YouTube annotations can be interesting and dynamic

YouTube annotations let you layer clickable text, hotspots, and links over your video. While “annotations” sound like some sort of academic interruption, they’re actually a truly dynamic tool. If your mission includes any kind of hands-on education, this one, which invites you to hear different chords played on the guitar, might intrigue you: If your organization has a variety of musical or artistic talent to showcase, something like this interactive YouTube “radio,” with buttons like the presets on a car radio, might kick up your video a notch: And here’s a quiz show YouTube series idea. If you want people to learn in depth about your cause in a fun way, something like this could be really neat: We’ve written about how well YouTube annotations work for gaining subscriptions to a channel. Similarly, clickable action buttons are indispensable tools for soliciting donations and increasing conference registrations by tapping into the power of video. But that’s really just the beginning. People are creating choose-your-own-adventure type narratives (which might be great for a narrative about your organization’s beneficiaries) and awareness campaigns that show how making the wrong choice, like picking up a weapon, can lead to an undesirable outcome. Videos based around tours allow the viewer to choose the direction they want to take. Annotations bring a little bit of the power of video games to the already high-powered communication tool of video. And that’s a lot of power for your organization. If MiniMatters can help you use this tip or serve your other video needs, we’d love to talk with you at 301-339-0339 or via email at [email protected]. MiniMatters gratefully acknowledges this Mashable post which helped us find videos we wanted to share.