PADV "First Fridays" Live Video Series
Challenge
Partnership Against Domestic Violence (PADV), the largest nonprofit focused on ending domestic violence in Georgia, wanted to provide online educational resources for victims who were unable to leave their homes for extended periods of time without sparking further partner abuse.
At the beginning of the campaign, PADV filmed Q&A sessions in-person and shared them online, but when COVID-19 hit metro Atlanta in mid-March 2020, Gwinnett and Fulton counties mandated that in-person events be canceled. c21 was challenged with updating the Q&A format to meet PADV’s need. This became an even more urgent priority when the Atlanta Police Department saw domestic violence cases jump by more than 400% in April 2020 compared to the same week in 2019.
Solution
In late 2019, c21 recommended a Facebook Live video series, named “First Fridays,” designed to educate viewers - including advocates, social workers, volunteers, teachers and victims - on PADV’s mission, resources and programs. The series took place on the first Friday of every month and reinforced the idea that viewers need to put themselves first to end the abuse. To reach their goal of educating stakeholders, PADV wanted to produce at least one Facebook Live video each month and attract at least 300 unique viewers to each session.
c21 worked with the client to determine the topics and guests for each Facebook Live session. Guests included PADV specialists, community activists and organizational partners. c21 designed social media graphics for PADV’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram pages to encourage viewership and engagement. c21 also helped promote the series by creating clickable website banners for PADV’s website that drove users to the Facebook video library of past Live streams and distributed monthly newsletters promoting the sessions to 6,000+ recipients.
Three days prior to each video’s filming, c21 provided specific discussion speaking points based on the topic and guest panelists. During each Live video session, a c21 team member monitored the comments section and either answered the public’s questions on behalf of PADV or informed PADV staff of the questions after the video’s conclusion.
Results
From October 2019 through May 2020, PADV successfully completed and posted eight First Fridays videos on Facebook Live. The Live video campaign was so successful that during the shelter-in-place orders, PADV began producing more frequent Live videos in addition to the First Fridays series, resulting in a total of 17 Facebook Live videos by May 2020. This meant they surpassed the original goal of eight videos by 212.5%.
Of the eight original “First Fridays” Facebook Live videos, five received at least 300 views; however, PADV’s entire collection of Facebook Live videos from October 2019 to May 2020 received an average of 347 unique viewers, surpassing the goal of 300 unique viewers by 115%. These Live videos also received 129 shares and 249 comments across all videos. The series brought PADV a highly engaged audience to hear about their resources and message of advocacy in a time when domestic violence cases were spiking.