Tagging help please?
Dear Voice Bunny team,
After the holidays, my Voice Bunny business dropped off the cliff! Quite suddenly I went from 10-15 or so bookings per month (sometimes more) to only two this year! I wonder if it's because of the new tagging system? Have I done it wrong? Are there guidelines for how to choose the right tag words for samples? Did the algorithm change that determines which/whose samples are sent?
Or is this just a seasonal slump that I have not before noticed?
Any theories or opinions, hints or helps, gratefully accepted,
Joe B.
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Hi Joe!
Thank you for reaching out.
I just checked some of your samples, those you tagged are well done. In order to have more chances, make sure to tag a few more samples every now and then.
Currently, we don't have guidelines for the tagging system, we think the process is pretty straightforward, do you think some guidelines are necessary? Again, based on what I saw on your profile, and some other pros, I think it's pretty easy to understand.
The algorithm did change, but it's not based solely on the tags, everything is taken into account as before, the tag feature is just adding on top of that. So things like stats, pricing, turnaround time still play an important role.
I hope this makes things a bit more clear for you,
Let me know
Hello Johnatan!
Glad to know the algorithm has not changed that much!
I actually tagged ALL my samples regarding mood. Will it also help to tag the language for all of them for "English, General North American" since 99% of my reads are exactly that?
Also, I do almost no impressions of famous talent, so is there any benefit in my tagging the third category with all the well-known names? (I don't really think I sound like any of them.)
Thanks Johnatan, Best always,
Joe B.
Hi Joe!
Awesome work, that's excellent, kudos for being so proactive!
The more information you can add to your samples the better. Now regarding the impressions, if you know that you don't sound like them, then don't use that. The most important ones in your case are the first two.
Is this more clear for you?
All the best!
I am experiencing the same problem. I went from getting a client booking almost every single day to nothing at all for the past month now. The only clients that i get casted from now are for revisions before this tagging system went live. This is very concerning. I have tagged all of my samples. V123 had the same issue where they changed the algorithm for the way actors were browsed and it made it so everyone got less clients and eventually a lot of people started leaving because it was unreliable, including myself. I really hope the same doesn't happen here, I was pretty happy getting consistent work from Voicebunny.
Hi Bianca,
Thank you for sharing this with us. This is not going to be the case here, our Pros keep getting similar workload as before, and we expect them to get even more thanks to the new feature.
Same as I said to Joe, make sure to tag as many samples as possible, which will result in a better chance to be seen by our clients using Keyword Search.
Kind regards
Hi Johnatan & Bianca,
I have tagged everything according to mood, very little as too language type because nearly all my samples are English - general North American. But have to say my workload is not nearly what it was last year (so far). I am hoping it's just a continuation of the post-holiday slump, but I really wonder about that.
Regards,
Joe
Same, i've tagged almost all my 8 pages of samples. I'd be curious to speak with other Voicebunny Pro's and see if they're having similar experiences. I've also lowered my rates to half just incase it was that but still haven't gotten much of anything.
Hi Joe and Bianca,
Joe has a valid point here, it might be post-holiday while it starts to pick up a little more on your specific categories and usual work. The workload is not coming down, actually, we are expecting even more work than usual in the next couple of months. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us, soon you will see the same work as before coming your way.
Tagging your samples as you've done it will help you stand out in search better, congratulations on that work to you two.
I've had a huge slowing of bookings this year so far.
Last year and the year before I averaged multiple projects per day. Very busy.
This year I've had some recurring clients, a few new ones and I've won some auditions
but very few compared to what I've been used to.
I have tagged the majority of my samples. I have 225 samples.
My stats are in order. I have completed over 700 projects, I have won 10 of 18 contests entered,
my response speed is in the top third. I even lowered my rates and have not seen any change.
It's very frustrating. I feel like I'm doing what I can but something has changed.
Looking for some advice.
Rich
Hi Bianca, Johnatan and Rich,
While I don't do the volume that Bianca and Rich do, my VB business had been providing a really nice retirement supplement income. I was favored nearly every day, and recorded about 3 to 4 projects each week. Now that has all dried up - only about 4 projects in all of 2020 so far.
It could be an economic downturn; it could be the coronavirus scare. But I don't think so. It's just too dramatic a drop.
I have tagged all my samples (about 60) with both mood and language dialect. I feel like I've done all I can except for loading some new samples, but I really feel something else has changed.
My working relationships with everyone at VB have been great - they are all terrific people and good collaborators, but if my business doesn't pick up soon, I will have to do something else.
Johnatan, I just wonder if the whole tagging thing hasn't upset the apple cart, at least for those of us commenting here. Are you hearing this from any other Pros?
I remain your baffled but project-poor friend,
Joe B.
Joe, Rich, and Bianca.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. We reviewed and also thought it was quite strange some of the situations you were explaining. We sat down with our development team to understand if there was anything odd going on.
After analyzing the situation, we see that we've been having a similar amount of work as before. However, the projects have been more distributed within our pool of Pros. Of course, our best Pros are the ones having more projects, but we've seen that, more often than not, our clients are booking different voices for their projects. For this reason, you're seeing fewer projects: it's not that we're not showing you or that we've been having fewer projects, it's that our clients are booking another type of Pros and expanding their options. Don't be discouraged for these recent events, though. We saw as well that you're still receiving a healthy number of projects and as more work arrives, more chances you'll have at being favored by our clients really soon.
Hi Johnatan,
Thanks so much to you and your team for taking time to look into this phenomenon. I cannot speak for others of course, but personally I am no longer receiving what I'd consider a healthy number of projects though. No blame directed at anyone. It's just that for me, it was like a switch was turned off. I mean, it didn't taper off... it just dropped immediately in the new year.
I'll put it down as a fluke, add more samples, and move on.
Thanks again for everything you all do at Bunny Studios,
Joe B.
Thanks for looking into it, Johnatan, and clarifying what might be happening. Unfortunately, it was working so well for the long time pros (I have been 5 years with VB) those that were receiving a steady flow, like Joe B, and now that it is 1 job every once in a while, it is not enough for me to consider Voicebunny reliable. Voicebunny was actually keeping me so busy every week that I had ceased to use other sites, but now this has me looking elsewhere to pick up where Voicebunny is now lacking. It's unfortunate that it was working so well before this change.
It would be wise to do a poll amongst all your pros to see if this is causing others to be unhappy as well. There is not enough pro's using or are aware of this community board to chime in here.
UPDATE ON TAGGING:
As we approach the end of month three of 2020, my situation remains the same, if not worse. I have had hardly any VB jobs this year - only four or five. I do now suspect the business downturn from the coronavirus pandemic is at least part of the reason for my drop in work. So many events are called off, ad budgets slashed... shoot! Hardly anyone is in their offices in Louisville, KY.
Hopefully things will pick up in 3 or 4 months.
Bunny Studio gang - I sincerely hope all of you are well.
Stay safe,
Joe Brown