Does your film project need its own Instagram account?

It is almost automatic: you finish shooting a short or a feature and the first thing you do is create an Instagram profile for it with its poster and logo. It seems the logical way to promote it, right? Well, according to Alejandro Palacios (CMO of Grupo Nirmedia and a digital strategist with more than 20 years of experience), this could be your first big communication mistake.

Alejandro invites us to think before pressing «create account»: why start from scratch with a profile nobody knows when you can take advantage of the momentum of your existing community?

The danger of «zombie profiles»

Creating an account just for an independent project often produces what Alejandro calls «zombie profiles»: accounts that start strong but are doomed to die as soon as the festival run ends.

These are the 3 strong reasons he gives for avoiding this fragmentation:

• 1. The initial push (your core audience): if you post your project’s news from your production company’s profile or from your own brand as a creator, you already have an audience listening. A new profile for a short film that starts with 0 or 150 followers has no real impact or organic reach.
• 2. The community «in limbo»: shoots come to an end. When the project wraps up a year from now, those 500 or 1,000 followers you worked so hard for will be stuck in a dead account. If you put that effort into your main brand, every follower you gain counts towards your next shoot.
• 3. Lost opportunities: people like talking to people, not to the logos of temporary projects. A festival programmer or a collaborator is far more likely to message you with a proposal if they know who is behind it. Centralising your communication humanises the project and makes networking easier.

Grow your brand, not just your projects

Alejandro’s view is clear: centralise your effort.

In independent film, your greatest asset is not just the film you are promoting now, but your track record and the community you build around your vision as a filmmaker. Don’t scatter your energy across profiles destined to be forgotten; use it to strengthen the channel where your professional future really lies.