Recently I posted over at HybridSEM.com talking about the effectiveness of video marketing and put together a pretty large list of video sharing sites for your marketing and viewing pleasure. However, I did not go into detail on any of the techniques I use for video marketing. Thinking about it, I realize that I probably should have done that then, but better late than never! Here is a short overview on effective video marketing on YouTube. The very first thing I do with a social media account (for me or for a client) on YouTube is to customize the account. To do this, simply go to My Account >> Channel Design. Here you can customize colors, choose fonts, add background images, etc. Under the “My Account” area you will be able to modify other important features, such as adding a link on your page via Channel URL or modifying your subscriptions. This is an important step for any social network because it gives you the sense of ownership to the community. Plus, it looks cool. Take advantage of popular channels. The most important aspect in any type of marketing is maximum impressions and exposure. Given this, one goal is to add as many friends to your account as you possibly can as a result of posting videos. One way to accomplish this is to stick with popular channels with a lot of subscribers. These type of subscribers tend to be people who are active on YouTube. By befriending them, you will start to build up a list of friends that goes beyond your initial niche. The end results should look something like this: As you can see, the friends that I have sent requests to have accepted and I am now ready to submit a video. Think about the following four things when you start making plans to submit a video.