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From its humble beginnings as a quirky video sharing site that was mostly inhabited by cat videos, YouTube has grown to be the largest and most used video platform on the internet! Nearly 75% of American adults use the video sharing platform and now it contains videos that cover everything from ‘how do’ and ‘DIY, to politics, news and, of course, photography videos.
Link to my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-oxx6jV52kRNcg2eI-Qu-A/videos?view_as=subscriber
Blogs are still a mainstay of the internet and don’t look set to be going anywhere soon but with YouTube viewership rising at an every faster rate the question of whether or not you should be setting up your own YouTube channel is more pressing than ever.
Why Should You Consider Starting Your Own Photography YouTube Channel?
One of the major advantages that YouTube has over other platforms such as Instagram or Twitter is that once you have uploaded the content it stays there forever. This means that many years after you uploaded your video it can still be getting new visitors, driving new traffic to your website and earning an ongoing revenue for you or your business.
YouTube also offers you a great new creative outlet where you can showcase your work and your talents as well as guiding viewers to explore your own website, portfolio or blog site.
5 Reasons To Start a Photography YouTube Channel.
- YouTube videos create a strong personal connection with your audience which builds trust and loyalty for your brand. This is particularly true if you speak directly to the camera in parts of your video. Your audience will ‘get to know’ you and come to trust you as an authority in your field. Although it’s possible to do this with a Blog, or on social media, the video format is probably the most powerful way to do this in a short amount of time.
- It’s an excellent medium for transferring information in a fast, easy to follow and engaging way. Whether you’re giving an onscreen tutorial about how to use Photoshop or explaining how to use the Shutter Speed settings on a DSLR; being able to actually show your audience how it’s done, step by step, is more effective than a written word blog.
- People love to watch videos to get new information, reviews, how to tutorials and much more. Producing video content that is linked to your own website or blog is a great way to improve the user experience for your audience. Don’t forget that you can also embed your YouTube videos on your website to create interesting multimedia blog posts.
- Producing regular videos on YouTube is a tried and tested way of generating more traffic for your blog or website. Leaving the links to your blog or other products underneath the video will give viewers the chance to follow up on your video. Once you are generating more traffic to your site you can monetize it using affiliate marketing links or by offering your own products or services.
- YouTube channels can be monetized and bring in significant revenues once you have built up a large audience. You can sign up to the YouTube advertising programs, work with sponsors or sell affiliate products through your channel.
What Kind of Photography YouTube Channels Can You Start?
With over 500 hours of unique videos being uploaded every single minute to the platform it can be pretty hard to stand out and make yourself heard. The key to making it in the extremely competitive world of YouTube is to specialize your channel and deliver the answers, analysis and solutions that your audience is looking for.
There are many different types of photography YouTube channels that you can create to grow your online presence and make new links with a wider audience.
Tutorial Videos:
Tutorials videos are one of the fastest growing genres on YouTube with experts in gardening, DIY home repairs, cooking and of course, photography, sharing their skills with their audiences.
You can create a wide range of tutorial videos that focus on any aspect of photography. No matter what area of photography that you have skills in you can create unique content that will attract a good sized audience.
You can teach people about the practical side of photography, for example, how to use the flash or set the right shutter speed for a particular type of situation. Alternatively, you can run on screen tutorials where you share your computer screen with the audience and work through aspects of the post production process.
Photography Discussion Channel:
If you like to analyze photos, trends in the photography industry or photographic techniques then you could set up a photography discussion channel. You could make the videos once a week in a News show type format or you could work more informally and talk to the camera as if you were talking to a friend. The scope for discussion in photography is pretty infinite so this would be a case where you should certainly try to follow your passion.
You could also invite guests onto your discussion channel to have conversations about photography and you can even do live shows! Doing a live stream lets you answer the questions of your audience in real time and you can even monetize the process using YouTube’s Superchat feature, where viewers pay a donation to have their question put to the top of the list.
A discussion channel will help to place you as an authority in the industry and attract new traffic to your website or blog.
Showcase Your Work:
Using a video to showcase your own work is a perfect way to create audience engagement with your photography. You can do this in a number of different ways.
Firstly, you could show your photos in a video and then speaking to the camera explain why you took the photo, what settings you used on your camera and any other points of interest that you want to talk about. This could not only be an interesting channel for your viewers but it could also have an educational element thrown in as well.
Alternatively you could create slideshow videos that ran through a series of your work, almost like an online exhibition. You could use these types of video to draw new traffic to your portfolio website where you might sell prints and other products to monetize the process.
Product Review Channel:
Another popular type of photography channel on YouTube is the product review format. In these videos you select some items of photography equipment and give your opinions about the pros and cons of it.
For example, you could compare two different camera lenses and then at the end of the video give your verdict. A good way to monetize a review channel is to put affiliate links to the products below so that your audience can follow the link to the product whereupon if they purchase it you get a percentage of the sale price. Another good format for product and equipment review videos is to make Top 5 or 10 videos where you rank the items.
For a review channel to work you must give your audience the value of your experience, professional know how and skills in the field. You don’t necessarily need to own the equipment you are reviewing although it is better if you can have the item on screen with you. This builds trust with your audience since they can see that you have actually used it. If your channel grows in viewers you can even get free items of equipment from the manufacturers to review as well!
Documentary Photography Channel.
You can create a documentary photography channel on which you can create videos about famous photographers, historical events and other photography related themes. You could make documentary pieces about genres of photography, such as minimalism, wildlife photography and so on.
YouTube documentary content can be any length. You could make short 5 minutes videos of the type that sometimes go viral or you could create more in depth presentations that are like full length TV documentary shows (40 minutes and upwards).
How To Choose The Right Type of Photography Videos for Your Channel.
When you are creating a channel you should be aiming to produce content that can provide something useful, educational, entertaining or engaging that your audience will want to come back and see more of.
It can be a bit daunting to try to narrow down what the focus of your channel should be but a good place to start is to write down a list on a piece of paper. Write down your strengths, areas of expertise and what you are passionate about. Next you can write down the type of people who might be wanting to see that content because they are your potential target audience. If you’re creating tutorials videos then your target audience might include photography students, keen amateurs and photography beginners. Once you have an idea of the type of audience you might be addressing then try to work out ways that you can deliver this information in the most engaging and appropriate way possible.
If you were teaching the basics of photography then you don’t want to be overly complicated in your explanations of how to get a good exposure whereas if you were teaching people how to use Photoshop you might want to break it down in separate videos that progress in difficulty as you go.
One of the great things about YouTube is that the comments section normally fills up quite quickly. Pay attention to what your audience is saying because it will give you invaluable guidance and ideas about how to better respond to what your viewers want, what they already like about your videos and where you might want to take the channel in the future.
Your YouTube Channel is a Work in Progress.
When you first start out with your YouTube channel you may focus on one area but then as time goes on you may start to change that focus. This is quite natural and is part of the way that you can keep your original audience with you while picking new viewers as you continue to evolve. Don’t forget your older videos are still online and new people will be seeing them all the time as well so you don’t need to continually go over the same topics.
Always keep an eye on your competition to get new ideas for content and watch their work with a critical eye to see what works and what doesn’t. Of course, you can start to incorporate things that work on your own channel and avoid the things which don’t seem to work so well.
Creating A Photography YouTube Channel Is A Great Way to Extend Your Reach.
There are many reasons why creating a photography YouTube can not only be highly rewarding for you but it can also attract new audiences to your work, your web site or your blog. You can monetize the channel to increase your revenues and build up new income streams and ultimately, as more internet users demand video content you can reach out to far more people than by using most other platforms online.
Are you thinking of starting an YouTube channel?
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