no artistic endeavor to market in the first place. Don’t let the fear of having an audience keep you from exploring the passion inside you.

You can spend all of your time furiously posting, commenting, and sharing, but never make anything. Thinking about your audience and your future before you make something makes a lot of sense and is becoming more and more important, but if it’s ever the thing that’s keeping you from making something at all…take a step back.