Improving Nonprofit Fundraising and Supporter Engagement through Mobile Videos

Recently I wrote about the nonprofit fundraising habits of the Next Gen Philanthropists and the importance of engaging and holding their attention through multimedia channels. As technology continues to evolve and options are seemingly endless it can become challenging for a nonprofit to determine which ones will best engage target demographic(s) AND integrate with their existing social media platforms. As part of our Social Media Series for nonprofits, I have written about how Pinterest and Instagram Can Help Maximize Nonprofit Fundraising and Donor Engagement Efforts and I recently came across a new multimedia tool that can help nonprofits reach a target audience that may have shorter attention spans – Vine (The 6 Second Video).

Vine was recently acquired by Twitter and debuted in January 2013 and this new mobile app helps users create short 6 seconds videos on an endless loop that can be shared on several platforms including Twitter and Facebook. The concept of creating content that is fast and short works because the viewer does not have to invest very much time in watching the content. However, much like its parent platform with 140 characters, the challenge is creating meaningful content that will be engage your audience and spark interest to learn more about the organization and cause within the size limitation. Six seconds may sound like a very small amount of time (and it is) but after timing it myself I realized that it’s just enough time to say enough to peak interest. Perhaps six second ‘commercials’ will replace the standard thirty second commercials one day.Right out of the gate over 100,000 videos were posted to Twitter in one weekend this past month. The ways in which nonprofits can use this technology are endless with a little planning and creativity. Some interesting options include: delivering a simple yet direct call to action (eg: $25 will buy XXX); telling a cause or mission related story; showing ground work in progress; spotlighting the faces of staff or volunteers behind the work; a simple but creative ask; event alerts or invites; providing powerful statistics; reciting inspirational quotes; and asking thought-provoking questions.

Vine is not the only game in town and depending on your video producing needs there are many other like-mobile video sharing apps that might be the right fit for you. Here’s a few others you may want to consider:

• Lightt – Ten single second bursts of pictures that are captured and get stitched together to tell one story. Content can be #hashtagged and set to public and private access. When playing back the final product it plays one seamless sequence. Currently it’s only compatible with Tumblr.
• Socialcam – Videos can be of any length and can be shared on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, email and SMS Text. Features also include tagging, security settings for public and private videos, ‘Like’ing videos, and adding comments.
• Viddy – With a maximum of 15 second videos Viddy is another video sharing application with many of the same features as Socialcam. The application also has real-time feeds.
• Thwapr – Having the longest capacity of any mobile video sharing application, the 30-minute maximum length certainly helps with not limiting the moments that you capture and can also be shared across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
• CineBeat (previously known as Strum) – 15 second videos that can be edited with more than 20 video and audio filters that can instantly turn your content into music videos.
• Ecograph – Vimeo recently launched its competing application Ecograph. More information on the application is not yet available but look for this application to compete directly with Vine.

If you are considering to add Vine or one of these other video sharing apps to your digital marketing and social media initiatives please note that for most of them i) the application has an age rating and restriction; and ii) most apps may only be available in the iOS environment.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.