One of the reasons that social media marketing is so attractive is the notion that it’s “free” to use these tools to create and share your message — there’s no charge to participate via Twitter, upload content on YouTube or create a Facebook fan page. But of course that’s not entirely true. The time costs are significant. Organizations that want to have some really cool online content often have to spend good money to hire professionals to develop and create that content.

While some brands have the budget available to hire a production company to create slick, creative video, most nonprofit organizations don’t have those resources. Even if they do have a decent video camera on hand, they may not have staff members with enough time to sit and brainstorm creative ways to tell the organization’s story via video and then plan, shoot, edit and upload it.

Enter YouTube’s video volunteers, which launched a few weeks ago. It’s a way for nonprofits to crowdsource the  development and production of video by tapping into the creative juices of YouTube’s many users. The program is in conjunction with Google’s All for Good initiative that aims to be a broader online volunteer matching service.

I’ll let the vlogbrothers give you particulars:

Some of the organizations requesting help on the video volunteers page right now include a military family support group, a environmental sustainability partnership and an organization that combats global poverty. They are looking for videos to use to promote their organization, support fundraising efforts and serve as a call to action for volunteers.

It’s early in the project, so it’s hard to tell if this approach will be successful or if the organizations will end up with either no takers or submitted videos that don’t meet their needs or quality standards. But I think it’s an interesting approach in matching up creative talent with organizations who need it, and the nonprofits really have nothing to lose by putting a request out there and seeing what the video volunteers come up with. I also see it as an opportunity for students or professionals who are out of work to get some experience working with a client and developing content that not only helps the organization but also can become a part of their professional portfolio.

The video volunteers program is the type of collaboration that really gets me excited about the social web. I think it’s really the tip of the iceberg in terms of allowing people and organizations to collaborate across geography and skill sets and overcome resource constraints to some extent.  I’m hopeful that this type of venture will be successful. Doritos certainly found success crowdsourcing its Super Bowl ads — although perhaps submissions were motivated by the prizes and exposure that the Doritos contest offered. I don’t know if altruism is as strong a motivator.

What are your thoughts? Do you think it has potential? Will it fizzle? If you work with non-profit organizations, would you consider enlisting the help of YouTube’s video volunteers?