Seaysuccess! International Professional Entertainment Talent

(A Division of A1 Seaysuccess! LLC)

Where Show Business Dreams have become realities

for over 10 years!

Building Professional Online Profile Pages*

by Entertainment Talent Success Coach Vincent Seay

The information given here on building a professional talent page is by no way illustrative of the way it must be done. As I always tell my clients, you should always feel free to do things the way you feel most comfortable. You are, after all, responsible for the decisions that you make, so here, if I could give you some ideas that can help you, it was well worth it. During this discussion, when give out brand names of services, I am in no way endorsing those products, I am simply listing them because these are products that come to mind. You should always do research, as there may be comparable product that work as well or better than those I wrote about.

First, understand that you are a professional entertainer. You are running a business and selling a very expensive commodity, your talent. So for that reason, treat this like a business, not a hobby. If you want professional results, you must put in professional actions! This page is about developing a professional profile page, so remember, whether you use, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter of whatever, separate your personal page from your professional profile. Since we have a page on Facebook, I will be referencing that, but many of these ideas will go for the others as well. When I look at a professional profile page or website, I want to see ONLY things that reference to your profession. I don't want to see you hugging your boy or girlfriend; feeding your puppy; read posts about your party; what mood you are in or who you picked for the game this weekend. Save that for your personal page! As a matter of fact, if you do decide to have both a personal and professional page, make sure that you allow your friends to only post and be friends on your personal page. And set your personal page to limited view so only those that need to see certain things can see it. Many a job has been lost when a important person accessed an employee's personal page and found inappropriate pictures or posts. Don't let that happen to you! If you are afraid of this possibly happening because you have two pages with the same name that might come up in a search and the searcher will see your picture on both, use a generic picture (like your dog) on your personal profile that only your friends would know. This way no one that can tell it's your profile unless they knew the truth behind the picture. And your personal profile is set to private so no one else will know that it's you.

Developing your professional profile page - On Facebook, you will need to separate email addresses if you are going to have both a personal and professional profile. I don't care what your personal email address is, but for the professional site, pick an email address that is pleasing and non-descriptive.

PLEASE, no partyboy6969@****.com, but something like yourname362@****.com

I recommend that on Facebook, you use the personal profile, since it is your real name most likely, and personal profiles are easier to work with. Once you get registered, then find a good headshot or body shot, if you are an actor or good pose that would get someone to want to click on your page, if you are a model or other entertainer, and use it as your profile picture. Under that write a little about yourself that would make someone want to hire you.

If you click on "Edit my profile" it will take you to the info tab or if you like you can do that later. Now, since your profile may be open to everyone (more on that later), under "Basic Info", don't enter too much personal info (for safety). It's not necessary to do so. You don't need hometown, neighborhood, family, etc. or relationship or views.

Under "Personal Info", you can if you like, fill in, "Activities (where and what training you have), Interests (what types of jobs you are looking for in entertainment, About Me". Keep it about things that are related to show business that might help you get a job.

Under, "Contact Info", put in email address, land line (see below), city and state that you reside in. Don't worry about your zip, and DO NOT fill in your street address. If you have another website(s) that also have your pictures and resume, you may place them there.

Under, "Education and Work", if you like, you can put in your college(s) and high school(s), DON'T put in where you presently have a job (unless it is in entertainment). No one cares.

Pictures - (see below)

Next to pictures there is a plus sign. If you click on it, it will bring up other things that you can use, such as notes. You may use notes to write a small resume. (See below.) If you have a professional video of a great monologue of job that you did, you may add that there also (under the + tab).

As a show business professional, on your professional profile or website, I want to see your pictures, resume, professional aspirations (in show business), and contact information. That is all I need!!! From that, I will decide if I am interested and want to call you. That is not to say that you can't describe yourself on your page, such as, "I am the type of individual that enjoys new challenges. I am adventurous, pay attention to detail and I am a team player." If there are any wall posts, they will be from industry professionals saying good things like how well you did on location. (Good news for your next potential employer.) Or you might post on a industry job that you recently had that went well. Remember, you only friends on this page will be from industry professionals only!

When you write on your professional page, use professional spelling! No emoticons! You are not texting. I don't want to see, "I wud reaaly like to b in yur production! ;-)"

Look, I'm a professional, I am investing big bucks in a production, and I am not going to trust that in the hands of an obviously immature entertainer who doesn't know how to act intelligently. I don't care if you are 6 or 60, speak and write in a mature manner, if you want to get a job. Unless they specifically want you to act immature, DON'T!

Here are some things to put on your profile:

1a) Email - The number one most important thing in building a online profile, is safety. You want to make sure that the thousands of people that view your profile initially, cannot tell your exact address or telephone number where you can be tracked. You must have a way to screen your inquiries for your services so you can discard those that are crackpots or deceitful characters. I recommend a generic email address (yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc.) that you can give as contact info so if someone is interested in your services, they can get in touch with you.

1b) Telephone - A good thing to put on your profile page, but if you don't have one that you don't feel comfortable with, don't. Again, you want to be in a position where you can screen your calls. You may not want to initially give out your cell phone number, as it will ring all day and if by some chance there is some unsavory character out there that you no way want to be associated with, you don't want them to have your cell phone number. I would use a service like Vonage or Magic Jack that do not list your telephone number to your home. These services allow you to use voice mail and you may access it through your email. That is great if you have an iPhone of comparable phone like I do, where you can access the email and listen to the message without dialing! Or if you prefer, you can call from any phone and listen to the message. With many of these phone services, you can choose from many different area codes, so even your number will not give away your exact area where you live.

DO NOT give out your cell phone number, until the party has been thoroughly checked out and found to be reputable. Until you are sure, let them use the other voicemail number. You can call them back.

2) Pictures - On your profile, place pictures that put you in a great light. On Facebook, you can separate albums into categories, so you can group them as you see fit. You don't have to put every picture that you have, but enough so that the potential employer can get a good idea.

3) Resume - Find the appropriate area on your site that you can type a brief resume. If you have a lot of credits, you obviously by now should know which important jobs to put, and the rest, "Available upon request." On Facebook, you may use the "notes" section to write your resume. Just reference to it in your comments so they know where to find it.

Privacy - As far as privacy, you should not put anything on this profile that you would not want tens of thousands of people to see. Your profile settings will be for everyone to see, so that if anyone requests your facebook professional talent profile address, you can give it to them and they can access it without having to go through asking to be your friend. It would be the same as developing your own private website. It is open for all on the web to see. 

Under Settings-Privacy Settings-Search you may want to clear the friend list box if you don't want people to know your professional contacts who are your friends before you add them as a friend, but that is up to you, most people don't.

As far as Settings-Privacy Settings-News Feed and Wall, you can blank all the boxes if you like. And application settings, that is up to you.

Well, that's it. I would love to add your Facebook profile to my fan section, so once you get it done just go to the Seaysuccess! International's, full service business page here and sign in with your professional page and click on "Become A Fan" and I will add you. Make sure that you post to my wall, if you get a job, so that we will know that you are working!

Thank you, and GOOD LUCK!

*Seaysuccess! International Professional Entertainment Talent or it's representatives, are not legally responsible for any negative occurrences that may arise from using FACEBOOK or any other social or informational website that Seaysuccess! International may be a part of. It is your responsibility to use such sites responsibly and observe personal safety policies. If anyone under the age of 18 uses any site where personal information is disseminated, for safety reasons, Seaysuccess! International recommends that it be used under the supervision of a responsible adult.