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Yesterday I read an article on Mashable that YouTube recently passed 2 Billion views a day on their network.  YouTube, a company that recently celebrated their 5th birthday has become quite the major component to any businesses online marketing strategy.  Whenever I am doing online consulting with a client regarding their social media marketing strategy, I always try to encourage them to integrate video as a main component of the online marketing strategy.

Next to behemoth search enging Google, YouTube (which is actually owned by Google) is the second most used search engine in the world.  Companies can gain instant notoriety by establishing a solid video online.  Examples: Remember the Social Media Revolution? This video regarding some statistics on the power of social media gave a businesses YouTube channel an instant jolt of traffic.  Or maybe you remember the infamous song of how United Breaks Guitars? The band Sons of Maxwell became overnight successes because of their catchy tune about how United Airlines broke a guitar and refused to pay for it.  They created a quick video poking humor at the event & within no time the video had been viewed over 8 million times.  Their success was so great they even created another video United Breaks Guitars Breaks My Career that basically says thanks for destroying our gear, you made us famous!

So how does someone optimize their efforts on YouTube & other video sites? Well, there are a few things that if done consistently will help you to get the best results.

1. Tagging & Title of Video. Just like when you write a blog, the title of the video is one of the most important parts.  I had a client who had a video that was really good on something that people would want to see, but the title was done all wrong.  In fact, it had just the basic random title that the video camera named it when they downloaded the video.  When the client uploaded it to YouTube, they never took time to change it and could not understand why their video was not getting much traffic.  So, we renamed the video to a term people would search for & the video started to take off almost instantly.  Now, that video has over 1,100 views!  The tags are also important on a video because they help to categorize your video properly to be searched.  I find myself going to YouTube now for answers on a question rather than search engines.

2. Distribution of Video. The second thing most people is load their video to YouTube but nothing else.  Nowadays we all have Facebook, Twitter, websites, blogs, Posterous accounts & more.  YouTube has now made it really easy to distributet your videos out to other networks.  When I take my reach of all these networks & add them together, it is well over 8,000 people.  Why not share those videos with that audience?  The more exposure you can give to a video, the more likely it is to be viewed by masses.  Not to mention, those who watch the video & like it will then also share it on with others. Each person has a wide net of connections and you can see quickly how your video can then spread like wildfire!

3.  Keeping it to the point. Have you ever clicked on a video to watch & as it starts you see it is 8:39 and you just do not want to sit there that long?  Videos that drag on longer than 3-4 minutes normally have a lot higher viewing level than those that are 8-10 minutes.

In addition to these three tips on how to optimize the use of YouTube & other video services, here is a post I wrote a while back on how to create effective videos.  This post shares with you 5 really basic tips on how to make videos that people will actually sit & watch without having to spend thousands of dollars to have the videos produced.  It covers things like music, how to pan shots properly, and much more.  It is a great beginners guide to starting on video.

In closing, if you are not yet using video in your marketing strategies, it is definitely time to start exploring this.  One final piece of advice:  You do not need to be a professional videographer to create good video.  Most videos that go viral are ones shot with basic digital cameras, flip cams, and most of the times are not even edited.  So do not allow things like that hold you back from getting started.  Raw video can be just as beneficial for your business as one that is shot by the pros.  If you want some assistance in getting started with this, feel free to contact me and I can help you.  The biggest key however, is to just get started!

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors.  If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly. Also, please visit my other online consulting blog for more social media tips, tricks and enhancements.

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