If you haven’t heard yet, I’ll be the one to break the shocking news: Youtube is the video king.  The story of how its three founders rapidly built a $1.65 billion movement will come in another article — here I am going to focus on why Youtube should be included in your box of tools for movement building.

Youtube is a movement builder’s dream

It is a perfect tool for creating a buzz.  It gets your content out in front of an enormous audience for a minimal cost, and it has the capability for discussion and sharing automatically built in.  And the best part about it — you don’t need to have a professional video team to create something worth watching.

As an illustration, look at a video put up this month by Microsoft .  They have the ability to produce an ad that would make The Matrix look downright 1980 — but instead of special effects they have chosen a video that your movement could easily duplicate.  Why?  Because this look appeals to the Youtube audience.

Below is another example that recently made it to Youtube’s homepage.  This video (with 50,000 views and counting) is just a guy with his guitar singing a funny song about a growing movement — all of which could easily be replicated with any video camera and the most basic video editing software.

But you’re just a small organization!

I’ve heard it before and I’m sure I’ll hear it many times again: But we are just a small organization and don’t have the name recognition of Microsoft or Twitter, Seinfeld or Gates.  We simply couldn’t compete.

The good news is that the big players don’t have nearly as much advantage in the Youtube arena as you think.  We’ve already discussed the fact that they don’t have too significant of a technological advantage.  And big names are not needed either.  As an example, watch this video:

It’s cute and all, but it’s just a dancing bird, right?  Well, yes.  It’s a dancing bird that has been watched by move than 1.5 million people. As you’ll see if you visit the video’s page on Youtube, every time it is viewed the name of the nonprofit that posted the video is displayed, along with a brief description of their efforts (building a sanctuary for rescued birds) and a link to donate to the sanctuary. Filming a bird’s antics has earned this organization global coverage, and with some creativity your organization will certainly be able to add to your movement through Youtube.

The bad news

There are two pieces of bad news.  The first one is that Youtube won’t fit with everyone’s strategy.  If you are focusing exclusively on a small community or if your audience doesn’t spend much time online, then Youtube is not for you.  It’s a powerful tool when it fits your audience and your organizational goals — if it doesn’t, then just leave the tool in your toolbox.

The second piece of bad news is that the immense power of Youtube is NOT a hidden secret.  It is a well known avenue for promotion and is becoming more competitive by the day.  Luckily, there is a lot that you can do to maximize the chances of your video’s success.  The nuts and bolts of a successful Youtube video — including choosing a title, selecting the proper video length, optimizing for thumbnails, promotion, tagging and more — are all covered by Dan Ackerman Greenberg in The Secret Strategies Behind Many Viral Videos.

We’d also love to hear the successes and challenges you have found with building your movement on Youtube.  Please drop your story in the comments below.