Web 2.0 encompasses a wide range of new channels and technologies for filmmakers. To discover the best fit for your marketing mix, you need to test several different ones.

(This article appeared in MovieMaker Magazine)

Here's some guidance on how to begin your trek in 2.0 territories. Remember, experimentation is key, and will teach you about what works for your particular audience, and what doesn't work.

Here are 5 top strategies for diving in….

Strategy #1: Social Networking Sites

Everyone by now has heard of My Space and Facebook, but how many of you have dedicated pages for your films as opposed to just personal pages featuring you, with your film's poster somewhere in the corner? The best way to utilize social networking sites is to create dedicated pages just for your film, and in addition to the typical My Space features like adding 'friends' and letting readers post comments, you should also include your film's trailer, PDF sample pages of your script, links to your website where they can buy a copy of your DVD, etc. Really put your marketing cap on and think about how to leverage the power and traffic of these Social Networking sites, to drive traffic to your trailer and your film's website.

Strategy #2: Pod casting

OK, so iTunes ubiquitized pod casting to the masses, but did you know how easy it is to create your OWN pod cast? Pod casts work best for specialty topics, so be sure to target specific themes in your film (whether it's whale watching or snowboarding) and create pod casts that speak to those target audiences. By appealing to a certain audience, you are targeting potential customers for your film -- so again, be sure to link them back to your film's website, where they can read more about your film and buy a DVD or download.

A pod cast's content has a significant influence on an audience response. This is especially important if you are trying to sell something -- like a DVD or download for your film, or a ticket to a screening. Just remember that pod casts with a tighter focus generate roughly 10 times the average number of downloads. Pod casts can be submitted to iTunes, Social Bookmarking sites (more on that below), and hosted on your own website. You can also submit your pod casts to RELATED sites as free content -- for example, if whale watching is a theme in your film, and you've done a pod cast on whale watching, you could approach various whale watching websites and see if they would like to host your pod cast as free content, and possibly send out a mention in their next newsletter to their members. This is bulls-eye targeting and then of course you can link all these potential customers right back to your film's website.

Strategy #3: Blogging

Even if you have a website for your film, you should also be maintaining a blog. Blogs are a great place to gather a community for your film, especially since they get indexed in the search engines far quicker than regular websites do. So before you know it, you will be getting visitors to your blog, reading your posts, and linking to your trailer or to buy your DVD. In terms of what you should be blogging about -- you could either blog about Production (sort of like production diaries), or if you film is completed then you can blog about topics related to your film. In order for a blog to be really effective, you'll want to post entries at least 2-3 times per week. Add pictures to make your blog come to life -- whether it's stills from your movie, or other related images to your subject. Another great tip for blogs is to have a place where readers can sign up to receive future updates. By collecting your audiences' email addresses, you will have the opportunity to communicate with them directly in the future -- not only to market your current film to, but future films as well. Think of it as investing in building an audience for life, for your entire career as a filmmaker. By the way, the best platform I've seen for really customized blogs is through Word Press. It's completely free, and totally customizable so you can add things like a sign-up box, and even put DVD's up for sale. Some filmmakers skip having a website completely and just use a blog. I actually recommend having both.

Strategy #4: Video Sharing

Has anyone not heard of You Tube yet? You Tube is the most popular video sharing site on the web. The benefits of using Video Sharing sites for filmmakers are the same as using Social Networking sites -- you have the opportunity to leverage large amounts of traffic, to get your trailer viewed and develop and audience for your film. I actually recommend posting more than just your trailer on You Tube however. When you set up your own channel, I would recommend posting up short little snippets from your movie -- great scenes from you film that will captivate an audience. You could also post up interviews with your cast members (especially if they are known people might be searching for them on You Tube and come across your channel). The point is -- get really creative with how you build our your You Tube channel. Put up a variety of snippets and interviews from your film, and of course link people off to your blog and website so they can get to know you further, and possibly even buy from you.

Strategy #5: Social Bookmarking sites

Social Bookmarking sites are a great way to take your blog postings, and fan them out to very large audiences. Here's how it works, sites like Digg and StumbleUpon are sites where people to go to 'bookmark' content that they like on the web. Other people can see who has bookmarked what, and discover new things by checking out other's bookmarked content. It's a very powerful force when content catches legs inside one of these Social Bookmarkig sites -- it can me thousands upon thousands of new visitors to your blog in a single day. That's a lot of new potential customers! So once you create a new blog posting, you can submit it for free to either of these two sites mentioned above (there are also several others out there), and let the viral community do it's work. It helps if you participate in these communities by commenting on other people's content that you find on there, and contribute by making comments, etc. Social Networking and Social Bookmarking sites are all about trust, and you want the other members in the community to trust that you are not just trying to 'sell' them something ie: your movie, but that you offer valuable content and feedback, and THEN they will want to buy from you because of that. Or maybe not even buy from you per se, but spread the word about your film and help you to exponentially build up your audience.

In short, the value of Web 2.0 communities can be enormous to getting your work noticed, and developing an audience. In today's ever-changing distribution landscape, building your audience is absolutely critical to sustain your career as a filmmaker. Who knows, you may even get 'discovered' by a distributor through one of these mediums, or you might make contacts that lead you to other projects. It's also important to think about leveraging the tremendous power of these Web 2.0 communities, to get your film out there into the world.