Last year, when we uploaded our Guide to Online Video to YouTube, the quality looked like this:
And this:
We recently tried an experiment and re-uploaded the same exact videos to YouTube. We didn’t re-edit them or tweak the compression. We didn’t change a thing.
What a difference a year makes. Look at how crisp and clear the video is:
When we embedded these videos on our site last year, we decided to use Vimeo based on its superior quality. But with YouTube’s quality improvements and playlist functionality, we’ve made the switch to YouTube.
It’s been a busy start to the week at the 2009 Convio Summit! At the conference, Nonprofit Live TV interviewed See3 CEO Michael Hoffman about creating a video strategy, video as a transaction, and why story still matters.
We also had the chance to speak with Convio staff and users during the three-day event. Watch what attendees took away from the last day of the conference.
If you want to see more of the Convio Summit, take a look at the videos featured on the See3 YouTube Channel.
In the past year we have gotten quite a few calls from existing and new clients asking to make a “girl effect” video. For those of you have yet to see “The Girl Effect” you can scroll below and see it.
This style of storytelling using simple graphics, sometime just words, together with a moving sound track (mostly piano) has be copied and knocked off so many times that even we at See3 were tempted and spoofed it in our last years holiday card.
Because it has been so overdone, we generally steer clients away from this approach towards something that will stand out from the crowd.
But last week, after yet another request to “girl effect,” I went back to watch the original and, even after all this time, I was impressed at its effectiveness. Let’s not forget that this clip has been seen by hundreds of thousands and generated tons of buzz and awareness about the issue—not to mention donations.
So what is it that I think makes this work?
Its frighteningly simple: It practices what it preaches. This is a video about the empowerment of girl and it makes the viewer feel empowered. So many nonprofit messages get mired in the weeds—in the complex issues, the sobering realities of our world or the organizational services. This is what the org wants the viewer to know. More important than what you want them to know is what you (the org) want the viewer to do. At See3, this what we focus on—moving the audience for passive viewer to active participant.
This is why the “girl effect” is so effective. In the first 13 seconds it tells us that the world is a mess and asks so what? It then pivots to the positive: “What if there is an unexpected solution?” and then spends the rest of the clip (2 minutes) visualizing what girls, if empowered, can do for themselves, their communities and for us, the viewer. By the end, we are moved by the solution (what they want us to know), but also moved to feel that our participation in the campaign can mean something (what they want us to do).
This is the effect that, as nonprofit communicators, we should learn from.
Without fail, we get a call at See3 every week asking us to produce a “viral” video. “You know”, they say, “a video that will get a lot of views when we put it on YouTube.”
And every week, without fail, there is a sigh and a deep breath among the staff at See3 as we explain that maybe a viral video isn’t what you really need. Maybe, we say, what you really need is a video strategy.
The Siren Song of Viral
Nonprofit organizations work very hard to get their messages in front of new audiences. They work to get people to join their emails lists, to show up to events and to eventually become donors. Unlike other marketing efforts that take the actual hard work of building relationships, viral video seems like a short-cut to organizational riches.
The viral video story goes like this: A video will be uploaded to YouTube and it will (magically) catch fire. People will send it to each other and it will get so many views that it ends up in the “Most Viewed” rotation at YouTube, which will only bring in more views and next thing you know 1 MILLION PEOPLE have watched our video!
At this point in the story I ask, “And so what does that get you?” Well, they say, when 1 MILLION PEOPLE know about us, many will go to our website, sign up and be compelled to donate because our video was so good [funny] [sad] [moving] [powerful].
It’s a nice story, but unfortunately, it rarely works out that way.
Facts about Viral Video
You cannot predict which videos will be viral hits
We never promise viral hits because very few organizations are interested in being edgy enough, or off-message enough, to make their video a must-see. YouTube is littered with videos that the makers had hoped would be hits. The real viral video hits – the ones that get in everyone’s email — are, with some notable exceptions, videos with cute pets, people saying stupid things, sex appeal, and other qualities that rarely have anything to do with a nonprofit mission. (All of us should envy the animal welfare groups, because they have the unfair advantage of cute furry creatures.)
YouTube views do not translate into website traffic.
The average video length on YouTube is about 1.5 minutes while the average session time on YouTube is about 30 minutes. What this means is that the most likely thing to happen after someone watches a YouTube video is that they will watch another YouTube video, not enter in your URL to check out your website.
You need long-term supporters, not 1-minute sympathizers
A consumer product, such as Blendtec, gets a benefit from having lots of videos watched on YouTube because it helps their branding, which in a retail setting, translates into purchases. Nonprofits, on the other hand, are not sitting on store shelves. Organizations need to have online strategies that follow-up initial interest with real engagement over the long term. One successful YouTube video, even if it moves people while they are watching it, does not facilitate this engagement. It can be part of a strategy toward engagement, but it cannot be an end in and of itself.
You don’t want to be a one-hit wonder.
The people who are most successful on YouTube aren’t focused on making a single viral video. They are making a series of videos with a character or a set-up that is interesting and brings people back for more. In other words, they are building an audience through regular production of videos that tell stories. That’s what you should be thinking about. By investing in many videos over a long period of time, you are also much more likely to hit on one that attracts others to join your long-term audience.
People who like to watch kittens in paper bags may actually not be good donor prospects
The first question we ask about viral is, “Viral to whom?” The unspoken viral video assumption is that random people on YouTube are potential donor prospects. Some of them may be, of course. But it is likely that the people who spend a lot of time watching the viral video hits are teenagers, for example. You are better off identifying and speaking more directly to the audience who is most likely to already care about your core issues.
One of our biggest viral video hits was this video for the Maryland State Teachers Association. It only has about 2000 views. How can it be considered a viral hit? Because the goal of the video was to influence a debate about education funding and the state-level policy-makers and journalists that matter in that debate all heard about it, passed it on, and watched it. It worked.
Towards a Video Strategy
Viral is just another way of saying “word of mouth” and at its core it means that people pass the content on to one-another without the need for much intervention from the organization. In this sense, having viral marketing work for your organization is important. If you have really important, interesting things to share – and you share them in creative and interesting ways – then people will pass them on to their friends and increase your marketing effectiveness.
Where you should start with online video is to make a commitment to using this new medium to connect people to your work. You need to think about what the important and interesting things are and ask yourself, “How do we document this work?” You need to ask yourself why do you think what you do is important, and ask your staff as well. You need to then capture – on a regular basis – those important and interesting things. If you can find the funny stories, the creative metaphors, and turn your issue on its head once in a while, so much the better. But please, stop focusing on making a viral video and start focusing on making a viral cause.
People often become doctors because they want to heal people, and by extension, heal the world. Wendy Sternberg left her successful internal medicine practice in Evanston Illinois because she decided she could better heal the world through Genesis at the Crossroads (GATC), an organization she founded.
GATC mission “is to bridge cultures in conflict through the arts and to create innovative arts-education programs around the world.”
Wendy just spent the several months in Thailand as part of the very exclusive Rotary Peace and Conflict Studies at Chulalongkorn University. Wendy’s work was just written about in the Bangkok Post. Here they describe her best-known program.
The GATC’s most distinguished project to date is the Genesis World Music Ensemble, or the Saffron Caravan, which brings together music artists from the Middle East, North Africa and the Americas to revisit, reinvent and link musical traditions. The organisation began uniting musicians from cultures in conflict in 2004 with the pairing of a Jewish-Moroccan and a Muslim-Moroccan musicians. The artists had never been introduced to one another before, and together they performed with a band comprising musicians from nine different nationalities. Their performance served as a finale to GATC’s two-day ethnic music festival. The group later travelled to Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. Later in 2005, GATC’s Israeli-Palestinian performance became a part of the United Nations’ 60th Anniversary celebration.
At See3 we have the pleasure of collaborating with Wendy to help her find a way to document and distribute video from her upcoming concert tour of Egypt and Jordan. We are also excited about how Wendy is expanding the work of GATC:
“Another humanitarian programme that incorporates arts education is Armed Them with Instruments, which encourages adults and children from the US to donate musical instruments to the children in North African and Middle Eastern countries. This programme also aims to take vulnerable youth off the streets by providing them opportunities to study music at conservatories.”
Some of us feel trapped in our professions and wonder, can we really change the world? Wendy Sternberg answers the question with a resounding Yes!
Leading provider of online fundraising, education and advocacy for nonprofits partners with the first open-source video platform
San Francisco – April 28, 2009 – Continuing its growth as a national provider of interactive services to the nonprofit and cause community, See3 Communications announced today at the Nonprofit Technology Conference a strategic partnership with Kaltura, the first open-source video platform. The partnership makes See3 a primary channel to bring Kaltura to nonprofits and extends Kaltura’s growing influence as a preferred video solution. In addition, the Kaltura solution is now powering video on DoGooderTV, the video services and promotion site powered by See3, and home to the annual Nonprofit Video Awards.
“We are excited that we can finally, wholeheartedly, recommend a video platform to our clients,” said See3 CEO Michael Hoffman. “Many nonprofits need to move beyond free video sharing sites and introduce a professional solution to manage their video content. Kaltura is a terrific product and their quality and feature-set simply cannot be matched. That they are open source is a huge added benefit to our clients and the greater nonprofit community.”
As an open source platform, Kaltura is unique among online video solutions. It enables developers around the world to create add-on software to extend the functionality and improve the performance of the platform. Kaltura integrates seamlessly with open-source platforms, such as Drupal, WordPress and MediaWiki, which have become popular in the corporate and nonprofit community, because they produce better results at lower cost. In addition to being open source, Kaltura has advanced online editing features, allows for uploads directly from YouTube and other video sharing sites, and can be used to push content on to other video sharing sites through integration with Gigya, TubeMogul and others. With blog and forum integration, Kaltura can add video comments to any website, allowing site visitors to make comments directly from their webcam.
“Kaltura has always had a commitment to the nonprofit community,” said Ron Yekutiel, Kaltura Chairman and CEO. “Our partnership with See3 expands this commitment and allows us to work with a well-known pioneer in online video for nonprofits. See3 also brings to our partnership a web development team well-versed in open source software and the ability to integrate the Kaltura solution into many types of websites.”
See3 Communications Names Shirley Sexton Director, Interactive Marketing and Fundraising
Leading provider of new media services to nonprofit community adds experienced online fundraiser and strategist to manage expanded service offering.
Chicago – April 3, 2009 – Continuing its growth as a national provider of interactive services to the nonprofit and cause community, See3 Communications proudly announces the addition of Shirley Sexton to its team as Director, Interactive Marketing and Fundraising.
Sexton joins See3 from Easter Seals, the 8th largest nonprofit organization in the United States, where she served as Assistant Vice President, Interactive Marketing. Sexton lead the creation of Easter Seals online infrastructure of over 140 Web sites, and established their Online Fundraising program, bringing their online income from virtually nothing to over 1.5 million dollars in just six years. Under Sexton’s leadership, Easter Seals’ presence online has became a leading model in the nonprofit sector for innovation, integration of headquarters and local chapters, and accessibility. In her position, Sexton managed a staff of seven employees and oversaw all online communications, including website development, email fundraising and outreach. During her tenure at Easter Seals Sexton also contributed to the nonprofit community by serving on the Convio Advisory Board, the ePhilanthropy Board of Directors and the Network for Good Advisory Board.
“We are thrilled that Shirley is joining See3 and bringing her vast knowledge of online fundraising and her sector leadership to our organization,” said Michael Hoffman See3 CEO. “Shirley is the anchor to our expansion of services, including comprehensive interactive assessments and email communications plans. In today’s environment it is especially critical that organizations optimize and coordinate all of their fundraising activities. At Easter Seals, Shirley was running an interactive program in a complex organization with a massive direct mail background, major corporate partners and large federal grants. She knows how to integrate channels and collaborate with stakeholders to optimize outcomes.”
Sexton has long been a trailblazer in utilizing online and direct marketing for social causes. Sexton’s online experience includes serving as principal strategic consultant for engagements with hundreds of national nonprofit clients at AppNet/Commerce One and managing the ground-breaking online experiment of marketing online subscriptions for Slate.com at iXL. Her direct mail portfolio includes work for Highlights Magazine, The New York Times and AOL. In addition, Sexton worked for nine years as art director in the direct marketing department of the National Geographic Society.
About See 3 Communications
See3 is a communications firm that works exclusively with nonprofits, foundations, associations, and social causes. See3 specializes in online strategy for fundraising and advocacy. They use their skills in video production and web development combined with their experience in strategic communications.
See3 creates compelling media and online initiatives for causes, from national organizations to community-based programs. They approach each engagement with a fresh eye, take the time to consider the clients’ audience and goals—fundraising, recruitment, education, awareness—and execute tailored video, web, and outreach campaigns to achieve maximum impact.
