How nonprofits can make better videos with Doug Scott

• Video is such an important tool for nonprofits period. And for-profit companies as well because it’s such a powerful communications medium.


• Facebook’s research division says the experiments they’ve run on Facebook and Instagram show that videos are looked at 5 times longer than static content and they generate more engagement.


•  If you are looking to do a mix of creating your own organic content and then doing paid content, only ever pay for content that organically works well. Release it first, organically through your channel, and see if it starts to actually have organic engagement from it.


• Going back to what works on social.  The most engaging videos are under a minute on every platform. 


• With a virtual event now, pretty much anybody can attend your fundraiser from virtually anywhere in the world whenever they want to. 

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HOW NONPROFITS CAN MAKE BETTER VIDEOS

Facebook’s research division says the experiments they’ve run on Facebook and Instagram show that videos are looked at 5 times longer than static content and they generate more engagement.

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Doug Morneau

Well, welcome back listeners another episode of Real marketing real fast. Today in the studio I’ve got joining me, Doug Scott. Now he is the founder and CEO of a company called tectonic video. They are a leading video agency for not for profits, and we had an amazing conversation around video, video strategy, what works, what doesn’t work, what you should hire an agency for, what you should be doing in house user-generated content. And then we finished off our conversation today, talking about remote and online fundraisers for not for profits and how this is working for businesses as well. So taking these big goals and events and what happens now that we’re not gathering in large groups. So Doug and his team have worked with not for profits all across the US and around the world to create award-winning videos that drive massive results for the nonprofits and charities that he works with. He’s been featured in The New York Times, NPR CNN, and ad week and he is a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford University on the power of storytelling for not for profit organizations. So join me in welcoming Doug Scott to the real marketing real fast podcast today.

Doug Morneau

Well, hey, Scott, super excited to have you on the podcast today. So welcome to the real marketing real fast podcast.

Doug Scott

Hey, Doug, great to be here.

Doug Morneau

Well, you’re working in an area that’s got a number of things that really piqued my interest. One is video so people have finally woken up to the importance of video for marketing. And the third or second one strategy in the third is not for profits. And I like all those spaces on those topics. So do you want to share with our audience system overview of the kind of what you do and how you help people?

Doug Scott

Of course, my pleasure. tectonic video exists to help nonprofits realize the power of video to accomplish their mission. And that could be through marketing or for fundraising, but also for other things. internal communications, training, hiring, even their programmatic work. So we are a video agency for nonprofits. So we start with strategy. It could be an organization-wide or a campaign-specific video strategy. Then we implement that strategy from concept all the way through filming through post-production, then we can advise on distribution and measurements. And we’re humbled to work with some of the world’s most amazing nonprofits. I’m a little biased because I love our clients so much. But we make PSA’s for the American Lung Association. We do fundraising videos for World Relief, branded content for Mutual Rescue, and educational videos for groups out of MIT, Harvard, and Stanford. I just have the best job in the world I get to spend my day helping amazing people doing amazing things, do more of it through video.

Doug Morneau

That’s, that’s really cool. Now in terms of strategy, I mean, I’m sure there’s a number of different areas that the not for profits are looking for help with increased They’re, you know, their impact in the world. And so you mentioned one, which is raising money. And then I’m assuming also it’s helpful to recruit volunteers as well. Absolutely.

Doug Scott

Yeah, getting people to be involved in your organization’s video is a great means for doing that. And it’s a video I mean, taking a step back video is such an important tool for nonprofits period. And for-profit companies as well because it’s such a powerful communications medium. I like to say it’s extremely efficient. I mean, practically speaking, it takes 60 seconds to read 250 words, but in that same 60 seconds of video could show you dozens of images that are rich in color and detail and context. And they combine that with music and design and dialogue may never take thousands of written words to communicate what you can do in 60 seconds in a video.

Video is also highly engaging. It combines all these different learning styles and senses together into a single, shareable piece of content. But some really cool research as well why video is so powerful that it’s preferred over many other forms of communication. Facebook’s own RESEARCH DIVISION came out recently and said the experiments that they’re running on Facebook and Instagram say that video content is looked at five times longer than static content and that it often generates more engagement. And I’ve seen other research that says that when both video and text are available on the same web page, 72% of people choose to watch a video rather than read the copy. And that one’s preference for video increases as their age decreases. So if you want to reach younger audiences, in the nonprofit space could be prospective donors or volunteers, and video is key. So taking advantage of the power of video is essential for nonprofits, especially in these days.

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SHARE THIS POST: HOW NONPROFITS CAN MAKE BETTER VIDEOS

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HOW NONPROFITS CAN MAKE BETTER VIDEOS

Facebook’s research division says the experiments they’ve run on Facebook and Instagram show that videos are looked at 5 times longer than static content and they generate more engagement.

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Doug Morneau

So do you guys, you know this is a geeky question because I’m you know, I look at it A lot of analytics if you guys do any back end data analysis in terms of, you know, time on site or links to the video, people forwarding it people rewinding and re-watching it.

Doug Scott

We do. So we have a split between what we will do and then what we’ll advise our clients to do. Because we’re not hands-on in their admin of Facebook or Twitter. And there are some best practices there that we can of course share about Yeah, you can maximize the engagement on a video, you can look at how, how people are watching it if they’re getting confused. They’re like you’re saying if they’re backing up, or rewatching a section, it can be in a few different things, the thing that we really focus on, we find that for nonprofits, that level of sophistication rarely has enough energy in the organization to maintain, but the thing that we really look for on it, yeah. I think one more thing for volunteers to do that.

Doug Scott

Exactly. And so while we try and make it as simple as possible by choosing the most effective metric, and that is engagement, and we look at engagement as the measurable things that people will do to your video that are likes or likes or reactions, share shares, and comments. And those are things you can easily tabulate, you can easily get a baseline as to where you are right now, and then begin to measure your performance over time moving forward. But the reason why, of course, you’d want to measure those three things is that then you’re really tapping into what the algorithms of each social media platform care about. They tend to. There’s a lot of mystery as to exactly how they score different posts or different videos, but all of them have been on the record and said engagement trumps everything. And so, videos that do get r