Video Production for Promoting Nonprofit Organizations
Video content isn't just for brands and businesses.
You can make videos work for whatever cause, vision, or mission you are advocating, including nonprofit organizations.
You may think that nonprofit organizations don't need any promotional video content just because they aren't selling anything. But on the contrary, nonprofits can benefit even more. Nonprofits don't require customers; they need donors, sponsors, volunteers, and any community support that they can get. All of these are often arguably harder to attain than customers.
But how do you make good content for nonprofits? And why should they be in video form? What quick and easy answer is that videos are much more engaging. When reaching people worldwide through digital information, videos are much easier to understand than long blogposts with photosets. Both the youth and middle-aged people are getting more and more used to watching videos. So let's get into video production for nonprofits.
Make the Video Message Clear
o the first question you have to ask yourself is: What is this video all about? Try to sum up your video's objective in one sentence; if you're unable to do that, you may be trying to accomplish too many things with one video. For example, are you trying to inform the general public? Are you trying to invite more donors? Are you asking potential partners? Or are you scouting for volunteers? You want to be crystal clear about your video's message; if you aren't clear about it, then the audience won't be either.
Make the Message Strong
Once you have determined your video's core message, the next thing to consider is how to tell it best, or better yet, show it. Because we're talking video content and now just slogans, you have much more creative space to use. What kind of video will your audience enjoy most? What will be the most memorable to watch? There are several types of videos that you can make for your nonprofit. Here are a few examples:
● Tell the story of your organization
● Bring in current staff and volunteers to talk about the organization
● Use documentary-style videos about your nonprofit's advocacy
● Advertise a digital and virtual event to celebrate partners, sponsors, and donors
● Do a "Behind-the-scenes" video about your nonprofit
Make a Connection with Your Audiences
Here's an important thing to remember. Your audience is always made up of two parts: your current audience and your future audience, whom you are still trying to reach. That means you also have to know who your incoming target audience is intended to be, whether they are donors, business owners, other nonprofits, or potential volunteers. When thinking about the best ways to connect to your audience, you have to consider both. That will affect how you end up presenting your video.
Make Different Video Version
Because of how videos are optimized on different social media channels and websites, it's best to make different versions of your video; this means they will vary in length and even aspect ratios. For example, Instagram favors videos shorter than 1 minute in a 4:5 ratio. YouTube favors videos as long as 10 minutes in the cinematic 16:9 ratio. Twitter and Facebook can handle videos that are a few minutes long. So, edit your videos accordingly.
Build (or Hire) a High-Quality Video Production Team
Video production takes a lot of high-quality creativity, skill, and management. In short, it requires its specialized team. So you can either invest the resources into creating your own in-house video production team or outsource and hire a professional video production company. Production companies know how to work with clients from both profit and nonprofit sectors, so they too will be passionate about your cause, advocacy, and nonprofit organization. You can trust them to do their best with the message you want to send out into the world.
Quick Recap
When making a video, the key things to remember are: know your vision, message, and audience, and consider all these when figuring out how to present your video. Your video has to be engaging, crystal clear, high-quality, yet authentic. With nonprofit organizations, authenticity is invaluable.
If you're not sure if your nonprofit organization is up to the task of making such a video, don't be afraid to hire from outside your organization. You will surely get the quality you need.
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