Last week we shared a few posts on how you can tell your story with video.  

We checked out this tutorial about YouTube for Nonprofits where we learned how to tell stories effectively on YouTube, leverage search to ensure videos be found and activate audiences by telling video viewers exactly what we want them to do.

We suggested broadcasting on-the-ground with mobile Hangouts on the G+ app so you can connect followers with your work.

Then we revisited Feed My Starving Children to see their "Food at Work" videos on YouTube that capture stories from partners all around the globe feeding the hungry and changing communities. One of our favorites was seeing how their food is at work in Kenya through Brian's story.

We celebrated an Irish online video that tackled the problem of homophobic bullying reaching the magical 1,000,000 views mark on YouTube - making it the most viewed online video from any Irish charity. The video, Stand Up! Don’t Stand for Homophobic Bullying comes from BeLonG To – Ireland’s national organization for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) young people. It is part of BeLonG To’s annual anti-bullying awareness week and encourages all young people to stand together to support their LGBT friends. We’re amazed to see the impact that YouTube videos can have in creating awareness about important issues like this.

We wrapped up the week with more great news. StayClassy coordinated Google Hangouts with each Regional Winner of the 4th Annual CLASSY Awards, telling them StayClassy needed to conduct a "final interview" with them, but really, they just wanted to capture their reactions to the good news. This video says it all.

Join us again this week for our third installment of visual storytelling as we see how Google Maps and Earth can help tell your story.

Posted by Andrea Xu, Google for Nonprofits team
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(Cross posted from the Official YouTube Blog) 

charity:water is an organization dedicated to providing clean, safe drinking water to people around the globe and since exploding onto YouTube in 2008, they’ve made a name for themselves with consistent ...
(Cross posted from the Official YouTube Blog) 

charity:water is an organization dedicated to providing clean, safe drinking water to people around the globe and since exploding onto YouTube in 2008, they’ve made a name for themselves with consistent catchy, aesthetically awesome videos. charity:water is a nonprofit who isn’t afraid to push the boundaries of what’s possible with video so we weren’t surprised to hear that they have big YouTube plans for their upcoming September Campaign. We sat down with charity:water founder Scott Harrison to learn more about the campaign and their approach to making videos that are both inspiring and compulsively watchable.

Q: You're launching your 6th annual September Campaign next week. Can you tell us about the campaign and how video will play a role?

A: charity: water was born in September, and each year we take that month to focus in on a particular country, tell an amazing story and challenge our community to make a big impact there. This year, we’re telling a powerful story of redemption in Rwanda.

It’s been 18 years since the genocide, and the country has been rebuilding faster than most people ever thought possible. Rwanda is now attempting to achieve 100% clean water coverage by 2020 -- something no country in Africa has ever done before -- and we want to help them. By partnering with the local government, through the September Campaign, we’re going to bring clean water to 26,000 people in the Rulindo District.

At the core of this campaign are stories, stories of families who have to haul water up and down a mountain every day--water from a swamp or river that can make them sick; stories of people making a living by managing and maintaining the kind of water points we’ll fund; and stories of our fundraisers doing amazing things to help people on the other side of the world.

In addition to the trailer which launched on August 21, we’ll release four short films during the campaign, and then on September 7, we’ll film and upload a video -- live from Rwanda -- as the work begins in the field. It’s important to us to inspire our fundraisers by bringing the story to life and also to use video to help them see their impact.




Q. Your "Thank You" campaign fascinated us at YouTube because it did a few things differently. For example, it featured your whole staff and each video was targeted towards a particular donor. Was the campaign successful? Can you share any learnings?

Yes. Last year, to mark our fifth birthday, we decided to celebrate the thousands of fundraisers who gave up their birthdays, biked, swam, and built lemonade stands to raise money for clean water.

There was no fundraising goal for these videos, and we intentionally didn’t make them only for our top donors and fundraisers. Instead our goal was to just make 250 different supporters feel special and let them know how much we value them.

Our metrics for the campaign were soft, but dozens of people who received the videos, sent us emails to express the depth of their feelings and ‘love’ for our brand.

And our staff (everyone from our receptionist to our CTO made videos!) reported back that this ‘thank you experience’ was among their favorite moments working here.

Most importantly, we think that anyone who sees the thank you videos will understand just how much we care about our relationship with our supporters.




Q: Besides view count, how do you measure the success of a charity:water video?

A: The first goal of our video strategy is to inspire people. Inspire them to become aware of this important issue, to donate, to fundraise, and hopefully to become lifelong fans. Inspiration is difficult to measure, but the results driven by that inspiration are powerful.

For this year’s September Campaign, we’ll release five videos throughout the campaign as key content to drive our $1.7 million fundraising target. Without the video inspiration, we wouldn’t be able to create the movement of thousands of fundraisers needed to bring clean water to 26,000 people in Rwanda.

And despite the fact that we don’t make videos to drive immediate donations, we frequently see a fundraising spike alongside our best video content. For example, last year when we launched our animated Water Changes Everything on YouTube (now viewed over 800,000 times), we saw our online donations spike for weeks.



Q: One thing that comes across in your videos is your sense of aesthetics. How does design play a role in video production and does it take a large budget to make videos that are aesthetically appealing?

A: Time, energy, and talent can be more important than budget when it comes to making great videos. Our video team is only made up of a couple people, but we invest significant time and energy in bringing excellence to everything we produce.

It’s important to us that charity: water videos always look beautiful. It shows respect for our supporters that we invest as much time as possible in the highest aesthetic appeal.




Q: What's one mistake you see nonprofits making with video? What advice do you have for organizations making this mistake?

A: The biggest mistake we see are non-profits using the power of the medium to drive feelings of guilt or sadness, instead of hope and positivity.

You can evoke strong emotions with a video, and a sad tale or a shocking image can indeed induce someone to pull out their wallet and donate. However, we believe in respecting both the subjects of our videos and the audience, and you’ll see us continue to focus on positivity, possibility and inspiration over guilt and sadness.




Ramya Raghavan, News and Politics Manager, recently watched “Unshaken.”
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People at nonprofits tend to collaborate a lot, working on everything from grant proposals to volunteer databases. We’ve received lots of feedback from members of the Google for Nonprofits community requesting the ability to add multiple administrators to their Google for Nonprofits account.

We’ve been working hard to address that feedback and we’re now excited to announce the ability to have multiple administrators manage your Google for Nonprofits account. When you sign into your account, you’ll see a new screen on the User Home Page to “Manage Administrators” where you can review pending requests and accept or deny those requests.



If someone is requesting administrative access of your organization's account you’ll get an email notification. On the User Home Page you will see the option to “Manage Administrators with ‘(Action required)’ written next to that. By selecting ‘Manage Administrators,’ you can make a decision on whether to approve or deny that request.
    
So if you’d like to have multiple administrators manage your Google for Nonprofits account, encourage your colleagues to request to be an administrator. Then you can sign in to your Google for Nonprofits account and accept their requests.

Posted by Sara Boccabella, Alyssa Caulley and Denver Ogaro, Google for Nonprofits engineering
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We hope you can join us to begin using Google+ for your business. If you have a question for the panel, leave your questions as a comment on our Google+ Event.

To get yourself geared up for the hangout, check out the two newest Google+ business case studies. Toyota Global has been engaging its Google+ community with content of the latest car models and a hangout with a Toyota engineer. By incorporating Google+ badges on its website and YouTube channel, the car manufacturer has grown to over one million followers. In the education space, ES Corporation is teaching English lessons in hangouts. Using social extensions, the business also saw a 46% increase in click-through rate on search ads.

Posted by Lindsay Rumer, Google+ for Business
(Cross posted from the Google and Your Business blog)

Join social media power influencer +Lynette Young for a look at ways your business can kick start its presence on Google+ in a Learn with Google Hangout on August 23rd at 1pm EDT/10am PDT. RSVP for the Hangout on our Google+ Event page.

Companies big and small are using social media to interact with customers and build digital brands. Even if your business wasn’t an early adopter of social, Lynette will guide you through ways to kick start this channel with Google+. In this hangout, she’ll talk through examples of businesses using hangouts, pages and unique content to grow their audience. As a Learn with Google program, you’ll also hear lots of tips and strategies you can use to build a community from scratch on Google+.  

Lynette Young is a digital media specialist helping entrepreneurs and businesses put social ideas into action. She is the founder of Women of Google+ and CEO of Purple Stripe Productions. Kari Clark of the Google+ Marketing team will moderate the conversation with Lynette and other social media specialists including:
We hope you can join us to begin using Google+ for your business. If you have a question for the panel, leave your questions as a comment on our Google+ Event.

To get yourself geared up for the hangout, check out the two newest Google+ business case studies. Toyota Global has been engaging its Google+ community with content of the latest car models and a hangout with a Toyota engineer. By incorporating Google+ badges on its website and YouTube channel, the car manufacturer has grown to over one million followers. In the education space, ES Corporation is teaching English lessons in hangouts. Using social extensions, the business also saw a 46% increase in click-through rate on search ads.

Posted by Lindsay Rumer, Google+ for Business
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Last week on Google+, we explored how nonprofits are using photos to tell their stories.

We learned 11 Types of Photos Nonprofits Should Post on Social Media from Nonprofit Tech 2.0: A Social Media Guide for Nonprofits.  

We also saw how Feed My Starving Children pairs pictures and quotes to inspire their followers. 

Then we checked out how to add unlimited photos and videos to Google+ from your phone and computer.  

And Scott Kelby announced the dates for the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk - the largest Photo Walk in the world with walks in over 1,100 cities.

Make sure to join us this week as we share how you can tell your story through video.

Posted by Andrea Xu, Google for Nonprofits Team
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How do you tell people your story? Often, we rely on pictures and videos to explain what we can’t fully describe. But as technology advances, we’re finding new ways to tell our stories visually.

This month, we’ll be focusing our Google+ posts on how you can tell your story through photos, videos, maps, Hangouts and more.  We’ll share inspiring stories and new ways for you to tell yours. Join the conversation on our Google+ page or come back to the blog for weekly recaps of what we cover.

Posted by Katie Kellogg, Google for Nonprofits team
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It’s almost back-to-school time, but students aren’t the only ones who are getting geared up to learn. Today, we’re announcing our next series of Learn with Google webinars, which will arm you with the tools you need to get the most out of Google’s advertising products and solutions. Over the next couple of months, 13 webinars will teach you tips and how-to’s to help make the web work for your business.

Join us as we kick things off this Thursday, August 9th with a webinar on multi-channel attribution and check out the full schedule below: 
(Cross posted from the Inside AdWords Blog)

 It’s almost back-to-school time, but students aren’t the only ones who are getting geared up to learn. Today, we’re announcing our next series of Learn with Google webinars, which will arm you with the tools you need to get the most out of Google’s advertising products and solutions. Over the next couple of months, 13 webinars will teach you tips and how-to’s to help make the web work for your business.

Join us as we kick things off this Thursday, August 9th with a webinar on multi-channel attribution and check out the full schedule below: 
  • Aug 9 at 9am PDT Multi-Channel Funnels: Attribution Across Channels
  • Aug 23 at 10am PDT How to Kick Start Social with Google+ (Hangout on Air)
  • Aug 28 at 10am PDT Optimizing your Video Ad Campaigns
  • Aug 29 at 10am PDT Google+: Enhancing Marketing and Making Social Accountable
  • Sept 5 at 10am PDT Go Bigger, Faster with AdWords Editor
  • Sept 6 at 10am PDT Making the Most of Recent AdWords Updates
  • Sept 12 at 10am PDT Driving Cost-Effective App Downloads with AdWords
  • Sept 13 at 10am PDT Go Bigger, Faster with AdWords Scripts
  • Sept 18 at 10am PDT Better Together: Combining Targeting Strategies in Display
  • Sept 19 at 10am PDT The Importance of Search Advertising
  • Sept 20 at 10am PDT Measuring the Impact of Online Advertising on Offline Sales
  • Sept 26 at 10am  PDT GoMo: Mobilize your Site and Maximize your Advertising
  • Sept 27 at 10am PDT Optimizing Display Campaigns: Tips, Tricks, & Tools

Visit our webinar page to register for any of the sessions and to access past webinars on-demand. We’ll be adding new webinars as they’re scheduled, so check back regularly for updates. You can also stay up-to-date on the schedule by adding our Learn with Google Webinar calendar to your own Google calendar to automatically see upcoming webinars.

Whether your goal is to engage the right customers in the moments that matter, make better decisions, or go bigger, faster, we hope that you’ll use these best practices and how-to’s to maximize the impact of digital and grow your business. We’re looking forward to having you in class at an upcoming Learn with Google webinar!

 Posted by Erin Green, Marketing Coordinator
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(Cross posted from Google+Your Business page)

 On the Google+ Your Business team, we love seeing businesses get social with their customers. We’re regularly wowed by the creativity and pizzazz we see on Google+ pages, and we wanted to share how we get social on our page.
(Cross posted from Google+Your Business page)

 On the Google+ Your Business team, we love seeing businesses get social with their customers. We’re regularly wowed by the creativity and pizzazz we see on Google+ pages, and we wanted to share how we get social on our page.

1. Keep it fresh. Starting the conversation is half the battle, but come back with updates! A makeover, revamped services, special promotions -- all interesting news to your customers.

2. Stick around. Seeing responses come in from our new posts makes us smile, and we think you’ll agree. Hang out for a little while after you post news and see how your audience reacts. You can even post quick answers to questions.

3. Speaking of hanging out... Host ‘em! We use Hangouts to interact with users in real time, mix up our media, and get a little Googley. It’s the highlight of our weeks. Really.

4. Not-so-strictly business. Keep your posts relevant to your customers, but occasionally, offer a little glimpse behind the scenes. It’s fun and personal. We just can’t resist posting about the fun we have every now and then.

5. Ask questions? Let your customers know that you want to hear from them. Ask them questions, and learn about what they’d like to see. 

6. +You. However you like to get social, your customers are sticking around to hear from you. Let your personality show in your updates, since you’re the star!

 Posted by Jade Wang, Google+ Your Business team 
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(Cross posted from the Official Google Blog)




(Cross posted from the Official Google Blog)

The application for the 2013 Google RISE (Roots in Science and Engineering) Awards is now open. Given once a year, Google RISE Awards are designed to promote and support education initiatives in two key areas: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Computer Science (CS). Google grants awards of $5,000 - $25,000 USD to organizations around the world working with K-12 and university students in these fields. This year, our community welcomed more than two dozen organizations from around the world, from Denmark to Uganda and California to Romania. The RISE grants have helped these groups to scale their reach by allowing for more scholarship recipients, to deepen their impact by providing hands on robotics kits, and to ultimately inspire their students by creating a community for CS outreach.



Now, the RISE Awards have expanded to include applicants from Latin America and the Asia Pacific region, bringing our total to six continents and 243 countries. All eligible nations are listed on our website. The growth of technology is undoubtable, and the impact technology will have on our future is equally undeniable. We believe it’s our duty to support students who have the uncanny ability not only to consume technology, but also to create it. We believe that inspiring the next generation of computer scientists will enrich the lives of not only individual students, but also the communities and countries they live in. Show us what you can do to get students excited about STEM and CS! Submit your application by September 30, 2012. Awardees will be announced by January 2013. 

Posted by Roxana Shirkhoda, K-12 Education Outreach Specialist
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These days, it seems like people are always on their mobile phones - shopping, waiting in line, even when hanging out “live” with other people.

Mobile users aren’t only texting, but are searching for the latest cat video, emailing old friends, blogging their latest meals and more. Mobile has become an indispensable part of our daily lives and mobile search is also on the rise.

So what does this mean for nonprofits trying to grab people’s attention? Creating a mobile website and mobile targeted AdWords Search campaigns are a great way to get noticed in today’s mobile world. Here are five of our best practices to get you started:

1. Create a mobile site: Mobile sites are designed to fit on a small screen and help users reach information quickly and easily on their phones. Remember to make content easy to read and keep navigation simple and thumb friendly. Through GoMo, a Google initiave that provides tools and resources to make mobile sites, you can create your own site in minutes.

2. Create mobile-friendly ad text: Use call-to-actions in your AdWords ad text that target people searching on their phones. Phrases like “Donate On Your Phone” or “Call Us Now To Volunteer” show users what to do next on their mobile device.

3. Link ads to your mobile site: Make sure that your mobile ads lead users to your new mobile site. If you created your mobile site with GoMo, you’ll need to add a mobile redirect, a script that can tell when a user is on a mobile phone and then takes them to your mobile site, to your existing site.

4. Optimize your keywords: Users behave differently on their mobile devices, so keywords often perform differently too.  Start your mobile-only campaign by adding your existing keywords. After three to four weeks, look at your clickthrough rate (CTR) and conversion rate (if applicable). If a keyword has a low CTR or zero conversions, consider pausing the keyword or experimenting with new ad text.

Keep an eye on your See Search Terms Report and/or Google Analytics data to see what mobile users are searching for that leads them to your site. These will help you find new keyword combinations and abbreviations you may have been unaware of.

5. Add mobile sitelinks: You can help users navigate through your site and find additional material by adding sitelinks to your mobile ads. Providing links to volunteer applications and blogs will give website visitors a better understanding of your site and allow them to reach that content quickly. Recent studies show that campaigns with mobile sitelinks experience a 30% higher clickthrough rate than those without sitelinks.

Using these five steps, you’ll be a master of mobile in no time. After all, by 2013, more people will use their mobile phones than PCs to get on the Internet (Gartner, 2010), so let’s get ready!

For more mobile resources, check out the Google Mobile Ads Blog and GoMo by Google.

Posted by Katie Kellogg, AdWords Team
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