Social networking websites are great new venues for filmmakers to promote their films and themselves. In my own personal and professional life, I use Facebook, which I’ll discuss here, along with LinkedIn and TribeHollywood, which I’ll cover next time.

Previously, I discussed email and film-specific websites as helpful tools for indie filmmakers to promote and/or distribute their work. Social networking sites combine aspects of these tools along with other elements into what can be very powerful forms of communication. Sites like Facebook are constantly and globally available for free, sophisticated yet easy to use, and have millions of users. You can instantly distribute email- or Twitter-like messages, join or create groups of people with shared interests, and add anyone on the site directly to your page (with their permission). One simple Facebook page can be an ecosystem of exchange between yourself and the world around you.

OK, but how exactly can sites like Facebook help filmmakers? Before getting into details, I’d first encourage thinking of social networking sites beyond the confines of discrete tasks or goals, such as promoting a DVD release. While they can help with such tasks, they may be even more useful for long-term development and interaction with communities interested in you and your work—general audiences and fans as well as peers, clients, employers, and friends. In an industry built on relationships, social networking sites can be valuable for developing and benefitting from those relationships over the long term.

And now some details.

One successful indie filmmaker I know has two Facebook pages: a personal profile and another for his production company; each page connects to the pages of about 1,000 other people and numerous groups on the site. On his personal profile page he often posts comments and other material (like photos), and dialogues with people on various topics usually related to his work. His company page has descriptive info about the company and his films including photos, trailers, links to publicity articles, TV and festival screening info, and a list of awards he has won. From the company page, he sends invitations for screenings and other events to people who are on his page (these messages automatically go to both their pages and email accounts), and encourages them to invite their friends. (After someone RSVPs, Facebook automatically lets that person’s invited friends know, which provides them with added incentive to attend.) Both of his Facebook pages link to his own website, and his Facebook groups put him in touch with many people whom he hasn’t befriended, but who share common interests. Likewise, simply by listing where he has gone to school or worked, he’s plugged into multiple networks.

This filmmaker tailors his Facebook presence to his own interests and needs, which means he sets limits. For him, it would be redundant to add a fan page, or individual Facebook pages for each of his films. Nor does he play the site’s popular trivia games (even the movie ones), or use the optional Movies application that’s something like Facebook-meets-IMDB. Mostly, he uses Facebook for “everyday” personal and professional communication as well as targeted marketing campaigns. This pattern of use is common among many film people I know—directors, actors, writers, producers—who maintain an ongoing presence and promote special events such as screenings, readings, interviews, book signings, and DVD releases. They announce upcoming events and comment on them as they’re happening or afterward. This promotes not only their present work, but also themselves as people who are dynamic, innovative, and savvy about marketing and media technology.

In my own work, the Valley Film Festival’s Facebook page provides news and info about the festival, a searchable membership list, a discussion board, and links to the Festival’s website. At NYU Tisch West, we use our Facebook page in a more limited but vital way—to invite our alumni to screenings. Between these invitations and direct emails to a separate list, we have terrific reach and results with miniscule overhead. Incidentally, our most recent screening was a studio film that has its own Facebook page which, among other things, facilitates sales of the soundtrack by linking to Amazon.

My own Facebook page connects family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and various people I haven’t personally met but would like to. It’s great for keeping in touch, making new contacts, and promoting my work.

Social networking sites are great, though imperfect. One limitation is that the communication is only virtual. However, this less personal approach has various advantages, including expanding and diversifying who we communicate with and how; and it can facilitate actual meetings. Another limitation is that each site has its own exclusive set of users. Like the tree falling in the woods, if someone’s not on a site they may as well not exist. To this, I say diversify: use a few different and carefully chosen sites, not just one; link them to each other; and, most importantly, combine your online outreach with more traditional forms of marketing.

Coming Up: More Social Networking Sites