Savvy entrepreneurs are looking to social media as another way to market their businesses.

Viral videos represent one way for small businesses to level the advertising playing field.
By Justin Petruccelli | January 26, 2009

When it comes to viral video marketing, the big boys are using it as a cheap way to reach younger and more web-savvy audiences. But when you’re a small business owner, sometimes 30 seconds, a camcorder and a twisted mind are all you have. In our February magazine, we told you how to take your video viral. Here are a few of our favorite examples. Read article…

Potential viewers: millions. Potential cost: next to nothing. Online videos are worth a look.
By David Carnoy | Entrepreneur Magazine - February 2009

In 2004, New Jersey native Gary Brolsma became an internet legend when he lip-synched the Romanian pop song “Dragostea Din Tei” into a cheap webcam, and the resulting video, “Numa Numa Dance,” went viral. Brolsma wasn’t promoting anything; he wasn’t even trying to make a viral video. So imagine if he had swapped out that nondescript shirt for one with your company logo or website plastered across it. Millions would have seen it. Cost to you: Almost nothing.

Sound enticing? Unfortunately, creating a low-cost video is harder than it looks. Here are tips for producing a video that spreads at supersonic speed:

1. DIY is dicey, so equip yourself well. Using an inexpensive camcorder, you can easily shoot a video. Editing can be a little trickier, though consumer-friendly video-editing packages–like Apple’s iMovie–are getting simpler to use and often feature plug-ins so you can upload your video directly to YouTube and other video-sharing sites. True technophobes can shoot with a Flip Video mini camcorder, which has built-in editing software and one-button uploading to YouTube. But most experts discourage guerrilla marketers from going totally DIY. Read article…

Create runaway word-of-mouth marketing for your business online.
By: Deborah Cole Micek | 11/07/2007 - WomenEntrepreneur.com

I like to think of new media marketing as entertainment marketing. This term helps paint the picture for entrepreneurs as to what’s involved in new media marketing if they want their campaign to be successful.

If your company wants to get exposure by creating buzz and runaway word-of-mouth marketing, it’s not going to happen with a paid advertising spot on TV. Rather, it must be something so entertaining and engaging for viewers that they feel compelled to share your video with a friend and talk about you at parties. You want to create something buzz-worthy that makes people actually smile as they talk about your latest YouTube video or podcast.

Before I share an example of someone who is so buzz-worthy you’ve probably heard about him or seen one of his videos, let me share a few cautionary words so you won’t get banned. Read article…

YouTube has become one of the most used websites on the internet with millions of unique visitors every day. We’ve gathered a list of some of the best articles, and online tools to help you make the most of YouTube. So, whether you are an aspiring film maker or looking to reach a new audience, you’ll find resources here to help you. Enjoy!

Basic Guides to YouTube and Editing Videos

The Beginner’s Corner: Putting Video on YouTube
Get started with this guide for beginners.

How Video Editing Works
A good introduction to video editing.

Basic Video Editing
Good breakdown of different types of video editing.

How to edit digital video with Windows Movie Maker 2
A detailed look at using Windows Movie Maker to make videos.

Voiceover Basics for Video Production
A good video has good sound.

Make your Audio Stand out
Our guide to creating professional audio tracks.

Advanced Guides

Hi-Res YouTube Hacks
Learn how to offer high resolution videos.

How To Make YouTube Videos Look Great
Well written guide.

6 tips for High Quality Youtube Video
Tips for creating a high quality video on Youtube.

How to Optimize Your Video for YouTube
More tips to optimise your video for YouTube.

Techniques in Video Creation

Lights! Camera! Vodcast!
Wired know a thing or two about creating online videos, here is their guide.

Top Ten Online Filmmaking Techniques
Very good guide to traditional film making techniques which can be applied to online video.

Videomaker
Videomaker has so many useful guides that we couldn’t list just one. If you are serious about making videos with real quialty have a look at some of their guides which range from lighting to audio advice.

DIY: How to make better videos
An indepth guide to making the most of your camcorder.

Online Video Dos and Don’ts
Good tipsheet from Businessweek.

Public Domain Video Libraries

Public Domain Files
Wikipedia’s massive lists of movies in public domain.

Archive.org
Archive’s Moving Images library of free movies, films, and videos.

Public Domain Torrents
Download classic and b-movies here.

Free Video Stock Footage Resources Online
A great selection of hand picked resources for free stock footage.

Guides to Viral Videos

8 tips to make your YouTube video go viral
Good tips on making sure your video has a fighting chance of going viral.

Going viral with YouTube
Jiannis examines 3 popular YouTube videos to determine what it is that makes a video go viral.

How to make a video go viral
Technobabble have put together a thorough blog post on the subject.

The B2B Lead Vidcast – A Case Study in Viral Video Marketing
An interesting case study on what to do and what not to do in viral video marketing. Have your tea and biscuits ready as there is a 30 minute video included.

Guide to Video Marketing on YouTube
Good tips for marketing on YouTube.

Igniting Viral Campaigns
Igniting Viral Campaigns session which covers techniques that allow the smaller company to stand out.

The 4 Elements of Getting Videos to Go Viral
An easy to digest guide to the fundamentals of creating viral videos.

The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos
Dan Ackerman Greenberg shows us the light, or does he? The comments here highlight some of the issues with trying to game the system for traffic.

How to promote your videos on YouTube
Great post from Kevin Nalt on how to promote your videos on YouTube.

Ten Things a Marketer Should Know About Online Video
A unique view on the hits and misses of online-video marketing.

“How to Become Popular on YouTube (Without Any Talent)” - A Free eBook
Great free ebook. You can either download on the page or read it on scribd.com.

Online Video Editors

Eyespot
Very good video mixer and editor. Allows you to download your mixes.

BubblePly
BubblePlay lets you add images, animated cliparts and video clips over any YouTube video.

Graffiti
Add effects to your videos.

Veotag
Veotag is an excellent service that lets you display clickable text, called “veotags,” within an audio or video file.

Online Video Converters

Mux
Convert videos between any format & save videos forever from popular websites.

Movavi
Free Online Video Converter. No software to install. No ads to interrupt. Movavi will notify you when your conversion is ready to download.

ZamZar
Convert files without the need to download software.

Tubefish
Can convert your videos to multiple formats.

Vconvert
Nice ajaxified website that has many conversion options. Recommended.

Convert Tube
Download online videos to PC, iPod, PSP, Mobile.

TubeSock
TubeSock 2.0 downloads YouTube videos from the web and saves them to your video iPod, Mac, or PlayStation Portable.

VideoDL
VideoDL is a quick AJAX application which allows you to download online video into your computer. It supports top 3 video sites - YouTube, Google Video, and Break.com.

Put YouTube on Your Site / Blog

TubePress
WordPress plugin that displays YouTube videos in an embedded gallery.

YouTube badge maker
YouTube badge maker shows your viewers images of your 6 most recently uploaded videos.

YouTube Wordpress Plugin
Display YouTube videos on your Wordpress blog according to Tags.

YouTube Video Trackers

Youtube Top-Rated
101 top rated videos from YouTube updated daily.

The World Internet TV charts
Tracks the most popular video clips from four leading Internet TV sites.

Viral Video Charts
See what’s going viral all over the web.

Everything Else

Overstream
Add subtitles to your online videos.

TubeMogul
Analytics for your YouTube account along with other video sites.

YouTube Userscripts
A huge collection of scripts to do just about anything with your YouTube account.

YoutubeCrazyVideos
A desktop player and downloader for YouTube.

YouTube Podcaster
Makes podcasts feeds from your submitted url or keywords on Youtube.

We hope some of these links will keep you going for a while. Please let us know if we have missed anything in the comments below and we’ll add to the list.