Did you know YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, after Google? It’s true–and for non-profits, creating a shareable or viral video can be a rather elusive task. Ben Relles, Creative Head of YouTube Comedy, recently came by the Ad Council offices to share some best practices and offer insights into cracking the YouTube code as a nonprofit.

Ben offered the YouTube Playbook and the 10 Fundamentals for creative strategy behind YouTube videos for nonprofits, which is comprised of:

1. Shareability: Are your viewers inclined to share your video with social followers after watching?
2. Conversation: Is there an element of speaking directly to your audience?
3. Interactivity: Are you involving your audience?
4. Consistency: Are your videos of similar style, format and tone?
5. Targeting: Are you relating and resonating with your demographic and audience?
6. Sustainability: If your audience loves it, can you make more of it?
7. Discoverability: Is your target viewer going to be able to find this video from just a few key search terms or related videos?
8. Accessibility: Will it be appreciated by new viewers?
9. Collaboration: Is there room for guests?
10. Authenticity: Is your idea authentic and on message?

While none of these fundamentals is an absolute requirement, they all certainly help in ensuring your videos and overall channel help your nonprofit brand in targeting your audience. Some of the top YouTube creators even only use a few of these, but they execute them extremely well.

For example, the Invisible People YouTube is a great example of a social cause producing consistent and powerful YouTube content that resonates with viewers, allowing for significant viewership for each video. The video blog (vlog) puts into context one of our nation’s most troubling and prevalent issues through personal stories captured  by founder Mark Horvath and brings into focus the pain, hardship and hopelessness that millions face each day.

Overall, know your audience, be consistent and stay true to your organization’s brand and you can build a YouTube community of your own, and possibly make your video go viral.