Stop Wasting Time

While only a small percentage (10%) of your social followers will see your updates, emails continue to have an open rate of 50% or more.

H. Hutson & L. Houck

 

Email List 

While only a small percentage (10%) of your social followers will see your updates, emails continue to have an open rate of 50% or more. If there’s something you want your followers to see, you should be building an email list. Likewise, social media platforms fade as time passes (R.I.P. MySpace, Friendster, beebo, et al). Building an email list of followers ensures that you will always be able  to contact your fans when social fads disappear.

One major benefit of creating an email list is that it is almost entirely under your control. There are no algorithms or rules in play. Its sole purpose is to connect with  your audience. Building an email list is the single most powerful way you can build your fanbase and network. 

Going Viral. 

Today, every single person on the planet is a content creator. If they aren’t recording it themselves, their friends and/or parents are. The odds of your created content going viral are slim to none. Going viral is a freaky [phenomenon. Your content must be not only funny and entertaining, it must  also happen in the right place, at the right time over and over again, fooling the “almighty algorithm” 1000x over. Going viral is  unrealistic, and your time could be better spent.  

On the off chance that you do go viral, it’s over in the blink of an eye. Attention spans are limited. Even with an arsenal of great content in the bank, you must connect with people in order to convert them into “followers”. The masses will move on, and you’ll soon be forgotten. 

Short-term success is fleeting, and it certainly doesn’t pay the bills. Build  a solid base of long-term fans/followers.. Find your audience, and connect with them. Forget about pleasing “everyone”. Focus your efforts, plant the seed, water it and watch it grow. Getting followers shouldn’t be your  ultimate goal. Keeping them engaged is far more important. 

Best Comedian In The World

Seriously. Stop it. The world doesn’t need any more people like that. Get over yourself. There are 100’s of equally funny and hard working people out there. Intead, worry about being the funniest person in the room. And the next room. And the room after that. That’s how you get people talking. That’s how you create a buzz and followers. That’s how you get booked. 

Website

Having a website adds one more layer of professionalism to the onion of your comedy career. The nice thing about a personal website is you have total control — there are no algorithms to beat. As long as you can get people there, they will see your content. 

WordPress, Blogspot, GoDaddy, Squarespace . . . there are a ton of great platforms you can use to your advantage when creating your website. If you don’t have time to update your site regularly, include only  generic information — a landing page and some eye-catching content. Outdated content leaves  a bad impression. It’s better to use your website as a search purgatory (where people just look around), than a clear sign that you don’t keep things up to date. 

Facebook Pages

While you are taking the time to grow your followers and fans, you should be doing it in the right space. Having a facebook page allows you to connect with an unlimited amount of people. It’s ideal to  have more than 5,000 followers. Sure, only 1,000 people follow you now, but at some point you must  make the transition. How many people won’t make the leap from your personal page to your fan page?. Even more important than providing you  room to grow, Facebook Pages gives you the ability to run ads and place your content in front of your targeted audiences. For $5, you can run an ad targeting people in (insert city here) who like comedy clubs, and reach 1,000 people or more. Time is money. Stop wasting both.

You’re Not Deleting Your Old Videos.

Do you have videos up from 2015? A 5-minute set from your first contest?  Material from your first year in comedy? Make those videos private. Take them down. They no longer serve you. When bookers/fans search for you on the internet,  they keep clicking. After they find something they like, they want to see what else is there. In most cases they aren’t taking the time to check the date of a video. The video starts, it’s not as good as the content they first watched, and they click off of your page. It is that fast. You have only moments to capture someone’s attention and turn them into a fan. Don’t waste it on stuff you aren’t doing any more. 

You’re Using Hashtags Wrong. 

Although every comedian I know uses hashtags, many of them are not using them to their advantage.  Using a hashtag of a trending topic doesn’t just get your content in front of a larger audience. Think about what kinds of hashtags people are searching. Consumers typically search for broad topics, professions, sports teams, and movies. Narrowing your hashtags helps define your audience. If your audience is too broad, you will have a harder time converting them into followers. Sally Jane sitting at home on her toilet, trying to escape her kids for 5 minutes of peace and quiet is not typing #standupcomedy into her search bar. The only people searching for #standupcomedy are all comedians. However if you’re sharing a joke about single parenting, #singleparent will connect you to a much more specific audience. 

Create one unique hashtag to you and your brand, and  include it in your group of hashtags. This allows people to find your content quickly if they want to follow you. Stay away from things that don’t make sense to people who don’t know you. A nonfan, who wants to learn more, is less likely to click on #rayrayokayokay than they are #ComedianRayRay.

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