When it comes to social media, try to think about your own life. Have you ever been at a friend’s house and endured an unending series of family pictures? You kept looking at them because you wanted to be polite to your host and you realized the pics were very important to them. But on the inside you were dreaming of running for the door.
The same idea can apply to YouTube videos. It’s good that you have tremendous excitement about your organization but you need to think like an outsider. On YouTube, you’re limited to 10 minutes* for a video. I would suggest not going over five minutes. Probably your best bet would to keep it under three. As a point of comparison, most local news stories are no longer than a minute and a half in length. Let’s face it: People have short attention spans.
With YouTube, you want to give people a taste of your organization, not a full meal. It’s okay if you have more to share. You can use that material in other videos. But if you overwhelm the viewer, they’ll likely skip watching the video or plan on watching it when they have more time, which often never happens.
To find out more about producing your own YouTube video, read this article. Need help in brainstorming ideas? Click here.
* YouTube has updated the length of it’s clips. For more, click here.
Additional Resources
- 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast
- Before You Shoot Your 1st YouTube Video
- YouTube Tips
- Nonprofit Video Example
- Ebook for media coverage
- So who is Ken Okel?
Posted by Ken Okel 
