YouTube would be a key component in providing

If I started a new business tomorrow the following are the first basic steps that I would take to create an online presence. While there are many online tools and social networking websites, to me here are the staples.
First I would create a simple, clean website with basic information. A consistent colour scheme would be used across this website and my other marketing tools. I would then create short, clear messaging that would be focused on a target market and be consistent with the brand that I have chosen to represent my business as. This messaging would also clearly describe a problem I would be solving for my customers and how I would solve it in a unique and attractive way.
The website would be created with either Drupal or WordPress, which are free open source website creation tools. Drupal is harder to use but offers the possibility of much more complex websites. WordPress on the other hand is much easier to use and allows for quickly making a nice looking website that is optimized for web sharing and increasing your online presence.
On the hosting side I would use “A2 Hosting”, which I have found to be reliable and provides good support and tools. In particular they have software called “Softaculous”, which makes it even easier and faster to quickly install a Drupal or WordPress website.
Once this clean, basic, marketable, and socially optimized website was finished the next step would be to setup my social networking sites to increase exposure and traffic.
The big three that I would use are Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. With facebook I would create a “page” for my website so that people can easily “like” it, which not only provides them with my company updates in their newsfeeds but also allows their friends to be introduced to my website. Please note that a facebook page should not be confused with a “group”, which has a limit of 5000 members and is meant for small discussion groups.
Twitter on the other hand would be used to directly communicate with people in my industry and potential customers. I would be able to provide updates, learn from others, and most importantly create an actual personal connection with people online, which provides credibility to my business.
While I would be able to provide blog posts on my website and mini blog posts on Twitter, YouTube would be a key component in providing another medium to interact with and stimulate potential customers. Video blogs and interesting clips would both provide entertainment value and authenticity. YouTube also allows for another medium for which my content can be passed along and potentially go viral.
The final key component would be to use my website, Facebook page, Twitter, and YouTube videos all together to reinforce one another, providing links to each other and spreading my content to various online communities.
Fyi, this blog post was originally typed completely on my iPhone as an experiment ;) . Surprised at how fast and easy it was to type.