Audience-Building 101: Step-by-Step Guide from IndieGoGo

TO PROJECTS: If funders appeared out of nowhere, we could all just go back to making films.  But alas they don't!  The good news is that now you have the DIWO tools on IndieGoGo to reach new fans and mobilize them into funders.   Use clear Calls-To-Action (contribute, share, comment, etc.), and ask your fans to do the same too.  To get started, go to your project profile (how to create one) and start sharing!

TO FANS & FUNDERS:  With a few clicks, you help bring projects to life.  Pick a perk, fund and share your favorite projects with others who'd want to be involved as well.

Invite Friends:  Email your friends, family, and acquaintances using the email invite tool.  Every time you meet someone or present to a group of people, get their email addresses.  Email is your foundation. 

GoGoWidget:  Pick a GoGoWidget, place it on blogs, websites, and put it in your email signature.  It's an easy share tool for bloggers, organizations (website & newsletters) and forums too.

Facebook:  Login via Facebook Connect and publish your IndieGoGo activity to your Facebook newsfeeds.  Now folks never have to leave Facebook to discover your project and take action.

Social Media:  Spread the word with social media tools built into your project profile and encourage your fans to do the same.  Post to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, and Yahoo Buzz! 

Take it to Influencers:  Go to bloggers, organizations and forums whose readers are already discussing topics your film addresses.  Tell them your story, ask their opinions, and encourage them share it with their followers if there seems to be a fit.

Fresh Content & Announcements:  Turn your viewers into promoters.  Maintain fresh content (videos, images, etc) and keep your project's community updated by posting announcements, which they'll automatically receive via email.

Maximize IndieGoGo:  Check out IndieGoGo's Resources for more tools.

DIWO (Do-It-With-Others!):  Projects achieve success on IndieGoGo by Doing-It-With-Others.  Check out IndieGoGo's DIWO Tips, DIWO Discussion Forums and DIWO Interviews for more ideas.

Comments

[Brian Rowe]

Some info on our project:

We are gearing up to produce a feature film with a $5 million budget. Everything is set as far as Hollywood professionals in front and behind the camera complete with signed letters of intent. Without getting too far into detail we have a production team that has worked on Entourage, Bug, Secretary, Senior Skip Day, The Wonder Years and Party of Five just to name a few. Our writer/director already has written and produced a major feature film as well as produced two other major features in the past two years.

We are currently in serious negotiations with multiple investors and venture capitalists, as well as Honda and Pepsi for product integration. Lionsgate and Dark Castle Entertainment have shown distribution interest in the project and our sales representatives successfully had six studios bidding on our last feature, which was sold and distributed successfully (including the DVD and television rights as well).

Let me know if there is mutual interest on your end and I would be happy to set a call to discuss this project with you further.

Best,

Brian Rowe
bcooperowe@gmail.com