Here are some easy ways to tell your nonprofits story on Facebook, Youtube and Pinterest. You don’t have to be a multimedia expert to produce storytelling content on social media.
1. The Video Short
Use your phones video recorder and ask people to tell why they donate to your organization in one sentence. Then string these together into a short video of people giving first hand reasons why they support your organization.
Tips: hold your phone horizontally; add background music to the video.
2. Volunteer Photo Biography
Take a photo of a volunteer helping your organization. Then use a photo editor (see video) to put the volunteers name on the photo, a quote from them and maybe add something fun.
3. Video a Board Meeting
Yikes, I bet that sounds boring. So be selective about what video you shoot. If you are about to vote on the start of a new program, the purchase of new equipment or the beginning of a fundraiser, then pull out your phone and start the video recorder. Then post it to Youtube and/or Facebook and simply write: “Look what we did last night.”
4. Create a Slideshow
Next time your organization has an event use your phone to take photos of people enjoying their time there. Be sure to ask others to take photos too. Then collect the photos and make a one minute slideshow about what everyone did that day.
Tips: keep it short – one minute is usually more than enough time. Add background music. Get parental permission if you want to use photos of children.
5. Let the Children Do It
Let’s face it. Children are creative geniuses that know how to use technology better than any of us. So why not tap into that. Have you junior volunteers, or your staff member’s kids or maybe even the local 4th grade class make a video about your organization.
Tips: they will need some guidance (e.g. length of video, subject matter, deadline etc), but for the most part let them do what they want with it.
Remember to Have Fun
There are a lot of experts out there with their expert advice and expert skills. So ignore them. If you compare your story telling campaigns to theirs you will become frustrated and likely never post a story in fear of embarrassment.
Nobody is going to begrudge you a sincere and honest story telling effort. So just have fun with it. Just go do it.