Social Media Strategy for Crowdfunding

Excerpt from Ted Hope’s “16 Recommendations For Filmmakers To Discover Best Practices For A Sustainable Creative Life.”

SHARING WHAT WE DO BEST—COMMUNICATIONS

Inspired by Ted Hope and the SF Film Society’s Artist-to-Entrepreneur philosophy, we’re going to do just that.  Communications and marketing strategy is our forte.  So we’ll start by sharing our social media strategy here.

WE’RE PREPARING FOR A CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN

For context, this is where we are with the Big Flip.  We’re paving the way for a crowdfunding campaign so we can raise funds to continue shooting the main portion of our documentary.

I’m a researcher and strategist by trade.  So of course, I studied and thoughtfully planned out what I hope would be the “best” way to prepare for the Big Flip’s crowd-funding campaign.  And one of the most critical elements for success, is to build and nurture a thoughtful and engaging relationship with audiences beforehand.

THE BIG FLIP’S SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

Big caveat: we don’t think we have THE plan for success. Social media is largely about experimentation, failing, learning, and trying again!  But we find that having a plan allows us to prioritize and focus our energies, and remember what we want to achieve—even as we adapt and adjust our tactics in execution.

So here it is—our strategy with commentary in the footnotes for those who want to use this as a guide and template for their own efforts.

Open source this! Social media strategy for crowdfunding—Big Flip example from Izzy Chan

BEFORE STARTING: CONTENT TO SHOWCASE OUR VISION AND PASSION

“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” ~Edison

“Content is king”—overused line by social media gurus, but no less true.  And especially so when you’re paving the way to a crowdfunding event.  Content is your proof of concept.

Even more important, it’s proof of dedication and commitment.  Ideas are cheap.  But the passion, tenacity, and drive to painstakingly bring a vision to life—that’s rare, and proof of a team you want to invest in.

That’s why we did test-shoots with 6 families in 3 cities.  If we can’t invest in ourselves—make time to scout for and find good candidates, make sacrifices and scrap together “seed” money to do a test shoot, pull the late nights to edit together engaging teaser reels—how can we expect others to invest in us?

WE SHARE OURS, YOU SHARE YOURS!

Now that we’ve opened our kimono to share our thinking, share yours with us!  Where you have experiences, ideas or expertise that could help us make our approach better—we’d love it if you would share your thoughts and comments.