As you know, social media is huge with Internet marketers and everyone who’s anyone has a solid foundation in the top three communities: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Folks are diligent about maintaining their profiles, updating their statuses or feeds, and staying as current as possible to be an active member of the online communities. What a lot of those people forget about is the power of video.

Go into any eating establishment with a television to see what we’re talking about. Although they’re surrounded by friends and fried food, people are drawn to the screen and will crane their necks to see what’s going on, even if they can’t hear the audio or don’t really care about the content. Maybe it’s the flashing lights or maybe it’s because television was their babysitter – whatever it is, people love a video. Don’t you think it’s high time you take advantage of that fact?

With an inexpensive video camera and YouTube, creating and uploading your own videos is impossibly simple and there’s no better time than the present.

Maybe you could write a how-to video for one of your products. Perhaps put together a showcase of your company’s employees and skills. You can even do an introductory video of yourself and what services you provide for your clients. The point is to interact with your potential customers and create a relationship that goes beyond just buyer and seller.

Here are some tips to get you started:

• Make your content entertaining, engaging and informative.
• When you upload, make sure you make your video public so that it’s searchable.
• Be sure to put your video in the correct category.
• Use appropriate tags.
• Watch out when using music or other material that isn’t yours; copyright infringement is serious business.
• Respond to any and every comment you get. This conversation has to be a two-way street.
• Write a concise, accurate description of your video so your target market can find you.
• Make friends with other users in your field or target market to widen your reach.

Now that you know a little more about making your own YouTube video, write that content, have a great time shooting, smile for the camera and good luck. Once you get started with YouTube videos, you’ll see that it’s not only another effective way to use social media as a marketing tool, it’s also a lot of fun. Here’s to going viral!