7 NEED-TO-KNOW Social Media Statistics About Video

Brady Shearer: In this podcast, I’ll share with you seven need to know social media statistics about video. For example, did you know that Facebook videos receive 135% more organic reach on average than Facebook photo? It’s true. What else do you need to know about video on social media? You’ll learn it all coming up. 

Alex Mills: Well, hey there and welcome to ProChurch tools. The show where in 10 minutes or less you’re going to get a dose of tips and tactics to help your church share the message of Jesus while we navigate the biggest communication shift in 500 years. I’m your host, Alex Mills, joined as always by the boss man, Brady Shearer. 

Brady Shearer: Alex, I was speaking at a conference, just yesterday, and one of the conference attendees came up to me after my talk and asked, “How can I diversify what we’re posting on social media?” The first thing that came to mind was using all of the different mediums that social makes available to us. So if you’re doing a lot of photo, make sure that you’re also engaging with video as well. 

Alex Mills: Right. 

Brady Shearer: And in this episode, we want to share seven need to know social media statistics about video that demonstrate, not only the power of video, but also its ability to bypass certain algorithmic necessities that say that organic is going to go down, and just illustrate how amazing social media video can be. 

Alex Mills: Well, Brade, we’ve been talking a lot about video recently, and especially how it relates to social media and the strategies that we should be employing as churches. We’ve been talking about video for a long time, because it does perform differently on social platforms than other kind of content and I think these statistics kind of give some really good insight into why and how and we’re going to get some great insight from this information here today. 

Brady Shearer: Statistic number one: Tweets with video attracted 10 times more engagements than tweets without video. And that comes directly from Twitter. We all know that attention and engagement are so important on social, and if you could simply swap out a photo or text for a video, just change the mediums, and that will, on average, up your engagement by 10 times. That is a no brainer. 

Alex Mills: Well, on Twitter, it’s kind of a text dominated feed. It just how it’s designed, so I find I don’t see a lot of videos on Twitter, relative to other social platforms, so when I do see a video, I’m much more likely to click. 

Brady Shearer: Statistic number two: Where both video and text are available on the same page, 72% of people would rather use video to lean about a product or service. So again, this comes through disseminating information and sharing information with the world and your audience, it seems that most would prefer video over text. 

Alex Mills: That’s me. 

Brady Shearer: Statistic number three: This is my favorite statistic of all. If you hear anything from this episode, this is what you should be paying attention to. This comes directly from HubSpot. And I quote, “There’s a popular misconception that people will generally only share frivolous entertainment video. I.e. cats and /or epic fails. But our findings suggest that if you create video content that your specific audience enjoys, 83% of consumers would consider sharing it with their friends.”

Alex Mills: Wow. 

Brady Shearer: What I love about this, is that there is this misconception. That the stuff that performs best on social is the kind of meaningless, empty calorie content that we love to share because it’s just fun. But, the findings from HubSpot suggest that if you are a church and you’re creating content that is really meaningful and valuable for your audience, so maybe maybe one of the five social media templates that we talked about on a previous episode of ProChurch Tools, this is the type of stuff that people are very willing and likely to share. 

Brady Shearer: And so when I think about sharing the gospel with the world, I think of a person sharing of a post that I make that shares an entire passage of scripture, and then my church clicks that share button, endorses that, and expands that post’s reach to their entire sphere of influence and family and friends on social, that is an amazing way to share the message of Jesus. That’s missions work right there, and again, it all comes down to just using the video medium as a starting point. 

Alex Mills: That’s incredible. And we talk about sharing how it is, the highest form of public endorsement on social, and as far as interactions, whether it be likes, comments, or shares, shares kind of sit atop of that hierarchy as the most valuable engagement that we can get on social, but that means it’s probably the most difficult to get. And so this stat gives you some really great insight into how to get more shares. Well, create more specific video content for your audience, and we have a pretty good idea as churches of who our audience is, so it shouldn’t be that hard. 

Brady Shearer: Like, we know that more than half of all American adults wish they read the Bible more. 58%. 

Alex Mills: Of all American adults, not just Christians. 

Brady Shearer: Exactly. So if you made a video that shared an entire passage of scriptures using the Bible reading template that we talked about, and we talk about a lot, and you knew that when you created that, it would trigger a huge number of shares, because we know that video content is very shareable based on the findings of HubSpot, what you’re basically doing is you’re creating an entire missions strategy using social, where you’re taking the words of Jesus, and knowing the way that social works and the existing culture, the way that we interact with media online, you’re knowing that that reach of those words of Jesus is going to have an exponential impact because people are going to share it with their friends and people are wanting to read the Bible, and now your mission strategy is using social to accomplish that goal where there’s already a felt need. 

Alex Mills: Yup. 

Brady Shearer: That is missions for the 21st century, for 2019 and beyond. 

Alex Mills: This is why we say that social and digital is becoming its own ministry. This is why we say it, this is why, and why we believe it. Because, like you said, this is missions in action. This has a broader scope than we could have ever have dared to imagine, and especially using shares and creating content that people are going to want to share, this is just incredible. 

Brady Shearer: Go into all the world. 

Alex Mills: Yeah. 

Brady Shearer: Guess what. All the world is in one place. It’s never been easier. 

Alex Mills: Right. 

Brady Shearer: Stat number four: By 2020 online videos will make up more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic. That’s 85% in the US. 

Alex Mills: Wow. 

Brady Shearer: What that means is that if you begin investing in video content, this is not a short sighted strategy, this is only going to go up. We’re at the beginning of this trend. It’s only to become more pervasive. So invest now, because it’s going to be worth it in the long run. 

Brady Shearer: Statistic number five: Facebook videos receive 135% more organic reach on average than a Facebook photo. Again, the algorithm is a mystery, but it’s always giving us little clues as to what we can do increase our organic reach. And if you’re a church that’s not willing or able to spend a ton on social, just using videos is a great way to boost your organic reach automatically. 

Alex Mills: Yeah. 

Brady Shearer: Statistic number six: nearly two thirds of consumers prefer video under 60 seconds. And this points to the importance of micro content. Taking something that’s more long form and making it more digestible in a short form format, which is perfect conducive for social. On Instagram you can’t even have a video in the feed that’s longer than 60 seconds. That’s why IGTV exists. And so, this is something that you need to begin thinking through. How can we take our content and turn it into micro content, short form in nature?

Alex Mills: Right. 

Brady Shearer: And then finally, statistic number seven: 85% of Facebook is watched without sound because of the autoplay feature. And this is why captions are so important. Recognize that when your video is going to be shared on social, the vast majority, 8.5 persons out of 10, will not consume it with sound. 

Alex Mills: Wow. 

Brady Shearer: So how can you compensate for that? Inherently recognizing that the vast majority are not going to turn on sound. The bare minimum, you got to have captions on. But how can we begin using different types of videos that have maybe the words on the screen in other ways? 

Alex Mills: Right. So that’s a ton of information. A ton of stats. What do we do with all of this now?

Brady Shearer: Three takeaways. Takeaway number one: Pay attention to the first three seconds of each of your videos, including the first frame. The first frame on Instagram, and on Facebook probably more important on Instagram, will be the thumbnail of your video. So, I see this a lot where people have a black beginning. 

Alex Mills: Black frame, yeah. 

Brady Shearer: And they fade in, but their video just looks black. That is not engaging whatsoever. And when it comes to the videos that we see in our feeds, those first three seconds are where you are going to either gain someone’s attention, or lose it. So pay attention to that very beginning of your video. That is where all of the attention is up for grabs and there’s going to be a huge drop off after that. So focus on those first three seconds. 

Alex Mills: Yes. 

Brady Shearer: Takeaway number two: Begin asking yourself, how can we do more with video in 2019 and moving forward. We’re doing this ourselves. 

Alex Mills: We are. 

Brady Shearer: For example, we invested a ton in Facebook video and YouTube video in 2018 with long form content, because we weren’t doing as much as we should have been doing on YouTube, and looking forward into 2019, we’re asking ourselves how can we now take this long form and turn it, reproduce it, or repurpose it in a micro format. In a short form format for Facebook, but also more importantly for Instagram. You should be asking your church this as well. How can we invest more into video? Should we hire someone in house? Should we outsource? What can we do? 

Brady Shearer: And then finally, takeaway number three: What can you do with video recognizing that most people won’t have sound on? At least at first. We covered that briefly. Recognize the way that people are consuming video, and then reverse engineer, understanding their behavior, how you can reconcile what you’re trying to do with what they are already doing. 

Alex Mills: Right. You have to look at the behaviors of users, and I hope that’s what these statistics have kind of helped our listeners do today. See how people are interacting with video, why they’re interacting with video that way, and like you said, reverse engineer what you’re going to make and how you’re going to make it that way. 

Alex Mills: Don’t create some sort of strategy based off of what you think is going to look best or serve you as a creative best, because frankly, that doesn’t matter. Reverse engineer how to reach your people based off of their behavior. And these stats give you some great insight into how people are interacting with video online. 

Brady Shearer: Of course we want to help your church with social media, so we put together a checklist. We’re calling it the new checklist, social media for churches. If you go to checklist.church, you can download it for free. It’ll also be linked in the show notes. The perfect partner for when you are planning out these posts. Every single thing you need to consider to make sure you’re setting your church up for success. The new social media checklist for churches, linked in the show notes, or go directly to www.checklist.church. 

Brady Shearer: And that’ll do it for this episode of ProChurch Tools. We’ll you see you next time.