Social Media Best Practices For Animal Rescue

Whether raising money or finding forever homes for fosters, I see 1 problem that Animal rescues need help with.  They need help find people that are different than the people they already know.  They need to expand into the realm of unknown influencers of the web.  They need to be always cultivating the new contacts.  But what is the system?

Here are 17 ways to get past just friends and family. 17 Ways Marketers can Leverage Facebook Graph Search   Now the goal here is to find people you do not know and target their interests.  So use the search bar like below:

With this type of search you can type anything in the search bar, geographic locations plus some interests tied to your rescue … or needing fosters for certain breeds… Get creative, reach new people.  You can take the people you find and put them in a group.  Then when you are ready to target your posts using ads on Facebook take a look at this reference Facebook Organic Post Targeting.  There are 7 free tools that you can use to help keep your posts take flight free-facebook-tools-marketers-should-consider. 

Now finding twitter people that are not on your radar is just the same.  Use the search bar and put in the places or terms your are looking for just like with Facebook.  Remember you have already found the people you know will adopt or donate, now you need to pass on the next level — People you do not know.  It just doesn’t “happen”  you have to work at it.  Here is a great article of some great ideas that can help Improve your twitter marketing results.

This search and building lists takes work.  But when you have a crisis, or are on a donation campaign, your lists will be ready to go.

Crowdfunding and Crisis Communication

Can your rescue take a crisis and turn it into a fundraising opportunity?
Yes it can, but it takes some strategic planning.  Your goal is to present your crisis to more people than just your friends and family.  This is harder than it sounds.  Try using the steps below.

1. Monitor the conversation when a crisis hits.  Can you control the conversation when a crisis hits?  Yes you can.  The goal is to stay ahead of the conversation.  Below is a system that does just that. 

For more information on these 4 steps, visit http://wearesocial.net

2.  Control the conversation.  Once you have an information tracking system in place, you need to control the information and how you present your side of the story.  This resource will help you do just that.  The 5 Step Guide To Using Social Media in Crisis Management

3.  Use the information in your crowdfunding efforts.  Now for the big question, can you take this information and use it your crowdfunding efforts?  Yes you can.  These are the organizational numbers and communication backbone to get your crowdfunding efforts past your family and friends.  The Future of Fundraising explains how fundraising is changing with the social media times.  There are many fundraising sites that can get the job done as you can see in e-fundraising-methods.  However what I see most for Animal Rescue and Crisis for Animal Causes is GoFundMe.  Here are 11 steps to help you set up the perfect Crowdsourcing campaign.

4.  Get the information past the friends and family layer.  But what do you do when you have no more people to send out your great campaign to?  You use some great social media tools to find your next layer of people.  First Facebook has some great ways to segment who your posts go to.  This is very handy when finding new people. Grow Your Facebook Fans Without a Budget is an excellent way to find people to get past just friends and family for Crowdfunding during a crisis.  Facebook Targeted Posts is another perfect resource.

But let’s not cut out Twitter.  Improve Your Twitter Marketing Results shows you how to segment who gets a new twitter post from you.  But there is more, Hashtagify.me can show you additional influencers that may add you GoFundMe campaign to their Twitter feed.  Due to their influence they may actually swing you a few dollars.

So to get past the friends and family line in a GoFundMe crisis, try the steps above.  Use Social Media Crisis Communication and Seek out new levels of people to send your fundraising campaign too.

 

 

 

Win Animal Rescue Grants Measuring the Impact on 5 Freedoms

Your Pet Rescue is organized, and it has a list of grants to apply for. Many grant applications look for very specific information when they open those applications. Here some ways to make yours stand out.

Measure your Animal Rescue’s impact on the 5 Freedoms of an animal’s life. Below you can see the 5 basic qualities that measure a great foster experience.
Let’s put this into numbers to show impact. Here are some ideas that might get your creative juices going.

Going left to right, highlight the number of wonderful homes in your program. If you are hoping to expand into a special needs area, highlight your need for equipment. Focus on your current success rate protecting your current population from the elements and providing comfort. Show your numbers of both inside animals, and how you provided shelter to those who are less fortunate.

Showing impact for providing shelter is easy, but how do you measure a stress free environment from an animal’s perspective? Storytelling is a great way to express an animal overcoming fear and distress. Is there an animal that has overcome great odds that you can showcase as a success story?

Let’s move on to showing the foster animals at their best.  How are you presenting your information about engaging those fosters? Sufficient space and proper facilities to move freely is key. How many events do your rescues go to where they socialize? Have training classes for fosters been invested in? Making sure these animals are presented in the best adoptable state is the answer to grant success. Show how you get them to their best. What systems do you have in place and how do you measure those systems success?

The next section is on disease control and medical care.  We all know showing the impact of a successful spayed and neutered program is important. The PetSmart spay/neuter and preventative care program can help you get your information geared in the right direction. But there are other ailments that you should be highlighting in our grants. What about the number of heartworm cases, accident/abuse victims, or undernourished animals that you have handled successfully? When thinking of these cases think of how far your reach spans. Does your intake come from just your immediate area? Or are you receiving animals from neighboring areas as well? Showing magnitude brings grants.

The last freedom is freedom from hunger and thirst. Feeding fosters seems like a basic task. But showing off the community support can present your Animal Rescue in a vibrant light. Think about how many organizations donate food for your animals? Educating a community as part of your mission is a great way to get noticed in the grant world. Craft a few sentences about what you do in this area.  Here are another reference for more help Quantifying the results of sheltering

When you craft your grant application, use action verbs.  Measure your impact on the animals in your area. Here is a great list of action verbs to help you write the perfect grant.