Missions to Movements
This isn't just another nonprofit podcast - it's your weekly invitation to think bigger, take bold risks, and create lasting change in an ever-evolving social impact landscape. Meet Dana Snyder, your guide through the evolving landscape of nonprofit innovation. She's on a mission to help change-makers like you push the boundaries of what's possible in nonprofit marketing and fundraising. Each week, Missions to Movements serves as your personal mastermind session, delivering actionable insights and bold strategies that challenge traditional nonprofit thinking. Dive into revolutionary approaches to digital fundraising, discover how to build magnetic monthly giving programs that create lasting donor relationships, and learn to amplify your voice as a thought leader in the social good space. Whether you're reimagining your organization's impact or forging game-changing partnerships, you'll find the ideas, insights, and inspiration to take your mission further than you've ever imagined. Ready to turn your mission into a movement?
Missions to Movements
The Power of Video: Boosting Your Nonprofit’s LinkedIn Presence
Did you know that LinkedIn video uploads have increased by 34% year over year?!
If your nonprofit isn’t leveraging video on LinkedIn, you’re missing out on a major opportunity to connect with potential donors and advocates. In this episode, I’m sharing a replay of a recent livestream I co-hosted about the power of LinkedIn video with Scott Rising, Senior Content Marketing Manager at LinkedIn.
We cover why it’s the FASTEST growing content format on the platform and how nonprofits can use it as a catalyst for building relationships. Of course, we get into the nitty gritty of optimal video length, formats, and scripting the most powerful hooks, too.
Learn the best video tools like Canva (which is free for nonprofits!) and how to repurpose blog posts, webinars, and newsletters into engaging video stories.
I’ll also explain why you don’t need a professional production team to create impactful LinkedIn videos. Sometimes, all it takes is your phone, a $20 microphone, and a smart content plan to generate over a million impressions!
P.S. Want to watch the replay live? Here is the LinkedIn Live video.
Resources & Links
Connect with Scott on LinkedIn.
Check out these recommended tools for making videos: Canva for Nonprofits, InShot, and CapCut.
If you're interested in incorporating text messaging with 99% open rates into your donor engagement strategy, join me and the team at Tatango for a FREE webinar on March 26th at 1:30pm ET.
This show is presented by LinkedIn for Nonprofits. We’re so grateful for their partnership. Explore their incredible suite of resources and discounts for nonprofit teams here.
Monthly Giving Awareness Week is May 12-16! Join me, RKD Group, and GivingTuesday for 5 days of FREE resources to help you launch and grow recurring gifts.
Are you still dreaming about building your monthly giving program or refreshing your current one? Applications are now open for my “done with you” Monthly Giving Mastermind. 4 spots are open and we start in July. Click here to apply.
My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab a copy here and learn my framework to build, grow, and sustain subscriptions for good.
Let's Connect!
We see across LinkedIn the power of video in building relationships, and video is the fastest growing format on LinkedIn right now, with uploads increasing 34% year over year, and if you're not already making videos, it's a great time to start. In fact, in a recent survey that we found that LinkedIn members are more likely than the average internet user to donate to nonprofit organizations, which is incredible and I think says something about the incredible community and audience that is on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:I'm Dana Snyder, your host of the Missions to Movements podcast, and my path to philanthropy has been anything but traditional. This show is your weekly mastermind, designed to give you the ideas, insights and support you need to push the boundaries of what's been done before in nonprofit marketing and fundraising. Whether you're looking to build a magnetic monthly giving program, elevate your personal brand or create partnerships that amplify your impact, this space is for you. I'll bring you solo episodes and conversations with industry leaders offering actionable strategies and fresh perspectives that will move you and your mission forward. Let's turn your mission into a movement.
Speaker 2:Hi, friend, you may have noticed that on LinkedIn, video has become pretty prominent, and there's lots of reasons for that One. It's a great way to tell your stories, it's how we love to consume and engage with content, and so, to dive into how exactly video is being consumed, utilized specifically for nonprofits, just last week I was invited by LinkedIn for Nonprofits to do a LinkedIn Live with Scott Rising. He is the Senior Content Marketing Manager at LinkedIn, and I was so honored and I wanted to share this conversation with you. So there is a link in the show notes to the actual LinkedIn Live that has all the visuals that go along with it some of the video examples that we discussed, but this is your audio only version on the show repurposed. So this was making the most of video for your nonprofit a LinkedIn Live presented by LinkedIn for nonprofits.
Speaker 1:Hope you enjoy Hi everyone, welcome to making the most of video for your nonprofit. I'm Scott Rising, senior Content Marketing Manager at LinkedIn, and I am thrilled to be here with Dana Snyder, author of the Monthly Giving Mastermind and host of Missions to Movements podcast. Hi Dana, how are you doing?
Speaker 2:Hey Scott, thanks for having me. Super excited to be here with everybody. The chat is already on fire, so we are getting started for an amazing session, so thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um. Well, everyone watching. I've loved. I'm already seeing people dropping in nonprofits that they work for where they're coming from. I see the children's law center in DC. I see people from Nigeria Um, it's always really exciting. Make a wish an incredible organization. Make a wish Illinois Um. So I think it's an awesome opportunity for all of you to network with the people that are watching. But, dana, I would love if you could just give everyone a little bit of an intro about what you do and why you're here today.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. My name is Dana Snyder. Thank you for the brief intro earlier. My jam is to really equip nonprofits with the knowledge and the tools to build sustainable monthly giving programs all over the world to really help us cultivate audiences of philanthropists where everybody can feel like a philanthropist and give back and really create this charitable living. And I love, love LinkedIn. So I'm a big fan of you and everything that the LinkedIn for Nonprofits team is doing, and so I have a LinkedIn actually episode on my podcast that I want to share with everybody. But I'm here because I've really been testing video myself on the platform and so I'm happy to share a little bit of behind the scenes of what I've seen work really well and with some amazing organizations. I know we're going to review some examples with everybody in just a little bit too.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Well, you know thanks everyone for joining in what we're going to do today. We're going to walk you through how to create video content for LinkedIn that helps get your organization noticed. You know, we're going to provide a bit of context about why video is so important and give you tips, best practices. Of course, some examples are really excited to share with you, and we also want to hear your questions. I think this is, you know, there's a reason that we wanted to speak specifically to nonprofit professionals. The needs of nonprofits are different than other creators and brands, so definitely would love to hear what you want to get out of this session today and also share some exciting new resources that dive deeper into the video topics that we're discussing.
Speaker 1:So, first off, we do have a new LinkedIn for nonprofits resource hub that has a page all about video.
Speaker 1:Bookmark it.
Speaker 1:Use it as your guide as you create videos on LinkedIn and I think, no matter what size of nonprofit that you work for or volunteer with videos can be a really effective way to reach, engage and persuade your audience and really build a relationship, so that when you do need to come with some of the asks you may have whether that's for financial or for volunteers that you've built a. You already have an established relationship and we see across LinkedIn the power of video in building relationships, and video is the fastest growing format on LinkedIn right now, with uploads increasing 34% year over year, and if you're not already making videos, it's a great time to start. In fact, in a recent survey that we found that LinkedIn members are more likely than the average internet user to donate to nonprofit organizations, which is incredible and I think, says something about the incredible community and audience that is on LinkedIn. And 72% of LinkedIn members say that they post about nonprofits that they care about on social media and 67% of surveyed global nonprofit professionals agree that LinkedIn is a valuable tool for fundraising.
Speaker 2:Oh, this is so good, scott. So I want to chime in here real quick because I'm a perfect example of this. So two years ago, on International Women's Day, gloria Umana is the founder of an organization called the Hope Booth and I happened to be looking on International Women's Day for an organization to join as a new monthly donor in my community I live in Atlanta and she posted something about the Hope Booth as a founder on LinkedIn. It was the perfect time. I was on LinkedIn. I was looking for a new nonprofit to support, found her post. It was super inspiring, clicked through and now, two years later, I'm still a member of the movement, their monthly giving program, and just hosted a fundraiser at my house as like a birthday party on last Friday. So literally what he's saying are not just stats on the screen, it's reality. So point person right here, as this is true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's such a great example. Thank you for sharing it, Because I think that there is. You're not only building relationships between your nonprofit and potential donors, potential staff, potential staff, potential volunteers, but you're also on like more of an individual basis too, like as a person, like you're building a brand as a nonprofit professional. It's really valuable for you to, you know, have these one-on-one to one relationships that you can build using video, using LinkedIn, and also like that one-to-many and what happens in the kind of magic that happens in the comment section.
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely. I mean I think video creates this unique ability for connection and community and trust and relatability. That can't always happen, maybe sometimes, with text. I mean, in the comment section, I'd love to know when's the last time you watched a video and you really felt moved by something. And so I think it gives people this opportunity, especially if your organization is maybe doing work internationally and that can be really hard for somebody to relate to here in the States, and it lets us get like an inside peek of like oh my goodness, I had no idea it was like this or it looked like this, or it really allows people to feel a closer touch to it. So I think it really provides a connection point that moves someone to take action quicker than maybe a photo or just copy could do.
Speaker 1:It's such a powerful way of sharing the impact that your organization is having, potentially the people that you're supporting or helping, and so just the storytelling ability that's unlocked through video is something that we're really starting to see take off on the platform compared to other formats, and you know, if a picture, if a picture, is a thousand words, like what is a video, it's really, it's super compelling. And I do want to shout out some more people in the chat I see we have someone from Rwanda, which is amazing country. Zambia, multiple people from Zambia, nigeria, a lot of Nigeria, tanzania Shout out to Africa for having such incredible representation on the chat today. But, yeah, keep the questions coming and we'll definitely get to them a little bit later in the conversation. And so you know, really, that relatability, the inside peak, bringing stories to life Nonprofits have some of the best stories around and that's what video can do. I think, dana, I think you have an example that you wanted to highlight for us today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think another good video case study, outside of just storytelling by your organization, is you are a subject matter expert in the cause area that you focus on, and LinkedIn is a really great educational platform as well. So I have an example of a video that will play in just a second. But earlier this year I wrote my five predictions for nonprofit marketing, and the video I'm about to play just to tell you how it was produced first and then you can watch it. It was recorded on my iPhone. I bought this little mic kit on Amazon. I'm sure you've seen these little doodads where you plug this part into the bottom of your phone and then you hold the tiny microphone so that it gives you a better quality. It's $20. And the phone was leaning against my computer. For this, I didn't even have a tripod, and what you'll see on the video is my notes app on my phone. I had bulleted the five predictions that I had and I used, like the green screen functionality that you see on Instagram, where, like, the notes are behind me, and then it was just me on camera as I spoke. So I was sharing a condensed version of what was a podcast episode about my five predictions, and this video. You never know what's going to resonate with people. 1.2 million impressions from this video, and so I'll go ahead and let the team queue it up and we can talk about it a little bit afterwards.
Speaker 2:Let's talk 2025 nonprofit marketing and fundraising predictions, shall we? I share a full context for all of these in my podcast that got released on Christmas day. However, I want to dive into the five. One AI game changer for nonprofits. I think we're getting way more comfortable, but how can we get really creative and innovative on how we use AI to streamline our processes, reduce silos in our teams and help create really customized donor experiences?
Speaker 2:Number two the rise of impact creators and employee advocacy. Impact creators these are people on social that we are giving our money to through Venmo or PayPal to donate on our behalf, and employee advocacy is about your employees becoming your influencers, becoming your content creators. Do you have a strategy for that? Are you thinking about it? Number three social selling and social giving 2.0. Gone are the days of the Facebook donate button. I think it's going into completely different realm with how people are purchasing products on social. Number four evolution of recurring giving programs. You know I am big on this. I think, more so than just recurring. First, it's building these sustainer based teams to support these growing communities and lastly, virtual in-person niche events getting really, really, really tight into what your event's going to be about and curating a very impactful in-person or virtual experience.
Speaker 2:All right video has played. Let us know, Scott, what do you think?
Speaker 1:No, it's great and I think what people might. I'll just point out some things that might surprise people just looking at that video, because they may have some preconceived notions about LinkedIn, about LinkedIn video. You'll notice that it's a vertical video and we'll get into specs in a little bit. It's also super just, real and authentic. I think there has been historically a perception that LinkedIn videos were like hero brand spots and super slick, highly produced, and we're seeing that the content, the videos that resonate, do tend to look the way that your video looks. It looks like it's real, it's recorded on a phone and I think so. People may think, oh, I don't have a production team, I don't have, I don't have the tools to create video. Video creation is expensive. It has been historically. However, if you have a phone these days, you do have a very powerful video production tool in your pocket. Um, anything else you want to share about that video?
Speaker 2:I mean, I just think that it was. I focused on something that I had done research on, and so, for you organization, I would say what are the things that you've already wrote a blog post about? What have you already spoken about in a presentation? What have you already done webinars on? What are you sharing in your email newsletters? These aren't it's repackaging something that you already know so well that you can talk about. So I think sometimes we get stuck in content mode of like what exactly would I say? You've probably already said it in other platforms and it's just bringing it into, kind of like Scott, what you were saying, recording it on a phone. This was, I think it was 75 seconds roughly, so around a minute a little bit longer. But yeah, the most expensive part of it was buying the iPhone, which most of us have. You already have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. I think that's actually such an incredible. As a content social person, I do tell people all the time to think about how you can take one piece of content and turn it into five. Is there a text post that you can turn into a static asset? Can you make the static asset into a script for a video?
Speaker 1:Different people like to consume content differently. Different channels reward content differently, so think video is a really you know just another way you can extend some of the existing content that you maybe are already making. So no need to think like you have to completely start from scratch because you are probably already have the papers, research there. I'm sure all of your nonprofits have existing resources that you can mine for incredible content. Well, I often get kind of asked about like what works on LinkedIn. People ask me that all the time, and I wanted to share some of the five types of videos that are just kind of content that we see really be successful on LinkedIn, and one it's really, you know, career tips and work lessons really, really resonate and I think, especially with nonprofits, it's such a passion point.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of people that want to know, like, how do I, where do I start? How do I get into this industry? Industry, like news and trends, is a huge. We have a whole division. You know LinkedIn news People. The amazing thing about our platform is it's such a great place to consume news that is specific to your industry and you can supply that through your content.
Speaker 1:As nonprofit professionals, you know also sharing your own professional news and announcements. I think that's really an important part of developing and building a brand. Behind the scenes content of your office or event. You'd be surprised at how curious people are to know how the sausage is made, to see how your organization functions and to put a face to your organization, to your brand. Who are the people that make up these organizations? How did they get here? What makes them so passionate about that cause? Because there's one thing that nonprofits have in my my experience that over any other type of industry, is passion like they are just so incredibly dedicated and devoted to their cause and that's super compelling for any content that you're making um and yeah and any news that you may have as as organization. I think that is super valid and making sure people know what's going on and keeping the communication going between you and your community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one kind of tip I would share, so as an example of this, taking us behind the scenes.
Speaker 2:So just recently I produced and hosted the monthly giving summit and it was a virtual. So I was doing it right here in my home office and I just had a phone set up right to the corner on a tripod filming me as I was talking. I showed that I was wearing my slippers even though I had a blazer on top, like giving people sneak behind the scenes. I took my daughter to work that day so it was like a funny video of like getting ready throughout the day and then what it was like actually behind the scenes producing the multiple screens, having different documents up, having the Slack channel. So it's the ordinary things, but it just humanizes everything that you're doing. So if you have a golf tournament, if you have a gala, if you are having a board meeting, think you're. Think about like anything that you're doing that you can just be like, oh, let's document it, save it in like a shared folder drive and you never know when you can utilize those pieces as B-roll or quick pieces of content to put copy over or something.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and we could pull up those examples again. I think your mileage will vary depending on your organization, Like some of these content types whether it's career tips and work lessons that may make more sense. If your organization's focused on workforce development, then you can actually think about video as a way to extend your mission and extend the programming that you're doing as an organization and reach people potentially that you're not currently reaching. And if you're in the healthcare space, maybe the industry news is super important to keep people up to date on research or anything else that's happening. So I think thinking about these types of top performing content and then picking and choosing, modifying what works for both you as a nonprofit and then what works for you as an individual, as a nonprofit professional who wants to create video content for LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to pull in. There's a comment that came in from Bailey Bailey, we see you about struggling a way to produce video content when you necessarily can't show any faces. To produce video content when you necessarily can't show any faces and I know this may be very common for many organizations where you're really sensitive to the nature of what your cause does. One thought for me and then Scott and me I'll toss it to you is you can do some really clever text-only videos that can be really impactful.
Speaker 2:Canva is a free tool for nonprofits to be able to utilize. Can do some really clever editing and motion with text. You can also film like if there's. I have an organization I'm working with right now actually that does community mindfulness, and so they don't like to show faces either, but we can show hands, like coming together in a circle or that they're gathering with the chairs, or if they're outside doing something, it's showcasing the outside with maybe backs of people but not their faces. So there's lots of different ways you can get creative. Scott, any thoughts for organizations that might be struggling with that?
Speaker 1:I love that question because it comes up a lot and I think nonprofits, organizations are hesitant to show people's faces for a variety of reasons and obviously if you can't show the faces of the people that you serve, that makes complete sense.
Speaker 1:And I would also say this is such an important topic Do not put anybody, do not feature anybody on your social media and your content that has not given you express permission. So I'm going to throw that out there, some ideas I would have. I think what can be really powerful is stitching together different short clips, maybe from the work that you're doing that's relevant, and then doing a voiceover to voiceover what some of the visuals people might be seeing and then, you know, adding some text, adding some other types of overlays, any kind of visual treatments to the video. That can be another great way to avoid showing people's faces. I think if your organization's uncomfortable with showing, for example, your face as a nonprofit professional, it's worth having conversation. You can maybe send them this video if you want this event but about how powerful it is to be able to let your employees empower them to be ambassadors for your organization and to keep these dialogue that is so valuable happening with your community.
Speaker 2:That's huge. I honestly think and this is actually in the video that we just shared around employees being your content creators, whether it's video through text-only content on LinkedIn, no matter what level you might be, if you're just starting your career, if you're an ED, if you're a founder, it doesn't matter. The messy middle people want to see and hear. There's a really great video actually from an organization I just saw this morning that their founder was talking about what's going on with everything that was happening with federal grants, and so they were explaining to their constituents what was happening for them and directing them to a landing page with more information. So I think to your point. Yes, I would definitely talk about who are the stakeholders that feel comfortable, that want to be on, but also to just encourage people to share their own unique personal stories about why the mission matters to them, to amplify the work that you're doing on a platform like LinkedIn.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I think one thing that can serve as a proof of concept if you're trying to get buy-in from your nonprofit to allow you to be on camera for LinkedIn or any other platform, is to start creating videos yourself and posting them on your own personal LinkedIn or other channels as long as you have you know you're not violating any permissions or issues with your your work, is comfortable with it Just to show like what it could be like, what it could look like Super, super powerful. Well, I think I want to. We're going to get into a little bit of like tips that, honestly, are valid not just for nonprofits, but just kind of in general for anybody thinking about creating videos for LinkedIn. And so once you kind of land on what the topic you want to do and you're thinking about how do you script it, what do you need to pull that together, and so an outline is super helpful. Some people like it more highly scripted. Some people just want to know. They just want something that prompts them so they can speak more off the cuff.
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, it can. It can read as, not as authentic if you're clearly reading off of a script, but the most important thing to reiterate around videos in terms of scripting is how important that intro is. That is what's going to make people stick around. What is going to stop them in their feed to actually watch your video? And so think about that first three seconds. What are you saying in there? What's your hook?
Speaker 1:And I think you can find different kinds of hooks online. But one thing you think about is you can do a listicle Like here are three ways. You can start by saying something kind of provocative or surprising or unexpected, and people go huh and they want to hear more. Unexpected and people go huh and they want to hear more.
Speaker 1:And so I think that sometimes people forget how that anybody who's watching your content online is opting in and you have to get that buy-in from them. They're not. It's not like you know when, maybe, when you're sitting in a movie theater and they have commercials playing for the movie theater and you are a captive audience, this is the exact opposite of a captive audience. They may be watching you on one screen, someone else on another screen and talking to someone else in their face. So what is going to really hook them and make them, if not in that moment, watch it, maybe even revisit it later. I also think sometimes people worry about how much context they're setting up, but I would not be afraid to just sort of like dive into the story so you can kind of get to the meat of it earlier. And I think we have a really great example I want to share from an awesome nonprofit called Brown Bagging for Calgary's Kids. So let's check it out.
Speaker 6:What if a simple drive could ensure kids have the food they need for the day? So let's check it out of schools, drop them off, and it's really a good feeling to know that some kids otherwise may not have these lunches if it wasn't for this wonderful program, and I'm very proud to be a part of it.
Speaker 5:Sign up today to become a BB4CK delivery driver and support Calgary's kids.
Speaker 1:I love this. That's such an amazing video. It hits a lot of great points. A super strong intro makes you want to know more. You're showing the people that make this incredible work happen. It's dynamic.
Speaker 1:I think that's what's really great about having a stitching together a bunch of short clips is that keeps it visually interesting, versus sometimes just having a single static shot of a person speaking to a screen and we'll drop a link to that video in the chat. You should follow them, maybe even send them some money. But I love that example and I think they even had a CTA at the end, so like a call to action for anybody not in the marketing world. So like extra gold star for route mapping for Calgary's kids. So like extra gold star for route mapping for Calgary's kids.
Speaker 1:And once you've kind of got the intro down, as important, as I said, the middle portion of the video should really be kind of short and to the point, and we're seeing 30 to 90 seconds as the sweet spot in terms of video length and, believe me, that goes by really quickly. So just just think about that and think about if it's running long, what can you do to edit it. I think sometimes people are afraid of, of chopping things up, like it'll look a certain way, but actually, if it keeps the the flow and the the content coming, um, I think that really helps. And just remember that if you can't get everything in one video, make another video and then you've got more content.
Speaker 2:Yes, a great example of that is a series. So if you have a signature, let's just say Brown Bagging is a great organization. As an example is, there's multiple facets to what they do. It's not just the drivers which we saw this sample of, but maybe there's a series of like what's the whole experience, like here's how we get the food, here's how it's packaged, here's the delivery, here's the after, when they're eating, like the whole process, and so you could do a signature series of three, four videos for your cause. So that's a great way to break it down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really great advice, and I think one way to just consider how you can get started is to just open up the app and do a little research. Scroll some of the videos, take notes. What kept you watching? If you kept watching a video, what made you keep scrolling? If you kept scrolling and you get to the end of the video, like why did you finish it? And really think, like, was it the topic, was it the location?
Speaker 1:I think something that's always amazing about some of the content I see on LinkedIn and other places is that sometimes I find myself watching a video about something I never would have expected to have been interested in in the first place, and so then you do have to ask yourself, well, what got me to stick around and watch this and how can I use that as inspiration for any video that I might be making? And when you have, once you get all that scripting out of the way you know, here are I want to share some tips on filming. This definitely is broadly applicable. No matter what kind of video content you're making. I think location is super important lighting, figuring out where you're going to record, and my colleague, casey Bitzberger on LinkedIn editorial, actually just had a really informative video about this, so we will drop it in the chat. And I always prefer natural light. Sadly, today I was not able to secure natural light, if not, ring lights can be really great too. They're pretty inexpensive these days, but they can be really effective in terms of how you are lit Next up.
Speaker 1:Sound, so think about sound. So think about sound. So you're sharing great insights. You want people to be able to hear them without turning the volume way, way up, and I would be really careful with some of the headphones that we all love and use.
Speaker 1:Sometimes those microphones, if they're Bluetooth, are not going to be giving you the best possible sound. So headphones, a tiny mic, absolutely do not forget to test it out. I have been fooled by this before with some microphones, only to discover that it was never recording. So just testing, testing. And you definitely just don't want to be in a position where there's you have recorded a whole video and you can't hear anything.
Speaker 1:And I think, like you know, we're giving all these tips on how to make it optimal, but do not let that, do not let perfect to be the enemy of good and do not hype yourself up so much that you then just don't end up making anything, and what really is important is that you're building a relationship, you're being authentic to your nonprofit and to your values, up making anything, and what really is important is that you're building a relationship, you're being authentic to your nonprofit and to your values. So, like, don't let this, do not overthink it, I would say, and just from stopping you from sharing a video and we do have another example from a nonprofit who filmed a video in a very noisy place and did kind of a great job of mixing that sound in, and this is by City Harvest.
Speaker 4:Today is my favorite food rescue of the year. We are here in the wake of the New York Produce Show at the Javits Center in Manhattan and we've got just around 50 volunteers doing an incredible job, taking all of the food left at the end of the show and packing it in these cardboard bins to be sent out to food pantries across the city. So we've seen some amazing stuff come through a whole pallet of berries, strawberries, blueberries, potatoes, watermelons, just sort of the whole gamut of fruits and vegetables and it's really exciting to send some of the best produce in our state out to our food pantries and our neighbors in need.
Speaker 1:And that's such a great example and, similarly to our last video, I think, just very visually dynamic. That was the Javits Center in New York City. Here in New York City, very busy place, sound reverberating off the walls. So just thinking about okay, if I can shoot somewhere that's noisy, can I get somewhere else to do voiceover? Big fan of recording a separate voiceover. Anything you want to add on that, Dana.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think the other part of the video which I really like is their branding. So if you notice, in watching this video their captions were the same green as their brand. So throughout the whole video they were very on point in their branding and I was even thinking about it as I was watching it. You could almost create this script ahead of time if you know what's going to be happening, to make sure you collect the right footage that you want in advance to be able to put it together afterwards. Or the flip way is oh, we gathered all this content. Let me now stand here into a voiceover with the content that I know that I have. So when she was talking about watermelons, you could see a watermelon was being lifted up.
Speaker 1:So you can really kind of prep these things, especially for certain events where you know you're going to be getting a lot of content and coverage 100% and I thought the brand was actually integrated in really subtle but effective ways because just the signage and the different bagging and different materials in there. So that's a really great point that I appreciate that you shared.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I think also in an event like this. So this brings me back to I used to work on American Idol as a digital producer, and so we used to have to think about. I don't know if you knew that, scott.
Speaker 1:No, I know that I love that part of your lore, yeah.
Speaker 2:So we have to always think about what are we filming live, while we are like especially for prerecorded part of the show and not the live part. What are we recording and sharing live, and then what's all the footage we're just collecting to share later? So sometimes, if you're like starving for content, utilize one event and capture so many different things testimonials from donors that are there behind the scenes of the event so think about what can we share live and then what can we bank to like, hold onto and share later. That could be really impactful.
Speaker 1:Yes, huge fan of banking your production, recording all as much content as you can in one go so that then you can chop that up into multiple pieces of content later. So you're not always sitting at your desk being like, what should I make a video about today Because you've done the work, of sort of. It's like meal prep. Honestly, it's like you're putting together something so that you don't have to think about it later in the week. So, yeah, meal prep, bank your content. So, finally, I'm like setting up for your success.
Speaker 1:You don't want to choose a format. One of the things I mentioned before that really surprises people at LinkedIn is vertical video. More most people are on LinkedIn on their phones. Video video should be in a vertical format. If it's not, that's not the end of the world, of course. I think 4x5 or 1x1 is a backup, but I think 9x16 is preferred.
Speaker 1:And just think about you know. Is it a selfie video? Are you filming yourself? Where are you going to put it? Are you propping it up? Are you using a stand? Are you using one of those OctoBuddies where you can slap the camera onto a piece of glass and record a video?
Speaker 1:Finally, do a little practice run optional, but I find that really helps make me feel a little bit confident and ready for what I'm about to say. So, just to recap, you want to think about lighting, sound, your format, and then just do a little practice run and then, once you've recorded your video and you feel good about it, let's talk about editing, which maybe sounds boring to other people, but I love it. I don't love doing it, but I love talking about it. You don't necessarily. There are a lot of really great tools out there, including InShot, CapCut Captions. Canva is another great one, and Canva is actually free for nonprofits. If you didn't know that Super incredible tool that you can use to create content, I would say do feel empowered to trim your videos down. Add a little bit of graphics. Um. Adding music can be really great as well. Just be really mindful about not overpowering with the music, because that can be really um. You know, commercial.
Speaker 1:Commercial music doesn't always have the most, uh, amazing sound, but you, they want to hear you like. That's the point of the video is to hear you and your wisdom. So don't be competing with any of the music. And finally, don't use any content created by people without their permission. I think this is a really it's been a kind of a gray area with celebrities and different content, but it's really important that when you're using someone's likeness or image, that they have approved it. And finally, do not crop your video, because it does reduce the quality and can cause some problems when you're uploading to the platform.
Speaker 1:And finally, just a little quick note on sort of like captions and copy. I would say don't be afraid to write a fair amount of copy on your post to help kind of complement your video and tell a richer story as well. And I think it helps the platform kind of understand your video a little better when you have text and you have captions. And it also helps if someone's just scrolling through LinkedIn and they don't, actually they can't watch your video, but they can click through and expand and see what you have to say. So don't be afraid to share a long caption that works even if they don't read it or if they do. And then captions super important. Linkedin does have auto captions, so that's absolutely an option for you, but also these tools have.
Speaker 1:Third, there's third party captioning tools. That can be great because sometimes those also can be a little bit more dynamic. You can emphasize specific words, you can have the words be bigger, smaller, underline different colors, and that can help you get your point across more dynamically. And I would just say, like, make sure that your captions are not in the bottom third of the video, because that can sometimes make that it harder to read. We call these like safe zones, so making sure that your content is within the safe zones of the video. And once you've had you know captions, copy, then you hit post, and so I want to share a quick video that brings kind of all these tips we share to life. This is from the LinkedIn for Nonprofits page, which features insights from the Climb Higher CEO, sorby Grant.
Speaker 3:I predict more nonprofits will embrace skilled-based hiring because the data shows it's by far the most effective hiring practice. Nonprofits will embrace the practices we always talk about at ClimbHire. They'll do this because the research shows that skills-based hiring predicts job performance two times better than work experience and five times better than education. They'll make skill-based hires and see that these folks stay 9% longer than traditional hires. We'll see a nonprofit space that is more efficient, more diverse and more innovative, and we'll see a cohort of new hires who bring the skills and the staying power.
Speaker 1:So I really love what that video does. It's so simple, it's clear, has captions and then once you post it, it's like what next? And I think it's important that you respond to the comments that you're seeing from people to really make sure you're building that relationship. This is not a one-way street. This is a back and forth and a dialog. See what's working and I think that's what's.
Speaker 1:One of the biggest challenges is these last two parts is to see what's resonating. You have to have a baseline of video content to actually know what works, and so don't get disheartened if the first one doesn't track the way that you wanted to. But that consistency, as you'll hear a lot of professional creators talk about, is so important with any kind of video content that you're making. And just because someone didn't comment or engage it does not mean they didn't find value out of the video.
Speaker 1:Videos is a pretty passive activity. They're kind of scrolling, they're commuting, they're doing all kinds of things while they watch. So don't feel like, because they didn't engage, that they didn't have any kind of impact. And finally, don't compare and despair. Don't look at other organizations and see their videos performing better or not. You have to start somewhere and just really taking note of that as you kind of get started on posting videos. And to tie everything together, I want to share one more example from the Nature Conservancy, and I think this is a great example of a nonprofit video done right from an awesome organization. Let's take a look.
Speaker 5:What's your go-to trick for cutting down waste? We'll go first. Learn to compost. It helps keep organic matter out of the landfill. Keep a few extra containers in your backseat Next time you go out for dinner. You'll already have a box for your leftovers.
Speaker 4:Support your local farmers market and try to grow products that use less FJ.
Speaker 5:Instead of buying new books, get a library card and visit your local library. Ditch the single-use plastic. I take this bottle with me everywhere I go.
Speaker 4:When possible, shop at refill stores or buy in bulk to reduce packaging.
Speaker 5:Remember, even small steps can help contribute to a more environmentally friendly future Like and follow to learn more ways to reduce waste and share your ideas in the comments.
Speaker 1:Well, I love that video and thank you to the Nature Conservancy for team for sharing it with us. I know there's a lot of information delivered fairly quickly. Well, I love that video and thank you to the Nature Conservancy team for sharing it with us. I know there's a lot of information delivered fairly quickly. Don't worry if you didn't catch every word. This is recorded and available replayable after the conversation. And definitely make sure to go to our non-profits resource hub. There's an amazing LinkedIn learning course as well to go even deeper into video creation. But, Dana, I would love your reflections and some of just video best practices that you really think about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that last video was a really good example of it's sharing information that comes so second nature to maybe your organization and what you intrinsically do every day but might not be aware to everyone else, and so you all have knowledge. Again, I go back to like a subject matter expert of what are the ways that you can encourage others Like. One example I'm just thinking of one of my monthly giving mastermind clients right now is a food organization in Sanford, florida, and I was reading one of their blogs recently which was all about putting together these kindness kits to give to homeless people that they might see, and I could easily see that blog post created into video form, like packaging it. Why do we put this in there? Why do we put this in there? How do you engage and hand it out? How do you make sure you do this in a safe manner, like I could absolutely see that in video form. So my recommendation is these are amazing tips that in video form. So my recommendation is these are amazing tips.
Speaker 2:Look through blogs, look through newsletters, think about your recent webinars, think about your events and just start to like do a what if?
Speaker 2:Brainstorm, dump on what could be sample videos that you could start to test Ones that have people's faces, ones that don't, and just start to. Hopefully that gets you excited about the possibility and the opportunity to, like you just said, you just have to start and have a baseline to see what's going to work best, and you might be surprised. So I think it's just get started and have fun with it. Let this be like you just said sometimes, if somebody doesn't comment, don't take it too personally. There's a whole bunch of lurkers on social media, but that doesn't mean they're not viewing it, and so you'll even notice in the video that I shared earlier 1.8 million impressions there weren't a million people commenting on it. However, they saw it and so hopefully it's thought of when they're thinking about certain strategies for marketing this year. So have fun. I hope this inspires some brainstorming, and I know there's a few extra tips we're going to share, and we'd love to get in the chat with some of your specific questions too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and I see one from Sherry. Just, I think it'd be great to give a little bit. What is the basic equipment for an inexpensive video studio? I think you look as you speak into your microphone. You seem very qualified to answer this question. I mean for a?
Speaker 2:video. I would literally say Sherry, your phone. This is an example of a portable ring light, so I don't even know if this was $10. So it's like three different levels. If you can see it getting brighter, it clips right onto your phone on the top. But oftentimes I like I have a window to my right and I like using Scott, like you said natural light. And then I have my tiny mic here which, if I'm going to be in a noisy place, or even if I'm just here, but I want my phone to maybe be a little bit further away from me I'm not super up close to it this tiny mic captures better quality audio. So I would say this is a $25 setup to get started. And then you mentioned a bunch of great editing tools and a lot of them are free and you can do on your phone or you can do them on your computer and that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are all really easy and I do find myself sometimes, even when I have some of those tools, I'm using very DIY things. I'm propping a phone on a windowsill because it has the best lighting, or other kinds of quick and easy ways. I think it can be very easy to get in our own way and we're like, oh, I don't have the mic today or I don't have all my equipment, and just figuring out. Don't let that stop you every time. And another question we have I see we have questions about how to get more visibility on from Nicole any tips for getting more eyes on videos shared to a company page? Nicole, any tips for getting more eyes on videos shared to a company page? I think that's a really great question. I think so.
Speaker 1:I manage LinkedIn's LinkedIn LinkedIn's company page and I will say that getting more eyes on that video content a lot of that comes from having a good content mix generally and posting a lot of different content. It's engaging your employees. Having them engage with your content can be really valuable for getting more eyeballs on it. The consistency really helps and really thinking about what your audience on LinkedIn wants to hear from you and as you start to get more eyeballs and more clicks and views, tailoring your content accordingly. Anything you wanted to add to that, dana.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I think that's right. I think it honestly is just it's testing and trying and seeing what's going to work best. I also love go to some of the organizations that we shared today as examples, to their pages, because they're sharing more than just that one video that we shared with you. I love getting inspiration, Even if you want to maybe search for organizations within your cause area and you can see what might be performing best for them or see what's working, and I definitely recommend posting videos on the page but then having your employees help share those to increase some reach and visibility as well.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a good segue into this question from Abby about how would you suggest encouraging staff and volunteers to get involved and to be on camera. People's intro content is something I'm passionate about, but it's definitely not easy to get buy-in Thoughts on that, Dana.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I would say, if you can, the point is to amplify the mission and I'm sure they want your organization to grow and so if you're like we really want to give people a sneak behind the scenes of the incredible work that you do, would you be able to be highlighted?
Speaker 2:Can we showcase and I think it's the words that sometimes that you use We'd love to highlight and showcase what an amazing job that you're doing, especially for volunteers and staff. In the same way People give to people, right, we want to see ourselves reflected in other organizations and that's really how we feel meaningful connection, where we can just hear from somebody else and resonate with what they're doing. So I would say to encourage volunteers is to share it in a way. Where can we highlight you? We want to amplify the work that we're doing. This is a great way for people to see that and for staff. Every staff member might not want to be on camera, but maybe there's a couple who would love to do that and give them the opportunity to shine in that way and just see how everybody wants to use their unique gifts for the work that you're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely, and it could be a great development opportunity if someone's looking to stretch themselves and what they do, especially if they're in kind of a marketing or comms capacity. And one last question I wanted to answer because I feel really strongly about this one from Carol. I'm afraid to make a video and be too similar to the other social media. Shouldn't LinkedIn language be different?
Speaker 1:I think that this is in many ways a misconception about LinkedIn. I think people have this idea that it's got to be more professional, more buttoned up. It's got to be more professional in that you're not going to put any some of the less appropriate things, but that's not relevant to a nonprofit, because anything you're doing is professional. Appropriate things, but that's not relevant to a nonprofit, because anything you're doing is professional. So I would just think about how, if you know your audience on LinkedIn and if you need to tailor your content from other channels to LinkedIn, you can do a lot of that just through the caption copy.
Speaker 1:But I think largely people have this idea in their head that, oh, this won't be a good fit for LinkedIn, but you're never going to know that if you don't try so you may have a goofy video you post on TikTok or Instagram and you think, well, that's not really LinkedIn appropriate. Well, maybe let your audience decide that and see what takes off and what resonates, because, especially when it comes to humor, super passionate about this and know we can end on. We spend too much time at work to not laugh. So do not be afraid to integrate humor into your content. You're doing difficult work to some of you, so I think a lot of you know how important laughter and humor is in your work generally, and I think that applies to content as well.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I would say think about that when you're coming up with your content plan, and people want to not only contribute towards but work for organizations that showcase their people, that are having a good time, that are impacting the world right. So if you can showcase that through video content, you're off to the races.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well. Thank you so much for all the incredible questions. Hope that this has inspired you to get started today. You know, if you want more tips, best practices, examples, make sure to visit our LinkedIn for Nonprofits resource hub. There's a QR code that'll be popping up on the screen and you know. Thank you to Dana for joining us and, before you leave, if everyone in the audience could take a quick survey to let us know about your thoughts on the event, sandy or Caitlin will drop it in the chat and we'll also drop that on the screen as well, and that feedback just helps us make these even better for the future. And feel free to connect with myself or follow. I don't want to speak for Dana if she doesn't want connection requests. Dana, she's the one connection request, but just to let us know you watched and I'm happy to take the conversation off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'd love to tag us in your videos. We'd love to see that we can provide some like comments, some tweaks, some just like shout you down and give you some engagement Like please. I mean you're working on it. I know it just feels so good when you feel seen, when you've worked on something so hard. So tag Scott or I in your videos. Would love, love, love, love, love to see it.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Thanks for joining us and have a great rest of your day.
Speaker 2:Thanks everyone. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of Missions to Movements. If you enjoyed our conversation and found it helpful, I would love for you to take a moment to leave a review. Wherever you're listening, your feedback helps us reach more changemakers like you and continue bringing impactful stories and strategies to the show. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button too, so you'll never miss an episode. And until next time, keep turning your mission into a movement.
