Here in our office, we have a tie for the staff’s favorite nonprofit video produced by See3. The first was created to bring attention to the Foreign Assistance Act for Global Development Matters.
The second was made for Amnesty International to raise awareness about extraordinary rendition.
Special thanks to everyone who responded! This week’s question: What’s the most effective strategy you’ve used to build an email list? (For example: in-person events, a petition, social networking, a video campaign…)
The amazing thing about this video is that the statement McCain made — not remembering how many houses he owns! — was yesterday. And here’s the ad. Sleep, for now, is out of the question.
by Dorothee Royal-Hedinger Thursday, August 21st, 2008
Have you noticed a mysterious decline in the amount of views your videos appear to be getting on YouTube? Turns out, YouTube made a change to their view count policy without telling anyone!
The Incident
We found out about this change at See3 because we made three spectacular videos for the Sierra Club and the first one had more than 65,000 views and the second one had 1000! - at least according to the public view count on the site. We knew that this video had at least 40,000 views. Something strange was happening.
The Investigation
How did we know there were more views? The first place we looked was the YouTube feature Insight which shows a day by day graph of video views. In adding that up for the video below, we got well over 40,000 for a video that only showed about 1000 in the “views”.
VS.
The second way we knew was website stats. If we knew that 80,000 people came to a page, and on that page is a video (one that plays automatically) we could safely assume that more than 1000 people saw the video.
Why is this a problem?
This poses a problem because getting a large number of views in a short period of time puts videos into more visible categories for the YouTube community — most viewed, for example. A video that gets 40,000 views in 24 hours might well make it into a most viewed category which gives it the potential to be viewed by another 40,000 or 400,000 people.
The Solution
It took YouTube weeks to respond and explain, but finally we got this message:
View counts are important to the community and are a reflection of the interests and intents of video viewers. Autoplaybacks are not counted toward the visible “views” numbers displayed on the YouTube site because autoplaybacks are not viewer initiated. The vast majority of videos are not substantially affected by this.
What is auto-playback?
When you embed a video, you can choose to set it to auto-play — so when someone lands on the page the video plays. These plays used to count normally but suddenly, YouTube changed how it worked. This might have been in response to people placing videos on high traffic pages just to run up view counts.
Our recommendations
Autoplay is no longer a good option on YouTube. As See3 CEO Michael Hoffman explains, “I would say that I cannot see a circumstance now where See3 would recommend using autoplay. Once YouTube has taken away the incentive to use Autoplay, it only works against you.”
On the one hand, we know the Sierra Club videos got the views we basically expected them to get. More importantly, we reached campaign goals for sign-ups and house party attendees, etc. As Michael says in his talks, views aren’t usually the organizational goal - it doesn’t get you more money or more supporters - it is specific viewers that you are interested in and the actions you want them to take. On the other hand, our primary internal audiences use those view counts as a kind of short-hand for success of the campaign, so we weren’t very happy about it. But now we all know!
by Dorothee Royal-Hedinger Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
Even if your nonprofit is already involved in the world of social media, these 3 tips from David J. Neff of the American Cancer Society (which recently released the video platform sharinghope.tv) are helpful for expanding your online strategy:
1) Experiment - You should personally explore social networks before you make a profile for your nonprofit. That way you will understand the most effective way to publicize your organization and make meaningful connections on sites likes Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.
2) Buy a Video Camera - You should be making lots of video and some can be done in-house, easily and cheaply. While these videos will never replace professionally produced material, they can supplement your online content and be an effective way to engage people on social networks. You can buy a point-and-shoot camera like the Flip video for under $200. For a higher quality consumer camera, we recommend the Canon HV30.
3) Research - Don’t just look at what fellow organizations are doing, pay attention to what big corporations and creative agencies are turning out. You may not have the same budget but social media helps to level the playing field. For example, Michael highlighted Office Max’s One Penny Campaign in a previous post. Take a look and you’ll notice how little money or production quality you need when the idea is compelling.
by Dorothee Royal-Hedinger Friday, August 15th, 2008
How do you address serious issues like health care reform in a way that engages the online audience? This video from Health Care for America Now [via Levjoy.com] shows how you can use humor to highlight topics like the frustrating and seemingly arbitrary web of health insurance rules.
It sparked a lot of good debate here in the office at our recent sit down about rising health insurance costs. While businesses like See3 are committed to providing this benefit to their employees, the American health care industry is not making it easy. According to the National Coalition on Health Care,
Premiums for employer-based health insurance rose by 6.1 percent in 2007. Small employers saw their premiums, on average, increase 5.5 percent.
These numbers are due to rise significantly in 2008 and 2009 as health insurance expenses continue to be the fastest growing cost component for employers around the country.
I’ll be presenting at NNEDV’s (National Network to End Domestic Violence) “Technology Safety Training of Trainers” this week where I’ll be talking about online video. Below are some of the videos that I’ll be showing during the lunch session:
by Dorothee Royal-Hedinger Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
I met comedian Lee Camp on the bus on my way to the Netroots Nation convention in Austin. And yes, he was very funny. I got a chance to talk with him later in the weekend about the easiest ways to make a video (or any online content) go viral.
Lee Camp is a comedian, blogger and activist who has performed standup comedy around the country and in various videos online. He writes for The Huffington Post, 236.com and performs with LaughingLiberally. He is most famous for punking Fox news as a guest on their show (you can see all his videos at YouTube.com/LeeCamp). In this fourth part of our blog tips series, Lee talks about why comedy is so effective online.
Blog Tip: How to Go Viral - Be Funny
Here’s the “Permission” video Lee mentions as an irreverent and clever take on the gay marriage issue:
Lee also mentions that it’s important to be topical if you want your videos to go viral. Shortly after the Larry Craig bathroom scandal broke, he wrote up a quick video sketch that was soon so popular, CNN was airing it in their coverage.
Blog Tip: How to Go Viral - Be Topical
Spread the word! See3 is building a community of bloggers who support good causes and are receptive to sharing worthwhile messages with their readers. Be the first to hear about new campaigns from organizations like the Sierra Club and receive resources specific to your blog’s area of interest. If you’d like to join the See3 Blogger Network, shoot me an email at Dorothee@see3.net with a short description of your blog or website. I’m sure your inboxes are as full as mine so I promise to only send things that are relevant to your interests!
What is this video? It’s a story. A dramatic story. And it’s told using only words, almost. No pictures. You will pay attention because you won’t want to miss something. Now, sit down and write the story of your cause this way. What way? Draw a straight line from your tactics to the huge potential impact you can have if successful. Bring someone along from the very small — one person — to the very big — changing the whole world.
1. Tell a story.
If you want your audience to identify with your mission, you need a compelling story that connects your work to real people. If a story moves you, it will likely move others as well—and become the foundation for deeper involvement.
2. Be relevant.
People respond to what’s going on around them, so try to relate to the news or the calendar as much as possible. You’ll also have a better chance at success if you’re pitching your video to bloggers or other websites—they’re always looking for something current and fresh.
3. Tell them what you want.
You have their attention, now tell your viewers how you want them to engage, whether it’s donating money, visiting a website, or volunteering. They won’t know to give unless you ask for it.
4. Be brief.
Few people are watching your 7-minute online video—that only works when you have them locked in a room. Try to get everything out in 2 minutes or less.
5. Videos don’t raise money by themselves.
Your organization should think of online video as one of many tools to fit into your fundraising program. Adopting video into your organization is critical, but it has to be a means instead of an end.
6. Embed video on your donations page.
The distance between the “play” button and the “donate” button should be short. Also, give your viewer the right web tools. Can the viewer forward the video to a friend, subscribe to your RSS feed, get involved, and sign up for your newsletter right there on the spot? If not, they should.
7. Put video at the center of a campaign.
Video is often best used in the context of a campaign. A campaign can be raising money for a particular village, trying to reach a specific goal, or giving limited to a specific timeframe.
8. Empower your viewers.
Ever heard of peer-to-peer fundraising? Encourage your audience to pass your videos along. Make the embed code easily accessible within your page so your video can reach a broader audience.
9. Create a media library.
Start gathering your footage now—you might have all the ingredients already! Building a media library is a valuable long-term asset for your organization. Have a camera ready for every important event. Ask volunteers to document their work and make it available for future events, trainings, and online use. Using existing footage you get more bang for the buck.
10. Test.
You don’t know if something works unless you test it. Send out emails with video and some without, and measure the results. Each nonprofit will have different nuances, and you’ll want to know when using video is most effective.
11. Know when not to use video.
Truth is, your strongest donors will likely donate with or without online video. They have been already, right? They don’t need any extra convincing. Use online video for attracting new audiences, for driving specific campaigns, for empowering your membership to spread your story or for deepening or expanding existing relationships.
Changing light bulbs is great, but that’s don’t going to stop global warming. We are working with Sierra Club on a campaign called LightBulbs To Leadership. The idea is simple, How many lawmakers does it take to change a light bulb?
