NTEN Change Issue Two: June 2011 : Page 14
SHOW ME THE WORLD If you are not convinced that video is worth the effort, consider the power of search, a major way people find con-tent online, including your organization’s content. Google is now integrating video results into the first page of search results for many terms. As an organization, it is often easier to land on this first results page through video than by try-ing to get your page ranked higher. In addition, the second biggest search engine online is not Bing or Yahoo!— it’s YouTube. People are starting their searches on YouTube. Give it a try for terms related to your organization’s mission and see what comes up. When you start developing your video content, planning is key. Your organization needs a communications plan and a content plan. The communications plan tells you what messages you are sending to whom, in what way, and when, usually over an annual time frame. A content plan outlines the themes of content you should be focusing on. These themes should correspond to the interest of your audience. Remember, most people do not really care about your insti-tution. They care about your work, the difference you are making in the world. That’s the story you need to tell. There are low-cost cameras and free or low cost editing software available. But the equipment is only the start. Plan-ning the story you want to make will save you time later. Do not instruct your staff to simply take their Flip camera and shoot video. We recommend following a simple and logical process: 1. Start with discussing the stories you want to tell, and then outline those stories. 2. Create a “shot list” which notes the content you need to capture to tell this story. 3. Script your “narration” so you can shoot the right ma-terial to illustrate what you are talking about. 4. Make sure that you think about sound quality; people will watch bad video with good sound, but not good video with bad sound. winner: Medium organization Ronald McDonald House Charities of austin & Central texas See What’s Out There Another great way to start is by looking at the videos other organizations are doing. The NTEN-sponsored DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards are a great way to see what styles and approaches others are using. You can see the finalist videos online here: http://www.youtube.com/nonprofit videoawards. NTEN: CHANGE JUNE 2011 PAGE 14
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