Organizations stand to gain a lot by promoting online videos that go “viral.” But what does “viral” really mean, and how can your organization increase the likelihood that a video will become an internet smash hit? This was the topic of a panel I attended at Netroots Nation called “Video Built To Spread: Creating Online Vids That Work”.

Coming out of the session, I realized that a lot of organizations are still very unsure how to effectively use video as a tool to achieve their goals. Over the years, we’ve worked with our clients to leverage video for a wide variety of opportunities, from advocacy to fundraising; list-building to branding. In the process, we’ve learned a lot – not just about creating “viral” videos, but about online videos in general and how to make the most effective use of them. Here are a few things every nonprofit should know before investing in an online video. (more…)

Note: This is an archived publication! Visit www.e-benchmarksstudy.com for the most recent versions of all our Benchmarks studies and Benchmarks Extras.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for a great session at NTC today to talk about the findings from this year’s 2011 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study from M+R and NTEN!

The release of M+R’s fifth annual eNonprofit Benchmarks Study analyzes data from a record number of groups – which means more numbers to crunch and more charts for you to geek out over.

(If you’re into that kind of thing. Which we are.)
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“Urgent vote TOMORROW!” “Your account balance is overdue.” “Hurry, final sale ends tonight!”

With so many other, potentially more urgent messages competing for your email list members’ attention, what can nonprofits do to maximize the likelihood that their eNewsletters will be opened, read, and clicked on?

We recently conducted a review of five national nonprofits’ eNewsletters to help isolate some reliable ways to grab your readers’ attention and draw them in to your eNewsletter. Our survey included standard monthly newsletters (which were sent to the majority of the organizations’ email lists) that were issued by  Human Rights First, The Human Rights Campaign, The Smithsonian Institution, League of Conservation Voters, and The Wilderness Society between February and June of 2007.

By examining design, content, and link popularity, as well as messaging metrics such as click through rates and open rates, we arrived at a number of recommendations: (more…)