These days, social media marketing is a valuable skill for just about any entity that wants to reach and engage with its target audience. The same is true for the animal welfare agencies and their representatives to be able to accomplish their respective goals for the organization. This presentation goes through the most common social media and communications challenges encountered in animal services and how to overcome these.

Leading the discussion is Angelina Martin. Angelina is currently the Public Information Specialist for the County of Marin in California. Angelina is also the owner of Online Media Solutions, a media agency that helps provide social media solutions through onsite and remote training and assistance for animal shelters.

Points she covered in her presentation include:

• The top challenges that surfaced from people reaching out to Angelina for assistance in social media management and marketing.
• How identifying challenges helps us realize we’re not alone and come up with possible solutions.
• The ways that some team members underestimate the value of social media marketing.
• The various skills required for social media management and how effectiveness in these translates to ROI.
• The concept of compassion fatigue, how those working in animal services are subject to this regularly, and how it impacts work performance as well as the organization’s outcomes.
• Angelina’s experience with compassion fatigue and how it impacted her professionally and emotionally.
• Managing compassion fatigue by acknowledging it, learning to set boundaries, and recognizing its impact on creativity and productivity.
• The concept of workload capacity in animal shelters and how it impacts the staff, the animals’ outcomes, and organizational productivity.
• Employing efficiencies such as standardized templates, messaging, and content to counteract capacity challenges and alleviate compassion fatigue.
• The inevitability of disasters and emergencies and how social media can be leveraged during these times to effectively utilize and maximize resources.
• The value of planning and having a basic communication plan as well as content and messaging to be better prepared mentally, physically, and emotionally in case of disasters or emergencies.
• The importance of having clear social media marketing goals instead of merely relying on pushing out content based on what’s trending and doing so at the last minute.
• Practicing caution and researching first before utilizing trending music/content that may not be aligned with your organization’s goals or may negatively impact its reputation.
• The importance of branding to create trust and connection with the target audience through familiarity and consistency.
• Ensuring top customer service by observing consistency through standardized and positive messaging when answering frequently asked questions.
• The advantage of focusing on strategic planning and measuring success beyond views and likes to assess the impact of posts on actual performance indicators.
• Understanding how to leverage insights to work around social media algorithm.

Questions from the webinar audience are about:

• The advent of AI and how it may impact social media.
• Prioritizing which animals to push out to social media when a number are at risk.
• Reaching out to partners for at-risk cases.
• Engaging with negative social media comments.
• The pros and cons of using a business account versus a creator account on Instagram.

View our Animal Welfare Webinar  Schedule and Recordings

Audience Comments

• “It is great to hear updates to ensure our tactics are still effective. I understand that social media trends and algorithms change frequently, so I love attending webinars on this topic to stay up to date.” — Haley
• “Reinforcing how to use Ai as an idea generator. Saving time with “10 ways” to express common themes. Thank you!” — Marguerite
• “Information about compassion fatigue was very informative.” — Wanda
• “Social media success is all about putting in the work and working smarter.” — Nicholas
• “Great consideration for public opinion and the use of social media and loving animals.” — Travis
• “Consistency is important in successful social media marketing.” — Tiffany

This webinar is part of the JCH Summer School Program. From June 1-August 31, 2023, attendees will receive a certificate of attendance via email about one hour after the conclusion of a webinar.

Want to join us for other Summer School webinars? Check out our Summer School Calendar and register today!

This webinar has been certified by the National Animal Care & Control Association and is approved for 1 Continuing Education Unit. Please refer to your NACA membership portal for current CEU submission process. Current NACA Members who attend the live presentation or watch the recording will be able to download a jointly issued attendance certificate that includes the National Animal Care & Control Association logo. Visit the NACA training page for a complete list of future trainings.