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New FEC Ruling Paves the Way for Text-to-Donate Strategy
By Vlad Cartwright
160 characters ... That's the limit of a standard text sent over Short Message Service (SMS). And those 160 characters can have significant influence on political operations. Since the 2008 election, campaigns and candidates have been using text messaging to engage their supporters to mobilize in support of shared causes with increasing frequency and success. Now, the text messaging game is changing in a new and potentially explosive way: fundraising.
An August ruling by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) cleared the way for campaign contributions to be sent via text message, adding a new and powerful arrow to the fundraising quiver. There's little doubt that fundraising via SMS has the potential to play an important role in identifying, growing and mobilizing a stronger donor and advocate base for those that take advantage of it. As seen in the wake of natural disasters, people can be quickly engaged and vast sums can be raised in short periods, such as $43 million in the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. And we are excited about the new possibilities it presents for the organizations with whom we work.
For many potential donors, sending a pledge over text is far more convenient than filling out a form and entering payment details. And, for the organizations that leverage SMS, they are interacting through a technology that most of their donors and stakeholders use on a daily basis. Stakeholders and donors can now simply text "GIVE" to a designated number to donate to a campaign or PAC. Strategies such as this can help an organization successfully raise money and expand their contact lists.
According to Brett Kappel, a campaign finance lawyer at Arent Fox LLP, who worked to convince the FEC to allow contributions by text message, "Text message contributions have the potential to truly revolutionize the way PACs raise funds."
While the FEC ruling on texting unleashes a powerful new set of possibilities that can prove to be a game-changer to many candidates and organizations, there are still issues to work out with regard to the cost of overhead and collection of accurate donor information. However, smart organizations seeking thoughtful and intelligent application of this new tool will quickly find ways to perfect the process. Some may even seek to convert text donors to more traditional methods of engagement, while continuing to take advantage of the power of SMS to identify new donors and mobilize the grassroots.
As with any new opportunity, there are kinks to work out. However, supporters of the ruling, including both 2012 Presidential campaigns, which launched text-to-donate efforts in late August, lobbied the FEC to move on this for one reason: this technology can play a strong role in expanding their donor base and growing their grassroots advocacy missions. And we here at SevenTwenty Strategies certainly agree!
When It Comes to Engagement Videos, Shorter is Better
By Bear Baker
Think the length of an engagement video doesn't make much difference? Think again. In a recent study conducted by a video hosting service, it was found that a video's run time has a dramatic impact on how many people stick around past the first few seconds.
The study examined two videos - one 30 seconds in length, and one 90 seconds. The graph below reveals the "engagement rate" of the two videos. The top line represents the shorter video, while the bottom line shows the longer video. The content of each video was virtually the same - in fact, the first 30 seconds of the 90-second video IS the 30-second video - however the rate of decline is vastly different. By about 10-15 seconds in, viewers were much more likely to turn off the longer video than they were the shorter one.
Why? The average viewer is now beginning to look at the timeline at the bottom of the video to see how long the video is, and then quickly decide whether they want to invest their time watching your message.
When the study was drawn out to include videos of greater lengths, the metrics show that a steady drop off accompanies the growing length of videos studied. While a 1-2 minute video garners an engagement rate of over 65%, a 2-3 minute video only keeps a little over 50%.
Statistically, this has a profound effect on your communications strategy. While we'd like to say it all with one video, that's not the most-effective messaging solution. Aside from watering down the core message (contribute, participate, etc.), we're also losing viewers. If we can get the message out in less than 1 minute, we are most likely reaching close to 30% more people with that message than we would with a 3-minute video.
Now, if we make that video compelling, or fun to watch, then viewers are far more likely to watch an additional short video or click on a link to a webpage designed to take the viewer further into varying facets of the core message.
Today's technology has come a long way from the corporate video playing on a DVD/VHS combo TV on an A/V cart in the lunchroom. The days of the captive audience are over. Your communications strategy needs to take into account that viewers can now simply bounce off the webpage hosting your video without anyone noticing. At SevenTwenty Strategies we are continuously honing the craft of modern, digital communications for our clients. Let us help you with yours.