Social media has become a new domain of writing, advertising, promotion, and fundraising. Rescues need to engage in these platforms to help their animals get adopted, but the task can seem daunting and overwhelming. Creating an organized schedule and focusing on which platforms your rescue want to use will be important. There are a plethora of helpful tools and strategies for making a social media plan, but let’s break down some of the basics that are best for animal rescues to understand and utilize to get the most out of their posts. For specific information on why social media is important for rescues, how to use Facebook or Instagram as an animal rescue, or how to schedule posts ahead of time in detail, check out our other blog posts.
Pick Your Platform
Facebook. Instagram. Tumblr. Pinterest. LinkedIn. Reddit. YouTube. Qzone. Twitter...
That’s a lot of platforms, and honestly, there is even more than that to choose from. The point is that there are lots of choices so it’s important to take a targeted approach and choose one or two that would be the most impactful. According to research, shelters most commonly use: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Each platform has tools that can track and measure the number of views, likes, and shares. This information can be used to optimize the timing and content of the shelter’s posts.
Pick Your Timing
When planning your posts, national days of recognition or dates of fundraising events can cobble together into a tangled mess. With 365 days in a year, and countless dedications for days or months of the year, it can be confusing and overwhelming to find what is most relevant. By utilizing a calendar and/or a spreadsheet, a shelter can plan content well in advance of when it is posted to social media.
Shelters can use a calendar to develop a story for followers and track upcoming relevant events. There are great resources such as found on HubSpot and Hootsuite for creating a schedule for social media management. The schedule can help plan out days that are related to shelter animals, such as National Dog Day, Take your Dog to Work Day, as well as dates that are meaningful to the organization, such as a fundraiser gala. It can also highlight what platform will be used and any supporting materials such as images or links. This way the shelter can plan ahead and have the resources ready for day of.
Pick Your Media
Photos. Videos. Boomerang.
Social media is full of visual content so it is important to think of ways to stand out among the crowd. While photos and videos are not the only media, they are the most common to be shared. Other media might include web links to articles, web links to supporting businesses or organizations, polls and quizzes on Instagram, Facebook live videos or links to the shelter web page.
Pick Relevant Content
Whether it is Adopt a Senior Pet Month or a shelter makes a direct ask for supplies, it is important to develop a brief statement or caption of how the photo is related to the organization.
A cute photo of a cat won’t tell an audience that a shelter is in need of paper towels. However, if the photo was of a cat next to the last roll of paper towels on the supply shelf, a shelter can create a caption that includes a direct ask for assistance from their followers. The subject of the photo is still the cat, but it allows a secondary element to tie in and develop the content in a natural way. Planning out these captions ahead of time will make the day of less stressful.
Sharing is Caring
Remind followers to ‘like’ and ‘share’ the posted content. The best way for the media to reach beyond a post is to have followers that engage with it and will share the content for others to see. Whether it is an animal up for adoption or a special fundraiser - having a social community that shares the content drastically increases the visibility of the organization. See the opening paragraph of this blog post for other relevant articles where making a social media post on Facebook and Instagram is explained.
The Whole Package
Knowing how to pull these elements together can be tricky. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals to achieve as an organization and develop a scheduling framework for implementation. (Learn about the S.M.A.R.T. goal framework here). There are many excellent resources with examples of how to set up social media strategies to benefit animal shelters. Content calendars and spreadsheets are also helpful to develop a targeted approach of media posts that involve events, fundraisers, and national days of recognition. Pet Rescue Resources also has an article detailing this process called "Scheduling Social Media Posts". While it does take time and resources to develop a social media presence, it has proven to be an effective means to increase visibility of animal shelters.
For shelters already engaged in social networks, here are some great hints and tips to help boost media engagement.
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