The power of story and video content

Every charity has a powerful story to tell. Your charity’s story and success stories are vital in the engagement and retention of donors and supporters. Your story and the stories of those you support are the greatest asset you have. With the rise in tablet and mobile video use strong video content is essential to lead and support your other content to tell your story effectively, powerfully, strengthen engagement and enable conversion.

Why should you be concerned now more than ever?

• According to a 2012 study by AOL and Nielsen, 27,000,000 pieces of content are shared every day
• 3 out of 4 UK internet users will view video content online by 2014
• UK mobile phone video viewer population is to climb 26% tin 2014
• Video viewing will account for 55% of all internet traffic by 2016
• By 2017, UK digital video viewers will account for more than three-fourths of internet users, or 61% of the UK population
• TV frequency alone does not specifically correlate to action conversion
• The combination of Television and Online Video drives higher action conversion
• The optimal frequency mix to drive conversion is 7-10x for both media.
• Those who were exposed to an ad online first are more likely to take action
• Increased digital frequency drives increased action conversion  (sources http://www.emarketer.com and www.videologygroup.com)

Simply put, videos are generally quicker and easier to digest than text-heavy content. Video also enables your content to stand out from the online clutter of text. Bombarding your website viewers with too much information will reduce engagement, whereas a good video supporting and supported by other content is concise, moving, and engaging. The data backs this theory up: ROI Research reports user interactivity with content that incorporates video at twice the rate of other forms of content. Video content marketing is all about creating a memorable visual representation of your charity. To work well, you need to learn how to use this storytelling medium to be a key part of your content strategy. Here are some key tips to ensure success in video content marketing as part of your other tactics. It is vital you….

Tell your story/ies creatively.

People’s stories are powerful and simply made sometimes they can be very effective indeed with the right approach. However, these key pieces of content have to be creatively engaging to keep the viewer’s interest and sometimes simplicity is not enough. Of course, your content has to fit with your brand identity and communicate what you do well. Sometimes, the identity of brand can suffocate the emotional engagement, or be too dry and dull to make it memorable and watch through to the call to action. Ask us how we would creatively approach telling your stories and produce your content with an effective strategy. Have a listen to TED’s radio programme on the power of narrative here.

Quality vs Quantity

Ensure the quality of production. Cheap or badly produced content will only lose the viewer’s interest and attention. Well-produced quality content, that is concise, useful, meaningful and powerful will spur the viewer to stay engaged and in the funnel.

Tell the stories of the people you impact.

Those looking at your website and Youtube channel want to know how your work has already had a meaningful difference to people. It’s not just enough to ask; you need to show how you have changed lives. This approach immediately gives your organisation a human face and helps viewers to engage in a personal, powerful and emotional way. Shout about and celebrate your success stories.

Take users on a journey – strategy

A journey is not just made or experienced through a single story; the story journey continues through website design and supporting content to feed in from across all channels. It is important to consider how the user’s experience of your story is supported by concise and easy to view content. Producing the right video content can all make the difference between someone losing attention, or someone going on to donate or volunteer. By taking the user on a clearly defined journey, revealing new information supported by concise, useful and memorable video content, providing information tailored to their interest at that point of the journey will grab their attention. Instagram and Vine also now play an important part in content strategy; ask us how you can use these channels effectively as part of your strategy.

Create educational content and mechanisms for collecting, storing and sharing stories –

We believe educational content, story telling and sharing is an essential part of retention. Donors often have family or friends who have been, or are, affected by the issues you tackle. Good content keeps them engaged, gives them hope, and keeps them connected by seeing how their support is changing lives.

Remember, 90% of people choose the charity they support because they have a personal interest in the issues. Often they are looking for advice, educational materials or support, so good engaging content is the first step in the donor funnel.

Why is video content now so important and how can you get it out there?

Take a look at our Video Content and Omni-channel for Charities page. For a simple video SEO guide drop us a line or send us a brief and ask us to pitch or produce your content.