Anyone that’s spent time tackling promotion of their work via various social media outlets knows it can be a time intensive pain. Thousands of animators on Facebook have all started with that basic question… where do you start? You can create a profile or group page for your work and without the proper outreach it’ll sit there lifelessly passed over. Now you have the usual options of tracking like minded profiles and groups and connecting in to post your opinions (and self promotion) aaand Facebook would love for you to commit a little cash for ads to pimp your latest as option number two. But if you’re a relatively unknown entity you’ve got an uphill battle ahead. Here are three examples that work for all the right reasons. Shane Ackers new feature “9” launched a viral campaign a few months back under the group profile “9 Scientist”. The weekly updates share tidbits of background, cool tech and build anticipation for the film incredibly well. The scientist will answer questions and shares his fears, as chaos on the page will presumably build until the films release on 9-9-09. I’ve gushed endlessly on this site about Pascal Campion and his beautiful illustrations and animation on his website but he’s such a great addition to Facebook. Just about every morning you can expect a new inspired illustration from Pascal on your FB home page. And I can only imagine the hordes of people that will discover the rest of his work as his profile continues to spread. Finally… my two new favorite friends on Facebook… Dis Baman and Dis Piderman. Add them both and you can witness the glory of these two having a chat with each other on your daily feed. Brilliant! I’ll link to Alex Buterleria's video below so you’ll have a better appreciation before you visit.
I’m sure there are countless others out there challenging the Facebook platform specifically with inventive ways of spreading their work. If you’ve got a dynamite example let us know. All three of these strategies above are obviously time intensive but none of them really feel forced and they’re all accumulating something most cookie cutter profiles can’t, invested friends and fans.