Implement Video Content To Increase Donations And Awareness

Posted by Ben Crook on 14 September 2017

Social video content is being consumed more and more each day, as a result its essential that fundraisers incorporate this type of content into their strategy. Its reported that there are 650 million hours of videos watched each day on YouTube and a staggering 100 million hours of video content watched daily on Facebook. As a result, Facebook has once again revolutionised their platform and incorporated video as a key feature of their site, as social videos generate 1200% more shares than text and images combined. It is crucial for charities to implement a strategy for their fundraising video content in order to increase awareness of their cause, engage with the public and subsequently encourage people to support their campaign.

The phrase a picture paints a thousand words rings true, but video content amplifies this philosophy, allowing you to include so much more information in a quick and easy way for people to digest. Implementing music into the background of a video is an effective way to get the tone and feel across without so many words, and can make content more moving and memorable.

Create short, sharp content to increase awareness

A video content campaign is not a new concept for fundraising. Charities have regularly placed adverts in prime TV slots for years now. This is generally used to target new supporters, who have not yet heard about their cause and are looking for a reputable charity to donate to. Now, as many people skip through adverts, charities might find that this strategy isn’t as effective as it was previously. It can be difficult to measure how effective it is, as there is no real way to track whether donors have seen the advert and been moved to donate. With the rise of social media, it may be more cost effective to run a campaign on a social channel instead, where you can directly measure the return on investment.

Social media is a very fast-paced environment, so its important to compose social video content that will instantly grab peoples attention and is on the shorter side of things. Studies have shown that videos up to 2 minutes long get the most engagement. A lot of platforms will enforce their own time restrictions, such as Instagram Stories where videos are capped at 15 seconds. In this case, you could theoretically post a series of videos but there is likely to be a drop-off in viewers if you do so. You’ll need to make sure your post still makes sense if someone only views the first clip, rather than the full series. Instead, it is recommended that the videos are kept short and designed to create awareness, so that the audience can take an interest in finding out more for themselves. Include a call to action at the end, where you can direct people to your site.

Tip: 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, so its wise to include subtitles.

There is also the potential to use video formats such as livestreaming, where you film a live event or occurrence. Social channels like Instagram and Facebook alert users when a page they are following starts a live thread, which could increase views if done at the right time. With livestreaming, no-one expects the content to run perfectly smooth, however you wouldn’t want to damage the reputation of your brand by sharing shoddy video footage with poor sound and lighting. Think outside of the box, livestreaming can be used to host webinars, live seminars, or even to set up a live Q&A with your potential supporters. By using livestreaming to conduct highly targeted video content you could see long term success as a result.

Create more in-depth video content to get support

If you want to provide more information about your cause in order to get people to volunteer or give you money, you’ll need to include more information. Perhaps you want to talk about an upcoming fundraising event and tell people what their day would be like if they offer to act as a steward. You’ll then need to include a step-by-step guide on how to sign up and what they’ll need to bring on the day. As this person already knows about your charity, this is your opportunity to skim over the about us stuff and go straight into the campaign itself. Longer, more detailed video fundraising content is best reserved for your own platform, as videos on a landing page can increase conversions by 80% or more. Upload this type of video content onto the event or volunteer pages on your site, put the video on YouTube and if you have a database of active volunteers you could send an email to those people with a link.

Tip: Embed the video into the body of your email. If you’re unable to do so, take a still from the video, place a play button on the image, and insert the image into the body of your email with a hyperlink to the video on your site.

Create targeted video content

Think about what your aim is, all content will depend on helping you to achieve your objective. Recent studies have found that people react better to empowering videos, show the impact a 25 donation could make and how it could potentially save a life! If you’re looking for volunteers at an event, show them the personal benefits of doing so, as well as how it could help the greater good.

To get started

• Outline what you aim to achieve
• Who you want to target
• Where your target audience would be found
• What format of content would suit your channel
• Create a storyboard for the video and you’ll be good to go!

Video content can be an excellent way to explain what you as a fundraiser can do, how it will meet the needs of the people you aim to support and how it can make the lives of donors more fulfilling knowing they are doing good! A great example of this is would be Barnardos Believe In Me video campaign. The children’s charity showcased how donated money can directly change children’s lives. The video is not cluttered with information on how and where to donate but instead tells an emotive story that would encourage people to go on to their site and support them, in a subtle way.

For more information on how to utilise video into your fundraising campaign, check out this blog!

Ben Crook

Chief Operating Officer

Ben is at the forefront of every project in Givergy, listing and actioning constant improvements across the business. With over a decade of experience in the charity and events sector he brings a deep understanding of what the fundraising industry needs to operate effectively and efficiently.