5 Tips for Making a Great Smartphone Video to Promote Your Sweepstakes
These days, video is everything — and that is true when it comes to your sweepstakes, too! In a scenario where both video and text is available, 72% of people will opt to watch the video rather than read.
There’s no need to rush out and buy a fancy camera to get great video for your sweepstakes prize. Most cell phones have incredible cameras built in; perfect for shooting this kind of video.
So, it’s time to get on board the video train to promote your sweepstakes! You can share these videos on your social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, in your e-blasts, and on your website.
Here are some of our top tips for making a video that your donors will love, get excited by, and that will inspire them to enter your sweepstakes.
Tip #1: Choose an Area with Lots of Light
The idea behind your video is to showcase the prize as much as possible, and the best way to do that is to make sure that it’s beautifully lit.
If you’re shooting inside…
Set up your prize and any people who are in your video to face a window that gets plenty of natural light. Put the camera between the window and the person, so that sunlight illuminates their face.
If you’re shooting outside…
Great! Take advantage of the sunshine. Ideally, the sun won’t be too harsh such that it causes people to scrunch up their faces (this most often happens at the hottest times of the day, around noon). Try shooting in the later afternoon or morning for best light, and if you have a chance to shoot on a cloud-covered day, that’s the best! Clouds create an even, soft light that looks great on camera.
Tip #2: Showcase Your Prize
As much as possible, show your donors what the prize looks like. Tell them about the features, and explain why this prize is so cool. When nonprofits give away cars, for example, they’ll give viewers a tour of the car, showing them the inside, the backseat, the engine, etc.
If your prize is an experience like a trip to a Caribbean island, you can create a slideshow featuring photos of the resort where the winner will get to stay, and record someone’s voice talking animatedly about how incredible the vacation will be.
The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame posted this video on Facebook.
Tip #3: Keep the Energy Up!
The most important objective in making your SmartPhone video is creating a sense of excitement around the sweepstakes. Here are a few ways to do this:
If you have someone talking in your video, make sure they’re energized about the sweepstakes. Their voice should sound excited, enthusiastic. Your viewers will pick up on this energy — it’s infectious!
It’s really fun to pick out upbeat, energetic music to go with your video. This will really set the tone! Just make sure that the music doesn’t drown out any voices that may be communicating important information.
Keep the video short. No more than 2 minutes (unless it’s part of a bigger show or podcast where someone else is promoting it).
Tip #4: Include the Important Stuff
When you make a video for social media, there’s no telling where it may end up. Between retweets and shares and reposts, your video could reach corners of the Internet that you hadn’t planned for — which is why it’s important to include your sweepstakes site information inside the video.
Here’s what you need:
Include the vanity domain for your sweepstakes site as text in the video. Vanity domains are short, easy-to-remember domains which you can set up to automatically forward to your TapKat sweepstakes site. Read all about this in our recent blog post.
Include your nonprofit’s name or logo. People will want to verify that your sweepstakes is indeed affiliated with your nonprofit. Make this easy for them by dropping your nonprofit logo in the bottom corner of the video, and on the video cover image.
OPTIONAL: Share other important information, like when you’ll draw a winner, where you’ll draw the winner (say, if it’s happening at a live event), or anything else. But remember: once donors click through to the sweepstakes site, they’ll easily be able to see most of this information.
Tip #5: Create Videos on a Regular Basis
Video marketing is here to stay, and donors love it! Get in the habit of making videos about your sweepstakes and try to think of fun ways to share new tidbits of information as the sweepstakes goes on.
A TapKat sweepstakes may run anywhere from three weeks to 12 months, and videos are an incredible way to keep people buzzing about your fundraiser.
Ready to Start Your TapKat Sweepstakes?
TapKat sweepstakes are bringing in new donors, re-engaging lapsed donors, and generating ongoing cash flow for nonprofits all over the U.S.! If you’re ready to get started, apply for an account today to begin building your sweepstakes site.
