Internet Video Campaigns for NonProfits:

Transcription

1 Internet Video Campaigns for NonProfits: How to Use the Power of Video and the Reach of the Internet to Grow Your Donor Base and Engage Your Community by Catie Foertsch Yes! MediaWorks In this new world of Internet connectivity, your nonprofit needs new strategies for engaging with current and potential donors online, and for creating a thriving online community. By combining the power of video to tell emotionally compelling stories with the reach and connectivity of the Internet, your nonprofit can create a video campaign that: Creates and fosters a thriving, loyal online community Grows your donor base Attracts more supporters & advocates This document will help you plan and successfully execute an Internet Video Campaign for your nonprofit by Yes! MediaWorks This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial - No Derivative Works 3.0 United States To view a copy of this license, go to

2 2 Contents: 1. What is an Internet Video Campaign? 2. Why do Internet Video Campaigns work? 3. What are an Internet Video Campaign s parts? 4. How can an Internet Video Campaign be integrated with a Social Media program? 5. Things to be careful about 6. Summary & Conclusion 7. Additional resources 1. What is an Internet Video Campaign? An Internet Video Campaign is, simply, a campaign that creates a series of videos and distributes them via the Internet. To be effective, the videos must tell the story of the good work nonprofits do and the impact that work has. The most important elements are that they be uplifting or offer hope, that they tell a story, and that they be relatively short. Distribution methods can include website posting, newsletters, blog posting, and social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Depending on your resources, your campaign might focus on only one or two of these distribution methods. But if at all possible, use more for maximum impact. It s also important to begin with a commitment to a sustained effort, to measure progress against goals, to experiment, and to implement lessons learned.

3 3 2. Why do Internet Video Campaigns work? For nonprofits, the goal of all donor campaigns is increased revenue. But nonprofits that seek only to increase donations, and that neglect the needs of their donors, will find their goal more and more difficult to achieve. Why? Because individuals are shifting their donor dollars to causes that give them something in return. That something is an emotional reward and a social relationship. Nonprofits that understand this - and that actively deliver both reward and relationship - will see their donor bases grow. Video is the most powerful tool on the planet for communicating emotionallycompelling stories By an emotional reward, we mean that donors want to feel the impact of their donations. By a social relationship, we mean that today s donors don t want a oneway relationship with the causes they donate to. Donors don t want to be anonymous. They want to comment, to feel that their comments are listened to, and to feel like they re a part of the organizations they support. Video campaigns work because, of all the communication media, video has the most power to create an emotional response. People are hungry for the emotions that video creates. Nonprofits have compelling stories to tell, of lives being changed and new enterprises being started and ecosystems being saved. Using video to tell these stories results in the powerful emotional response that connects people to the cause and makes them want to be a friend to that good work. Using video to tell your nonprofit s story has an additional benefit: you ll find that your staff and your volunteers will become re-energized. This is because they, too, respond to compelling stories. And, your videos will remind them in a very powerful way that the work they do is very important it s work that is changing the world.

4 4 3. What are an Internet Video Campaign s parts, and how do they work? An Internet Video Campaign has four main parts: A. Snapshot, Goals & Plan B. Video Production C. Video Distribution D. Measure, Analyze, Tweak Snapshot, Goals, Plan Video Production Measure, Analyze, Tweak Video Distribution For an Internet Video Campaign to be effective, adequate work must be done on all four stages. Start skipping stages or skimping on some of them, and a campaign s effectiveness will drop drastically.

5 5 A. Pre-production Before you begin video production, you need to take a snapshot of where your organization is right now, and then develop goals and a plan for your campaign. A snapshot gives you a starting point, and goals will let you define and measure success. A plan gives you a roadmap to follow. Snapshot: Make note of as many hard numbers as you can, such as number of donors and methods of donation, average donation, number of volunteers and average volunteer hours, number of new donors per month, number of corporate donors, number of addresses on your newsletter list, etc. Also record number of comments on Also record number of comments on your blog, traffic to your website, engagement via the Internet, interaction with potential and current donors, how and how often you contact your donors, and anything else that can give you a solid understanding of your donor community right now. Start with a snapshot, and you ll have the information you need to understand the impact of your campaign, and to measure its ROI Goals: It may be tempting to only set traditional, numerical goals - such as a certain number of new donors and a certain amount of money raised. While these goals are undeniably important, they re not the whole ball game. With an Internet Video Campaign, you re setting out to create and cultivate a community of long-term donors, so your goals should reflect this aim as well. Your first goal should be to build relationships that will be the foundation for future giving. Another goal should be to constantly ask for feedback. Ask people what they want from you, and then tweak your future videos and communications to give it to them.

6 6 Maybe you d also like your campaign to create more speaking engagements, attract the attention of a regional or national celebrity, humanize your organization, increase your volunteer base, etc. Examples of potential goals: Build relationships with future donors Attract corporate & philanthropic donors Convert donors to advocates that spread your story Recognize and thank your volunteers & donors Gather feedback from your community Grow your volunteer base Learn how best to communicate with your community Generate buzz - locally, regionally & nationally Create more real-world engagement

7 7 Plan: Your plan is a detailed road map that tells you what, how, and when. It should include several parts: Time frame. You re creating and nurturing relationships with potential donors, and relationships don t grow if you only give them a short time frame. You ll need six months at minimum; a better commitment is 12 months. We recommend a minimum of monthly video releases for six months; if possible, you should plan for monthly video releases for 9-12 months or twice-a-month releases for six to 12 months. Experimentation. As in any successful social media campaign, you ll be learning a lot along the way. You should plan to continually implement the lessons you re learning from your campaign. For example, you can set out to learn things like where to place your Donate Now button on your landing page, what kind of video stories people respond best to, which day of the week and what time of day result in the most people watching your videos, etc. Video production. You ll want your videos to be as professional-looking as possible, because they represent your nonprofit s brand. Quality is important because you want people to understand that you re a solid, trustworthy organization. If your nonprofit doesn t have the budget to hire a production company, think creatively. Does a committed volunteer have the skills you need? Is there someone on your staff who can learn? The quality of your videos will make a statement about the quality of your organization Distribution. Options include your website, newsletters, social media sites (like Facebook, Twitter & YouTube), and your blog. While you don t have to use all methods, you should have a clear understanding of which methods you ll use and why. And, the more fully you integrate all methods, the more exposure your videos will receive. But, if you only have the resources to use one method at first, start there. Then, if possible, plan to add

8 8 methods at regular intervals. But understand: it s a better idea not to use a method, than to start and then abandon it. Follow-up. How will you continue the conversation your videos begin? Engaging people can t be one-way. For your campaign to work, you have to be ready to engage people and manage the new relationships you initiate. You also have to be prepared to help your videos to spread. You can t expect success if you place them on your site and then wait for magic to happen. You are the architect of that magic, and it s up to you to figure out how you re going to make it happen. Measurement. With every video release, you should keep track of as much data as possible so you can measure the progress of your campaign over time. Then, use your analysis of the data to improve your campaign. Your PLAN should include: Time Frame Experimentation Video Production Distribution Plan Measurement & Improvement

9 9 B. Video Production The questions people have about nonprofits are: Who are you and how are you different? Why should I get involved? Can you be trusted? The content of every one of your videos should make the answers clear, either explicitly or implicitly Who are you and how are you different? It s easy to assume that people know about your organization, and chances are that many people who see your videos will. But your videos will also be viewed by people who don t have a good understanding of what you do. So - each video should include a clear communication of your mission in some way either explicitly stated or made clear through the content of the video. Why should I care? People want to be part of efforts that are working, and to commit their resources to organizations that are making a difference. It s very important that you create video stories that communicate hope and optimism.

10 10 Can you be trusted? People want to donate to, and volunteer for, organizations that respect their time and their donations. This means your organization must communicate its character, and that character must be authentic (your nonprofit must really do what you say it does), dependable (you do what you promise to do 24/7), passionate (you must believe in your cause), respectful (you must always treat your employees, volunteers, donors and clients with respect) and effective (if people give you time and money, you must use those resources to do the job you promise to do). This character must come through in your videos. Your videos should also: Tell compelling & authentic stories Connect viewers with the direct impact of donations Include a call to action Be relatively short Tell compelling stories. You want your viewers to become absorbed in the story your video is telling, and to feel an emotional reward. Make sure your videos tell stories that are hard to forget, and that people want to share.

11 11 Tell stories that are authentic. You want the stories your videos tell to honestly represent the work your nonprofit does, and the people your nonprofit helps. Telling honest, authentic stories is crucial to the success of your campaign AND to protecting your nonprofit s brand. Connect your viewers with the direct impact of donations, so the message that is delivered is that the good work your nonprofit does, which the viewer cares about, happens because people like the viewer make donations and get involved. Include a call to action. With the release of each video, you must ask your viewers to do something. BUT that something is NOT always to make a donation. You can ask people to sign up for your newsletter, or become a fan on Facebook, or follow you on Twitter, or forward your video to five friends, or come to an event, or spread awareness about that event. But there must always be a point to showing them the video, and that point is the call to action. Now that they ve seen your powerful story, they will want to help in some way. By giving them something that s easy to do and doesn t take much time, you help them become more involved, and An effective video will: Tell stories that are hard to forget Make people feel powerful emotions Make people want to share it that will feel good. That action will also create a relationship. Then, when you do ask for money or deeper involvement, they ll find it easier to donate or volunteer because they already have a relationship with you and your cause. Your call to action will be on your landing page. When you place your video on YouTube, use their overlay feature to place your call to action directly on your video, with a link to the page on your website you want them to land on. (It may or may not be your landing page). Be relatively short. People do not like to watch long videos on the Internet. Make short videos between two and four minutes long so it s not a burden for people to watch them. And, short videos are much easier for people to ask their friends and family to watch. Keeping your videos short will make it much easier for your videos and your story to spread.

12 12 C: Video Distribution Now that you have at least some of your videos in the can, how will you get them in front of people who want to be part of your cause? YouTube Blog Newsletter VIDEO Video distribution plan Landing Page One good option is to integrate them into an existing newsletter, or to create an newsletter that features your videos. Using an service like Constant Contact, icontact, AWeber or GraphicMail will let you create your newsletters easily from excellent templates. You can also gather and analyze important data that will let you tweak the elements of your newsletters to improve performance.

13 13 If you use an newsletter to distribute your videos, you must have the capability to create landing pages. A landing page is a dedicated page on your website or on the web that contains your video, your call to action, and anything else you wish to communicate outside the video such as how people who want to help can get involved. You need a landing page because it s currently not possible to play a video inside an , so you ll need a landing page to host your video. When people open your newsletter, they ll see a picture with a play button on it (that looks just like a video) and when they click on the picture they ll be directed to your landing page, where they ll find the video. Landing Page Above: when people click the play button on the jpg in your newsletter, they re sent to the landing page you ve created on your website, where the video plays. Creating an effective landing page is very important. Not only will your landing page host your video, but it will ask the video s viewers to do something. Your landing page MUST have a call to action, because after people watch your video they ll want to do something. If you don t tell them what you d like them to do, their experience will feel incomplete. It s not a good idea to always ask for donations. Better to ask viewers to forward the video to five friends, or sign up for future videos or your newsletter, or leave a comment, or sign a petition. Of course, you should always make it easy for people who wish to donate (a Donate button is the best way to do this), but your goal is to establish and nurture relationships and to spread your story. Constantly asking for donations will establish you as an organization that is only and always asking. This will make it hard to be in a relationship with you.

14 14 Your blog is a good place to post your videos. The purpose of a blog is to communicate, to stimulate conversation, and to build community. Posting your videos on your blog is a great way to solicit feedback and to provide space for conversation. But your blog entries can t only be once a month when you release a video. If you decide to blog, you ll need to make entries more often so that people who read your blog don t feel abandoned. Think carefully about whether you have the time to blog regularly before you begin; not blogging at all is better than starting and stopping. You should also post your video content on YouTube. Create a channel so people can subscribe, and follow best practices to give your videos the greatest possible chance of spreading your story. You might also consider posting your videos on other free video hosting sites. YouTube has special features for nonprofits, including the ability to create a channel branded with your logo, and to embed a Donate Now button. Learn about these features, and decide which make sense for you to use. D. POST-DISTRIBUTION (MEASURE, ANALYZE, IMPLEMENT) When you created your plan, you included measuring, analyzing and implementing the lessons you re going to learn. It s easy to have great intentions to measure and analyze, but then not to do it because you re busy creating your next videos.

15 15 It s absolutely critical to the success of your campaign that you schedule time to look at the data you collect, figure out what it means what s working, what s not - and then to use what you learn to tweak your next video release. Another step to take after you begin your campaign and distribute your first couple of videos is to contact local, regional and online media outlets with press releases, so you generate publicity for your campaign. Better to send out press releases after you have two or three videos already distributed, so you can talk about the trends you re seeing. For example, The second video we released has been watched 12,000 times on YouTube has much more impact than We plan to post our videos on YouTube. 4. How can an Internet Video Campaign be integrated into a Social Media program? If your nonprofit doesn t already have a Social Media program, it s something you ll want to look into. Why? Because a Social Media presence lets you continually engage with your community Because your future donors are highly engaged on Social Media sites. Because Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter are a great way to exponentially multiply the impact and reach of your videos. Because a Social Media presence allows members of your community to help you grow.

16 16 Important: A Social Media program is NOT a campaign. A campaign has a limited time period. Your Internet Video Campaign, for example, will be six to 12 months long. At the end of that time, you ll evaluate its success and decide if you wish to launch another video campaign. But a program has no end date. It s an ongoing effort that is integral to your operations. A Social Media program should be part of your operations because it will build reliable relationships with donors, volunteers and advocates. There are many social media sites, and the number of sites is constantly increasing. We recommend getting started by engaging on three specific sites: Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Facebook has over 200 million active users and that number keeps growing. Facebook is a very good fit for a nonprofit s video campaign because it allows you to spread your videos through the comments of your fans. Every time one of your fans posts a comment about your video, that comment appears on their profile AND it is seen by all of their friends. So, while you may have relatively few fans at first, you can reach all of their fans by asking your fans to comment on your videos on Facebook. This allows you to connect with a network that is far, far bigger than your immediate Facebook network. Twitter is a different kind of social media site, and you ll use it to create and foster relationships, and then to direct people to your landing page and your Facebook page. Twitter makes it easy for people to spread your story through re-tweeting, or spreading your messages through their communities. For example, you may have 100 people following you on Twitter. When you publish a Tweet that tells your 100 followers that you ve published a great new video, you ll give them the link to see the video. And, you ll ask them to re-tweet, or spread your message to their followers. Suppose three of your followers who re-tweet your message each have 1,000 followers. Each of those thousands of followers see your message. Now suppose that some of those thousands of

17 17 followers also re-tweet to thousands of their followers, and on and on. You can see that Twitter makes it possible to spread your videos exponentially, and to reach people all over the world who care about the good work you re doing. After you ve mastered the art of Social Media you may want to expand your program and build communities on other Social Media sites. But for now, limit your focus to these two sites, and to learning how to manage your Social Media program. 5. Things to be careful about Using the videos in your campaign to talk about your organization is not a good idea. Video is most effective when it presents a compelling story. It s least effective when it s your president or executive director reciting your nonprofit s mission statement, or giving information about your organization. Why? Because that can sound like a sales pitch, and no one wants to watch a video that s a sales pitch. What most people want video to do is show them emotionally powerful stories they can t forget, and can t wait to share. Use your videos to tell compelling stories, NOT to talk about your organization. (We re not saying your president can never be in one of your videos. Just make sure that he or she is telling or participating in - a compelling story and not making a commercial about your organization.) Release forms. If you re interviewing people for your videos, make sure they understand what you ll be using the finished videos for. It s always a good idea to have them sign a release form that gives your nonprofit all rights to the video. If you interview children, make sure their parents sign a release form. Have your nonprofit s attorney draw up a release form, or approve the form you decide to use.

18 18 Make sure you have sufficient buy-in. Launching an Internet Video Campaign is a strategic decision, and the success of your campaign hinges on the level of buy-in within your organization. Make sure your entire organization is invested in the success of your campaign. Don t begin elements of your campaign and then abandon them. It s important to be honest about your resources up front, and only plan for what you can reasonable accomplish. If you let your enthusiasm overtake your resources, and you initiate an ambitious campaign that you then must abandon or shrink, you will lose credibility as a reliable, trustworthy nonprofit. It s far better to launch a limited campaign than an ambitious one you cannot sustain. A very good way to proceed is to plan to start with just one or two elements and then add more elements after a few months. For example, you might plan to start with an newsletter and a YouTube channel. Then, after three months or so, you might plan to add Facebook, and a month later, plan to add Twitter. By starting small, you ll become comfortable with your campaign, and you ll have a good idea about the resources you ll need to expand, and whether you can indeed allocate those resources. Follow best practices in growing and managing your address list. It will be counter-productive if you use the same way you use direct mail. Spend the time to learn how marketing works, and what makes it fail. Build your list yourself, so that everyone on it has opted in. Don t give in to the temptation to buy a list. This will make you a spammer, and will damage your reputation. Buying a list and using it to send out s makes you a spammer. Make sure you have Social Media policies. Social Media policies help you plan for the unexpected, such as negative comments about your videos or your organization on your blog, or a website embedding your video without your permission. The way to develop policies is to anticipate the worst things that could happen as a result of allowing your videos to spread and allowing anyone in the

19 19 world to comment on them. Then, clearly define what you ll do if those things happen, so that if and when they do, you re reacting thoughtfully and carefully, and not impulsively. 6. Summary & Conclusion An Internet Video Campaign has the potential to create enormous impact for your nonprofit. By creating a series of videos that tell emotionally compelling stories about the work your nonprofit does, and by getting those videos in front of people who share your passion for your cause, you will create an online community of current and future donors and advocates. But to realize this potential, your campaign must be thoughtfully planned and carefully executed. And, you must allocate sufficient resources to execute the entire plan. An Internet Video Campaign builds momentum, so giving it sufficient time is crucial to its success. Making positive change in the world is a group effort. Your nonprofit can find people who care about your cause by tapping the Internet s power of connectivity. With your videos, you can show people all over the world the good work you do. And once people see that the work you re doing is aligned with what they care about, they will become your community, they will become donors and advocates for your organization, and they will help you change the world.

20 20 7. Additional resources Here are several great resources (in no particular order) to help you better understand the power of video for nonprofits, the current impact of Social Media, and how nonprofits can get started with Social Media. 1. Seth Godin on The Tribes We Lead. Terrific video presentation that s inspirational in many ways. May, People to People Fundraising: Social Networking and Web 2.0 for Charities. Ted Hart, James M. Greenfirld, Sheeraz D. Haji. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007 Excellent book on how nonprofits can and are using Social Media. 3. Beth s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media. Blog by Beth Kanter with excellent information for nonprofits Tips for Nonprofits on Getting Started with Social Media. Article by Joanne Fritz, About.com. Help for understanding how to begin your Social Media program. 5. Online Video Tips for Nonprofits. March 5, 2009, entry in Clever Title blog. Tips for making video for your nonprofit. 6. Global Faces and Networked Places: A Nielsen Report on Social Networking s New Global Footprint. Excellent report on the reach of social networking. March, The Challenge of Communicating in a Connected Society (and what that means to Facebook Causes). Thinking About Media Blog post by Brian Reich, June 24, Lists the five phases for an online movement Nonprofit Organizing in 140 Characters or Less. Terrific white paper that explains everything nonprofits need to know about Twitter. By M+R Strategic Services.