Haven’t you heard? Video’s kind of a big deal. Our in-house video pro Chris shares his top tips from the Photography and Videography Show on March 17th 2019
Last Sunday I was given the privilege to attend the annual Photography and Videography Show at the NEC in Birmingham on behalf of Prism. This is a national event that hosts all the top brands in the business, ranging from cameras to photoshoot props. There was even the option to buy explorer outfits for your cat!
I was there to find out more about the future of photography and cinematography, to discover how we could grow the Prism brand through that of visual means. Having attended multiple talks and visited show stands displaying various products, it became apparent that the stigma of large production crews was becoming less and less of a necessity, with new products like smaller drones, compact cameras and easier-to-use editing software coming to the market. The individual creative is now able to multitask and handle all of these areas in the process of a photo/video.
The main highlight of the event that I would like to share with you was a talk on ‘How to get your first 10,000 subscribers on YouTube’; an enticing talk with a clickbait-esque title which resulted in a sell out crowd. It was held by professional photographer Tommy Reynolds, who felt that his personal brand wasn’t producing enough jobs for him to get by. So, Tommy began to expand his career on YouTube, and after 3 years he accumulated over 30,000 subscribers. Today, Tommy attributes a lot of his photography success from the work he puts on YouTube.
Social media content platforms like YouTube and Instagram are growth powerhouses if utilised correctly.
So… how do you get your first 10,000 subscribers on YouTube?
1. Create custom thumbnails
Keeping your video post thumbnails consistent throughout makes for a neat timeline. It implies to your audience and to new videos that this is a video under your brand, providing an initial expectation.
2. Share teasers
Don’t limit yourself to just posting your videos on YouTube - utilize other social platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Not only does this promote production, but also stretches your reach, and links all your sites together. Stretch your brand.
3. Consistency
Having a consistent posting stream can contribute to channel growth, like platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. Posting irregularly and infrequently isn’t great for subscription-based traffic. A lot of platform success can be down to consistently posting.
4. Time Management
Posting regularly at the right time can go a long way. For context, if your core audience is based in the UK, you shouldn’t be posting in the early hours of the morning (GMT time). You need to post around mid to late afternoon when most people finish work (subject to your audience) - common sense right?
5. Making note of your analytics
YouTube offers a detailed breakdown of viewership on the platform. As is the case with any digital marketing activity, understanding the results of your activity highlights successful content and perhaps helps to identify those videos on your channel that didn’t quite hit the mark. Use data to learn from your successes and mistakes, and you’ll develop more efficiently.
Now we’re not saying that we’re the experts on YouTube growth… However, this information we received from an active professional is too good to miss! We’re utilizing this feedback to grow our video channels, and so should you!
