In case you hadn’t realized, video is no longer a fad. It has become a fait accompli.
As we’ve seen in this series, which has examined Shareablee data made available exclusively to PR News, consumer engagement with U.S. brands—B2C and B2B—on social media in Q1 2016 has grown year over year. Tremendous increases in consumer engagement with video posts have powered the bulk of the growth. Consumer engagement, or actions, is defined as the sum of retweets and likes.
The same pattern seen with B2C and B2B ( PRN, July 11) holds true for nonprofits, the subject of this week’s Data Dive. In Q1 2016, U.S. nonprofits generated 5.3 million actions on Twitter, a 49% improvement compared with the same time last year. A 125% increase in engagement with video content on the platform was responsible for the growth. Actions rose 49%, from 3.56 million to 5.3 million.
Loyal readers of this column may notice a wrinkle. The chart now includes a percentage comparison between consumer actions in Q1’16 and Q1’15.
As you can see, PETA was the brand with the most consumer engagement during the quarter, generating nearly 751,000 actions, more than twice as many as Planned Parenthood, the second-most engaged brand and the top in year-over-year growth (445%).
PETA’s engagement represented a 51% year-over-year improvement in spite of posting 3% fewer tweets. Only 4% of PETA’s engagement was generated from video. Yet one of its top posts was a video about the danger of eating chicken while pregnant. A quote about climate change from the actor Leonardo DiCaprio also pulled.
peta2, PETA’s youth organization, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) rounded out the top five. UNHCR’s Twitter success was driven by video, which accounted for 16% of its total engagement—more than any nonprofit. Half of its 10 most-engaged tweets were videos, including one that featured Syrian refugees sharing their stories. WWF generated the most actions per tweet among nonprofits with 502.
Make-A-Wish America posted the most-engaged tweet, which featured Justin Bieber, proving again that celebrity partnerships can generate significant engagement for brands.
