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Blog Post: We're changing...
Jul 1, 2010
We're changing...
Important Announcement:
From July the 19th we will become "Reason Digital". »|
Blog Post: Is your message getting through?
Mar 23, 2010
Is your message getting through?
We'll be giving a brief talk about getting the best out of email newsletters at Charity Comms' quarterly seminar in London on 16th September. »|

Why/how do people use YouTube?

YouTube has become a search tool for millions of people and is the preferred search engine for many young people who prefer to consume their information as video or audio.

YouTube is best used as a supplementary social network rather than your primary method of communication, though it depends on the nature of your organisation.

The Youtube platform enables nonprofits to use video to:

  • Unite people with similar views and empower them
    Youtube can become a hub to show solidarity for a cause, empowering people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, public engagement and policy change.
  • Show people they are not alone (for instance – depression or sexual abuse)
  • Grab the attention of people who might be interested, but have not yet decided to act.
  • Get more people involved and engaged with your cause (the Human Society’s Youtube competition drew 2,000 new members to their email list, provided them with a batch of new online videos to use, and the winning clip was watched over 95,000 times.

Here's one example of how a nonprofit organisation uses YouTube to convey their mesage:

Born Free on YouTube

The Born Free Foundation make great use of their celebrity supporters, especially Martin Clunes, in these YouTube videos. They have also uploaded news and TV footage of their work as well as their own videos documenting their work.

Do

  • use YouTube to tell stories, particularly from your users and in their own words - showing your impact is often more effective than writing reports.
  • upload at least one video describing what your organisation does, tagged with relevant keywords. Many people use YouTube as a search engine, so make sure you can be found!
  • create a channel to collect all your videos, playlist(s) to organise them into themes
  • consider how you title and tag your videos and whether it makes your videos easier to find
  • encourage user interaction such as comments and video responses, building collections to encourage user-generated content and engagement
  • join the YouTube Nonprofit Program and make use of the "call to action overlay" facility and consider creating links to your website at specific points in the narrative. Call to action feature helped charity:water raise $10,000 in one day.

Don't

  • forget that even though you're making a video, you still need to write a script and a storyboard! Write short, use few words and more images, get personal and tell the story from an individual's perspective
  • be disheartened by user comments - remember that empty vessels make the most noise!

Useful links