YouTube redux: recycle or you’re lazy

I got some heated reaction to my last YouTube post, so I am ready for some more!  Reader of this blog, Kelley has shared her new spot for 18-34-year-old YouTube viewers to encourage recycling.  I really like it, because it’s entertaining (and you gotta be on YouTube).  And it provides a reward for taking action.  That’s my mantra - you have to give people an immediate, relevant, personal reward for taking the action you ask.  This spot tells us we get the benefit of not looking like a lazy fool.  I think it works—do you?

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UPDATE 11/14

Wise Scott of Catalyst has such a good comment I’m elevating it to a PS to my post:

If a Great Environmental Ad Plays in the Forest and No One is There to Hear It.... Does it Really Matter?

This is a great ad - but like many non-profits if there is no marketing strategy you have wasted valuable time and resources. 

While YouTube may seem like a phenomenon - it is not!  People that have networking skills and list building skills thrive. And those that do not… do not!

I cannot emphasize this enough.  Simply putting out an ad on YouTube does not drive traffic to the ad.  Organizations need to drive traffic to the ad themselves… and people need to start forwarding the link to their friends in order to generate buzz.

I know this seems like obvious stuff… but shockingly few organizations spend money in marketing these campaigns or generating buzz about their new ad.

Organizations need to do more to get young voters engaged in their cause than simply put up an ad on YouTube.

Posted by on 11/13 at 05:33 PM


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    If a Great Environmental Ad Plays in the Forest and No One is There to Hear It.... Does it Really Matter?

    This is a great ad - but like many non-profits if there is no marketing strategy you have wasted valuable time and resources. 

    While YouTube may seem like a phenomenon - it is not!  People that have networking skills and list building skills thrive. And those that do not… do not!

    I can not emphasize this enough.  Simply putting out an ad on YouTube does not drive traffic to the ad.  Organizations need to drive traffic to the ad themselves… and people need to start forwarding the link to their friends in order to generate buzz.

    I know this seems like obvious stuff… but shockingly few organizations spend money in marketing these campaigns or generating buzz about their new ad.

    Organizations need to do more to get young voters engaged in their cause than simply put up an ad on YouTube.

    Posted by Scott Goodstein  on  11/14  at  01:03 PM

    Katya:

    Your blog is quickly becoming a procrastination destination for me.  I’m here, shooting a screencast on widgets ... ha ha ..

    But, of course I had to watch the youtube.

    I agree with Scott that simply throwing your videos up on YouTube doesn’t work.  Kind of reminds of the early 1990s and the if you build it, they will come mantra of early web sites.

    You have to share the url, send it to your contacts, blog it, let people know about.  And, if it is good, they will pass it along to friends.

    I’ve also found that sending to my contacts, different groups, and using tags also helps.

    I’m also doing cross-promos of my YouTube in places like flickr and other appropriate social networking communities - if it makes sense.

    Here’s an example (okay, not advocacy, but some rich media blogging I’ve been doing at conferences)
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/275029690/in/set-72157594337478475/

    Oh, and one other thing.  I like this video because it is authentic.  It isn’t a slick marketing production.  It leads to my question:

    How important are professional production values in all this?  How effective is grassroots made/created/shared media?  And, also, I bet this could be an internal tension spot for npos and offer up some control issues. 

    Okay, back to shooting my screencast widget ..

    Posted by Beth Kanter  on  11/14  at  02:45 PM

    I appreciate everyone’s comments. I am new to this whole field and welcome all the ideas.

    Posted by Kelley  on  11/16  at  01:01 PM
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