Introduction

Video campaigns are a powerful tool to engage audiences, reach new consumers and generate grassroots buzz about your brand or product. Numerous campaigns -- the bride freak out, Doritos Super Bowl contest and Elf Yourself -- have become pop culture phenomena.

These successes demonstrate the power of great viral campaigns and their potential to build strong brand affinity. Yet for every wildly successful campaign, there are scores of almost great campaigns or ones that utterly fail to capture the video community’s attention, much less land a "Today Show" guest spot.

As the CEO of one of the leading independent video sharing communities, I’ve come to understand one big truth: The vast majority of viral video viewers are passive.

Check out the following six tips to help your brand transform this passive audience into active and engaged content creators.

Author notes: Keith Richman is chief executive officer for Break.com. Read full bio.