The Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College is hosting “Women in Media Month.” Read about one of the many events occurring this month told by the PRSSA Blog Team.

By: Kaitlin Watson

Last week, the director and producer of The Empowerment Project documentary visited Ithaca College as the key speakers for Women in Media Month at the Roy H. Park School of Communications. The Empowerment Project documents the journey of a crew of female filmmakers driving across the United States to encourage, empower, and inspire the next generation of strong women to strive for their career ambitions. After screening their acclaimed documentary, Sarah Moshman and Dana Cook answered questions regarding their film.

The duo talked about their decision to adopt a theatrical release model for their
documentary. This means that organizations pay for individual screenings of the film, and you can not watch The Empowerment Project on any other format, such as by DVD or online. Because of this decision, their following on social media mainly consists of people whom they have met or have seen the film, increasing engagement on a very personal level.

“We would rather have 5,000 truly engaged followers than 50,000 spambots who don’t care about the message of our project,” stated Cook. In reality, 1% of follower engagement per post is impressive—the amount of followers to an account does not equate to the true following of the account.

We all place emphasis on the importance of the number centered at the top of our profile without considering the audience a large number of followers brings. A massive following isn’t always cohesive with a brand’s image.

Last week, Park Productions launched a project of a similar genre, a video regarding body image in media titled “IC Beyond Body.” I acted as the social media coordinator for the project, and both Moshman and Cook’s commentary has really changed my way of thinking about followers. I suppose it is true—not all publicity is good publicity, especially with a project regarding falsity in the media.

Sources:

empowermentproject.com

foundrmag.com

icbeyondbody.com