Winning the Internet

Social Media Demographics, who’s hanging where, the YouTube edition

by on August 14, 2012 in New Media Mentors

After a great run, the Winning the Internet blog has been retired. However, you can still keep in touch with New Media Mentors here.






If you’re not already convinced that YouTube is a biggie in the online and social media world, consider these stats: It is the 3rd most visited website according to Alexa, gets 2 billion views per day and handles 10% of all internet traffic. Phew.

According to Quantcast, YouTube’s audience is:

  • 50/50 male/female
  • 46% under 18 years of age
  • 63% Caucasian, 14% African and 16% Hispanic

In addition, YouTube is the third biggest driver of traffic to websites, next to Facebook and Stumbleupon.

So should you produce, upload a video + create your own channel on Youtube? Um, probably.

Once you’ve figured out the WHY and WHAT FOR – as well as your target audiences, YouTube may be just the right thing to do because:

Video can bring life, emotion, imagery and personal stories to an organization’s profile.

Video can be used across platforms

Videos can brand your organization in new ways, reach new audiences and inspire them to act

And with YouTube’s nonprofit channel, you can:

  • Brand your channel
  • Place a call to action overlay on your video
  • Get listed on the nonprofit video page
  • Live stream footage

One big word of caution.  If you’re going to take the plunge, it’s critical that you produce something good.  We all know bad video when we see it and it’s just that – baaaad. The unfortunate truth is that you can pour your heart into a video and spend hours shooting and editing it, and still end up with something pretty lame. Before you get out your director’s chair, ask yourself the following:

  • Do you have the artistic talent to create a good, compelling video? If not, do you know someone who does?
  • Do you have the time to create a good video? (We’ve found that it generally takes about three times as long as you think it will – especially if you’ve only created videos a few times before.)
  • Do you have the money to hire someone with time and artistic talent?

If you answered no to the above questions, video probably is not for you. At least not now.

If you’re in, check out some winning videos from Dogooder nonprofit video awards. Pretty cool, huh?

Okay, your turn. Make it great.

About Liza Pike

I'm the founder of New Media Mentors, a hands on learning program to help non profits use social media and online organizing tools effectively.






, ,

Comments are closed.