Across Northern Ireland, thousands of community groups work ceaselessly to improve the quality of life for the public’s benefit.

The Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) currently fund 1033 organisations in the voluntary and community sector.

In order for your community group to known as a reputable organisation it is important that its core objectives, role in society and who it aims to help are largely acknowledged and understood by the public.

One way to increase this awareness and get maximum exposure, particularly online, is through the use of video.

Corporate and Promotional videos marketing Service Belfast Northern Ireland

But how?

Here are some ideas on how your community group can use videos:

• Campaign Video: engage a larger audience for your current events or fundraisers by showing them how you help
• Social media teasers: create clips and tease them on social media to create a buzz and attract volunteers or members.
• Corporate Promotional videos marketing Service for your website: introduce your group and share the details of what you do and who you help
• Video news release: got something to say? Don’t just bang out a press release and photo and hope for the best. Send out a video on social media(like SmartVideo)
• Staff testimonials: have volunteers and workers describe what they do and why they enjoy helping others
• Personalised ‘Thank You’ videos: a thoughtful way to thank investors or volunteers who have helped to run the group and encourage their further support
• Case studies: by interviewing the people who benefit from your group, the public can see the value of what you are doing
• Live videos: by uploading live feed from your events to your social media, your message and work can be reached by a much greater audience
• Promotional clips: video footage of what your community group does in action that can be played at events
• About Us: give a visual history of the development of your group and how it has grown and become what it is today

For all your videos, consider linking to a campaign-specific landing page to get people to sign up or donate.

We live in a digital world and to ensure that your community group keeps up with these fast-paced technological advances it is essential to maintain an active online presence.

Videos can be a creative and memorable way to do so.

55% of all internet users watch videos daily, while 78% watch videos weekly.

According to the Visual Teaching Alliance, visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text, so people often prefer video over text for its efficiency.

So, how will implementing videos to improve your online presence benefit you?

• Social proof has become an increasingly important way to checking a group or organisations reputation and reliability. Videos are incredibly good at providing social proof as people can see how professional you are. If your community group has a good website, great videos and up-to-date social media, people will be more likely to trust it
• An organisation or government body may be more readily open to investing or funding your community group if it has a greater public awareness which can be achieved through good utilisation of the internet
• Videos improve your search engine optimisation as good video is ranked as high quality content, allowing your group’s website/social media to appear higher when searched.

In a time where the internet is such a valuable tool, not using video to improve your online profile will only hinder your ability to reach more of the public and ultimately stint the number of people your group could potentially benefit.

Sophie McLaughlin