AS AN ACTOR, THIS IS HOW I MAKE CONTENT THAT GETS AT LEAST 100,000 VIEWS

"How do I get people to view my videos?"

"What sort of content should I make?"

"Why is no one watching my rendition of 'To be or not to be?'"

These are some of the questions that I get asked, whenever I am trying to think of how to start a blog post on creating content that returns results. Well, similar questions are asked of me daily and truth is: I cannot tell you what will work for you.

WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT

Each one of us has different qualities, different looks and different strengths. What worked for Pewdiepie would not work for Charlie D'Amelio and vice versa. What works for you, works for you. You ultimately need to discover that, and no amount of social media training will be able to do that for you.

That being said, there are plenty of ways to help you find that.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF GOOD CONTENT

Whatever sort of content you are planning to make needs to have what I refer to as "The 3 E's". The following underpins the vast majority of content I make, and I firmly believe is the reason as to why I (and many others) regularly return good performing videos on Social Media. Which in turn improves my online presence and contributes towards my profile as an actor.

ENTERTAINING

We don't watch videos because we want to be bored, right? A good piece of content needs to keep us interested. It can be funny or it could tell a good story. Movies (or the good ones anyway) are entertaining in their own way, and for that reason, we willingly sit through to the end. The ones that we don't sit through? We press back on the remote and go back to the Netflix homepage (or the Prime Video homepage if you're cheap like me)!

Content has to have some form of entertaining aspect if you want your viewers to willingly sit through to the end.

EDUCATIONAL

People seek knowledge. People are constantly looking for answers to the most mundane things in their lives. This doesn't have to be tutorials on how to bake a cake or instructions on how to say Finnish swear words to your partner. Sometimes we hold information that others might be interested in. Educational content has such a wide range of potential. Even a post telling us, "man, I didn't realise that blue steak is actually red". That is a type of educational content. It's a sharing of information people might not yet know and now they are straight into the comments saying "WHAT? RARE ISN'T THE LOWEST?"

Educational content fills gaps in people's general knowledge. They may not necessarily be looking for it, but I have regularly found myself listening to the end of informational content about topics I have no interest in. People are curious, and you should always feed that curiousity.

ENGAGING

We are Social Media creators. Not TV stars. The word "social" gives us a hint on how we should be. Our audiences are not static pieces of cardboard, they are living and breathing humans that can connect with us in their own way. Content that speaks to an audience and not at an audience can help to lower any apprehension that someone may have regarding your content.

Yes there may be tens, thousands or hundreds of thousands of people watching you at any given time. But on the other end of the camera, is one person sitting on the bus and their scrolling has brought you to their page. If you speak to them as a human, they might be willing to respond with a like, comment or even a follow.

ALL 3 IN UNISON AND HARMONY

Is it always possible to include all three in one piece of content? No. But the content that does perform well normally ticks all of these boxes. These 3 E's will look like different things for different people. It's all about finding how you translate yourself into these caveats.

Training yourself in Social Media and beginning to understand how it works will be a benefit to you (actor or otherwise) for when you begin to create content to further your profile.

Actors and Social Media' is an education group led by actors who have utilised their social media following to gain traction in their performing arts careers. We currently offer our workshops to Drama Schools and Further Education Colleges in the UK.

I have coached people (Actors and Non-Actors) into realigning their social media strategy into ways that can benefit their careers as performance artists. If you are an Actor/Performer interested in improving your social media, then feel free to send me an email at brianantonimaitland@gmail.com.