When I was five years old, I started kindergarten, learned to tie my shows and I wielded a yellow Wiffle Ball bat, pretending to be Luke Skywalker. While I thought that it was a great start, it’s nothing compared to the accomplishments of the most famous five-year-old in America, YouTube.

YouTube has surpassed the two-billion-views-per-day mark. There are 24 hours of videos uploaded per minute, and it’s the second most used search engine on the planet (trailing parent company Google).

According to Infinite Dial 2010 conducted by Edison Research and Arbitron, 28 percent of people surveyed stated that they had viewed a video via YouTube in the last week. A study conducted by the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that video increases comprehension and retention by 50 percent over live presentations. Other research suggests that people prefer video presentations over printed materials by a 6-to-1 margin.

Not bad for a five-year-old.

These numbers alone are all the justification you need to utilize this promotional channel for your company. So why is it that YouTube is rarely mentioned in the Social Media discussion? Why are Facebook and Twitter getting all of the attention?

Take advantage of this widely used promotional channel. Setting up a YouTube channel is no more difficult than creating a Facebook page. You can post all of the important information about your company, add timely comments and of course showcase videos about your product.

This is another influential tool that is at your disposal. Don’t just let people find the video on a YouTube search. Push these videos through your Facebook page and your Twitter feed to increase its exposure. You can even create an RSS feed that would transform this effort into a video podcast. You should also add a link to your YouTube Channel on your website and blog.

It’s important to have a professional-looking video series and YouTube page. Checkerboard Strategic Web Development has been helping clients construct effective social media plans, including YouTube videos and pages. Find out more about this effective service by calling (612) 798-7200.

What would your first video be about, and how do you think it would reach your target audience?