Expert Video

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Philanthropy and service are being reimagined by a generation that wants to change the world but in their own way. DoSomething.org uses the power of online to help teens engage in the issues that matter to them offline.

I spoke to George Weiner from DoSomething.org and here is what he had to say about the whole new wave of philanthropy that will ultimately reshape or replace traditional organizations and events as this emerging generation increasingly finds its voice.

And George, a special shout out to you: 11. He knows what I mean.

 

 

 

Joe Waters runs Selfish Giving and helps non-profits and for-profits create win-win scenarios that raise much needed money for causes while helping businesses better position themselves as cariing entitites within their communities.

Want to know how to attract business to your cause or find the right cause to your business? Watch the video and then be sure to check out Selfish Giving.

 

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Doug Anweiler from Authentic Seacoast Resorts and resort marketing expert talks about the difference between authentic marketing and how to use Social Media to really engage your customers in the experience they can expect from you. He also reminds small business people to not pretend to be bigger than they are. People are looking for real and authentic experiences even in their business dealings, and it’s something smaller businesses can do much more readily than big companies.

 

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Jay Baer consults to big companies everywhere, helping them better understand social media and the online space. Jay believes that the human stories about the people you serve make for more compelling content than the standard old messages about you, you, you.

Jay is a public speaker and co-wrote the book The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter, and More Social with Amber Naslund.

In this video, Jay has some helpful advice on how to create content that will help you without wearing you out!

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Amber Naslund has some great advice about Social Media Engagement and how to use it to foster better relations with donors and clients. Amber blogs about social media engagement at Brass Tack Thinking and is the author of a wondeful book with Jay Baer (an interview coming up with him in the coming weeks too) called The Now Revolution.

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Chuck Hester is a long time PR consultant and a social media authority who believes that Linkedin is the best social networking sites for business out there. But there’s another reason I like Chuck. I like him because he’s a big believer in paying it forward, in other words, helping others who haven’t helped you. He is a public speaker and he  frequently speaks on the subject of paying it forward.

But back to Linkedin! In this two minute interview, Chuck talks about why Linkedin truly is one of the best social networking sites for business and he has a few tips to help you really make Linkedin work for you.  I have more than 10 additional tips for you in this follow up post. Enjoy!

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I caught up with Chris Baccus of AT&T who had some great advice about social public relations, including through customer relation management and content marketing through blogs, social media and even email.

Social public relations is a brave new world and Chris Baccus definitely knows which way it’s spinning. Many companies fail miserably when it comes to customer service via social media, appearing to be helpful when really all they do is push you back to a 1800 number you’ve already dealt with.

AT&T does it right.

Chris Baccus blogs on subjects that interest him. They help keep him interesting and well rounded. His other blogs include one on automotive marketing and another on food.

 

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I absolutely had to run Marla Schulman‘s interview this weekend because she is right in the middle of the Oscar action, taking pictures on the Red Carpet, and of course, this weekend is The Academy Awards. Marla is a TV host who knows her way around a video camera. She has some great video tips for beginners in this video.

But oh the irony…

This video has a couple of the technical challenges that we preach against right in the video to be sure and avoid like not great sound and kinda crummy picture quality. None of those are Marla’s fault, however. Like she points out, sometimes it just happens!

http://youtu.be/ZQNny7mfx0o

 

Making the news gets much easier if you remember to include video into the mix.

Why? Every news outlets needs content for their web, and news outlets love video:

  • All news organizations want to drive people to their websites as well and so many like additional or new content so that people have a reason to both watch and visit the website.
  • Websites with videos perform better than websites without video. People tend to stay longer on websites that have video and that’s important for any site trying to prove its worth to advertisers.
  • Video adds another layer to storytelling, and news people are, at their core, storytellers.

But making the news gets easier if you have thought through the video components for other reasons as well. TV and print rely on visuals. If you are not providing great video with your story (and even if you do, they will likely want to shoot some of their own anyway), you need to think it through from the perspective of how a camera will capture it.

That means:

  • Action – people doing interesting things filled with movement.
  • Locations – somewhere interesting, dynamic and logical to the story.
  • interviews – Interesting people who can offer insightful opinions on camera.

You can do something called a video news release. Essentially, you create a tv news piece as you would like it to be in a perfect world. In the US, some news stations will air them in part or in whole if they are very well done or they really need the content. In Canada, video news releases tend to be used more for background information and as a source for b-roll.

There are essentially two ways to get the word out on something:

  • From the top down – which means that you pitch a media outlet and, if you’ve done a good job, your key messages will come out in the story they tell.
  • From the bottom up – which means that your grass roots efforts reach a critical mass and media come to you.

Video is essential to both approaches for a variety of reasons:

  • People remember what they have seen more than they have simply read or only listened to. It’s one of the reasons that even if a television station has a smaller audience than a newspaper does, the television hit is often considered to be more valuable because a television appearance usually resonates more than a print story.
  • Video provokes a deeper response when it’s well done or thought provoking. We want to share that which has moved us and video is very shareable.
  • Once a movement hits a critical mass (a large number of signatures on a petition, for example or lot’s of people blogging or micro tweeting about it), the news will pick up on it. And video can be a very powerful force in creating a movement.
  • Video is something that more and more people are doing on their own as a way of expressing their own opinions and allegiances. People want to be involved with brands they love and organizations they care about. Given a chance, some of them will even create great content for you that may even help you in your making the news efforts. An unpaid supporter created these campaign videos for Openmedia.ca to help them in their grass roots efforts to fight a bill they felt was unjust.

Speaking of YouTube, it is the second largest search engine in the world and is also owned by Google. Ensuring that your videos are also keyworded properly both in the title and in the tags right in YouTube is very important.

When you upload your video to YouTube, you will need to choose a category (it might fit into “people,” “how to” or anyone of a number of other possible categories) and then you should add keywords. People search YouTube (did I mention it’s the second largest search engine in the world?) the same way they search Google. So if you’ve chosen keywords that people are looking for, you will come up in their returns.

You can watch this video with videotips for beginners featuring Marla Schulman for additional tips, but here are some additional shooting tips that will help you use video in your making the news with video efforts:

  1. Ironically, sound quality is more important than picture quality in video. People will put up with poor pictures but not poor audio.
  2. You probably have a better side. Look at the difference when I am shot from my left side versus when I am shot from my right side. These two videos were one day apart.
  3. Use natural light wherever possible.
  4. Keep a camera with you at all times. Pocket cameras like the Kodak Zi10, similar to what Marla Schulman is holding in this video with video tips for beginners. I rarely go anywhere without my Flip camera, and am so sad they have discontinued the model. And of course, you can always use your iPhone if you have one.
  5. If you’re interviewing someone, remember it’s about them. Make them look good, even if it means shooting you on your bad side so they can be on their good side (see point 2).
  6. Look for interesting angles when you’re shooting. Unless you’re doing a Skype video interview, it’s rare to put someone in the middle of the frame – usually if they’re alone, they’re off to one side or the other.
  7. To look at the camera or not?
  • The old rule used to be never. But that’s changed. If you’ve noticed in my interviews, I always look at the camera at various points of an interview, because I think of these interviews as a three way conversation between the interview subject, myself or whomever is doing the interviews, and you the person watching at home.
  • Increasingly even in television interviews, you will see those being interviewed look at the anchor and the camera. The same goes for hosts. While interviewing people, Dr. Oz looks at the camera as if to indicate this is a three way conversation.

Making the news gets harder with every passing moment. There is a lot of competition and an increasingly squeezed newsroom has very little time to entertain pitches that haven’t been thought out from all angles.

Invest the time thinking through video, both what you can gather and what news will need to be able to gather to make it particularly newsworthy. And if you have not yet started playing with video on your own, remember this: the best time to plan a tree is 20 years ago; the second best time is now.

Get planting.

 

 

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Marc Pitman, aka The Fundraising Coach and I got together to talk about funding for charities and common mistakes charities make in their relationships. What I love about Marc’s approach is the humanity he brings to his work – and that he asks of each of us to bring to ours too.

I can imagine that the $10 test Marc talks about in the video, where he and his colleagues each send 10 $10 donations to charities to see how they respond, has a few of you wondering how you could possibly put resources and time into responding to a donation of $10.

My mail is filled with solicitations for donations from organizations I’ve never given to. And never will. Someone who has bought from you or donated to you is 20x more likely to buy from you again. That’s a qualified lead – one that’s much better to have some kind of return than someone in some neighbourhood somewhere who’s front porch is filling up with junk mail from charities she will ignore ever more.

So figuring out how to thank all donors, no matter how small, is not only doing the polite thing; it may actually be pure self interest. Want to learn more from Marc or hire him to help your board, staff or volunteers learn how to ask without fear? Check out his site, The Fundraising Coach.

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