Bret Shuford 0:08
Hey there, welcome back to the creative visibility Podcast. I'm Bret Shuford, the creative life coach. And today we're gonna have a real heart to heart hear about what it means to be an influencer. And the way that being an influencer is perceived versus the reality of it. As well as the way influencer is sort of received by people within the entertainment industry. Because I think it's a very controversial issue. Within my experience of the theatrical community. I think that we all have misconceptions around not only what it means to be an actor, but what it means to be a content creator and slash an influencer. So this episode is going to help you dive deep, make a decision about what you want to do, what next steps you want to take. And also maybe even clarify some goals that maybe you've had in the back of your head, and have been sitting back waiting to take action on because I know for me, when I started really owning my passion for social media, I was kind of embarrassed. So a little history about me is I love people. I love technology. I'm definitely and you know, if you're this person you are meant to be in my life. I'm the person in my family that always set up the new technology, the new DVD player or VCR even as a kid like I was that guy, I could figure out the remote control. And especially with computers, I was obsessed with our Tandy 2000, from Radio Shack holla children from the 80s. And I really want to sort of embrace social media as a as a unfolded with MySpace. And then of course, Friendster, there was one, no one else is actually ever acknowledged, this social media website, it was called connection connects young with an ex connection. I remember I was single and in my 20s, and it had the hottest guys, I went on the hottest dates with people there. But I also went on dates with some of the craziest people that I think that's just dating in general, and also New York City, slash, there's a really, really good story, but maybe I'll save it for another video. Anyway, what I found very interesting is that if you embrace social media, within the theatre industry, that somehow you were sacrificing, being an artist, that's I think, mostly because social media, the people who grew their following on social media, like the Kim Kardashians, they're sort of seen as people that don't have an artistic skill, you're not being recognized for your skill, your talent, like you are in theater, you either have the talent of being a great singer, or a great dancer, or a great actor, and you're recognized for it. And you earn that through hard work through building relationships through, you know, doing the hustle of auditioning and all the sacrifice that you take that comes with that. And so I think, you know, historically social media influencers, as that title has become known, are sort of seen as these entitled, people who built their following on nothing. And that in our industry, the theater industry, you are expected to sacrifice you hustle, you wait in those non equity lines, and you earn your equity card, and you will go from the chorus to the understudy to the you know, whatever, all the BS that we tell ourselves, which none of it has to be true, because rule number one in any creative industries, there are no rules. We've all seen people go from small time to big time overnight. And yes, it does require a lot of work. But I would even argue that, you know, Kim Kardashian works pretty damn hard herself, even though like she's not my target audience, right. She's not the person I really want to achieve to become, but I also see it evolving and changing. And one of the very interesting things for me was in 2016, I booked wasn't my fifth musical on Broadway. It was called Parramatta, Cirque du Soleil, paramour, and I want to do a whole I actually really have an idea to write a book about that whole experience because honestly, there's and less stories I mean, and less story every day. We rehearse for five months, I would come home from rehearsal with at least five stories about what happened that one day for Steven, so when Paramore finally opened I was like you know what, eff it like I loved. Miranda Sings I loved Todrick halls content
Bret Shuford 5:00
I really loved following a lot of people on Instagram at that point. This was 2015 2016. And so I'd been on Instagram since it started in 2010. So I've been on there for about five years, and was pretty consistent. I made a lot of dub smashes because this is previous to tic tock man, if tic tock had existed, then I probably would be huge on tick tock, because I was dubs smashing all the time. But of course, now I go back and look at the quality of those Dubsmash videos, they're not very good. And so trying to share them on tick tock, doesn't really make much sense. But anyway, I digress. I made a commitment that year, you know what, I'm going to grow YouTube channel, because I was consuming. And this is something you've probably heard me say before, you want to create more than you consume. And I was consuming much more than I was creating. And I was like, eff this. I'm tired of giving all these people my attention, I'm going to figure this out. So I made this commitment that you're to work on building my YouTube channel. And that meant a commitment to making a video a week. And so every week, I would record some videos. And these are all still on my YouTube channel. If you want to go back and look and find them. Mostly it was in my dressing room backstage, putting on my makeup, and I would just vlog I would just talk about what was happening. And then I decided, oh, maybe I'll make a series of videos. And I would do four series a month. One was what I called BretFlix, like BretFlix, and chill Netflix. And I would try to do a music video or some sort of scripted content or because I really wanted to be known as a creator who, I just loved Todrick halls videos so much, even though like some of his humor is not mine, or his taste isn't mine, which is I think one thing I want to encourage you is like, just because somebody tastes isn't yours, doesn't mean you can't gather inspiration from what they're doing, because they're clearly doing something right. And I loved how Todd drinks content, like he would just take an idea and just get the right people together and make it happen. So I decided, Okay, I'm going to do a series, I'm going to call Brett flicks, and then I'm going to do something with my husband, Steven, and we're going to do a vlog series and I would call it first we'd had something going on called Five things where we would just pick five things that we liked about a movie or about, you know, something else. But then I was like,
Bret Shuford 7:23
what if we start something called Broadway husbands inspired by this guy in paramour who he and his fiance split up, but they were using the hashtag Broadway husbands and I was like, I like that they're no longer together, I'm gonna use that hashtag. In fact, I have actually thanked Reed Kelly, for giving me that, and no one had the handle on Instagram. So I grabbed the handle, grab the Broadway husbands on YouTube. And then I had a vlog, of course that I did. And then I always did, since original content, probably husbands. And then I always did something that was specific to I called it Broadway life where I would interview somebody who was in a Broadway show at the time, about their experience of getting cast in the role or their experience of what that role was. So that's really fun, too. So if you ever get a chance to go back through my YouTube channel, and check that out, I just this year and 22. And, by the way, my friend said the other day, let's not say 2022, let's just say 22, so that we're not always saying 22 money. So this year 22, I've made a commitment to making a YouTube video a week again, but this time and being much more strategic around the content. This is something we will talk about, of course in a later video in understanding social media platforms, understanding that while I thought YouTube was a streaming platform, it's a search engine, right, understanding keywords and how to maximize it. This is something I run into a lot of clients who, like I made a video or even I went to an audition and I didn't get it. It's like it just doesn't work that way, you have to understand the operating procedures, the standard operating procedures and whatever it is you're trying to achieve. Anyway, so I threw myself into this. I made a video a week, and then probably husband sort of branched off of that. And before we knew it, I started getting invited to things right. I was super surprised, by the way that I would reach out to press agents at Broadway shows and say I'd love to interview this star or this person for my YouTube series. And they would let me because a I was in the industry. I mean, I had credibility, right? So it wasn't just some random person asking to go backstage but be it helped them and helped grow awareness of the show of the brand of the person. So always understanding that you don't have to have a huge following. I think even at that time I maybe had 200 YouTube subscribers now I don't even have that many I only have like 2300 YouTube subscribers at this point, but Even with that, you know, I was able to make connections and establish myself within the industry as a leader. And more than anything, it wasn't even about getting into the right rooms, it was about showing up consistently. So the number one thing I hope anyone who wants to be a content creator, anyone who wants to be an actor, it is just about continuing to show up no matter what, even when you don't want to even when you're frustrated, and you're disappointed, because it is your job. And if you don't, the way you do anything, is the way you do everything. So if you don't show up, even when you don't want to be there, you're going to never get the results that you want. And I've learned that over and over again in so many different ways. But the biggest frustration I had was, as we became influencers, right, as Steven and I would get invited to events that we would show up, and it would be a lot of like, mommy bloggers, which is not a bad thing. But my perception of that is yes, they probably make money. Now it is a lot of work, creating content publishing, going and shooting video shooting,
Bret Shuford 11:07
if you're good at shooting photos, and writing out the blog posts and publishing them consistently. It is a lot of work, negotiating brand deals and sponsorships recording a podcast Hello. But I would go and think we're actors. Like I want to be working as an actor. I want to be working collaboration with artists. And I was always afraid I get lumped in with this influencer crowd. But I also recognize that by being there, we were shifting what that is, right? What if, instead of going, Oh, I don't want to be lumped in with these people I was going it's cool that I'm lumped in with these people. Because what if I could encourage this mom to make going to the theater, part of her blog, going to the ballet going to the symphony supporting the arts, as opposed to just shopping cute outfits, because that's really what so much of this idea of an influencer has started out as as people who just show off their outfits like it to know it, purchase it. But our goal has always been to show that a career in the arts a life in the arts is possible, and inspire people to support the arts in as many ways as possible, which, of course, is challenging during COVID times. So number one, I think it was just really, really understanding that it's about consistency and showing up. The second thing that I think is really important in learning is like I was mentioning earlier is understanding the platform, you're choosing to be on what I think that misconception for a lot of actors who who want to use social media to grow their awareness of them as an actor, as a brand, as a performer, as they think they need to be present on as many platforms as possible. And that's just not true. Because each platform basically has its own language. So trying to learn Italian, French, Japanese and Chinese all at the same time. It's just never gonna happen. What you want to do is focus on one platform and really understanding the language of that platform. So if it's Instagram, just get really good at Instagram, I talked about this in another episode where you know, I want you to dominate, not dabble. But YouTube is its own language. So understanding keywords like putting video on YouTube, and then expecting people just to randomly find it, it's just not going to happen, you're going to be very disappointed. But if you're carefully researching your audience in your niche, maybe we'll do a separate episode about niche and understanding what a niche is how to find your niche. But understanding that content creation is especially if you're an actor, and you're trying to build a create a personal brand. It's about consistency. It's about knowing your audience. And it's about knowing the platform that you're on so that you can maximize that. And a lot of times that's just as simple as looking what other people are doing. So I realize once brought once I realized probably husbands was a brand that was going to grow and become a recognizable brand. I started looking at other gay couple Instagram accounts and seeing what they were doing. So I noticed a few things on Instagram that they were doing that I started to do. They were tagging, what they call, you know, feature accounts. Future accounts aren't necessarily accounts owned by one certain brand. These are Instagram accounts that take other people's content that are relevant to a niche, and they reshare that content. So I was noticing a couple accounts were tagging certain feature accounts, one would be like queer T. One would be the gay magazines, or one was called gays was stories. If they were dads, they were tagging other accounts, right. So I was just looking at what they were doing. And same thing with actor accounts. Were they tagging the photographers? Were they wearing certain clothes and tagging those brands? Were they tagging locations like just observing what are the hashtags there? Using, what kind of stories are the telling in the captions, and I would try to just gather inspiration and replicate my own version of that,
Bret Shuford 15:08
I would take it and go, Okay, if that was me, I'd probably put on a Disney shirt instead of a country shirt or whatever, right. And I would spin that around and make it make it so that it had more of my personality to it, but seeing what was working. And that started to grow our account in such a way that brands recognized us. The feature accounts would repost and share our stuff, which is really how you grow is through collaborations, I would then DM other accounts or gay counts and introduce ourselves and say, Hey, like, we're a couple, we want to do this, we want to be content creators, tell us how you did it, we would have meetings, we would go live, we would offer to help in whatever ways we could. So being an influencer isn't necessarily about the amount of followers you have. It isn't necessarily about sacrificing your art. So that you can be this commercial entity. I believe that, you know, influence is really about being willing to show up consistently, grow your audience, through engagement doesn't mean size, necessarily, but grow strength, those strengthen those relationships, and being willing to be seen and be visible. So getting over a lot of that, and especially now, because I always thought acting was always my full time income. But what is fascinating, you know, sort of transitioning away from being a full time actor, which was out of necessity, because the pandemic, to being a content creator is is, is that I've really created multiple streams of income, I'm still acting, but I also have my coaching business I created, which is probably my primary income right now, like Stevens ballet teaching is his primary income, then we get brand deals, then we get affiliates, right. So we make some money from affiliates, we make some money from ads on YouTube. So it really is about being able to diversify. And if you're an actor and your storyteller, or your Creator, like it's already in you, but the fear and the resistance is always going to become around how you're going to be perceived by others. And I'm here to tell you that once I let go of how people perceived me, and I just embrace my passion for this, I know like at any moment, if I want to, I can call my agent and say I want to get an audition and that is always going to be there. But now I'm my own boss, I'm supporting our life, we're having a baby. Those are all things that wouldn't be possible if I hadn't embraced my passion for this. And I wouldn't even be at this point. If I hadn't just gotten curious in 2015 2016, about what it entails, what does it take to just give it a try and see what happens? So that is my goal, or my challenge for you this year? What could you commit to for a year just for the year to doing every week, so that you can become visible so that you can master this skill? Doesn't mean you put everything aside. But let's say you add just making a video a week, even if it's imperfect, or you just make a reel a day on Instagram, what could you do? Oh, by the way, go to my YouTube channel, there is an Instagram reels tutorial coming out that's going to teach you how to make an Instagram reels in 10 minutes. I promise. It doesn't have to take as long as you think it does. Let me know if this is helpful. Make sure you subscribe to this podcast and check out the show notes for a link to check out this whole slew of videos coming out on YouTube. I would love to see you there and keep being courageous and creative
