Visitor Source #8: Video Marketing
After a side-trip to the real world of business partnerships, let’s move back into the online world and take a quick look at the amazing power of video marketing.
Everyone loves a good movie, at least I do, and video has become one of my preferred learning methods these days because I enjoy being able to see what it is I’m learning, a process which seems to help it stick in my memory better.
However, learning aside, video is also a great way to show off your fantastic photography work to potential clients.
Not so long ago, back in the good old days of dial-up, video was something of an Internet novelty, and it wasn’t all too useful for marketing purposes due to the long download times.
Of course, most of us have evolved beyond dial-up (thank heavens!) and video has become easily accessible and an integral part of our daily lives online.
Just think how many YouTube videos you see in the average week – probably more than you realize!
Combine faster download speed with the prevalence of smartphones and tablets, and we now have a medium that’s highly engaging for most people and easily shareable.
Hey, throw some cats into your videos or come up with a quirky set of dance moves, and you’ll be an Internet star in no time 🙂
Joking aside, though, given the close relationship of photography and videos, I’m amazed at how few photographers are taking advantage of video in their marketing!
First of all, YouTube has become the world’s second largest search engine, taking a back seat only to Google. This represents a big opportunity for photographers to create video content that stands a good chance of ranking well on YouTube as well as on Google.
Of course, most people aren’t going to be searching for a photographer on YouTube, but they might be looking for topics related to what you do, how you do it, and where you do it.
For example, you could create short slideshow videos to highlight certain types of photography sessions and then upload those projects to YouTube and Vimeo (another highly useful video platform) where prospects can see examples of your work.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Taking things a step further, why not turn your resource articles and how-to posts into short videos on topics that people might search for. When those videos show up in their search results, this provides another opportunity to direct those people to more in-depth articles on your website or blog.
To help your videos show up in search results, be sure to create keyword-rich titles for your videos, and add a link to a relevant blog post or landing page at the beginning of the description.
You can also make your blog posts and website content more interesting and engaging to more people who prefer various media formats by embedding your videos into your own content directly.
Of course, it can always help to share the videos on social media where they have a chance to reach even more people, both within and outside your existing network.
Remember to let your email subscribers know about your videos and your video channel, and you can encourage them to subscribe directly to your YouTube channel so they’ll see and share more of your videos.
In short, videos are a great way to attract people to good quality content and, from there, to your website where you can work to convert them into leads.
Homework Assignment
- If you don’t already have one, create a YouTube channel for your business.
- Produce a short (90 seconds) slideshow video to highlight some of your best work and post it to your channel.
- Share the video on social media to reach your audience.
- Promote the video with ads if you need a little extra traction.
- Rinse and repeat.
