Social media is a valuable resource for animal shelters and rescue organizations. From promoting adoptable dogs to raising awareness for a shelter’s or rescue’s mission, there are plenty of benefits to integrating social media into your marketing strategy. But it can also be difficult to know where to begin or how to use social media effectively and efficiently. Here are 5 tips and tricks to help you get started and get the most out of your social media efforts.

Choose Your Platform(s) Wisely

With so many social media options available, it may be difficult to figure out which platform to focus on – or tempting to choose many. In making that decision, think about which platform(s) your target audience is likely on and how much time you’ll have to dedicate to each platform. Building and maintaining a social media community and consistently creating and posting relevant content can be time-consuming, so, depending on your resources, it may be easier to focus on just one or two platforms starting out. 

Ask yourself which platform will be best for your purpose. Here are a few to consider:

• Facebook may work well for showcasing and networking adoptable dogs and sharing educational content about responsible pet ownership.
• Instagram can be a great platform for highlighting adoptable dogs and giving them added visibility through the strategic use of hashtags.
• YouTube may be a good choice for sharing how-to videos, such as those focused on dog training.
• Pinterest could be used for creating curated collections of fun content for dog owners (think: DIY dog toys or dog-appropriate treat recipes).

Plan ahead with an Editorial Calendar

Make it easier to plan your content and stay ahead of the game by creating an editorial calendar that outlines what you’ll be posting each month. 

Be sure to include 

• pet-related holidays, such as National Dog Day,
• week-long observations, such as Be Kind to Animals Week, and 
• month-long observations, such as Spay/Neuter Awareness Month.

That way, you can create timely and relevant content around those days and observations.

Connect with Your Community, Staff, and Volunteers

Social media is a great tool for connecting with your community. You can share educational resources with your followers, celebrate milestones with them, and involve them in driving your shelter’s or rescue’s mission forward.

Think of social media marketing as a way of building a relationship with followers and having a conversation with them. Here are a few ways to approach this:

• Respond to comments and messages from your followers and do so in a timely manner.
• Ask for your followers’ feedback and ideas to involve them in your shelter’s or rescue’s cause. You could, for example, ask followers to suggest names for dogs. Or you could create a poll asking dog owners if their dogs are microchipped to help you decide if you need to create more educational content around that topic.
• Share helpful content with your followers that they value. This could range from resources about low-cost veterinary care and educational articles about microchipping and heartworm prevention to posts about how to keep pets safe on holidays that include fireworks or during severe weather events. 
• Celebrate when dogs are adopted or rescued. If people have been following your dogs’ stories for a while and have helped network them, they’ll be excited to see when they finally find their forever homes or are taken in by a rescue organization.
• Recognize staff and volunteers for their efforts.
• Ask for help if you need it. Is your rescue running low on dog food? Could your shelter use some toys to keep the canines busy (and happy)? Do you need blankets to keep dogs warm and cozy? Let your followers know what your shelter or rescue needs and give them an opportunity to step up and help out.
• Don’t forget to thank your followers for their support – be it donations, adopting, fostering, or networking. 

Create Captivating Imagery

With so much content competing for people’s attention on social media, it’s important that you make yours stand out. 

• Take high-quality, scroll-stopping photos of your shelter’s or rescue’s adoptable dogs. 
• Create beautiful designs to make sure your message is seen… and read. If you’re looking for a free and easy-to-use tool to help you with this, check out Canva.
• Brand your content by putting your shelter’s or rescue’s logo on your photos and graphics.

Craft Crisp and Concise Copy

Attention spans are short and competition is plenty on social media. Here are a few tips for structuring social media posts for your shelter or rescue:

• Keep your copy brief and to the point. 
• If you do opt for long-form content, make it easy to skim. 
• To catch readers’ attention and draw them in, it’s often a good idea to place the most interesting aspects of your posts at the beginning.
• Use a call-to-action, such as “Learn more” or “Volunteer now,” to tell your audience what you’d like them to do now that they’ve read your post.

There is a lot more that goes into social media marketing, but this quick overview should help you get started. Have any other suggestions? Share them in the comments below!

And don’t forget to check out this short blog post on social media metrics to learn how to measure the success of your social media marketing efforts.

Marketing Social Media