LinkedIn

[Dave Courvoisier 702.610.6288]

Hi folks...  you've probably wondered about this yourself, or seen discussions about it before.

Do you know of anyone who is/was successful in turning LInkedIn contacts into job opportunities in voiceover?

I'd love to at least get a hint of how that's done, without stealing trade secrets, of course. 

I've been amassing oodles of contacts, and I might as well take some advantage from that.

Hope all is good in your world!

Dave C

Dave Courvoisier, Voice Actor
Las Vegas, NV
702-610-6288
e-mail: Cou...@CourVO.com
My Demos:  http://www.CourVO.com
My Blog: http://www.CourVO.biz
Visit my site on your cell phone: www.CourVO.mobi
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CourVO
SKYPE: COURVO
ISDN & Source-Connect

[Liz de Nesnera 973-610-2019]

Hey Dave,

I have been successful turning a LinkedIn NON-Contact into a gig!

Here is what I did:

- Went to "Answers" & looked up voiceovers
- Saw a question that I wanted to answer, but it was older & already closed.
- I did see that another person had answered the question really well, and pretty much the way I would have.
- So I sent her a message (again, I didn't know her) just thanking her for the great answer and asked he whether she'd like to connect.
- She said yes...and...here's the kicker:

THE NEXT DAY she CALLED me because she had a need for a French VO for a large IVR job and wanted to submit my demo to her client.
- I said SURE!
- Her client loved my sound :-)
- I booked the job.

So yes, I can say that if it wasn't for my searching LinkedIn "Questions & Answers" and my being pro-active by asking this person to connect, I probably would not have found this person and would have missed out on a nice paying gig.
The thing is I wasn't asking her for anything. I was thanking her for something that she wrote.

So that's my story! Hope it helps!

Peace!

Liz

Liz de Nesnera
Bilingual English/French Voice Talent
'C'est la Voix!'
Reservoir Road Productions
973-610-2019
l...@hireliz.com
English & French Demos:
http://www.hireliz.com/
SaVoa #07037
BLOG: http://blog.hireliz.com

[Peter Drew]

Hi, Dave, et al:

 

Liz's experience is how social networking works from the reading I've been doing and

experiences of others I've been hearing about.

 

Just read an article that explains that "social" networking means just that.  You have

to become a friendly, trusted, well-known quantity in a online social group before you

even think about pitching something, no matter how soft the pitch is.  Sincerely

interact with the online group.  Offer advice, answer questions, be sincerely complimentary

as Liz was, ask questions.  Prove that you're more than someone looking for a gig.

 

In other words, it's the way face to face socializing works.  No one likes going to a party,

being introduced to someone, and then immediately get pitched by your new found

acquaintance.

 

Everyone knows that a lot of high level business is done in a social setting on the golf

course at a country club.  Well, for us less well-heeled folks, online social sites can be

our country clubs.  Be a good egg and people respond.

 

Liz is also correct in locating and joining relevant groups on social sites.  Ones that

buy our services.  Frequent them and contribute.

 

I've done a little of this, but have yet to pick up business from it, but, again, from my

research, Liz is doing it right.

 

Now, anyone for a virtual martini at the 19th hole?

 

Cheers,

Peter Drew
Peter Drew Voiceovers
Voiceovers for all electronic media
Delivery via ISDN/MP3/CD/DAT
860-291-9476
http://www.peterdrewvo.com

[Bobbin Beam]

Hey Dave & Hello All,
I know for a fact that Chris Wagner is really involved at LinkedIn,
and in fact was the one who initially told me about it about 1.5 years
ago. Then this week there was an article by Gabby Nistico on page 27
of Julie William's monthly e-zine, "Voiceover Insider" about this very
topic.

The short story is, talent spending time on social sites meeting other
talent is not maximizing the potential benefits, when talent should
be finding and meeting clients and potential clients involved in the
industry, ie. audio & video producers, creative directors, etc. who
are directly hiring talent.
Gabby says you should be spending about 5 hours/week updating your
profiles on LinkedIn, Elance and Guru, introducing yourself,
initiating discussions, asking questions, etc.

Download the e-zine for the full article:
http://voice-overs.com/FEB09VOI.pdf.

All the Best,
Bobbin Beam, Voice Actress

[Mandy Nelson]

Peter, make mine a margarita and I'm there!

On the contribution note, make sure you are contributing something
worthy to these groups. Just saying, "I agree" won't really get you
anywhere. If they are talking about X,Y & Z and you have a good
knowledge of Y then you can contribute.

That's all I've got.

Cheers,
~mandy

--
Mandy Nelson
Dandysound
www.dandysound.com
(508) 410-9754

[Peter Drew]

Hadn't seen the article by Gabrielle Nistico, Bobbin.
Thanks for the link and for two sites I'm not on--
Elance and Guru.

Peter Drew
Peter Drew Voiceovers
Voiceovers for all electronic media
Delivery via ISDN/MP3/CD/DAT
860-291-9476
http://www.peterdrewvo.com

-----Original Message-----
From: voice-...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:voice-...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of Bobbin Beam
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 2:25 PM
To: Voice Actors
Subject: [Voice Actors] Re: LinkedIn

[Peter Drew]

Margarita? Sure, Mandy, no problem.

As for your note about contributing, very true, indeed.

Peter Drew
Peter Drew Voiceovers
Voiceovers for all electronic media
Delivery via ISDN/MP3/CD/DAT
860-291-9476
http://www.peterdrewvo.com

-----Original Message-----
From: voice-...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:voice-...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of Mandy Nelson
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 4:05 PM
To: Peter Drew
Cc: voice-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Voice Actors] Re: LinkedIn

[Bobbin Beam]

Oh yea, I forgot....I'll have a Cosmo. ;)

[Kitzie Stern]

Hi everyone,

 

I’ve been enjoying social networking, but have been using it mainly for fun & to promote the New World Kirtan website & podcast.  The NWK site is a labor of love, but it also is a social networking experiment around extending my brand into other areas.  No jobs have resulted yet, but we’ve only been up for 2 months.  I’ll let you guys know how it’s working.

 

Bobbin, thanks for the link to the article.  I think Gabby is right in saying social networking is great, but not if you’re singing to the choir (so to speak).  We should be spending time on LinkedIn finding the people who can hire us & engaging them in conversation.  I haven’t done that yet, but it’s next on my list.  Right after taxes.

 

 

Kitzie