Excellent advice! Right on the nose!
I can attest to the power of being a forum member and having the community embrace and support you.
My first gaming video was for APB Reloaded as I am used to fantasy and sci-fi MMOs and thought that for my first video I would do something completely out of my wheelhouse (and free to play). I saw APB and thought "A cops and robbers shoot-em-up MMO? Sounds fun and definitely not my usual gaming fare."
So I made my first video that was:
Too long
Rambling (but hopefully still entertaining)
Horribly facecammed (I was recording with my headset mic AND the webcam mic and it sounded horrible)
BUT, I posted it to the APB forums with a small introduction and after some light hazing ("oh great! ANOTHER youtube gamer..." etc.) they seemed to like the video and gave me some feedback. I've been an active member ever since and have like 800+ posts and when I posted a recent APB video, they REALLY embraced it and the company even featured it in their Twitter feed and posted it on their Facebook page.
And being an active and trusted member of the community was a big part of that.