Artists using LinkedIn.

So I think it's really important for theatre artists (and artists in general) to market themselves. You must create yourself as a brand, think of what you offer as a product. Sell yourself. Pick the right monologue, pick the right outfit, pick the right paper for your resume. Make yourself stand out and be irresistible.

Since I do social media marketing as my day job, obviously I try to use it as well to market myself. I use my personal Facebook account (I have one for work too, long story) as a way connect with the local Baltimore Theatre scene and know what's going on around town. I tweet about theatre, social media, association stuff, etc. I have a LinkedIn profile as a kind of personal resume for both my theatre stuff and association stuff, I could probably be more specific and create separate profiles for each each... but honestly, I have enough social media profiles to maintain. Anyways, I digress.

So LinkedIn is in a way nothing more than an interactive online resume. So why the hell aren't more theatre artists using it for that?

I just ordered theatre business cards from moo printing with my headshot on one side and my contact info on the other, headshots are too cumbersome to ALWAYS carry around, and I also put my easy to remember LinkedIn URL (http://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnmorton). What an easy way for someone I randomly bump into to view all that I do!

The key is to make it easy for them to remember who you are and what you do.

So basically what I'm saying is sign up for a LinkedIn profile and use it to the best of your ability.