Why Social Media Is Not Necessary for a Successful Acting Career

I know I’m probably going to be attacked for saying this, but here goes: Forget about social media if you want to get booked solid with acting work.

I once spoke with one of my 1-Hr Career Audit clients, and she was very distressed.

I asked, “What would you say is your current biggest challenge?”

She said, “Well, these days everyone is telling me to get on social media. But I’m in my sixties and I don’t like all this technology. Back in the ’80s and ’90s, if I did a great job and was right for the part, I’d book it.

Nowadays, people keep telling me I’ll have no chance if I’m not consistent on social media. How do I manage all that without getting overwhelmed?”

By the end of our meeting, she had just two simple tweaks to take care of with her social media profiles:

Make sure they’re up to date with her current headshots.

Delete anything embarrassing or unprofessional from them.

That’s it! No need to worry about posting every day, commenting on things, sending messages, etc.

Social Media Is Not Mandatory for a Successful Acting Career

Key Insights:

Update your social media profiles with current headshots: Maintain an up-to-date and professional online presence, ensuring your headshots are current and removing any unprofessional content.

Update your social media profiles with current headshots: Prioritize acting skills and relationships over social media: Focus on improving your acting technique and building valuable, genuine relationships with industry insiders rather than stressing over social media following and activity.

Update your social media profiles with current headshots: Engage in genuine networking: Attend networking events, both virtual and in-person, to make real connections within the industry. Follow up with contacts through direct communication methods like email or postcards rather than relying solely on social media interactions.

Update your social media profiles with current headshots: Understand the limited role of social media for casting: Recognize that while having a large social media following may have some benefits, most casting directors prioritize talent and suitability for the role over online popularity.

Update your social media profiles with current headshots: Develop a targeted strategy for visibility: Aim to become “famous” to the right people in the industry by nurturing a few deep connections that can lead to opportunities, rather than trying to gain widespread but superficial recognition.

Is social media important for actors?

The truth is, if you don’t enjoy social , you can stop worrying about it. It’s not nearly as critical as most people or your fellow actors say.

Just because many successful actors have a large social media presence doesn’t mean that social presence was what helped them get there. Sure it’s a powerful tool for actors and can get more entertainment industry eyeballs on you at once, but as the saying goes, “Correlation does not equal causation.”

A large social presence is often the byproduct of a successful acting career — not the other way around.

If you dislike social media and social media marketing, you can take a deep breath and relax. I’ve spoken to many casting directors over the years and most of them don’t care about how many followers you have or how often you post. Contrary to popular belief, industry professionals are unlikely to base their decision on who to hire from social unless you have over 50,000 followers or have embarrassing and offensive social media content on your page.

No matter how viral your posts go, your social channels will not help you if you don’t answer casting calls, take an acting class or have a long-term strategy in place as a professional actor. Going viral from posts about your latest blog post so that you can bypass auditions are not realistic career goals.

Your overarching goal to achieve a successful acting career should be to create valuable relationships with industry insiders and become the best actor possible, not create larger followings with no target audience in mind on a popular platform. Building an online presence is nice, but if you can’t act, it won’t help your career. Your industry peers aren’t always going to be active users, so it’s best to meet them in real life.

Social Media is a Sales Tactic for Your Brand as an Actor

Why do so many people say to be active on social?

One word: Sales.

This isn’t always the case, and some products and services are genuinely helpful, but there are plenty that aren’t.

The number of social media followers you have is unlikely to be the deciding factor on whether a legitimate production picks you. Some indie films will want to bring you on if you’ve got a large social media following, but at the end of the day, most good casting directors make their decisions based on talent and how right you are for the role.

The sad truth about social is that spending too much time writing social media posts can hurt you because it takes you away from spending time on what really matters: technique and genuine networking.

Genuine Networking vs. Fake Networking

Posting photos for the sake of having profile photos, posting random information about your personal life, what you’ve been working on lately in your professional life and writing fake comments just to stay “top-of-mind” and get yourself “out there” is not going to help you in the long run.

It’s better to attend networking events (virtually and in-person) and meet real people with the overarching goal of making a genuine connection. Once you have their contact details you can stay top-of-mind by touching base with them directly instead of getting lost in their social feed. The best way to access industry professionals is the old-fashioned way.

Hundreds of likes or followers do not equal hundreds of dollars in real acting work.

From the thousands of actors I’ve worked with since 2009, I’ve found that a successful acting career is NOT based on getting your name in front of as many people as possible. Counterintuitively, it’s based on getting your name in front of just a few key people. It’s a strategy I call “Becoming Famous… To Just the Right People.”

When you create deep, genuine connections with just a few people and you do your best to stand out to them, they WILL remember you, and they WILL give you opportunities.

It doesn’t matter what method you use to create and nurture those genuine connections. If you love social media, great! Plan your social media strategy, pick your favorite platform and use it to keep in touch with the few casting directors or agents who can help you reach your goals. Just understand that this is not going to help your acting career if you haven’t had proper training or professional headshots.

And if you don’t like social media? No problem. Just use email (or even send postcards). But either way, the key is to be genuine with every message you send.

A Successful Acting Career Is Built on Two Things (and Social Media Isn’t One of Them)

I’ve grown my business to hundreds of paying clients per month and my social media presence is pathetic. I‘m not very active on social media but there are thousands of actors on my mailing list who read and engage with my content. I’ve done all this with an impressive 58 followers on X (at the time of the article’s publication date).

At the end of the day, true acting success is built on hard work, consistency and a mastery of just two things: technique and genuine networking. Not your online presence.

Social media a powerful marketing tool, but it’s just one way to create those genuine connections, but by no means is it the only one. Set proper career goals, trust the casting process, grow as an actor and meet industry peers in real life. If you focus on those goals, your fanbase will grow organically.
Good luck on your acting journey!