Know What’s Been Done

Though making a video can be fun, there’s no point reinventing the wheel with your video; so, do some research to see if anyone has made a video that accomplishes essentially the same things you want to do.

1. Learn from others: Talk to people who have worked on the issue you want to tackle – especially those who have tried to influence the same audience. Ask them what has worked, what hasn’t worked and why.
2. Evaluate potential collaborators and allies: Whom can you collaborate with – both from your own group or organization and from others? Very few successful advocacy plans occur in isolation. Find allies and try to find ways to help each other. How can you use the video material that you are producing to help each other and your respective causes?
3. Engage early and often: Including allies early in the process of developing your video advocacy plan will help to obtain their commitment to the project and their use of the video in their own work. Also, use social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to try to find people who are interested in your issue and want to help. They can help to speed up your process, offer fresh perspectives and experience and ultimately enhance your video.
4. Evaluate other advocacy videos: Once you’ve done your research and if you’ve determined that video is still the right tool for your campaign, see what content is out there that you may use – or learn from. Try to connect with the organizations and people that created the video to see if they achieved the responses that they were looking for and ask them about what worked well and what they would have done differently. You can also see if they would be interested in getting involved with your campaign and video efforts!
5. Find video you can use: There’s a lot to be gained by identifying content you can utilize, videos that complement yours, audiences you want to reach and possible allies who are interested and working on the same issues.

Spend some time with your search engine of choice to find videos. Also look through YouTube, Google’s Video Search, and Bing Video. For human rights videos, look through YouTube’s Nonprofits and Activism channel and WITNESS’ Hub. Pick good keywords and, with a little patience and luck, you’ll probably find something (see the copyright and Creative Commons section to learn more).

Remember: No matter what, research well, collaborate as much as possible, and keep enhancing your video advocacy plan.

What’s Next? Setting SMART Objectives