I was thrilled with the performance of Invisible People’s YouTube channel for the last few years. With a focus on homelessness education, an average of 40,000 monthly views was fantastic, or so I thought.
That changed after we joined Patreon a few months back and I started to pay more attention to YouTube. The lightbulb went off when I typed “homeless” into the YouTube search bar. Invisible People undoubtedly has more videos from homeless people than any other content creator. All that came up was prank videos and other awful content that was so far from the truth about homelessness. None of our videos were showing in search with the keyword “homeless.” I knew I had to fix this, and here’s how: READ MORE
Watch it and weep, with laughter and recognition (if you’re a working parent, or overloaded in any other way). That’s definitely me! Is it you? This video from Make It Work—a community making things better for hardworking women, men and families across the country—works wonders. It: READ MORE
Guest blogger Annie Escobar has created over 60 videos for over 30 purpose-driven organizations. She believes there is more good than bad in our world, and she’s driven to share the stories she hears that prove it.
When an organization comes to me and says, “We want a video about our program,” I always cringe a little bit. Many non-profits fall into what I call “The Program Trap.” Their videos focus too much on what they do, instead of whythey do it.
Here are two absolutely irresistible (and free) ways to build your storytelling and video skills.
1) Jump into the free training offered right now with the Tech Soup Digital Storytelling Challenge, and submit your video by April 30.
Ready to change the world with a story? So is TechSoup, which is dedicated to providing your nonprofit, library, or charity with the resources it needs to tell its story.
Participate in these no-charge interactive trainings (listed below) to learn valuable storytelling and production skills, then create your own story to enter the challenge by April 30. READ MORE
Guest blogger, Annie Escobar is co-founder of ListenIn Pictures which produces compelling video stories for nonprofits.
Creating engaging, sharable videos doesn’t seem to come naturally for most nonprofits and I think I know why. Instead of highlighting naturally dynamic stories about people, nonprofits tend to create videos about programs.
I call this The Program Trap.
Your organization’s job is to run your programs well. That’s why you care about the details of how they are run. But your audience is hungry for meaning, belonging and purpose. They want to be a part of something that matters.
Annie Escobar is co-founder of ListenIn Pictures which produces compelling video stories for nonprofits.
I’m on a mission to end bad nonprofit video. You know, the boring, long, put-you-to-sleep video about what the nonprofit does and not why, how or results. Nonprofits have too much on the line—and too many inspiring stories—for this. READ MORE
Online video is one of the best ways to tell your nonprofit’s story. When done right, it can forge powerful connections between your organization and your supporters, but only when it stands out from the competition in three minutes or less.
Teaser: Modest production values can generate huge impact. Take a look at this simple but powerful video from the St. Joseph Ballet, developed to build understanding of its work and impact around its name change.
P.S.Get more in-depth articles, case studies and guides to nonprofit marketing (and video) success — all featured in the twice-monthly Getting Attention e-update.Subscribe today.
Guest blogger Mark Horvath founded and leads Invisible People. Today he shares how to boost your YouTube views from meh to magnificent. BTW, Mark’s video version of this post features bonus tips not found here! Here’s Mark…
Guest blogger 
Here are two absolutely irresistible (and free) ways to build your storytelling and video skills.