You’ve undoubtedly heard that to amplify your nonprofit marketing, you need a strategy to create and share great videos on your website and social media channels.
Video is the best performing content type on social.
Having videos on your website increases the time spent on the site by 71%.
After watching a video, 64% of people are more likely to make a purchase online.
But, simply creating a nonprofit video and posting it once on your Facebook Page won’t get you many views and much traffic.
As with so many aspects of nonprofit digital marketing, your ability to get your video shared has more to do with relationship with your online community than anything else.
Follow these tips to see your nonprofit video spread like wildfire!
The #1 way to get more shares on your nonprofit video is… make it shareable!
This seems simple. While it’s simple to understand, it’s certainly not easy to accomplish.
You can’t trick people into sharing your video.
If it’s not interesting, relevant, and compelling, no matter how many ads you purchase or arms you twist, it will not get shared.
Understand why people share on social media.
To get more shares, nonprofits need to understand the psychology behind social media and online sharing.
Why do people share content?
- Self-interested motivation
- To gain social capital
- To impress friends
Social media is a value exchange.
People will share your videos (value for you), if your videos will impress their friends and help them establish their identity (value for them).
What types of videos get the most shares?
The videos that get the most shares on social media tend to be uplifting, heartwarming, “restore your faith in humanity” type videos.
Surprisingly, people are more likely to share positive videos.
They are also likely to share videos that invokes rage or other strong, negative emotions.
Videos that land somewhere in the middle don’t get as many shares.
Sharing is a two-way street.
If you want others to share and talk about what you’ve created, one of the best ways to get the ball rolling is by being a sharer yourself.
Find nonprofits and bloggers you like and respect who are in the same or similar industry, and share their content with your followers.
If you share consistently, you’re likely to get some reciprocal sharing in return.
But, don’t expect it to happen overnight.
Consistency is the key here.
Share the right way.
When you’re sharing others’ videos, be creative and put some thought into it.
If you’re hoping to get someone with a lot of followers to share your stuff, you need to stand out.
Don’t just put the title of their post as your lead comment.
Take a line from the video or tell how it was beneficial to you or will benefit your supporters.
You’re much more likely to get noticed this way, and you might even develop a mutually-beneficial promotional relationship with someone you admire.
Ask (nicely).
As with everything else, you can’t expect to get what you want without asking for it.
It’s important to ask the right people in the right way, though.
A blanket, “Hey, share my video!” blasted out to your social networks probably won’t see a lot of results.
Instead, ask specific people in a thoughtful way.
Tell them how it will benefit them and their followers.
Does the video you created contain information that’s valuable to their audience?
If there is a benefit to their audience and to their individual brand, that will help convince people to share with their networks.
Create strategic alliances.
Chances are good that there are other nonprofits and agencies out there who share your target audience but don’t compete with you.
Build relationships with these organizations to get in front of their community while introducing them to yours.
It’s a great way to help each other find success, and it just might result in a lasting friendship.
Email Template
Here is a sample email template that you can adapt when asking people to share your video on social media:
Dear NAME,
(Share a snippet or a quote from the video – think about what is going to grab attention and pique interest.) Mary was cold and on the streets this past winter, homeless and without hope.
“I didn’t know where to turn or what to do,” she said. “I was completely lost.”
She came to us at the end of her rope, and we are so thankful that she did!
Watch her amazing story in our newest video. (Share the link to the video)
If you are inspired by this video and Mary’s incredible story, would you consider sharing it out with your networks?
Here is the link: (Share the link to the video)
Let us know if you have something that we can help you with.
We appreciate you sharing this video and letting people know that there is hope.
Sincerely, AWESOME NONPROFIT (Provide your name and a way for them to contact you with questions)
Here are some Pinterest boards that contain even more resources on how to create, market, and promote your nonprofit videos:
Comments 2
I think these are great strategies to promote nonprofits’ missions/visions. Do you have any advice for ideal length of videos to get more views/likes/shares? thanks!
Author
The length of the video depends on the platform, as each has different optimal lengths. This article may help: https://2060digital.com/blog/right-video-length-platform/