What has served up over 1.73 billion video views, with 200 million video clips played every single day? It’s a phenomenon known as YouTube, ranked second on Alexa.com, an online tool that assesses site traffic. To millions, YouTube is a form of entertainment, but to businesses YouTube can serve as a powerful and innovative platform for marketing. It provides the reach and the visual appeal to a large, diverse demography. If you are a business, utilizing this forum as part of the overall marketing strategy can be important. Here are some tactics to consider.

First, consider having your customers and audience in creating the YouTube video for you. Through what is called Viral Video contests, companies have succeeded in generating consumer interest and provided a venue for some of the best and creative ideas to take shape. Testimonials are another important channel to consider as it offers customers an opportunity to provide their feedback on a video on YouTube. With the ability to click, view and comment, businesses instantly have access to reactions and are able to tweak their videos to accommodate customer opinions in improving their overall appeal. Furthermore, this helps a business develop a much more personal relationship with their current and prospective customers.

Businesses also generate traffic and positive views with "Do-it-Yourself" or "How-to" YouTube Videos where some sort of content is of value to its customers. In this knowledge society, everything from "how to paint a house" to "how-to start a business online" is popular because they provide the customer with the tools needed to reach their goals. In addition to such YouTube tutorials, another way to promote and generate traffic to YouTube videos and essentially your website is through expert interviews. Expertise offers credibility and customers are at awe learning about a topic from someone who knows or does it best.

Inarguably, your business can benefit from a YouTube link and the best part is that it doesn’t cost you anything. If you are a novice at creating and uploading videos on YouTube, not to fret! Here is a quick step-by-step guide on how to get started and having your business up on you-tube in no time:

Step 1: Take a video utilizing a digital camera or camcorder. Today, a cell phone may even be sufficient. You are aiming for good quality. Just remember the length of the video cannot exceed 10 minutes and the size must be less than 100MB.

Step 2: Once complete, you are ready to upload the video onto YouTube. Formats and extensions that are accepted are .avi, .mpg, .mov, and .wmv.

Step 3: Click upload videos on the YouTube site, entering the video’s information. Make sure your video settings include "Public" to ensure it’s viewable. Ensure there is a link to your business website. Upload the video (after selecting the file from your folder).

Your computer may require additional software to upload and manage videos but they are easily found on the internet. In fact, by conducting a search on YouTube to see if there is or are videos on how to create and upload videos on the web portal, you may come across various helpful tutorials. This provides a great visual for you to get started.

It is without a doubt that the ability to have a visual of a company product/service in a form of a viral video created by customers or expert advice or as an instructional video has a great impact on the customers. As a marketer of your business, options and features on YouTube from bulletins to channels to different directories are endless. More importantly, YouTube videos help promote a business in targeting your niche market. Best of all, your business has an opportunity to receive instant feedback and develop a personal bond with your customers.