There are some basic sites that should be mandatory requirements for social media marketing. Certainly, the obvious top two are Facebook and Twitter. But following closely behind should be YouTube.

According to Nielsen Online, YouTube was the world’s No. 1 video Web brand in April 2009, with 5.5 billion streams. The amount of time spent on the site by people between the ages of 35 and 49 grew by 29 percent over a period of just 6 months. And, in February of that same year, the site has more than 83 million unique visitors.

Altogether, that made YouTube the fifth most popular site in the country, surpassing Facebook and only being beaten out by Google, Yahoo, MSN and Microsoft.

Can you afford not to try to connect with those numbers? We think not. So, here are the steps you need to take

In order for a small business to be successful, there are two things that need to be accomplished in terms of marketing. This is true both of online businesses and more traditional businesses, but the focus of this post will be on businesses that do at least a significant amount of business online. The two basic aspects of marketing that need to be covered are awareness and bridging.

Awareness is the side of marketing that is focused on attempting to convince people that they need a product or service. In order for people to buy a product, they first have to feel as though they actually need it, or at least want it.

Awareness is all about convincing people that a product will make their lives better in some way. It can make it better in a number of different ways. It could make it easier, less stressful, more fun and so forth. The point is, it is all about why the product exists to begin with. If a consumer has no idea what a product can do for them, they will not express any interest in it in the first place.

There are multiple programs that customers can use to check in at locations. The three best known and popular applications are Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places. (Although Facebook Places has the same concept as the others, it is part of Facebook as a whole.) They all incorporate a system of checking in and posting locations for others to see. The prospect of showing others where you are is an ingenious development in the social media world.

Think about this: John Smith enters Pop's Café, orders a small coffee and sits down. He pulls out his smartphone and "checks in" through one of the many applications. About three minutes later his friend, Mike, texts and asks if he wants to study for the big test. Mike shows up and checks in, as well. From there, three of John's friends show up at the coffee shop after seeing on their own accounts that John is there with Mike. They all order some sort of menu items and spend time at the café.

It's no secret that having an effective social media presence is key to reaching as many potential clients as possible, but most small- and mid-sized business owners don't appreciate what it takes to get a successful social media marketing campaign up and running.

As with so many other things in business, the amount of time needed to promote yourself over social media depends on the goals that you are setting for your campaign. If you only want to establish a presence on all of the major social media sites so that your existing customers and a few potential clients can easily find you, then you should be able to get up to speed in as little as a few hours.

Creating a meaningful network of contacts, clients, partners and fans that are actively engaged in promoting your brand is a whole different story.