YouTube for Photographers: 3 Ways to get Started Using YouTube to Show and Promote Your Photography

Posted: November 17, 2012

[caption id="attachment_10999" align="alignright" width="305"]image courtesy of Digital Photography School[/caption]You're a photographer, and you're looking for ways to promote your work. Off you go to upload your work to YouTube. Wait, what? Photographers don't often realize that YouTube is a perfect place to promote their portfolio - it's for videographers, right? You couldn't be more wrong. YouTube can be used to create several types of short videos that allow you to show off your skills, yourself and your style. Read on for easy tips to get started today.

Video is all the rage. With virtually all digital cameras now able to capture live video, if you’re not shooting video you’re going to start to feel left out.... But video has a very steep learning curve!

Yes it does, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get going. In this post I’m going to tell you about three ways you can use video to promote your photography, and I’ll start on the shallow end of the learning curve.

Why YouTube and not Vimeo or private hosting?

In a word: Traffic.

The goal of these videos is lead generation and they are used for marketing.

    Video helps people to know, like, and trust you
    From the video you can send them to your website where they can learn more about you
    Then, get them to buy your photos, or to book a photo shoot with you

I’ve talked to photographers who have been scared off of YouTube. I say, “Embrace it and use it for what it’s best at”. Use YouTube for traffic, visibility and lead generation. Use YouTube for your public side, and save Vimeo and private hosting for private client videos.

Benefits of YouTube

    YouTube is owned by Google and is the #2 search engine (Google is #1).
    Like other social media, it’s possible to build community on YouTube by getting comments, likes and subscribers.
    Unlike other social media, YouTube videos are easy to keyword, and as a result easy to search and find.
    Random access and always available – YouTube videos don’t disappear down the stream like Facebook and Twitter posts.
    YouTube videos get better with age. More time online, equals more views.
    Your YouTube videos will show up alongside other related videos so that people you don’t even know, will see them.

Read the entire article YouTube for Photographers: 3 Ways to get Started Using YouTube to Show and Promote Your Photography at Digital Photography School.

Biz Tip Provided by Tony Bynum, Owner: Tony Bynum Photography