Nonprofit Video Comparison
Filed under: Non-Profits, Social Marketing on Monday, January 28th, 2008 by Simon HeseltineWhich of the following environmental nonprofit videos do you like?
This one from the National Fish and Wildlife Fund?
Or this one from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation?
The first video is… boring. the imagery is great, but with the style of the voice over, it comes off like a corporate training video, it just doesn’t work. The second video does, it’s fun, and it has personality, lots of personality. Is this just my opinion? Look at the count of views for each; the NFWF video has had 43 views in the almost 2 months it’s been live, whereas the other video has had over 1,400 views in the same time period. 43 viewers in 2 months is poor, especially for a professionally produced video. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation video was most likely pushed out to their members, through both YouTube channel subscriptions and other marketing efforts, whereas the NFWF video doesn’t appear to have been marketed, or if it was, the conversion rate is not good.
A couple of other things to note about the NFWF video:
- at 6 minutes, it’s too long to keep viewer’s attention, especially with the voice.
- they don’t provide their URL in the video, so they will probably lose some potential conversions
I think the lesson for nonprofits, and for anyone else, is that you can’t just take your efforts from other channels and assume that they’ll work effectively in all channels. You need to look at what works in each of these channels and tailor your message accordingly. Still, not everything will work, just keep plugging away and refining your message, and eventually it will.
[...] Nonprofit Video Comparison [...]
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↓ Quote | Posted February 13, 2008, 11:37 amI think that the first video is more entertaining than the second one. The constant supply of images is what keeps me interested. The voice isn’t bad at all. As long as there is visual movement, the audio becomes a reenforcement to the video no matter who is narrating.
The second one is boring to me. Not to mention the poor video production put into it. The last thing I want to see is a bunch of talking heads.
That’s just my opinion.
↓ Quote | Posted February 13, 2008, 2:21 pmYes, so the second is more suited to the average youtube viewer, but then, are they targeted at the same people?
The first talks figures, uses buzzwords, and even has key phrases flashed up on the screen. It look slike something you’d submit to a corporate head, or a major donor who’s looking at giving a chunk of money to the charity, but is considering a host of others, so they’ve asked for a DVD to find out why to Partner with you. It has abusiness feel to it, and I’d hope that’s because the business it’s targetted at wants that.
The second is a thank you, an encouragement to ordinary donors. Something that may get more donors on board this year,(as supporters show friends) but will certainly help with retention.
So while we can take a lot from the style, we have to wonder why the first one is even on youtube? As well as getting the style that suits you, you have to get the content that suits your audience, and who knows, the first one might even have done that (and then been stuck on youtube to show it to staff / because it was there / for no reason whatsoever
↓ Quote | Posted February 13, 2008, 6:44 pm@MDH, that’s exactly my point. The first video is well put together, and looks like something that you’d see while waiting in line at the aquarium, which isn’t something that translates well to the YouTube audience.
@Jose, the second one may be boring to you, but the numbers show that it appeals a lot more than the first one to the YouTube audience, and f you want to get that viral buzz that’s what you have to do.
↓ Quote | Posted February 13, 2008, 6:55 pm