Using the functionality that Facebook offers for Events you can send messages urging Friends to invite their Friends. And you can keep track of who has been invited and who has said they are coming.  Because a Facebook Event can be spread by people who are interested in your film, an Event is a great way to spread the word to promote the screenings of your film.

Events even have the option of purchasing Facebook ads (which can be narrowly targeted using keywords and demographic information, see the “Advertising on Facebook and MySpace” section below) to advertise a screening.

First set up a Twitter account. It is free and you can get one at Twitter.com.

• Search companies in the film sector, other film festivals and film bloggers/journalists and request to follow them. Gaining their support will better your chances of being followed by people in the industry.
• Create and post content that has quality. Do not use Twitter to simply spam followers.
• Use Twitter for conversation, it’s about earning attention.
• You can Tweet relevant information about the film and the filmmaker you are promoting.  But you should also think about posting content of interest to your core audience, even if that content isn’t directly about the film.  That’s because you can increase the number of people following you on Twitter if you become a trusted source of information. Don’t just use Twitter to send your followers advertisements. Think about what your audience cares about and Tweet about that.
• If you are taking a course or volunteering at a festival, remember you are representing your assigned film and filmmakers.  Get the filmmaker’s permission before creating a Twitter account. You may find that your filmmakers have already created one.
• Here is an example of a Twitter account for Focus Features.

Mashable provides a Twitter Guidebook to that includes help on customizing your account, retweeting, how to use hashtags, and more. 

Networking on MySpace

First set up an account. They are free and anybody can get one at MySpace.com.

• You can add users to your own profile, but also create a profile for your film to have users join. Just as Facebook has created “Pages” that serve a different function than profiles, MySpace has created “Groups”. However, MySpace Groups don’t seem to be as noticeable as a regular profile so it will be best to create a regular profile, as you would for an individual, for your film.
• In the case of this course you are representing your assigned film and filmmakers, get their permission before continuing with creating a Myspace profile. You may find that your filmmakers have already created one.
• Here is an example MySpace profile for the film The Attic Door.

Advertising on Facebook and MySpace

Recently the large social networking sites have opened up affordable advertising to every user. This gives you the power to create advertisements and precisely target low-cost ads to Facebook and MySpace users. The targeting of your ads on social media sites can be very precise and inexpensive because the sites have access to user information and this information (in the form of parameters and keywords) can be used by an ad buyer to make sure their ad appears only before the precisely targeted audience. For example, if you are promoting a documentary about a women’s soccer league, you can place an ad that appears only to females, between the ages of 18 and 25, who live in Orlando, who like like soccer and documentary films.

• This tutorial will get you started with Facebook Ads.
• This tutorial will get you started with MySpace Ads.

Additional Resources

There are many social network services available and dozens of third party applications created to optimize your use of them. Check sites like Mashable regularly to stay on top of social network news and resources.
 

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Licensed by Randy Finch and Nick Martinolich under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. This license allows you to copy, distribute, and transmit this work as well as create derivative works. Any copies or derivative works may not be used for commercial purposes, must be distributed under a same or similar license, and in addition must contain the following language: “The Film Fest Marketing Project was developed by Randy Finch, Nick Martinolich, Sam Torres, Alex Bowser, Morgan English, Masha Murakhovsky, Jeph Alexander, and the faculty and students of the University of Central Florida’s Film Department, working with the Florida Film Festival, and with the support of the Sarasota Film Institute.”