This amateur video of an extraordinary encounter with wild gorillas in the Bwindi Park in Uganda has garnered more than 4.7 million views. It’s heartwarming and breathtaking. I’m not sure how much money the video has helped raise so far, but each of its viewers is encouraged to ensure that this critically endangered species survives by contributing to the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).Although we can’t plan on this sort of exceptional convergence of events, there is something to be learned here in terms of how nonprofits, foundations, purposeful businesses, and CSR and sustainability departments of large corporations can leverage relevant, user-generated content to make their case:Request inbound submissions: Encourage your audience to share content they generate that is relevant to your area of practice. In this case, we don’t know if the travelers were previously connected with AWF, but regardless the idea to link this video to the organization could have been prompted through the nonprofit’s regular communication channels.
- Go outbound in search of relevant content: Search online for relevant user-generated content and reach out to the creators with a proposal of using their video to generate support for your organization. You can probably make a compelling case. It’s easy to see how inspired and moved the travelers were by their experience in Bwindi. The proposal to reciprocate with the gorillas by using the video to advocate on their behalf is a natural one.
- Turn inspiration into action: Moving people from intrigue to action requires a powerful trigger, the call-to-action. Regardless of whether you find the video through inbound or outbound channels, the ideal call-to-action invites the audience to be part of building a brighter future. In this case, AWF invites us to “Play a role in ensuring mountain gorillas survive.” (Note you can’t see the call-to-action on iPhones or iPads. Be sure to have a look on your computer’s browser or see the screen shot I pulled above.) This call-to-action is made stronger by the fact that they were able to capture the issue in two words: “Critically Endangered.” Even if you don’t express the issue in the call-to-action, be sure to highlight the solution!
- Make it easy for the audience to take action: This one is a no-brainer. Be sure to provide the link to where viewers can take action. In this case, AWF links it directly to the donation form.
- Create a unique landing page to track results: A unique landing page provides an effective way to track exactly which actions were taken from this particular video.
Do you have an example of how you or others have successfully leveraged user-generated videos? Please share. We’d love to see them.