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The assignment
A church’s leadership asked its communications team to create videos to increase engagement and giving. I was asked to help the team think it through.
That sounds like a clear assignment. It isn’t. “Make videos” describes an activity. The real objective is to reach people who aren’t already engaged and move them to care, show up, and give. Those are not the same thing, and the gap between them is where most video projects quietly fail. The same trap catches nonprofits, humanitarian groups, and small businesses.
Who is actually watching?
The first question I asked was simple: who watches your videos now? The honest answer was the people who already attend. That’s preaching to the crowd. A perfect video seen only by people who already care won’t move engagement or giving beyond where they are today.
The second question: how do you plan to promote the videos to the audience you need? The team had a production plan for four videos in four topic buckets. They didn’t have a plan to get those videos seen.
The video may be perfect, but if the audience you need never sees it, why invest in it?
The bubble
What struck me most was how far inside the bubble the pastors and staff were. They couldn’t see the problem with the assignment, or what the real objective was.
That’s what happens when you live inside an organization. You know the context, the language, and why it matters. A stranger has none of that. So the assignment felt complete to the people giving it, and the missing pieces were invisible to them.
It often takes someone from outside the bubble asking plain questions to expose the gap.
Step one: make something worth sharing
Asking people to share a blah video won’t fix anything, even if everyone does it. Sharing is a social act. People pass along what makes them look thoughtful, makes them feel something, or helps a friend. Nobody shares an institutional update.
A video worth sharing usually has:
- A real person in a specific moment, not a mission statement
- An emotional turn early, within the first few seconds
- No insider language, so a stranger understands it without context
- One idea, short enough to watch without deciding to
Here’s the test: would someone send this to a friend who has never set foot in your building, with no explanation? If the answer is “only if they already care about us,” it’s a video for the crowd.
Step two: share it with your base, then teach them to pass it on
Even a great video won’t spread on its own. The people in the pews are your bridge to everyone outside the bubble, but you need to encourage and teach them.
Share it well with your base
- Present it live, with a short setup that says why it matters.
- Send it the same week by email or text, with one sentence on why you’re sending it.
- Tell the story behind it. People share what they feel connected to.
- Thank the people in the video publicly. Their circles will carry it.
- Invite a reaction, such as a reply or a comment, so you learn whether it landed.
Teach them to share with their network
- Explain that a share from a friend is a recommendation, while the same video from you is an ad.
- Ask for one specific share: “Send it to one person who came to mind while you watched.”
- Offer a starter line, like “This made me think of you,” so they don’t have to find the words.
- Show them how. Many people don’t know how to forward a link or share to Facebook. A two-minute demo or a QR code in the bulletin can make the difference.
- Start with a few champions who share first and set the example.
- Report back what happened, so people see their effort mattered.
Point it somewhere
A video that gets shared but leads nowhere is just attention. Decide what the viewer should do next: visit, read a story, sign up, or give.
Before you spend a dollar on video, answer these:
- Who needs to see it, and who is watching now?
- What would make someone want to send it to a friend?
- How will it reach people outside your current circle?
- Who will carry it, and how will you teach them?
- What should the viewer do next, and how will you know it worked?
The video isn’t the strategy. It’s one piece of it.
