As I understand it, Mylie Cyrus is one of the biggest tween stars today – she has hit albums, tv shows and sold out concert tours. But yet somehow she still has found time to create a YouTube channel with her BFF and back-up dancer Mandy. They frequently release lightly edited videos of them goofing off, singing and dancing to new hot songs, and basically just being teenagers. They don’t seem to worry too much about production values. Their videos are really authentic. And they are connecting with their audience in a big way – after less than two months they already have the 20th most subscribed YT channel of all time.

I always suggest advertisers and big media should look to our organic successes for understanding how best to connect with the YouTube community. The name recognition and cross-promotion that Mylie leverages here isn’t unique to her — many brands, celebrities and content producers have the same opportunity to use this medium in new ways. I’m excited to see more and more doing so each day.