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How “Tax Billionaires to Fix the Planet?” kept people watching

By Resources
@needtoknowpolitics

Should billionaires be taxed to fix the planet?

♬ Succession Theme Song - Max

4 Ways this Video Kept People Watching

  1. Hook people in immediately

You have 3 seconds to show something unexpected and visually compelling.

In this TikTok video we used:

  • A bold text hook on screen: “Tax billionaires to fix the planet”
  • Visual evidence to show credibility, in this case, a newspaper screenshot
  • Footage of well-known villains, in this case, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg

2. Cut to the chase

A good hook is a promise. You need to start delivering straight away.

When writing a script, cut out any waffle. Get straight to the exciting information and powerful visuals.

Think “All Killer, No Filler.”

3. Visual variety

Stop audiences from getting bored by changing up the visuals regularly:

  • Use frequent cuts every 3-7 seconds
  • Show images, data, and graphics to add variety and value
  • Include movement with presenter shots, by moving the camera or cutting between wider and close-up shots

4. Break it up

Try cutting to different clips that break up the narration or presenter.

In our video “Tax Billionaires to Fix Climate Change,” at 3 seconds we cut from the narration to a shot of Elon Musk saying “Go f**k yourself”.

This kept our audience on their toes.

Other ways you can also do this:

  • Using clips that add credibility, such as news broadcasts or expert interviews.
  • Incorporating funny videos and memes to keep your content entertaining.

Join the Campaign Content Accelerator

If you’re looking to put some of these lessons into practice then we’re launching a new course to help.

In the Campaign Content Accelerator we’ll take you through a step by step process to create a suite of social media content for your campaign including text posts, images, videos and campaign actions. You’ll learn alongside a group of like-minded people working in campaigns, communications and digital roles.

How to make a political TikTok in 1 hour

By Resources

Sign up for more video tutorials below and download the VideoRev Hookbook, a toolkit to help you quickly generate viral video ideas.

Enter your details to get instant access to over 30 hooks that the most successful campaign videos are using to drive online engagement.

Start applying them in your own videos and increase engagement immediately.

    video production

    Stop launching your campaign with a big video

    By Resources

    I spent years making “hero” videos to launch campaigns.

    Here’s why that’s a bad idea and what to do instead.

    Why you should stop making one big campaign launch video

    ❌ Betting on one video is a huge gamble

    Our video Five Ways to Disrupt Racism got 35 million views but it was actually our backup idea, after our main video concept flopped. Why put all your eggs in one basket?

    ❌ You don’t have insights before launch

    Posting lower cost social media content lets you understand what language and messages resonate with your audience.

    ❌ Timing is everything

    A video does much better when it connects to public conversations instead of being uploaded on an arbitrary campaign launch date.

    ❌ Consistency is key

    A hero video commissioned externally often doesn’t bear much similarity to other campaign content. Meaning the audience that loves the video may not convert to loyal supporters.

    Stop launching campaign with a big video

    What you should do instead

    ✅ Explore creative approaches with low-cost formats

    Start with text and image posts to quickly see what creative approaches cut through with your audience.

    ✅ Upcycling assets for social and video content

    Successful Twitter threads can be turned into Instagram carousel posts and press releases can be adapted into video scripts

    ✅ Make more videos

    Adopting simpler video styles like smart-phone presenter videos means you can create several videos for the cost of one higher budget video.

    ✅ Build internal capacity to respond rapidly

    Building in-house skills will let you jump on current events and massively improve your performance.

    Join the Campaign Content Accelerator

    If you’re looking to put some of these lessons into practice then we’re launching a new course to help.

    In the Campaign Content Accelerator we’ll take you through a step by step process to create a suite of social media content for your campaign including text posts, images, videos and campaign actions. You’ll learn alongside a group of like-minded people working in campaigns, communications and digital roles.

    At each stage you will build on the assets and insights from the last, massively speeding up content creation and improving your hit rate by helping you identify the most successful creative approaches.

    How to create rapid response videos webinar

    By Resources

    Thanks to everyone who joined our webinar on rapid response videos co-hosted with NEON, and thanks again to our fantastic speakers.

    Below you can find all the recordings of the speakers, and here are the Presentation Slides and the Video Worksheet.

    If you want more support to create rapid response content then read about VideoRev’s new Campaign Content Accelerator programme.

    Three ways rapid response video can help campaigners win

    Introduction

    Kahra Wayland-Larty

    Why rapid response videos are so important?

    Richard Roaf, VideoRev

    Five steps to create a rapid response video

    Richard Roaf, VideoRev

    How videos can build your media profile

    Kevin Smith, NEON

    How Zoe Gardner creates videos

    Zoe Gardner

    How to create viral news clips

    Richard Roaf, VideoRev

    How messengers, location and actions can help you go viral

    Richard Roaf, VideoRev

    Join the Campaign Content Accelerator

    If you’re looking to put some of these lessons into practice then we’re launching a new course to help.

    In the Campaign Content Accelerator we’ll take you through a step by step process to create a suite of social media content for your campaign including text posts, images, videos and campaign actions. You’ll learn alongside a group of like-minded people working in campaigns, communications and digital roles.

    At each stage you will build on the assets and insights from the last, massively speeding up content creation and improving your hit rate by helping you identify the most successful creative approaches.

    How to make a political TikTok in 1 hour

    By Resources

    Sign up for more video tutorials below and download the VideoRev Hookbook, a toolkit to help you quickly generate viral video ideas.

    Enter your details to get instant access to over 30 hooks that the most successful campaign videos are using to drive online engagement.

    Start applying them in your own videos and increase engagement immediately.

      Climate protest

      How to use video to help the climate movement at COP26

      By Resources

      Thanks to everyone who joined our “How to use video to help the climate movement at COP26” webinar, and to our fantastic speakers Wambui, Hugo and Samuel. Below you can find all the recordings and presentations. Here is the original video tutorial that launched the webinar.

      There has been such interest we’ve created a Slack channel to continue to share knowledge and find ways to collaborate at COP26, so please Join the COP26 Video Slack.

      Richard Roaf, VideoRev

      Richard presented on “5 key styles of video to reach people at COP26” and “5 steps to creating viral videos at COP”. Check out his presentation for links to 20 successful social media videos.

      Recording of Richard’s Presentation

      Richard’s Slides

      Wambui Gichobi, Survival Media Agency

      Wambui presented on SMA’s global rapid response work that brings powerful grassroots stories to audiences with policy changing and resource diversion power.

      Recording of Wambui’s Presentation

      Wambui’s Slides

      Hugo Duchesne, 350.org

      Hugo presented on 350.org’s work to support impacted communities and gave practical advice on how to set up a team to create rapid response videos.

      Recording of Hugo’s Presentation

      Hugo’s Slides

      Samuel K, Video Presenter and Filmmaker

      Samuel presented on what makes a video successful on social and gave practical advice to create political videos that cut through with wider audiences and where to source footage.

      Get in touch

      We hope you found the session useful. If you’re looking for further help with videos for COP26 then just drop Richard an email and we’d love to jump on a call: richard@videorev.org

      3 steps to great video ads for Facebook fundraising

      By Resources

      Video ads can generate 20-30% more conversions than images. And having both images and video in the mix is essential to appeal to as much of your audience as possible.

      We’ve written this blog to help you get started with video ads for your next fundraising campaign. We will explain:

      1. Three key types of video ad
      2. Key creative lessons for successful video ads
      3. How you can create impactful video ads quickly

      1. Three key types of video ad

      The right type and length of ad will depend on your campaign and audience. But the most successful charities are using three key types of ad – micro, short and long:

      Micro – 5 seconds

      The easiest type of video ad to create – this could be as simple as a slideshow with animated text or an animated version of an image ad. These ads just have time to deliver a strong call to action. While similar in approach to an image ad, the movement acts to grab the audience on the timeline. This type is particularly effective for an emergency appeal when you need something very quickly. Check out these examples:

      Short – 15 seconds

      Making the ad slightly longer gives you time to quickly explain the crisis before delivering the call to action (CTA). Strong ads will powerfully show the need and include a theory of change. Check out these examples, including one of our Christmas ads for Freedom from Torture:

      Long – 30-60 seconds

      Longer ads allow you to tell more of a story before delivering your CTA. With these ads it’s crucial to hook in the audience, and give them strong reasons to keep watching, otherwise the majority will stop watching before you can deliver your ask. This type can work particularly well for a regular giving ask. Check out these examples:

      2. Key creative lessons for successful video ads

       

      Hook people in, and lead them to action

      Create a strong hook that grabs your audience’s attention and drives action. You can use our Hookbook for this, and see our video tutorial on How to hook people into your video.

      We also use the four-stage Crisitunity structure to make sure we have a clear narrative linking the donation to impact with:

      Crisis: What problem are you trying to solve?
      Opportunity: What could overcome this problem?
      Theory of Change: How could the audience take action to help bring about the opportunity?
      Ask: What action do you need the audience to take?

      For Freedom from Torture’s Christmas campaign last year, we applied the Crisitunity structure to create and test lots of different videos – this helped them to raise £300K, 150% more than the previous year.

      Cut to the chase

      Whilst some will watch a video for longer, average view time for a post on the newsfeed is just 1.7 seconds. So whether it’s a direct fundraising ask or lead generation, present your CTA as quickly as possible in the video and/or surrounding copy. For a 5-second ad your video may only consist of the CTA.

      Most people watch videos without sound so always use overlaid text to reinforce your message, as well as for accessibility. Make sure you also take up screen space with a square or Stories portrait format.

      3. How you can create impactful video ads quickly

      Fancy ads don’t necessarily perform better and there are ways to save time and keep things straightforward:

      • Try simple styles such as animated versions of your image ads made in Canva or slideshows made in Facebook

      • Create footage yourself by using your contacts to film remotely or filming yourself (check out our blog for Tectonica Organising Network on Three ways you can create authentic campaign videos from home)

      • Re-use and re-cut parts of existing video

      • Ask contacts if you can use or buy their footage or find stock footage on sites like Videvo.net or Stocksy

      • For quickly testing different ideas, replicate content but just change the hook and first couple of seconds as this is the most crucial part

      Getting started with video ads

      You have all the fundraising know-how already on how to drive responses, and video is just giving you a little more time to grab attention and get your message across.

      This isn’t about the next award-winning film, but applying some proven approaches to make sure your next fundraising campaign is driving as many results as possible. Start simple and build up your skills from there.

      Let us know how you get on and if you’d like to discuss how we could help with video ads, just drop Richard an email and we’d love to jump on a call: richard@videorev.org.

      Climate protest

      How to use video to help the climate movement at COP26

      By Resources

      Thanks to everyone who joined our “How to use video to help the climate movement at COP26” webinar, and to our fantastic speakers Wambui, Hugo and Samuel. Below you can find all the recordings and presentations. Here is the original video tutorial that launched the webinar.

      There has been such interest we’ve created a Slack channel to continue to share knowledge and find ways to collaborate at COP26, so please Join the COP26 Video Slack.

      Richard Roaf, VideoRev

      Richard presented on “5 key styles of video to reach people at COP26” and “5 steps to creating viral videos at COP”. Check out his presentation for links to 20 successful social media videos.

      Recording of Richard’s Presentation

      Richard’s Slides

      Wambui Gichobi, Survival Media Agency

      Wambui presented on SMA’s global rapid response work that brings powerful grassroots stories to audiences with policy changing and resource diversion power.

      Recording of Wambui’s Presentation

      Wambui’s Slides

      Hugo Duchesne, 350.org

      Hugo presented on 350.org’s work to support impacted communities and gave practical advice on how to set up a team to create rapid response videos.

      Recording of Hugo’s Presentation

      Hugo’s Slides

      Samuel K, Video Presenter and Filmmaker

      Samuel presented on what makes a video successful on social and gave practical advice to create political videos that cut through with wider audiences and where to source footage.

      Get in touch

      We hope you found the session useful. If you’re looking for further help with videos for COP26 then just drop Richard an email and we’d love to jump on a call: richard@videorev.org

      Download the VideoRev Hookbook for viral video ideas

      By Resources

      The VideoRev Hookbook is a toolkit to help you quickly generate viral video ideas for your campaign.

      Enter your details to get instant access to over 30 hooks that the most successful campaign videos are using to drive online engagement.

      Start applying them in your own videos and increase engagement immediately.

        The Evidence

        After analysing over 100,000 videos I discovered the 30 hooks that the most successful campaign videos are using.

        The Results

        Using these hooks I was able to create campaign videos that have received 50 million views and one million shares

         

        Free Music for Videos that Doesn’t Suck

        By Resources


        I heard this from a charity after I’d used the Audiojungle bestseller “Health, Happiness and Success” for the 100th time.

        Finding music that is cheap but doesn’t sound cheap was always a nightmare. But a few years ago I noticed that some amazing Soundcloud artists were allowing YouTubers like Casey Neistat to use their music in exchange for crediting them.

        Over the last 3 years I’ve assembled a list of artists that are far better than stock music and are free (or only require you to purchase their track on Bandcamp) as long as you credit them.

        After keeping them a secret I’m now sharing 5 of the top artists I’ve found so you can be released from stock music hell.

        If you’re unsure about license info then get in touch with them.

         

        1. David Cutter

        A Casey Neistat favourite, David Cutter makes a range of things but a lot of them are playful and jazzy.

        Requirements

        Free for YouTube and Podcasts with the credit “Music by: David Cutter Music – http://www.davidcuttermusic.com” as long as you buy on his Bandcamp.

        Get in touch if it’s a commercial video. License info.

        2. Floppy Circus

        Funky, upbeat with a nostaligic vibe.

        Requirements

        “You can use my music in your videos as long as you credit both my Soundcloud and Facebook page”. Tracks can be downloaded at the Floppy Circus Bandcamp page.

         

         

        3. Birocratic

        If you’ve watched a Buzzfeed video you’ve probably heard Birocratic’s smooth instrumental hip hop many times.

        Requirements

        Download the tracks via Bandcamp and fill out this license application and he’ll send you a license agreement.

         

        4. Anti

        Sombre, haunting hip hop beats straight from Poznan, Poland.

        Requirements

        Download at from the Bandcamp. “Once you legally purchase my tracks you can use them in your video.”

        Contact: anti2702@gmail.com

         

        5. Jeff Kaale

        With 148K followers and 99 tracks of buttery smooth hip hop, Jeff is a real gem.

        Requirements

        License info. Download from Bandcamp and credit the social media accounts.

        Get more

        We’ve got a lot more music, footage and video resources to share. Join our email list to get them delivered straight to your inbox.