How the Pandemic Changed Nonprofit Video Forever An analysis of social media videos from 778 nonprofits Far too often we rely on gut instinct when making decisions in the nonprofit sector. The team at Tectonic Video is providing organizations everywhere with actionable intelligence they can use to drive engagement and fundraising—something that is more important now than ever.” Andrew Means FOUNDER OF DATA ANALYSTS FOR GOOD Table of Contents 05 Introduction 07 Methodology 08 Data Set 1 1 Key Findings 35 Top 100 Nonprofits 40 Nonprofit Rankings by Category 43 About Tectonic HOW THE PANDEMIC CHANGED NONPROFIT VIDEO FOREVER 3 Introduction When the COVID-19 pandemic sent the U.S. into lockdown in early 2020, nonprofits were forced to quickly answer critical questions. How do we continue to deliver our programs despite socially distancing? How do we raise funds when we can’t hold events or meet with donors in person? How do we advance our mission despite profound uncertainty? As the old saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Within days of shelter-in-place orders being issued in mid-March, nonprofits were inventing new ways of delivering their programming, raising funds for their work, and engaging their communities. The tool they used was social media videos. Examples of their innovation are as diverse as their missions: • Museums created videos about their collections • Symphony orchestras livestreamed concerts • Literacy nonprofits read books aloud to children • Organizations serving developmentally disabled adults created exercise videos • Zoos gave behind-the-scenes access to their animals • Religious organizations offered daily prayers My team and I were profoundly inspired by the nonprofit community as we compiled this report. This is our second annual analysis of how nonprofits use video on social media, and we’re excited to share trends, valuable insights, and interviews with experts to help nonprofits create more engaging videos for the remainder of the pandemic, and in the years to come. If you missed last year’s report, we shared which social media channel was growing the fastest for nonprofit video (Instagram), which types of content were most engaging on social media (Animals & Cuteness), and whether video post frequency and engagement correlate with audience size (they do!). In this year’s report, we’ve identified5 Key Learnings to help nonprofits make better videos. Let’s dig into the data. Doug Scott FOUNDER, TECTONIC VIDEO HOW THE PANDEMIC CHANGED NONPROFIT VIDEO FOREVER 5 Methodology This report is based on the Nonprofit Video IndexTM, our proprietary data set of 778 nonprofits selected at random from a database of more than 10,000 501(c)(3) organizations. With the help of a social media analytics company, we collected one year’s worth of video post data from each nonprofit’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter account to identify trends and establish benchmarks. For this year’s report, we studied the same nonprofits and applied the same methods as last year to learn if the COVID-19 pandemic affected how nonprofits created social media videos. The Index measures nonprofits’ video post engagement rate (calculated by adding together likes, comments, favorites, retweets, shares, and reactions per video post, and dividing by audience size). We focus on the engagement rate for three reasons: 1. Nonprofits want to create videos that their followers react to, comment on and ultimately share with their friends and followers. 2. Algorithms determine which content is prioritized in social media feeds. Although each channel’s algorithm is different, and their exact ranking factors are secret, each channel says that their algorithm values engagement over everything else. The more engaging your videos are, the more likely they will be distributed to more of your followers who will share them with their friends and so on, providing you with the opportunity to reach millions of prospective fans, donors and partners. 3. By focusing on engagement rate we’re able to identify the most engaging video posts, regardless of audience size. To better quantify engagement, we developed formulas and algorithms for each channel that weigh various types of engagement in accordance with that social media channel’s known value system (for instance, Facebook values comments more than shares and likes). It should be noted that our ranking of nonprofits is based solely upon their video posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and not on their social media accounts in general, nor any video assets that aren’t posted to their social media accounts. NOTES GIFs on any platform were not included. Videos uploaded as Instagram Stories were not counted. A minimum threshold of video posts and followers was determined per channel. HOW THE PANDEMIC CHANGED NONPROFIT VIDEO FOREVER 7 Data Set The Nonprofit Video IndexTM is a cross-section of nonprofits from diverse categories, annual revenues and follower sizes. Categories • Animals • Arts, Culture, Humanities 778 Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2020 • Community Development Nonprofits included One year of video • Education* in the Index post data • Environment • Health** • Human & Civil Rights • Human Services • International 67k+ 82.5M • Research & Public Policy Total video posts Total followers of analyzed Index nonprofits Facebook, Instagram 10 Categories & Twitter A diverse cross-section The most important of nonprofits channels for nonprofits * Colleges and universities not included ** Hospitals not included 8 HOW THE PANDEMIC CHANGED NONPROFIT VIDEO FOREVER Video Posts by Category man Services , Environment , ealth , Commnity Development , International Animals , , Research & Pblic Policy , Edcation , Arts, Cltre, manities , man & Civil Rights , HOW THE PANDEMIC CHANGED NONPROFIT VIDEO FOREVER 9 Breakdown of Nonprofits in the Index 1M+ Min – 2K 1% 15% 100K – 1M 2K – 10K 10% 41% AUDIENCE 50K – 100K SIZE 7% 10K – 50K 26% 100M+ 4% $50 – $100M $0 – $5M 6% ANNUAL 47% BUDGET $15 – $50M 14% $5 – $15M 29% 10 HOW THE PANDEMIC CHANGED NONPROFIT VIDEO FOREVER Key Findings After analyzing tens of thousands of video posts, we’ve uncovered 5 Key Findings to help your nonprofit create better videos. 01. The number of video posts and amount of audience engagement increased dramatically during the pandemic. The number of video posts from nonprofits across categories increased significantly, irrespective of operating budget, audience size, or production capabilities. At more than 60%, Facebook saw the biggest increase, followed by Instagram at 33% and Twitter at 29%. Total Video Posts by Channel 2020 vs 2019 Facebook 40,947 2020 25,506 2019 Twitter 14,998 2020 11,632 2019 Instagram 11,116 2020 8,362 2019 This increase correlates with the COVID-19 pandemic. As much of the U.S. sheltered-in-place back in March and April, the number of video posts skyrocketed, and video post levels have remained elevated ever since. 12 HOW THE PANDEMIC CHANGED NONPROFIT VIDEO FOREVER Total Video Posts by Month (Cross-Channel) 12,853 11,889 8,479 8,001 8,211 7,885 7,520 7,159 7,422 7,242 5,734 4,935 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Interestingly, the increase in video posts didn’t result in significant audience growth.While audiences on each channel did increase, and Instagram repeated its rapid growth for the second year in a row, overall audience size didn’t increase in proportion to the increase in video posts. Total Audience Size 2020 vs 2019 Facebook 47M 2020 46M 2019 Twitter 22M 2020 21M 2019 Instagram 13M 2020 11M 2019 HOW THE PANDEMIC CHANGED NONPROFIT VIDEO FOREVER 13 But audience engagement did increase significantly from the previous year. This can be partly attributed to the increase in total video posts; yet audiences engaged with nonprofits’ videos overall more in 2020 than in 2019. Total Engagements 2020 vs 2019 Facebook 32.5M 2020 25.9M 2019 Twitter 9.7M 2020 7.7M 2019 Instagram 3M 2020 1.8M 2019 With the pandemic still raging across the U.S. and mass vaccination campaigns just ramping up, we expect to see elevated levels of video posts and heightened audience engagement throughout much of 2021. Takeaway Nonprofits are posting significantly more videos on social media because of the pandemic, and their audiences are engaging at heightened levels. With a return to “normal” still a long way off, nonprofits will continue to rely on video to further their missions throughout much of 2021. 14 HOW THE PANDEMIC CHANGED NONPROFIT VIDEO FOREVER 02. Livestreaming has transformed the nonprofit video landscape. Livestreaming on social media, specifically Facebook Live, exploded in 2020. Of the top 100 most engaging video posts on Facebook, 51 were livestreams. And livestreaming accounted for a significant number of top engaging videos on Instagram and Twitter as well. Top 100 Most Engaging Video Posts on Facebook LIVESTREAM HOW THE PANDEMIC CHANGED NONPROFIT VIDEO FOREVER 15 This increase in livestreaming is a significant change from the previous year when only a couple of the top 100 most engaging video posts on Facebook were livestreams. We believe there are four reasons for nonprofits’ adoption of livestreaming: 1. Nonprofits are uniquely positioned to convene people on social media. A nonprofit’s clients, staff, volunteers and donors have deep relationships with each other, and when they were unable to gather in person because of social distancing, nonprofits exercised their convening power to bring these individuals together through livestreamed events on social media. 2. When nonprofits were forced to cease in-person operations due to social distancing protocols, some programmatic, marketing and development staffers had newfound capacity to pivot their responsibilities and create videos for social media. Livestreaming requires no special equipment or technical expertise, providing an opportunity for various nonprofit staffers to create livestream videos. 3. Livestreaming is a communications medium that can be utilized for numerous purposes, and nonprofits invented ways to livestream program delivery, marketing, advocacy and fundraising.