If you’ve taken the big leap and joined the ranks of the online video marketers, congratulations! The first video is always the most difficult.

But now that you’ve produced your first video, what’s next? How do you not only maximize the marketing from that video, but also create new video marketing opportunities? Unless you want to succumb to the dreaded “one and done” syndrome, you’ll want to create a strategic marketing plan for using video regularly in your business.

As with any plan, you must begin with the end in mind. What are your business objectives for video? Is it to grow your list? Build your brand? Drive more web traffic? Enhance your credibility? Your goals will determine your direction.

If you said “all of the above” to the video goals we just listed, here are some ideas for maintaining your video momentum…

1. Create an “expert tips” series to share your expertise. Short, 1 – 2 minute “how to” videos are a great way to increase your credibility and expand your influence.

2. If you’ve got a blog, add a videoblog post every couple of weeks. The search engines love video, and your readers will be treated to a dynamic change of pace from your traditional blog posts. Extra bonus: Video is much more personal and compelling than print alone!

3. Get some face time. Use a personal video message or video email to go “face to face” with your clients or prospects. Sending a video greeting, birthday wishes or a thank you video have much more impact than yet another regular email. If you want to stand out and be memorable, use video!

4. Make it an event. Whether you’re promoting a webinar or launching a new product, nothing makes a bold statement like video. Adding video to your promotional plans makes your webinar or launch look more like a special event. Again, it’s the best way to break through the online clutter and make sure your message gets noticed.

5. Go Live! You can do a live webcast or offer a “Q & A” video session using free platforms such as Livestream or Ustream.tv. These web resources make it easy to fire up your webcam and go live whenever you want. A live webcast is dynamic, engaging and highly interactive. (You may want to do a test run first, just to get comfortable with the format).

However you decide to use video, it will put your marketing on overdrive and accelerate your results. The secret is consistency and strategy. Make a plan and stick to it. Anyone can make one video. The real winners online will be those who make online video a regular part of their marketing efforts.

Guest Author: Lou Bortone is an Online Branding Specialist and video pro who helps entrepreneurs and service professionals build breakthrough brands on the Internet, so they can have more visibility, credibility and profitability. Lou delivers innovative online branding strategies, including video production and editing, social media marketing and online video consulting.

Lou is a former television executive who worked for E! Entertainment Television and Fox in Los Angeles. He is also an author and ghostwriter of six business books, a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach and a Book Yourself Solid Certified Coach.

Find out more at www.LouBortone.com, and for online video info and resources, visit: www.OnlineVideopolis.com.

Infograph by GO-Gulf.com – Dubai Web Design Company

Online videos are an effective marketing tool for the small business entrepreneur seeking to grow his or her online brand. Thanks to inexpensive and easy-to-use internet tools and cameras, every business owner can – and should — add video to his or her marketing mix.

Here are five reasons you should consider doing so:

1) Viewers Love ‘Em!

When you post written content, visitors have to gear up mentally to follow your points. Many people will decide it’s too much effort. But at least a third of your viewers will willingly sit through a 3-minute video. That is, unless your video is dark and muffled. Your videos don’t need to be professional quality to engage, but please don’t make people strain to see or hear you.

Videos have become so popular, because at least 30 percent of online viewers learn best by seeing and hearing. Online videos provide both the verbal and visual stimulation they crave. So give it to ‘em!

2) Videos Create Relationships

By watching you and seeing how you express yourself, people instantly form an opinion of you. If they like what they see, they’ll want to see more. Which gives you an edge in quickly engaging them, building community with them, and moving them more quickly down your sales funnel.

TIP! You only have seconds to engage your audience, however, before they turn you off. Studies show, in fact, that half of your audience will click the “off” button by the 1-minute mark, if you’ve not engaged them.

3) Videos Show Off Your Expertise (And Let you be the Star!)

If you feel comfortable in front of the camera, why wouldn’t you want to add video to your marketing mix? Just remember to practice before you start filming, to ensure you look polished. Notice that I didn’t say “perfect.” Fortunately, viewers don’t expect perfection from small business videographers.

Remember to make eye contact often with the camera lens. And smile every so often. Keep your face and voice animated, just as you would if you were having a live conversation with someone.

4) Videos Quickly Go Viral

Thanks to the Net, you can place video in so many places — ensuring you and your business get seen by many audiences. Specific to your established communities, be sure to link to all of your social media sites, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and your favorite social bookmarking sites. Make sure it’s easy for people to share your video with their friends, so they will market it for you!

TIP! Be sure to embed your videos within your own blog or website. Your goal is always to drive viewers to your website so that you can build that one-on-one relationship. Be sure to feature an opt-in box on your website so that you can collect contact information. With this permission to market to your prospects, you can continue to build a relationship over time.

5) Videos Let You Give Viewers a Call to Action

Why miss the opportunity to have your viewers take action at the end of your video? You can ask prospects to hop over to your website, to leave a comment, or even to sign up for your FREE gift in exchange for their contact information. Just by your asking, you help your prospects get to know you, like you, and trust you. Take the lead on that; invite people into your inner circle.

See all the perks to adding video to your marketing mix?

Best part: you need very little equipment to get started. All you really need is a recording device such as the Flip camera, a tripod (to prevent you ending up with shaky videos), a decent background (please don’t share your untidy home office with viewers!), some basic editing software (most computers come with a basic editing package), a basic script (can be as simple as scribbles on a piece of paper!) and a bit of practice. PLEASE don’t skip that last part!

Get to it! With video, you’ll soon see your marketing percolating!

Guest Author: Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt is the owner of Creatives Marketing, which helps creative entrepreneurs succeed with online marketing. To receive your FREE Creatives Marketing Kit, visit http://www.CreativesMarketing.com.

The most popular social media question is:  “Where do I start with social media if I want to use it for my business?”  The very first step is to understand the entire social media landscape before jumping on the bandwagon.  This is paramount if you want to succeed with using social media for your business!

The social web consists of many categories and is not just about social networking.  I have created the below diagram to help you understand the types of social media categories.  The categories you decide to use for your business will depend on your business goals and what you are trying to achieve with social media.

Of course, there is a cross between many of these categories.  For example, I placed Twitter under micro-blogging, but it also belongs under social networking; I placed Facebook under social networking but it is also the largest photo-sharing site.

The key to success with social media is to not put your eggs in one basket.  Once you have a clear understanding of the social web, the next step is know how to integrate some or all these categories together so you can leverage and maximize your efforts with social media.

Please note, in this diagram I am giving a comprehensive look at the categories of social media.  The tools in each category are only an example.  There are literally thousands of tools out there that would fall into each category and would not be possible to fit into a single diagram.  Please feel free to add tools that you think belong under specific categories in the comment section below.

The logos and images shown are trademarks of each site.  Let’s hope the sites don’t mind that I borrowed them!

Social Media Landscape Image

Traditionally, public relations was very expensive and not interactive in the slightest. More recently, companies are finding that promoting their business through social media is one of the best public relations techniques they can use. In fact, it is rapidly becoming the preferred method of interacting with potential clients and the media.

Here are a few ways you can start incorporating social media into your PR campaigns:

1. @replies or direct messages to media. Most big names are on Twitter these days, so direct a message at the media person you are interested in. Chances are far more likely that they will respond to a short 140 character message than an email.

2. Make valuable connections. It’s not always about making pitches. Really befriending people and getting to know them on a personal level can be a great way to make some great contacts for the future.

3. Create customer surveys. Whether you post the link to a longer survey or just ask questions one at a time via Twitter or another network, this can be a great way to gather information.

4. Get reviews. Ask for testimonials or get creative. Some businesses have great success getting people to submit videos of themselves using a product. Videos rapidly become viral, spreading your message everywhere.

5. Let people know what you’re up to. Social media can be a powerful way to build a buzz around a new product or service, particularly if you have others in your network who will promote it for you (your influencers).

6. Give something away. Freebies almost always go viral. Everyone wants to promote them, so if you are giving something away, you can be sure that people will spread the message around the net.

7. Arrange for interviews. Social media gives you access to a number of journalists and if you play your cards right, you can interest them in interviews for added publicity. Often, requests will go out on sites like Twitter when someone needs help with a news story and if your company fits, you could get extra exposure.

8. Offer videos. While text messages are great and articles can be an effective way to get your point across, there is a definite interest in video these days. A huge number of Internet users prefer video to any other medium, so reach out to them.

9. Respond to concerns and compliments. When someone says something about your business on social media, you should know and be able to respond to them. If they are having a problem with your product, solve it. They’ll be impressed with your customer service.

10. Arrange offline meetings. Social media is great, but sometimes you need to meet up with others in the business or even clients in real life, as well. You can use the sites to invite your networks to join you at a restaurant for an evening of talking or a more formal event.

Whether you choose to use one or two of these methods, or all ten, you’ll find that your PR campaigns have much better success when you use a little interactivity. People love companies that are accessible and making it easier to contact you is the best thing you can do to increase respect and interest.

What ways are you using social media for public relations?

Video marketing is one of the faster growing types of social media. While text based apps like Twitter are thriving, people still love to watch videos online and YouTube is still the king of the video world, whether you like it or not. The main reason for this is simply sheer size. The site has millions of videos and hundreds of thousands of users. According to their fact sheet, about 10 hours of video is uploaded every minute!

The power of a video site this big is that you can use it to get your marketing video in front of not dozens, not hundreds, but tens of thousands of potential clients. Of course, it’s a bit of a job to make sure that many people actually see it, but once a video goes viral, its traffic will soar. This is one of the biggest reasons more and more large corporations are turning to the social video site to promote their companies. Why are they doing this? Here are the main reasons.

1. Exposure. With millions of viewers, YouTube offers a ripe arena for presenting information to the public. Since videos show up in Google searches, companies can set up their own videos and channels and have these appear in search results when they are properly tagged.

2. Interactivity. Social media is big with companies because it allows the clients and users to interact with the company, something that simply didn’t happen before. For those businesses that are embracing this new medium, their users are free to share their videos (in most cases) and comment on them, making it a medium that is far more approachable than an ad on television.

3. Price. Being able to produce videos on a relatively low budget and upload them to YouTube for free is something that any business can do. Though we are seeing a rise in the number of big corporations showing their videos and ads on video sites like YouTube, this is only recently because they are actually placing them there. For years, people would upload their favorite movie trailers, clips and television ads . . . but now the businesses responsible for these are realizing what a sweet deal free exposure is and are willingly adding their brands to the video site.

If you haven’t started in on video marketing, it’s definitely a good idea to look into it. After all, companies like Volvo, Universal Music, Lionsgate and Electronic Arts can’t be wrong with all their advertising dollars!

Are you using YouTube to ptomote your business? Please tell us about it.