Actors, volunteers, haunters, whatever you call them, you will certainly need to find them! Here are a few tips on seeking out and finding people to haunt your haunted house.
1. Start With Friends
If you're into Halloween, Haunted Houses, and other scary stuff, chances are you probably know some other people who are into those things as well. Talk to them and let them know that you're planning a haunted house and are looking for actors for the haunt. Make sure to also let them know whether they will be paid actors or if it's a volunteer, non-profit situation. Chances are, those people that you speak to will also know others who are into the same things. You could call this the "spider web effect". You know two people, each of them knows two others, etc.
2. Use Social Media
• Status Updates: Post on your social media accounts* that you are searching for actors or volunteers for your upcoming haunted house. You can also request that others share your post, in case they might have some friends who are interested.
• Groups: Join specialized groups on facebook meant for haunters. Search facebook for terms like "haunted house actors", "haunt actors" or "haunters". Select the "groups" tab at the top of your results, and this should bring up some groups of like-minded people. Post in these groups to let the members know that you're searching for actors/haunters, and let them know where your haunt is located. You can also search facebook groups from here.
• Facebook Ads: Facebook has a decent and relatively low-priced option for advertising. You can spend $5 per day, $10 per day, whatever you want. Basically, you set up an ad to run for (x) number of dollars per day, then set how long you want the ad to run. You can use targeting to select people who are into haunted houses, Halloween, etc., within a close radius to where your haunt will be located. Be sure to use an eye catching photo with your ad. You can test the waters by running an ad for one or two days at first and see what kind of results you get. Check out facebook ads here.
• Boost Your Facebook Post: "Boosting" a facebook post is another way of using facebook ads, and it's actually simpler than going through their traditional ad system. I typically post my ad as a status update on the facebook business page that I'm advertising from (the haunted house page in your case), then click the "boost post" button underneath, and fill in the details right there in a pop-up window. I believe that this type of ad is less restrictive than setting up ads through the traditional facebook ad manager. Make sure to keep text on the photo in your ad to a minimum. Facebook does have a very low-tech, arbitrary system that auto-denies ads with text that covers what they deem too much area. This is presumably because they think all of their paid advertisers are trying to pull one over on them by squeezing extra text into the image.
*Social Media Accounts - Most people use facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. If you don't already have accounts with these sites, you should sign up for them asap. It's a great way to communicate, advertise, etc. for your venture. If you have personal accounts with these sites, make sure you sign up for accounts for the business as well, if you're going to have a professional haunt. With facebook, if you already have a personal account, you can just create a "business page" for the haunted house instead of creating a new account. Youtube is also a good social media site to use for your attraction. You can post video clips of the haunt under construction, being worked on, etc. to draw attention. Instagram is a photo based social media site that most people use as an app on their phones. You can post promotional photos, photos of progress on the building of the haunt, etc., along with status updates stating that you're seeking haunters.
3. Search For Haunter Websites
Use your favorite search engine (google, bing, yahoo, etc.) to search for terms like "where to find haunters", "where to find haunt actors", etc. You may come up with some websites with forums or profile sections dedicated to this. Try posting in your local section of craigslist as well.
4. Post Flyers
Have some paper flyers printed to advertise that you're searching for haunt actors or volunteers, and post them in Halloween stores and anywhere else you can think of where people who like Halloween might hang out. Of course, if Halloween stores are open, many of these people will already be working at other haunts, so it might be too late. But, you never know who's looking for new places to haunt!
