The ways of text-based blogging are slowly becoming ancient and the era of video blogging is upon us.  Video content is easy to create and online video websites, such as YouTube, make it simple to upload and share content.  But, like most social media practices, it’s not always that easy.  There are a lot of things that can (and should) be done to maximize the views, comments, and “share factor” of your videos.  So, what are they?

1.  Create a channel.

YouTube channels allow a user to have a dedicated place to upload their videos and to easily share them with others.  When someone accesses your channel, instead of just seeing one video, they will be able to see all of the videos you have uploaded in an easy-to-use format.  A YouTube channel is a great way to organize your content and distribute it in a simple manner.

2.  Keep the same format.

When you’re editing your video, make sure to keep the same general format as other videos.  If you have a title appear in your first video, have a title in your other videos.  If you always have credits at the end, keep the credits constant.  Viewers don’t like change when it comes to the organizational qualities of videos.  They want to be able to recognize your content within the first 10 or 20 seconds of your clip.  (You want this too!)  If you change how your videos are edited, you’ll be throwing off your viewers.

3.  Respond to comments.

It’s highly probable that video watchers will comment on your content.  When they do, make sure that you respond to engage them in conversation.  Remember, as humans, we crave conversation and connection.  If you can provide those two things to someone video YouTube, they’ll think you’re the greatest – and they’ll keep coming back for more.  It’s about creating communities, not about individuals.

The only instance you wouldn’t want to respond back to someone is if they’re comment is rude or inappropriate.  If this is the case, be sure to flag their comment as spam or report them to the YouTube police.

4.  Tag appropriately.

When you upload a video, you have the ability to tag, or label, your content with keywords.  As you tag your content, you want to ensure you’re tagging accurately with terms that people might search.  If you’re video is about dogs, don’t tag “dog eats a dead rabbit in the park.”  Chances are that very few people will be searching solely for that.  Instead, tag with “dogs” and “dog eating.”  The more general, the better.  Also, if you have a YouTube channel, make sure to tag your channel name in case people search for your content that way.

5.  Encourage contact.

Most people take a hands-off approach when it comes to their YouTube accounts.  No comments, no messages, just content.  That’s fine and dandy but it won’t get you anywhere.  If you’d like to continue building a community, encourage your viewers to contact you with suggestions, questions, or compliments.  When viewers see that someone is encouraging contact, they will be more likely to leave it.  Be sure to check you account often if you’re encouraging contact because you don’t want to only log in once a month and have 80 new messages you need to handle.

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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.

*Photo by bop

Twitter is a unique and useful tool. Many businesses and organizations are using it to reach out to their customers, prospects, vendors, and donors. Here are five simple things you can do today to get started.

You will need to know a few terms and ways people communicate on Twitter. Assuming that you are already listening – here’s my five steps to getting your business on Twitter. Remember that I’m not talking about marketing, PR, or business strategy. I’m simply going over the basic mechanics of starting with Twitter.

Step 1 – Create an account

Go to http://www.twitter.com to sign up.

Step 2 – Start following interesting and valuable people

Might I suggest you start with @folkmedia as your first follow? Of course I’d love to have your follow us – but it’s up to you. My suggestion is to first follow those who add value to your business or life. After you get the hang of things you’ll want to reach out and begin following people strategically. But to start, pick about 25 people and begin. You can search for people you already know in the real world.

Step 3 – Join a conversation

Twitter can be used for blasting out one way messages to crowds of thousands. But the way to earn the trust and respect of thousands is to converse with people one at a time. When you see something interesting that someone posted, you can Twitter back to them with a simple @ symbol before their username. They will in turn will most likely Twitter back to you. These are how discussions work on Twitter.

Step 4 – Learn how to search

You’ll notice that I mention searching a lot in this article. There is a great Ad Age article that basically asks the question – “is Twitter the next Google?”

We all know the power of search. And we all know how Google has been rocketed to the stratosphere from selling contextual ads against that search. But Google searches what has been. Twitter search allows you to search what is being talked about right now. Talk about a powerful tool for your business. You get to see the pain points for customers and clients. Reporters are using Twitter to gather facts about breaking news from people on the ground.

Step 5 – Be real. Be helpful. Be timely

Twitter can end up being a very warm and personal medium. It allows for conversation. Use this to your advantage and engage your followers by posing questions, linking to helpful articles, and alerting them to special items. Be careful not to “tweet your own horn” all the time. A good rule of thumb is to tweet out about 10 times linking to other people’s work for each time you tweet out about yourself.

These are five tips that can help you get started using Twitter for business. It can be a powerful tool that can drive traffic to your website and create trust and “buy in” from your prospects, customers, or supporters. Stay tuned for more resources about how to use Twitter and other social media tools for your organization.

We are continuing to release more tips and advice on how to drive traffic to your blog or website. Let us know what particular topics would help you grow your business in the comments section or send us an email.

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Joel Mark Witt is a producer, speaker, and new media leader who writes about social media and its impact in the business world. He is also the Founding Director of Folk Media. Send him an email: joelmarkwitt (at) folkmedia.org or follow him on Twitter.