Mary-Louise Parker Says: “Join the Club!”
Trouble rallying friends for book club? Mary-Louise Parker invites indie film lovers across the country to rally during PBS broadcasts of Independent Lens under #ILDocClub on twitter. Join the conversation each week with fresh reactions from viewers and some of the most provocative independent filmmakers on the planet.
Tweetback from Donor Unknown via #ILDocClub
Week two of the new Independent Lens #ILDocClub took off last night on twitter, during the PBS broadcast of Donor Unknown.
Be sure to join the conversation next time you’re watching Independent Lens on PBS. For now, scroll through some of the chatter from this week’s episode, below…
Follow @independentlens on twitter for regular updates
Fan Independent Lens on Facebook
Tweetback from Wham! Bam! Islam! via #ILDocClub
The 10th season of Independent Lens kicked off last night with filmmaker Isaac Solotaroff’s Wham! Bam! Islam! Fans tuned in to watch the journey of THE 99 creator Naif Al-Mutawa and shared their thoughts online, as part of Independent Lens’ new film club at #ILDocClub.
Be sure to join the conversation next time you’re watching Independent Lens on PBS. For now, scroll through some of the chatter from this week’s episode, below…
First Up on IL: Wham! Bam! Islam!
The 10th season of Independent Lens kicks off this Thursday, October 13 at 10PM (check local listings) with Isaac Solotaroff’s documentary Wham! Bam! Islam!
The film follows Kuwaiti psychologist Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa as he battles to launch a comic series with 99 superheroes based on the 99 virtues of Allah.
Viewers should check out the filmmaker’s recent interview available on the Independent Lens blog.
Plus, check out the video, after the jump, from the subject and filmmaker of Wham! Bam! Islam!
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Introducing the New Independent Lens Film Club (#ILDocClub)
This week, Independent Lens introduced its own documentary club on twitter #ILDocClub. The tag will be used to generate live chatter from around the country during the show’s national broadcast on PBS.
Here’s how it works: Wham Bam Islam! is premiering Thursday at 10pm on most PBS stations (check here to see when it is on in your area). While you watch, or after you’ve watched, fire up Twitter and start tweeting about the film using the hashtag #ILDocClub. (It helps to be following the show too: @IndependentLens).
Independent Lens staff will be there to ask and answer questions, along with Wham Bam Islam!’s director Isaac Solotaroff (@WhamBamIslam). Join the chat this Thursday for a great conversation about the film, comics, Islam in Western society and culture, and whatever else you’re interested in.
Sign up this week and get in the habit of not just watching acclaimed documentaries but discussing them with other indie lovers, filmmakers, and everyonne in between…
See you on Twitter!
100,000+ Fans Can’t Be Wrong
Interested in raising your web presence? This past week the Independent Lens Facebook page reached and passed the 100,00 fan milestone. IL’s Managing Editor Brooke Shelby Biggs has been making her social media best practices available in a series of BTB posts. You can find a roundup of those offerings below:
On Social Media, Quality Trumps Quantity
How to measure and maintain quality followers on social media.
Use Geo-Targeting Early and Often
How to geo-target relevant information to your Facebook community.
To Tweet or Not to Tweet?
How to setup and leverage your twitter account.
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On Social Media, Quality Trumps Quantity
Managing Editor of Independent Lens Brooke Shelby Biggs explains how to measure and maintain quality followers on social media.
When you’re just starting out in social media, your focus is going to be on garnering as many fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter as you can. There are tried-and-true ways of accomplishing this, the most effective being (assuming you have a small marketing budget) using Facebook advertising, openly asking fans to share your posts, retweeting others and asking them to retweet you, and holding contests.
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To Tweet or Not to Tweet?
Managing Editor of Independent Lens Brooke Shelby Biggs shares best tips on how to setup and leverage your twitter account.
So far in this series we’ve focused on Facebook strategies, and that’s because Facebook, when used optimally, has finer controls and options. But Twitter deserves your attention too, whether you are a station, a studio, or a producer.
Yes Twitter is more akin to a sledgehammer than to Facebook’s dull knife, but there is potential to engage a completely different group on Twitter and network with similar people, target particular interest groups, and even drum up buzz for promotions, premieres, funding initiatives, and plenty more.
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Mastering the Facebook Fundamentals
By Brooke Shelby Biggs
Managing Editor of Independent Lens Brooke Shelby Biggs runs through some best practices on how to create and maintain an effective Facebook page.
One of the biggest mistakes people make with Facebook is presuming that their page (for a program or a station or a film) is basically an online brochure for the brand. In fact, your Facebook page is much, much more than that — it’s an information source, a conversation, a customer service center, and a content platform. Getting the most out of your Facebook page requires attention to detail, especially at the beginning. Here are a few basic rules when you’re starting out:
• Post enough, but not too much. Posting on a Facebook page is a delicate dance. You don’t want to be so quiet that people forget about you, but you don’t want to be such a blowhard that they tune you out (hide your posts from their newsfeed or “Unlike” you). Once or twice a day seems to be the sweet spot for new pages. Opinions and research differ on the optimal times of day to post, but it is common wisdom that you’ll do best if you space your posts out liberally.
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First Things First: Pick the Right Platform
By Brooke Shelby Biggs
We will be offering weekly tips for independent filmmakers and public media entities on getting the most out of social media. Visit BTB Thursdays for some good advice for your Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking strategies.
No matter if you are a filmmaker, a station, or a public media brand, the very first place to start is by creating (or switching to) a Facebook page. Note, I say page, and not group or profile. This is an absolutely crucial distinction.
A Facebook profile is designed to be the outward-facing real estate for an individual human being. In fact, brands that use profiles rather than pages are in violation of Facebook’s terms. While Facebook has not yet shut down brands using profiles, they have made clear that it is within their rights to do so, and it’s not worth the risk.
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