See3's CEO and @home (athomedocumentary.org) co-producer Michael Hoffman's presentation for homeless service organizations in Los Angeles on how to bring video into your digital campaign — including tips on pre-production, making video shareable, micro-video, and distribution. A project of the @home campaign combatting homelessness: www.athomedocumentary.org
2. About Michael Hoffman
• Former senior nonprofit fundraiser and political
consultant
• Online marketing and
communications specialist
• Founded See3 Communications to
merge video and the web for
nonprofits and causes
4. Today’s webinar
So — you’re running a campaign.
How can you use video to help you
reach your goals?
Some of you may be participating in
Home for Good L.A.’s 100 Day
Campaign — but even if you aren’t,
your organization operates on a
“campaign cycle to fundraise, recruit,
and built for events.
5. Your work has a life cycle:
Awareness
&
Identification
Stewardship
Engagement
Solicitation
Acknowledge
6. Awareness of the issue.
A video that
shows why
donors should
double down
A video
that asks
for money
Awareness &
Identification
Stewardship
A video that
shows where
the money went
and how your
donation helped
Engagement
Solicitation
Acknowledge
A video
that thanks
6
8. Video is king
•
Half of all internet content
is video
•
YouTube is now 2nd
biggest search engine — 1
billion unique users
compared to Bing at 269
million
•
Increasingly, video is
watched anytime and
anywhere on mobile
phones
Who’s watching
video online?
Everyone.
Everywhere.
All the time.
10. What makes a video shareable:
• Positive peer pressure —
―Everybody’s doing it!‖
• Appeal to the heart, not the head
• ―You can make a difference‖
• Make viewer the hero, and move
them to action
11.
12. Let’s discuss
Have you done video as part of a
campaign before? What have you
seen that you liked?
12
14. Pre-production
Before you pick up a camera:
•
•
•
•
What are your goals?
Who is your audience?
What’s your budget?
What tools and skills are you
working with?
14
15. 4 tips for integrating
video into your
communications or
campaign:
15
20. Or, follow one of your volunteers!
DC Central Kitchen
http://youtu.be/zzzy4BPi8uE
20
21. Put it into action:
Idea: Record a fundraising
appeal from your
executive director during
your next campaign.
Q: What ideas do
you have for “pulling
back the curtain” at
your org?
21
24. Leading Vine Producer Khoa Pan (he’s been
to Tribeca Film Festival for his work!) spends
just 45 minutes to an hour on videos like this:
http://bit.ly/1lnCWre
24
26. Put it into action:
At your next public event or walk, ask
supporters to record Instagram videos asking
friends to join your work, using a hashtag.
Q: Have you experimented with curating
short form video? What worked and
what didn’t?
26
31. Put it into action:
Create a weekly
―Did you see?‖
video series that
shares a video
focused on
homelessness
Example: InvisiblePeople.tv. What are other good
31
35. Put it into action:
Make sure every video on
your YouTube page (if you
have one already), or
every video you produce in
the future, is accompanied
by engaging, effective
copy.
After all, you have to
compete with Maru:
35
37. Channels you own:
• Your website, YouTube, and social media
channels are YOURS. You can do whatever
you want with them – get creative!
• Leverage your existing email and social
media audience with video alerts and stories
of us
38. Turn your supporters into cheerleaders.
One of the best ways to empower your biggest fans to be the hero is to ask
them to share your amazing work. And it’s a low-bar ask, ESPECIALLY
when you make it easy to share — providing compelling language, using
optimized buttons, and paying attention to your metadata.
38
39. Paid online ads:
Explore simple, easy to use tools
for paid video advertising:
•
•
•
•
Scalable and cost-effective
Sophisticated targeting
Turn-key video views
AdWords for Video
40. Are you on YouTube Nonprofit?
https://www.youtube.com/nonprofits
40
41. Earned media
Don’t forget to reach out to
people who will want to see and
share your videos: bloggers,
social media influencers, partner
orgs, and press.
43. Monitoring and Evaluation
How to listen online
Follow conversations
(comments on YouTube,
hashtags, views and
shares) — and don’t
forget to engage back.
44. Tools
• Topsy (http://topsy.com/)
• Hootsuite (http://hootsuite.com/)
• Tweetdeck
(https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/)
• Klout (http://klout.com/home)
• Sprout Social
(http://sproutsocial.com/) and what
What’s worked for you,
Video can empower and strengthen the work of your organization throughout that lifecycle. This example uses fundraising, but the same principles apply for volunteer recruitment and advocacy pushes as well.
But if you want it to be effective, you’re going to have to do some thoughtful planning.
As you begin to map out a story and approach for your video or video series, these five tips can help guide your choices to help align them with your goals.
The most effective nonprofit videos build relationships — with the folks who already know and support your work, and with the people who just stumble across your organization for the first time.
Building that connection means different things for different people. If you’re trying to build your list, sharing your founding story or introducing your beneficiaries, might be a good way to go. For people who are higher up the ladder of engagement, a more one-on-one, personal message — introducing a staff member or telling donor stories — can help those folks feel like a part of the action.
Follow the stories of your beneficiaries to demonstrate how the money you raise is having a real, human impact
Another way to encourage your supporters to share is to actually make them central to your video campaign. Follow their story, and their work with your organization — letting them explain why they’ve got your back, in their own words. DC Central Kitchen produced a video that follows one of its volunteers on his rounds across the city, dropping off healthy food in food deserts. He and the other folks benefiting from their work share, in the first person, why DC Central Kitchen is making their neighborhoods healthier.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzzy4BPi8uE#at=171
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you have a message to share! Take advantage of the great work happening in your world (just like we are for this tip). Beth Kanter, friend of See3 and author of The Networked Nonprofit, frequently talks with NGOs about how they can use content curation to reach a broader audience — and we’d like to pass that wisdom on to you.
There are lots of coalitions out there partnering on days of action and campaigns — but how often do they make good use of each others’ digital resources? Part of the new system rolling out in L.A. is to better coordinate between organizations serving the same populations, and there’s no reason why that collaboration can’t include digital organizing, too.Don’t miss the opportunity to share, reblog, and repurpose the great video content out there in the homelessness field, from other CES partners, and from the United Way. It’s a cost-effective and quick way to keep a stream of content flowing that can both drive folks back to your fundraising page and illustrate why your issue is so important.
Another great option: making use of documentary content to generate buzz and to anchor fundraising events. Thanks to the internet and dropping costs, they’re available everywhere! Check out traditional outlets like PBS, the BBC, and ITVS for titles — or just consult your netflix queue! Some Our documentary about homelessness called @home, and we’re working with the nation’s major homeless service organizations — highlighting their work in webisodes, retweeting their content, and collaborating on events. If there’s a film coming out about your issue area, make sure to capitalize on its success!
Here’s what Upworthy tells us: You do not understand the internet. You do not know how to make something go viral and get it in front of a million people. And neither does Upworthy. BUT, by better framing your incredible content, your chances of shooting the moon are going to be much, much better.
Make sure every last detail of your video is framed just how you want it, and optimized for interaction: Share text, description, headline, screenshot, annotations — everything counts.
I like to talk about how it’s our job to make your supporter the hero of your organization’s story. And one of the best ways to empower your biggest fans to be the hero is to ask them to share your amazing work. And it’s a low-bar ask, ESPECIALLY when you make it easy to share — providing compelling language, using optimized buttons, and paying attention to your metadata. There IS a connection between non-financial asks and donations. Nobody wants to just be an ATM
You can take a video you already made, turn it into a 30-second ad lickety split, and put a little money behind some simple online ads — and can get a great return on your investment in building up your fundraising list, at a time when lots of people are looking to donate.
YouTube offers free livestreaming services to nonprofits — another option to try for your next livestreamed event. Also donate button, call to action overlays, and more.
We’ll get more into social media tracking and evaluation in the 3rd @home webinar, but just for a start: The basic principle is to listen and respond. You can see how your video and campaign are resonating with your supporters, whether you’re reaching a new audience, and the resulting impact. It’s not just about monitoring likes and shares, but getting a holistic look at how your video is performing — and how you can get even better next time.