It is a little after 4am, and I thought… “what a great time to write the blog post that I was not able to get to on Friday”. I took a quick power nap earlier, so I’m full of energy now.
I will start off by saying Thank You for all of you who have supported me in so many ways since I left my job at DreamWorks 5 months ago. Our company Facebook page now has over 900 Likes! I’m getting closer to my 1,000 Likes goal, and I will need all your help to get there.
You may ask why I care so much about the number of Likes I have on Facebook, but a strong social presence is extremely important these days. There are several reasons why I feel this is important. First off it gives me a direct line to people who are interested in what I’m doing with the company, and the work we are doing.
There are a lot of people doing some amazing work out there, and on occasion something goes “viral”. It is not always clear why one thing goes viral and another does not, but having a large social following certainly can help. It all depends on the right people seeing it at the right time, and sharing, and then it getting shared again, and again. If you are not reaching enough, or at least the right people your work may never be seen more then your own social network. The more people that I have a direct link to show our work the greater chance I will have of it being seen by the most people possible.
Another reason is that I would love to one day create my own content, and a popular way of raising money to do that is crowd funding. I have mentioned before about some very successful campaigns where the people raised far more then what they needed. I feel like having a way to communicate directly with people that are interested in your work is a great place to start in raising money, or getting the word out there.
Working in the commercial world it is important to always be bringing in new clients, but finding clients is not always easy. Often calling clients up directly does not seem to get a very good response. I think they have people calling them all the time trying offering their services, so they often put up these walls. A more natural way is for them to “discover” your work. When they find something they like they will reach out to you. Sounds simple enough, but if they never see your work, then don’t expect this to ever work. Once again, having your work being seen by more people you have a greater chance of an agency seeing your work. It also helps if they see that people are interested in your work, and you already have a large following.
So for my small company that does not have much of a marketing budget a strong social network is important. Of course this is only part of the puzzle, but it is not a part you should ignore. So once again thank you for Liking our page, following our blog, and supporting us in any way.
You might be saying “Eric, I have already liked your Facebook page, subscribed to your blog, and following you on twitter, so how else can I help support your company?” Well, I’m glad you asked! You can share with anyone in your network that you think might be interested in what I’m doing with the company. If you like a blog post, please share it on your Facebook wall. If you like a video we made then tweet it to your followers.
In all seriousness, I can’t thank you all enough for reading my blogs, and following along on this journey. It is hard to believe it was only 5 months ago that I left the port of DWA, and set sail on my own. It has been such an exciting voyage so far, and can’t wait to see what is on the horizon.
Last Monday I was invited to attend the DreamWorks Animation’s Home Leadership Dinner. They have these dinners when they are nearing the completion of a film to thank the show’s leadership for all their hard work. I actually was a little shocked when I got the invitation, but was excited that I was able to attend. It was really nice catching up with everyone, and sharing with them my experiences since leaving DWA. Many of them had no idea I started my own company, and were very surprised to find out. Some even thought I was still working at DWA. It was a very fun evening full of stories, reminiscing, and laughter. I really appreciated that they still including me in the celebration. I can’t wait to see how much the movie has changed since I left in July.
If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog. Also, if you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.