Social Media 101 TweetChat Recap: Video

Week three of TechSoup's Social Media Mondays in May focused on use of video for nonprofits and libraries. A topic covered in its Nonprofit Social Media 101 wiki, video can be a powerful tool for organizations. While video is an effective medium, the perceived costs of equipment and editing tools coupled with the question of what will engage audiences can be overwhelming to nonprofit and library professionals. The hour-long chat answered many commonly held questions organizations have, as well as offering follow up resources.

The chat began with the most important question of what makes a video effective?

An "effective" video can be a number of things depending on what an organization's intent was in creating video content. For example, is it a call to action, a fundraising appeal, or just generating awareness. What viewers want to see are videos about issues they personally care about. Videos can be used to do anything from providing useful training information to compelling the viewer to act on behalf of a cause. Viewers want videos that engage them emotionally and hook them right away. While the issues that nonprofits support are serious, and a serious tone seems the obvious choice for a video, humor can also be effective. However, whether serious or humorous, videos should feel authentic and true to the organization and its cause.

Nonprofits and libraries need not worry excessively about technical quality, as chat participants were in agreement that content mattered most. An effective nonprofit video can be as simple as a Flickr photo stream set to an audio track or a really great interview. As was noted, "creativity and passion" can overcome what is lacking in technical quality. However, one aspect of quality, sound quality, did warrant mention.

Videos should be clear to understand if employing dialogue or music. Music is great for enhancing the mood of a video and nonprofits and libraries interested in low-cost music licensing can check out Magnatune's music library or Frog Music Licensing. Tools such as Apple's iMovie or Windows Live Movie Maker might already be at the disposal of organizations, as they are often included with computer purchases, and are a great choice for beginning video editors. The built-in tools of these two programs allow users to add titles; captions, important for making videos accessible for the hearing impaired; splice in other video and images, and add sound. Organizations interested in more high-tech video options may consider purchasing Final Cut Express, an affordable version of the Final Cut Pro software that many professional movie studios use.

In the same way that organizations can save money on video editing software by using what is already on their computers or available at a low cost or free over the Internet, obtaining videography equipment can be as simple as reaching into your pocket. Today's smartphones have fairly sophisticated built-in video cameras and editing tools that, if used wisely, can create great movies. While the picture and audio quality of smartphone videos does not currently equal that of more expensive stand alone video cameras, smartphone cameras can be useful for capturing the action of live events, conducting impromptu interviews and instant video sharing.

Numerous applications exist, many of them free and with very simple editing capabilities, to upload smartphone videos to the Internet. Applications such as Ustream, Qik Viddy, Twitvid, and Socialcam are useful for capturing and sharing live events in real time. These applications, with certain individual limitations, also allow users to share their videos to a number of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, increasing their audience reach.

In addition to the adding your video to the video network of these applications, it is also important to add your videos to the very popular and highly trafficked YouTube. Other channels to consider for sharing your videos include Vimeo, Justin.tv, and BlipTV. Posting your organization's movies on a video sharing sites is useful because of the built-in measurement these platforms make available to users that allow you to track how many times your movies have been viewed, capture demographic information about your audience and more.

Other methods of measuring viewership data include Google Analytics for videos posted on your organization's website and Facebook Insights for movies posted on your organization's Facebook fan page. Nonprofits and libraries can also gauge the success of their movies but monitoring viewer comments, measuring how many new volunteers or donors have been gained or how much donations have increased after a video campaign.

While organizations can feel disadvantaged using video as a marketing tool because of their nonprofit status there are, in fact, a number of tools and resources available specifically for nonprofits. YouTube, for instance, offers call-to-action overlays, which can direct viewers to campaign pages on your website, and other tools for registered nonprofits. TechSoup's Digital Storytelling Campaign page, Nonprofit Social Media 101 wiki, and YouTube page offer numerous how-to resources and examples of effective nonprofit videos. To help you pass the time until next week's TweetChat on tagging, we also suggest the following nonprofit video resources:

• How to use Windows Live Moviemaker webinar
• Optimising Video For Search Engines
• Digital Savant Podcast #3: David J. Neff on video and nonprofits
• Digital Storytelling Methods: Time and Resources Needed?
• TechSoup Digital Storytelling Challenge: Tips on Telling Your Story
• Create Video Stories for Your Nonprofit in 6 Easy Steps
• DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards