Each year, See3 Communications, in partnership with YouTube, hosts the DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards.  This year, winners will again have the chance to win one of four $2500 grants generously provided by the Case Foundation, awesome video cameras from Flip Video, a free registration to next year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference provided by NTEN and more. New this year: for small nonprofits that have small funds in the video department, there is a new category for the best “thrifty” videos produced for under $500. On top of all this, the winning videos will be featured on YouTube’s HOME PAGE in March.  Talk about a boost to traffic.

Submissions for Best Small, Medium, and Large nonprofit organization videos must be a video that was made in 2010. Entries for the Best Thrifty Video category can be for videos made any time before the end of the submission period. Each nonprofit can submit as many videos as they would like, but, we encourage only the best work from each organization.

• Entries cannot exceed 10 minutes in length and are limited to nonprofits from the US, the UK, and Australia. See contest rules here.
• All nonprofits are welcome to enter their video. There are no specific categories or missions we are looking for.
• You can submit your videos from February 4, 2011 until March 2, 2011. Tell your friends to submit as well!
• Starting March 7th, voting is open to the public, so be sure to share the word (Email, Facebook, Twitter, carrier pigeon).
• Your organization MUST be a member of the YouTube Nonprofit Program. If you’re not, make sure that’s the next thing you do after you read this post. If you’re picked as a semifinalist, we’ll make sure you’re a member by the time voting begins.

And of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without a video.  See, this is why it’s so powerful – I can embed this video in a blog in 10 seconds, and it just brings the text to life, don’t you think?

For more info on the context, visit http://www.youtube.com/nonprofitvideoawards

You might also want to check out our previous posts on online video.

Let’s see some entries from the Jewish community! Got a video to brag about? Post a link in the comments!

Throughout the short and intense blitz, Old Spice had uploaded over 180 videos for its campaign, which have generated over 5.9 million views and 22,500 comments. (Source: Network World).

The campaign is fascinating for its viral success.  This chart from Visible Measures shows it’s relative success compared with President Obama’s victory speech, the video of President Bush’s dodging of a thrown shoe, and Susan Boyle’s surprising vocal performance on TV, all major viral hits.

The secret? While Old Spice Guy responded to regular folks (Johannes S. Beals tweeted a request for a marriage proposal to his girlfriend), he also focused many of his responses to questions posed by sports stars, celebrities and major publications.  For example the online tech site Gizmodo asked via Twitter, “will anything surpass the loofah as the predominant body wash-applying technology?”   The response was this.  And of course, Gizmodo posted the response video on its website and other channels, amplifying the views even more.

George Stephonopoulos and  Justine Bateman got responses, as did Perez Hilton (669,000+ views) and Ellen Degeneres (284,000+ views).  Alyssa Milano has enjoyed a series of flirty virtual courtings, including a delivery of flowers from the Old Spice Guy.  Guy Kawasaki (Silicon Valley venture capitalist and social media maven) got a humorous reply, playing off his name:

The first key lesson here is about connecting with your audience personally.  While Old Spice is only responding to a relatively small number of questions, Mustafa is speaking directly to individuals, seemingly person to person, rather than logo to consumer.  There’s a big difference.

Second is knowing how to use your influencers.  Isaiah’s first videos responded to bloggers and journalists that had written about the Old Spice commercials. He then moved to celebrities, and chose random individuals whose questions or comments would make for great entertainment (like the marriage proposal).  By responding to people (and companies) with large audiences, Old Spice is able to leverage their brands to exponentially increase their own success.  And when the campaign starts to get viral, everyone wins.  Gizmodo, for example, is thrilled to have gotten a video response (and a few million people may have just learned about Gizmodo for the first time), and Old Spice is thrilled Gizmodo posted is on their own site (reaching millions of their readers).  It’s a win-win for all.

Third, make it fun! If people are enjoying engaging in your campaign (tweeting, sharing, talking about at Starbucks or at the gym), it will intensify.  Whether you’re selling Old Spice or trying to get people to come to Jewish Trivia Night (my favorite tweet comes from @SixthandI Synagogue: “Test your knowledge to the tune of ‘Let’s get quizzical…quizzical’  I see you dancing 80’s style in your cubicle,” followed by a link to their event.

Want to learn more?

Rick Bakas gives a good overview of why this social media marketing campaign is so effective including a reminder to have fun.

ReadWriteWeb shares the inside scoop on how marketing firm Wieden + Kennedy created and executed the campaign, including all night filming sessions in Portland, OR, where they averaged 7 min of production for each 30 second response.

FastCompany interviews the team that orchestrated the campaign.

And a guy from Reddit asked for the audio to create an Old Spice Guy voicemail message.  He responded with many audio options to create the message.  Now you can have your own.  http://www.oldspicevoicemail.com .  While the 2 day blitz of video responses may have ended this morning, it’s fascinating to see how others have picked up the ball and run with it.

How are you empowering and energizing your community to support your mission and goals?  While the Old Spice campaign may seem leagues away from nonprofit endeavors, the lessons learned from this success surely apply.   Use your influencers.  Make it personal.  And remember to have fun.

The latest initiative from NJOP (National Jewish Outreach Project) is a Hebrew literacy initiative, with Twitter and social media as its hook.

The project is an outgrowth of NJOP’s popular Read Hebrew America program, said NJOP publicist Ilya Welfeld, founded with the idea of reaching people who aren’t inclined to join a community class – the Jewish Tweets social media brand was a perfect background, providing a little kitsch and allowing people to learn Hebrew in “bite-sized pieces.”

“Right away, almost 200 people officially registered,” Welfeld said, noting that these are just the people who proactively want to be receiving everything directly to them. But on a daily basis, several hundred people are participating however they want. The intent was to create learning that was “at your own pace, in your own space.”

Twebrew School provides three free learning options: Tweetups, video lessons, and newsletter signup; and if you already know Hebrew, you can sign up to be a Twebrew School teacher .  Check out your Twebrew twoptions at this twebsite http://www.twebrewschool.org.

Have you joined the ranks of Twebrew School teachers? Do you know someone who’s using NJOP’s Twebrew School program in their local community? Share your experiences and feedback with us here.

Haven’t seen the Twebrew School videos yet? Begin your education with Lessons 1 & 2.

This post is an expanded version of the original, which appeared on Esther’s blog, My Urban Kvetch.

1) The Puget Sound Blood Center launched a social media campaign to engage new donors in their blood drives.   As reported in the Seattle PI,  they are now holding Tweet Up Blood Drives which are promoted entirely through social media.

The online campaign launched earlier this summer, and already the blood center has about 400 fans on Facebook and 1,200 followers on Twitter.  And the blood center has a YouTube site for its online generation donators.

Many new donors walked in the door after learning about the campaign, or hearing from their own friends on Twitter or Facebook about critically low levels of Type O. Furthermore, the social media savvy donors are passing on the word, and energizing the campaign, retweeting (even if they don’t donate themselves!) and sharing their experience, even by making a video of giving blood and posting it on YouTube. From the PI again:

“They take the initiative because we’ve given them the tools,” Young said about the blood center’s online followers. “You don’t find a better group of people. To be a blood donor, you have to be a fairly altruistic person in the first place.”

From 5 to 33 percent of donors at blood drives over the last three months said they scheduled their appointments because of social media, and DeButts said he expects that number to skyrocket as school starts up and students organize drives through Facebook.

What makes this so successful?  Perhaps donating blood is not as commonly talked about in this demographic, and by putting it online they are energizing the conversation, which leads to more education about both the need and the process, which results in lower (psychological) barriers, and more people walk in the door.  Maybe they didn’t know it only takes a few minutes, and it’s near their office.  Why do you think a third of their recent donors were inspired through social media?

2) The Obama Presidential Campaign relied heavily on volunteers to make calls and go door to door through neighborhoods.  Why did so many first-time volunteers pitch in?  Partially because of the candidate, but largely because the campaign lowered barriers to participation.  Many prospective volunteers were nervous about walking into an office, weary of trying to represent details of policies they didn’t know.  Many local offices made short, casual videos to help people understand what the culture of the office was like, and the sorts of tasks volunteers could do. Check out this one:

Avid users of social media are not looking to hide behind their computer screens.  In fact we’re eager to connect with fascinating people and valuable organizations in our local communities.    We seek value, social capital, and meaning.  As you consider your social media strategy, think about who you are trying to reach, and how you can add value and meaning to their lives.  You might be surprised what comes back to you.

How have you been inspired through social media to show up in person?  What have you done in your work to connect, lower barriers, and energize people?  We’d love to hear your story.