With over 2 billion views per day, YouTube – the best-known video-sharing site – is a must-visit on every marketer’s list. Add in the other video-sharing sites like Vimeo, Viddler, and Blip.tv, and the number of potential viewers you can reach is astronomical. Video is also a terrific relationship-builder. A good video can really boost the trust factor as a customer or partner “meets” you face-to-face. So if you have any on-camera abilities, video marketing is a must.

Most video-sharing sites work like other social networking sites. You create a profile, “friend” contacts, and leave comments on their videos. Make sure your user profile includes a way for people to get in contact with you.  Include a link to your website or blog, and add a compelling description of your business. As with image-sharing sites, the quality of your videos is crucial. For best results, focus on creating one or two high-quality videos instead of a bunch of mediocre ones.

Here’s how to spend your 15 minutes most effectively:

• Record a short (1-2 minute) video on a topic of interest. This could be an abbreviated how-to, an overview of something on your blog, or just a top-of-mind “vlog”-type entry. Don’t worry about creating a broadcast-quality video; be natural and relaxed, and focus on conveying something of value to your viewers. (5 minutes)
• Upload the video to your photo-sharing site. Note: There are some services like TubeMogul.com and TrafficGeyser.com that will distribute your videos automatically to a number of different video-sharing sites. Consider using them for greater impact. (3 minutes)
• Create a powerful title and description, along with appropriate keywords or tags. Make sure to include your main website or blog in the description. (3 minutes)
• Connect with other users in your industry. Search by keywords in your niche and establish a relationship with fellow video creators. Leave comments, “friend” them, and “like” their videos. (4 minutes)

Using this method, you could easily create a short video each day. Over the course of a month, that will allow you to have more than two dozen powerful pieces of video out there, earning you new viewers, new partners, and new customers.

Forums, or message boards, are sites that provide a place for people interested in specific topics to exchange ideas, ask and answer questions, and meet each other. They were probably the original social media sites that were around long before blogs, Twitter, and Facebook ever came along.

The challenge with forums is not to find them, but to choose the right ones.  With hundreds of thousands of forums online, on topics from architecture to zoology, there will be at least a few in your niche, no matter how esoteric your interests. But how do you decide which forums to join?  You want forums that are big enough, but not too big, and active enough, but not so active that your every post is buried immediately among hundreds of others.

If you’ve picked an industry you’re passionate about and already knowledgeable in, you likely already know at least one or two of the leading forums. Start there, and ask others where else they like to hang out. You’ll soon get more choices than you know what to do with, but resist the temptation to join them all. After all, you want to manage your forum participation in only 15 minutes a day, and that means staying focused. One or two active forums, or a handful of quieter ones, will be plenty. Each day, set aside 15 minutes to do the following:

• Check to see what topics are trending. This is valuable information for future blog posts, products, and content you can generate on your own site. (3 minutes)
• Answer any personal messages or comments made directly to you. (3 minutes)
• Post answers to questions people have posed, provided you have useful information. (5 minutes)
• Send a few private messages to deepen relationships with other forum members. (2 minutes)
• Start a new topic. Ask a question you’re interested in (“What’s the biggest challenge facing you about X?” or “What are your favorite resources for Y?”). This can be great content for future blog posts or products. (2 minutes)

Participating in forums is an excellent way to gather information, not just a way to connect with others. Where else can you ask potential customers exactly what their concerns and questions are? Make the most of your access!

And here’s another perk of forums:  Most of them will allow you to add a custom signature to your posts.  Make the most of that valuable piece of real estate by offering a free gift that would be of interest to your fellow forum members.  You’ll find that you’ll lure a lot of them to your website or blog where they might sign up for your newsletter… and join your “list.”

Commenting on other people’s blogs is one of the most overlooked social media strategies, which makes it a great opportunity for you.  Not only is there little competition, but it’s actually a highly effective way to increase your visibility.  By posting on other people’s blogs, you’ll be able to leverage the other bloggers’ success and audience quickly and efficiently.

Before you start posting, though, you need to plan your strategy.  Create a list of 10-20 top blogs in your niche that are vibrant and have a strong readership. It won’t do you a lot of good to create a passionate, compelling persona on a blog that only a few people are reading, so it’s okay to be picky here. You’re looking for a site that is a social hub in your industry.

You could approach this task with a variety of goals in mind.  For example, you might want to create a relationship with the blogger or with others in your niche.  Your goal might be to establish yourself as an expert.  Then again, maybe you just want to create backlinks to give your own blog or website a boost in the eyes of Google.  Either way, you’ll accomplish your goals by reading posts, making insightful, helpful comments, and building on the conversations already taking place.

Each day, spend 15 minutes visiting some of the blogs on your list and reading the day’s posts.  Then make comments where appropriate, and provide links back to your own website or blog. Here are some guidelines to make your efforts most effective:

• Be a gracious guest. First and foremost, keep in mind that you are a guest on someone else’s blog. That means you need to be supportive, polite, and kind. You can disagree with what the other blogger has said, but do so in a polite manner. Don’t hijack the conversation or steer every post back to you.
• Be thoughtful. No one is going to pay much attention to comments that just say, “Great post! Thanks!” In fact, those kinds of posts are generally considered comment spam and are unlikely to be approved.  Instead, respond to the post specifically and provide additional insights or context on the topic. Steer people to places online for additional resources. Sometimes those might be on your blog or website, but sometimes they will be on someone else’s site. If you look too self-promotional, don’t be surprised if your posts are deleted.
• Stay on track. Imagine this scenario:  You and a friend are at Starbucks, sitting and sipping your lattes, chatting about the best place to buy a digital camera. If someone at the next table suddenly pulled up a chair and said, “I sell ink cartridges – wanna see?” you’d likely roll your eyes and move as far from him as possible. But imagine he said instead, “I’m sorry to interrupt; I overheard what you were saying and I just saw that Joe’s Cameras is having a half-off sale on all digital cameras next week. I got mine there and the customer service was awesome!” You’d probably buy the guy a pound of coffee to thank him. See the difference? One comment is about HIM; the other one is about YOU. Keep the comments focused on the conversation already in progress and you’ll be a welcome guest.

Commenting on other people’s blogs won’t make you rich or uber-popular overnight, but it’s a great way to build relationships with the movers and shakers – and the customers – in your industry. And those are the types of relationships that last… and can help you grow your business.

Many “professional” bloggers would like you to believe that blogging requires nothing short of an advanced degree and a full-time commitment to creating words worthy of being chiseled in stone on the side of the New York Public Library. That’s just not the case. In fact, one of the biggest mistakes online businesspeople make is seeing blogging as some secret skill that they couldn’t possibly learn. The truth is that if you can hold a conversation with a neighbor or coworker, then you can blog.

The benefits of blogging are many, and have been covered extensively in a variety of other forms. But the bottom line is that blogging is one of the most effective ways to showcase your expertise, connect with potential customers and partners, and establish your on-line persona.

You’ll be able to find plenty of books and videos covering the basics of setting up a blog.  But what I would like to cover right now is how to blog in15 minutes a day.

Once your blog is set up, your energy will be spent on two main aspects – adding content and promoting your site. Because both of these topics are critical to the success of your blog, I recommend alternating between them; one day, add a new post or other content to your blog. The next day, spend your 15 minutes promoting your blog. Here’s how you can create valuable content in 15 minutes:

• Create a list post: the top five mistakes people make in your industry, the top five bloggers to follow in your niche, or the top five books for newcomers to your industry.
• Add a video. Go on YouTube, search for videos in your area of specialty, and pick one to embed in your own blog. Add a few sentences of commentary.
• Record an audio. Hook up your microphone and record a short monologue on a topic that moves you, makes you angry, or makes you laugh. Better yet, use an app on your smartphone and record on the go to save even more time.
• Upload a photo – one of your own, or one you find on a photo-sharing site. Again, make it applicable to your market, and add a few lines of commentary.
• Write a short review of a book, product, or service in your market. Share pros and cons.
• Ask someone in your industry a few questions by email and post the interview.
• Answer questions you receive from readers.
• Create a “round up” of posts or resources online that your readers may be interested in.

Once you’ve got some great content, the next step is to promote it. On your days off from writing or posting content, use the following to-do list for promoting your blog:

• Link to some of your most popular posts on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, or your other social media sites. There are services and plug-ins that will do this for you automatically. (3 minutes)
• Respond to comments from readers. You can do this on your blog, in the comments section, or directly by email. (4 minutes)
• Create internal links on your blog posts from one link to another. For instance, if you write a post on a great recipe, link to other posts you’ve written on the same topic. (3 minutes)
• Make a few changes to your blog post and submit it to an article directory (5 minutes)

As with other social media forms, the most important thing to keep in mind is to make your content useful to your audience. You are much better off creating great, useful content twice a week, than throwing up garbage several times a day. Post great stuff, tell people about it, and they will come.

LinkedIn may not be as flashy as Facebook or as trendy as Tumblr, but for most people with a business, it’s definitely must in the social media world. With a solid user base of over 75 million people, LinkedIn is popular among high-level businesspeople; according to the LinkedIn PR page, executives from each of the nation’s Fortune 500 companies belong to the site. LinkedIn focuses more on professional activities and accomplishments, and less on cute games and applications. So if your target market trends a bit to the older, corporate side, LinkedIn may be the place for you.

The first thing to do on LinkedIn is to create a profile that discusses your professional expertise and experience. Currently, businesses cannot create profiles online, so your profile will represent you as an individual. Then you’ll link up with friends and colleagues.  The site makes that easy by showing you users who have attended the same school or worked for the same companies. Once you’ve requested to be made a contact and your request is approved, you’ll be able to see your contacts’ contacts, making it a virtual game of six degrees of separation.

One of the best aspects of LinkedIn is the ability to request an introduction to someone who is not in your immediate network but is a contact of one of your own contacts. If you’re looking to partner with a specific person, you can ask to be introduced through a mutual contact, thereby smoothing the way. Another great resource is the large number of “groups,” for everything from sales and marketing professionals to White House staff members. These groups allow you to follow conversations, suggest topics of interest, and find additional contacts.  For small business owners trying to gain visibility, these groups can be invaluable.

Once you’ve created your LinkedIn profile, search the groups directory for appropriate groups to join. You can currently join up to 50 groups, but be judicious; just as with social media in general, you’re better off joining just a few groups that you can really participate in, rather than joining dozens you can barely remember you’re part of. Once you’ve identified your groups, here’s your daily to-do:

• Post an update to your profile. While profile updates are less critical on LinkedIn as on other sites, they still demonstrate that you’re using the site and are updating regularly. (1 minute)
• Respond to invitations to connect. You can arrange for these requests to be sent directly to your email in-box, too. (1 minute)
• Add additional contacts. Each time you approve a request to connect, you’ll automatically be shown other people you may know. Spend a few minutes looking for potential new contacts and requesting to add them to your network. (3 minutes)
• Read current updates in your groups, and respond to questions and conversations. (4 minutes)
• Post new threads in your groups with related topics and points of interest. (3 minutes)
• Request introductions. Spend a minute asking for introductions to anyone you may want to “meet.” (1 minute)
• Write a recommendation. LinkedIn allows you to write and receive recommendations from your contacts. Writing one creates good karma, and increases the likelihood someone will write one for you in turn. (2 minutes)

LinkedIn is a much more serious site than most other social media outlets. While you can still express your personality, realize – and respect – that most people are there for professional networking purposes, not to share their latest exploits at the foosball table. As long as you stick with the vibe, your updates and posts will be welcomed and appreciated.