YouTubers — young men and women who run YouTube channels and often have hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers — might not be familiar to those who are over 30. However, for under-30s, they are as familiar as TV presenters or Hollywood stars were to previous generations. Which means that working with them to highlight charity issues is a no-brainer. So how to go about it?
Often self-taught masters of engagement, YouTubers like Zoella Suggs, Felix Kyellberg (better known as PewDiePie) and Ryan Higa rely on their natural charisma and storytelling abilities. Successful YouTubers are able to educate and entertain their audiences, and give their viewers a release from the mundane in their everyday lives.
YOUTUBERS MEET CHARITY
Illustration: June Hsu
The biggest difficulty for charities wanting to collaborate with YouTubers is discovering a personality that fits with their own brand. YouTubers have their own styles, narratives and tone of voice. They know how to talk to their fans and charities understand how they want to be positioned in the sector, so finding a mutually beneficial relationship is the most important factor for collaborations.
The latest YouTuber-charity collaboration between WaterAid, The Lean Machines — John Chapman and Leon Bustin — and Carly Rowena is a perfect example of a mutually beneficial relationship. The Lean Machines and Carly Rowena’s channels are all about health, fitness, nutrition and, of course, the fundamental importance of water and hydration.
Last month, John, Leon and Carly went to Zambia, where they visited several WaterAid projects, including a school that has improved toilet facilities and a rural community that now has access to safe, clean water. They also witnessed the impact that not having safe water can have on a community. They participated in the maintenance of an existing water pump, as well as having a quick workout in a Lusaka street gym and seeing how traditional Zambian dishes are prepared.
When asked why they supported WaterAid, Carly Rowena said: “I have been sponsoring WaterAid since I was a child. Being in fitness, I realize how important water is, health-wise, sanitation-wise, and it is nice to see something first-hand and from a trusted charity. We are all signing up to WaterAid and that helps too.”
NEW TERRITORY
John Chapman added: “I think as someone who is in the media light, who has a decent reach, you have a responsibility to spread the word. Like everyone else, I can donate, but I can do more than that and should really. Thousands of people will just watch one video that I put up, and hopefully some will take some action.”
When charities choose to work with YouTubers they need to be prepared to relax their usual editorial control, which can be a problem for some organizations.
WaterAid UK film producer Tadg O’Keefe said: “For the content from this trip to be engaging, it was very important that The Lean Machines and Carly share their own experiences of WaterAid’s work, in their own words and from their own perspective. After all, they know their audience better than anyone. That meant that we, as WaterAid, had to let go of much of the editorial control we would usually have when making films about our work. I hope this results in spontaneous and personal films, which will resonate with their audience on an authentically emotional level.”
If one of the biggest fears for charities is that YouTubers are unlikely to represent their brand appropriately, the other unknown is whether YouTubers are still likely to be in fashion a few years down the line. Will the new wave of digital celebrities have the same impact and shelf-life as the more traditional celebrities? What happens if a YouTuber loses the respect of their audience? There are also many examples of charities disassociating themselves from individuals in the past.
VIRAL IMPACT
However, charities might feel that the advantages of working with YouTubers more than offset those disadvantages. The Lean Machines have 27,000 followers on Twitter, for example, while more than 240,000 people are subscribed to their YouTube channel. During their five-day trip, The Lean Machines and Carly made a number of videos about their experience, and their visit has already been commented on by other YouTubers, such as Tanya Burr, who has a Twitter following of 1.5 million. Her tweet alone was retweeted more than 1,500 times. Both The Lean Machines and Carly have also been posting images from their visits on Instagram, and those images alone have more than 10,000 likes. This kind of exposure is hugely important to charities and this is before the videos are uploaded to their YouTube channels.
“I really hope this trip with The Lean Machines and Carly Rowena will mark the start of a long and important relationship between WaterAid and the YouTube community, enabling more people to interact with WaterAid’s work in new and exciting ways,” O’Keefe said.
“We benefit from this kind of collaboration because it engages a large, digitally-active audience with the great work WaterAid is doing. What’s more, that audience gets to go on an emotional and inspirational journey with people they trust and admire.”
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