We have talked about Twitter etiquette for actors before, but how should you tweet if you want to be noticed by talent agents or casting directors?

Social media is an extremely powerful promotion tool. The best part is that it’s free, but it can also be a double edged sword if you don’t watch yourself.

As an up-and-comer, you have an advantage that those who came before you didn’t. Twitter. This gives you access to important industry people who can make your dreams of stardom come true. Twitter is not only there to interact with fans, but potentially with talent recruiters.

Let’s face it, most actors are in the business for two reasons. Because they love it and because they want to become a household name, but it takes a lot of years of hard work to make it and not all do.

Twitter can put you in contact with people like Marci Liroff, casting director extraordinaire, of whom we have also spoken before. Maybe not all casting directors use Twitter as a talent recruiting tool, but Liroff does and she has some unwritten rules she follows, according to an interview on BackStage.

“It’s not like there’s a rule book, but there are definitely rules on Twitter and there is etiquette. A lot of people still don’t understand how to use it, so they’re just kind of blathering out these thoughts that they shouldn’t be talking about, or hitting me up and sending me a message like, ‘Look at my demo.’ We have no relationship, we’ve never talked before, but suddenly they find out that I’m on Twitter, and I’m just getting besieged by people that want something from me but have no relationship with me. I think it makes people very foolishly powerful.”

That’s powerful stuff if you’re an actor and use Twitter. First of, it’s crucial to establish a relationship, by interacting — without pushing — with the other person, unless you want to find yourself on their blacklist. Even if you know a casting director or talent agent is active on Twitter, resist the urge, until they get to know you better.

How do you do that? By retweeting and commenting on their posts. Thank them for good advice and show them you are interested in what they have to say. You can even ask a question here and there, again, without selling yourself, but showing them that you are willing to take their advice seriously. Liroff puts it in laymen terms, be natural and treat Twitter like you would a social event.

“I try and look at everything I possibly can, because you never know, but it’s all in the approach. They say social media really is like a cocktail party or a dinner party, and you should treat it as such. You wouldn’t just walk into a stranger’s house with your DVDs and shove them in their face and say, ‘Here! Look at this!’ But that’s kind of, in essence, what you’re doing.”

Words of wisdom for actors using Twitter, follow the guidance and who knows, you may land that part that could change your life.

[Image via Juan Pablo Di Pace/Twitter]