Use video to motivate action

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I love YouTube, and while it may be the internet's largest repository of cat videos, it can also be a really powerful tool to connect with your audience and push them to take action. 

It's easy to spend days working out how to try to get your video to go "viral," but viral videos tend to have the same amount of impact as cat videos. Instead, I would suggest looking at ways to use your videos to get your supporters to take action. 

Here are a few key things to keep in mind while you are planning and launching your video:

• Treat your videos in the same way you would an email. Make sure you include both your theory of change and an ask.
• Use the title of the video the way you would the subject line in an email blast. It should be short, relevant and attention grabbing.
• Direct your audience. It's easy to get lost on YouTube. Just like your websites, you want to give your audience as few options to escape as possible. Using Annotations at the end of your video that link to a petition or donation landing page is a great way to make sure your audience goes where your want them to.
• Use the description bar in an intelligent way. Half of the time I end up watching YouTube videos on my phone and annotations don't work there. But when every video ends you are pushed to the video description bar. Post all of the links you use in your annotations in the description bar.
• Keep it relatively short. The most successful videos that push people to action are between one and three minutes long.

Have a tip or trick for leveraging online videos? Share in the comments!

Rory McCarron is a New Media BootCamp alumnus (2011), and an NOI community member

Image from budcaddell, via Creative Commons