Stray animal rescue and Social networks: Tips for posting and sharing information.
9:55 PM
Hey there guys! So I'm finally gonna be posting the first part of the stray animal rescue special, in which I'll be talking about activism in social networking. I'll address the difference in passive activism and active activism in my next post, but for now I'll tell you what I mean by "Passive Activism". My definition in this case for passive activism is the employment of social networks (Or the internet in general) to campaign for a cause, and to not interfere directly in the cause. For example, the people that spend most of their time in social networks sharing useful information about a certain subject, or ways to help in a specific case. Now, that being said, let's begin!
Posting information.
Social networks are a great way to comunicate. Most of us have facebook, twitter or tumblr accounts. We follow what interests us, and thanks to this we receive useful bits of information on a daily basis. I am no stranger to the use of social networks, I have accounts in various websites. When I started rescuing strays, I had a really hard time trying to find people who were willing to adopt. I hadn't realized how much potential social networks have for campaining. One day, I decided to make a facebook profile only for posting and sharing stray animals in need of homes. I called it "Animal Rescue Network". Later, I had the idea to make a facebook page just for that. Then, a twitter account. The idea for these accounts and page is to get info out there as much as I can. I don't really need to put a TON of work into this, just an hour or so a day to share cases, answer messages and post whatever needs to be posted.There are vital things you need to know. First of all, you need to know what to post. There is no point in posting your rescue if you don't give people the means to adopt. What I mean is that there are certain pieces of information your can't forget to share when posting something. Here's what your post should have:
- Pictures: Pictures are super important! Why? Because this is what is going to capture someone's attention. When possible owners look at the animal's picture, they're going to feel empathy and more of a connection with it, and maybe, they'll feel more tempted to adopt it.
- Phone number: Your phone number is vital! If you post a rescue online, there will usually be someone interested. You have to give them a way to contact you. The best thing is your phone number, this is by far the best way to ensure fast communication. Second best, your twitter/facebook/e-mail. The idea is to give people a way to get in touch with you.
- Location: It's important to post the city where the animal is located. This will act as a filter, since it's more likely to be contacted by people who live near you (Most of the time people adopt animals in their cities or states, given that it will be easier to go where the animal is).
- Age: You have to post the age of the animal, that way the possible owner will know what vaccines it needs, food, etc.
- Health: When rescuing a stray animal, it's very very important to take it to the vet. If the animal has any kind of disease, you have to post it so whoever wants to adopt knows about the animal's condition and continues the animal's treatment.
Sharing posts
That being said, let's move on. The whole point of posting a rescue online is to get it out there, and how do you get the world to know about your rescue? Sharing. Now, the most important thing to take into consideration and something that you can NEVER forget is to change the privacy setting on the specific post you're going to share. For example, on Facebook, you have to make the post visible to the public, that way everyone will be able to share it. Sometimes, because of the privacy settings, I can't share stuff on my page. It's really frustrating because the information doesn't really get around and that makes an adoption a lot harder.
If you're tweeting about your rescue, your account needs to be public, if not, people won't be able to retweet. Most of the time, a rescue's information doesn't fit in 140 characters. If you can, I recommend you upload the picture of your rescue to your computer and modify them in paint, adding in text the animal's info. It's a great way to share and you'll save space you could use for hashtags or mentions. Like this:
That being said, let's move on. The whole point of posting a rescue online is to get it out there, and how do you get the world to know about your rescue? Sharing. Now, the most important thing to take into consideration and something that you can NEVER forget is to change the privacy setting on the specific post you're going to share. For example, on Facebook, you have to make the post visible to the public, that way everyone will be able to share it. Sometimes, because of the privacy settings, I can't share stuff on my page. It's really frustrating because the information doesn't really get around and that makes an adoption a lot harder.
If you're tweeting about your rescue, your account needs to be public, if not, people won't be able to retweet. Most of the time, a rescue's information doesn't fit in 140 characters. If you can, I recommend you upload the picture of your rescue to your computer and modify them in paint, adding in text the animal's info. It's a great way to share and you'll save space you could use for hashtags or mentions. Like this:
On Instagram, you account also has to be public. You can upload the image without text since Instagram has no text limit. The magic is in the hashtags and the mentions. It's always good to use corny hashtags like #Puppy #Cat #Cute. The idea is to use as many hashtags as you can, specially the most popular ones, since those are the ones that people use the most and there's more of a chance people will see your photo. There's not really a way for other people to share your pictures on instagram unless they use an app that reposts or make a screenshot, but it's still a real good way to get the information out there.
I hope this post was useful! If you have any questions or recommendations leave them in the comment section and I'll answer them as soon as I can. Stay tuned for my next post: How to go from being a passive activist to being an active one. See you next time!
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