The Social Media Conudctor

As I write this, I'm waiting for the official announcement of the film schedule for the International Family Film Festival, where my documentary, "Bollywood Steps" will be screened.  It's empowering to have so many channels to send out information like this - vlogs, blogs, twitter, Facebook and the like.  The challenge, of course, is learning to use all of these tools together to achieve specific goals.

I was in the school orchestra only up to fifth grade, but I remain fascinated with the the frenetic, mysterious, raving gestures of the conductor, guiding dozens of individual musicians toward a uniform goal of creating beautiful music.   I'm equally fascinated with the truly effective "conductors" of the social media world - those individuals who are working to achieve specific goals, and are using all of the available outlets in concert to reach those goals.

If you follow Gary Vaynerchuk (author of social media's iconic book, "Crush It"),  you have noted his multi-tiered efforts to build excitement for his upcoming book, "The Thank You Economy."  In addition to simply reminding people that it's already available for pre-order, he's been engaging his followers by asking for promotional ideas, inviting them to small, randomly called chat sessions in the middle of the night, provided links to chapter previews, and, of course, constantly thanked his followers.   He's promoted the purchase of multiple copies of his new book, and even created limited-time incentives to encourage participation.  Vaynerchuk the "conductor" is leading his social media instruments toward something more inviting - sweeter music, one could say - than the hard sell.  While everything is aimed toward selling one specific product, his social media efforts are all about engagement.  

Personally, I'm intrigued with the challenge of creating such a campaign that might reach - and expand - the decidedly fringe-within-a-fringe audience to which this particular documentary appeals.   I'm also intrigued with the challenge of accomplishing all of this with a still very modest social media following.

I'm taping my conductor's baton on my virtual podium.  Wish me luck!