Chew On This!

Why 'useless' Facebook comments on posts about animals in need aren't so useless after all

Don't you just hate it when your shelter or rescue group's Facebook posts about animals in need get a string of comments that don't actually offer any form of help? If so, you might want to take comfort from a simple peculiarity of Facebook that makes those "useless" comments useful after all.

It should be obvious that when shelters and rescue groups post a story about a pet in need on Facebook, they're doing it to get that pet adopted, to recruit volunteers and fosters or to raise funds. Dozens or hundreds of comments begging "someone" to do something, or saying "I'd take this dog if I didn't live in France and already have 14 pets" can be incredibly frustrating to whoever has to read endlessly through the comments looking for an adoption offer or important question.

"I manage the Shelter Pet Project's Facebook page as well as those of some smaller adoption and animal welfare organizations, and I know first-hand how frustrating that can be," said social media consultant Christie Keith.

"But on Facebook, those comments are actually incredibly valuable, because every single time someone comments on your post, Facebook interprets that engagement as a sign your post is interesting to your followers, and rewards it with increased reach."

In other words, even if the content of the comment isn't helpful, the fact that someone cared enough about your post to make the comment is.

"It's a fact of life that many people aren't going to read the whole post, let alone click on a link," Keith said. "They'll miss information you've already given them, like if the pet needs to be an only dog or cat, or where he or she is located. And they'll also persist in saying those things that drive us all crazy when we're trying to accomplish something specific. But discouraging those comments by our own restrictive remarks is counter-productive in the Facebook environment."

How can shelters and rescue groups handle this problem? Keith has one suggestion: "Find one of those people who live online and ask them if they'll monitor the comments and text or email you if they see a legitimate offer of help or a question that needs answering. That way, you can turn an armchair rescuer into someone who can free up other volunteers or staff members to do more concrete offline tasks."

Beyond that, she says, managing online community is not a simple, "just the facts, ma'am" kind of job.

"It's a specific skill that can make a huge difference in terms of getting more and better reach on adoption, recruitment and fundraising pleas," Keith explained. "We can't always be in crisis mode; we have to be more strategic with our social media plan. And that means finding a way to accept the reality of human nature and use it, rather than try to change it -- which we'll never be able to do -- or silence it, which in this case will work against us."

So the next time you're faced with two hundred "useless" Facebook comments, just remind yourself: Comments equal reach!

Also of interest:

Social media: 6 new things animal organizations need to know

 

One Facebook fix to rule them all

Have you ever gone to share a link on your shelter or rescue group's Facebook page, and had it come up without an image? Yes, there really is something you can do about that!

First, some background.

Facebook posts that share a link with a nice, in-focus, full-column-wide image do better than posts that show without an image, or with a thumbnail. (Note: this is about sharing links on Facebook, not actual uploaded photos.)

Sometimes the website displays its logo or an ugly or irrelevant photo; sometimes it shares a small, square, thumbnail-sized image. In those instances, on desktop only, Facebook pages (but not individual accounts) can upload their own image instead, making the post more share-worthy and ensuring more people will interact with and see the post.

But what if no image at all comes up?

Very rarely it's because the website itself has no graphic image associated with the page. If that's the case, there's nothing you can do about it.

But usually, there is an image; it just doesn't get delivered to Facebook in that moment.

First, close your Facebook page on your browser. Then go to the Facebook debugger at https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/.

Enter the URL of the link you're trying to share.

Click "Debug."

Here, you can scroll down and see the error messages that prevented the image from displaying. If this is your organization's website, make sure whoever manages your website sees them so they can be fixed.

If it's not your website, or after you've copied the messages, go back up and click "Fetch new scrape information."

Then, for reasons no one can really explain, click it again.

Now, open your organization's Facebook page again. Paste in the URL. This time, it should work correctly!

Remember: If the post looks unappealing, it won't perform as well. Take the time to make sure every shared link has a photo that takes up the whole column, not just a thumbnail, logo, etc. It's worth the few extra minutes to get it right!

Why fundraising for animals can't be an afterthought

The only thing worse than asking your supporters for money all the time is not asking them often enough.

No one wants to get hit over the head with fundraising pleas all the time, no matter how much they support a cause. But almost never asking your supporters for donations can backfire, too.

There's a reason most successful charities raise funds year-round, and keep up a regular schedule of mailings and social media posts reminding their followers to give and keeping them up to date on what they're doing with their donations.

It's because most people need multiple reminders to do something before they do it. That's true of trying a new dish washing liquid, Christmas shopping, adopting a pet or donating to a cause.

Additionally, organizations that have a good infrastructure for donations -- clear information on their website with an easy process and multiple ways to give, such as recurring donations or donations directed toward a specific program or fund, or memorial and gift donations -- will always be more successful. Those things take time to develop, and take real-world use to optimize.

One more point: People who've already given to your organization are more likely to give to it again. But that means you need to maintain a relationship with them, to let them know what you did with their money, and to be transparent about your financial operations. Doing that requires some planning and follow-up, not just a desperate late-night post on Facebook begging for money to treat a pet's broken leg.

Yes, you run the risk of seeming like all you care about is money. Groups have to be careful not to abuse the trust their supporters have placed in them by annoying them. But they also shouldn't abuse that trust by not doing the best possible job you can do to create a sustainable effort to help animals.

Also of interest:

Fundraising 2.0: From the grassroots to a multi-million dollar animal organization

How to schedule posts in advance on Twitter without third-party software

Would you like to be able to schedule pet adoption and fundraising Tweets in advance, without having to pay to use third party software? Well, you can!

Twitter can be a good way to get the word out about available pets and is great for raising money. However, many animal organizations find the time constraints of effective Tweeting make it impractical.

While Twitter is much friendlier to frequent Tweets than Facebook is to frequent posts, followers usually don't like getting several Tweets in a row from the same account.

Since shelters and rescue groups usually don't have a volunteer or staff member who can sit on Twitter all day long Tweeting every hour or so, the fix for that problem has usually been to post less-than-optimally or use third party schedulers like Hootsuite.

But Twitter, like Facebook, has native scheduling functionality. You can program Tweets to go out when you want them to -- if, that is, you know how.

Twitter has hidden its scheduler in the area where ads are created, and although scheduling Tweets is free, it does require you to create an ad account.

Right now, Twitter ads aren't very cost-effective for rescue groups and shelters, but because that could change in the future, setting up an advertising account isn't necessarily pointless even if the scheduler wasn't buried there.

How do you do it?

1. Log into your organization's Twitter account and then go to ads.twitter.com to create an advertising account. You'll need a credit card, even though you won't be charged unless you opt to advertise.

2. Click on the "Creatives" menu, and select "Tweets."

3. Click on "Compose Tweet" in the upper right hand corner.

4. Compose your Tweet, then choose the "Scheduling" tab just below it.

5. Click "Finish." A link will pop up showing you where you can edit or delete scheduled Tweets.

For more information, visit the Twitter Help Center.

 

 

How frequently should your animal organization post to Facebook?

How frequently should your animal shelter or rescue group post to Facebook?

"The answer to that question, which I'm asked all the time, reminds me of the old saying about how long your legs should be," said social media consultant Christie Keith. "Your legs should be exactly long enough to reach the ground."

In other words, animal organizations should post to their Facebook pages with the frequency that exposes their pets and their cause to the largest appropriate audience.

"The frequency you should post isn't related to how much time you have, how many volunteers you have who want to do it, or how many pets you need to find homes for," Keith said. "Your ideal posting frequency is a straightforward data point you should be able to find simply by paying attention to how different posting schedules impact reach, comments and shares on your posts."

Which doesn't mean there aren't guidelines. Posting more than twice a day, or less than three hours apart, is almost certainly going to harm your ability to reach and engage your page's followers.

"I see shelters and rescue groups that flood their pages with posts all day and all night, sometimes more frequently than every hour," Keith said. "This is absolutely a terrible idea. It will reduce overall reach, annoy your followers, and cause your efforts to be far less successful than they would be if you posted more strategically.

"I would rather see animal groups make the opposite mistake -- posting too rarely -- because while it won't help you, it also doesn't hurt you the way over-sharing does."

Where to start?

1. Post once per day at 3 PM local time and 8 PM local time to start, Keith advises. "I manage the Shelter Pet Project Facebook page, and after a great deal of trial and error, we learned those are the best times in terms of shares, comments and reach. Late nights are especially good for shares about pets needing adoption." She finds the evening is also prime time for fundraising for the medical expenses of abused or badly injured animals.

2. Watch the analytics that Facebook gives for each post. Once you have a baseline, try to post earlier or later; see how it impacts your numbers.

3. Experiment with posting just once per day. See how it affects your numbers.

4. Once you've established your best times of day and frequency of posting, stick with it only as long as it keeps working. If you see a drop-off, it may be because things have changed on Facebook. "If that's the case, you have to start the whole process over," Keith said. "The numbers don't lie."

One of Keith's biggest frustrations is animal groups that post all day long but don't get involved in conversation with their followers in the comments section of their posts.

"The more conversation that happens on a post, the more of your followers Facebook will show it to," she said. "If you have staff or volunteers who want to be involved in Facebook, tell them to work the comments section instead of posting over and over. Comments will help you; excessive posting only hurts."

Also of interest:

Social media: 6 new things animal organizations need to know

Helping animal organizations deal with Facebook's 'reach squeeze'

How to advertise pets for adoption on Facebook

If you've been inspired by our recent post on just how much exposure $5 will get your available pets on Facebook, but aren't sure how to get started advertising on the social network, this post's for you!

Creating your advertising account:

1. If you don't already have a Facebook advertising account, create one here.

2. Once you're done, it will take you right to the page to create an ad. However, instead, first take the tutorial at this link.

3. If you still have questions, call 1-800-601-0077 to get set up.

4. Once your account is created and you're ready to begin building your first ad, go to this link and click on "Manage Your Ads" in the upper right hand corner.

While the basics are covered in the tutorial, here are the steps and tips that will help you get your pets in front of the best audience for the least amount of money:

1. Click on "Create Ad" in the upper right hand corner.

2. Select "Boost Your Posts."

3. If you manage more than one page, select the one you want to promote the post on.

4. If you already have a post you want to promote, select that one. If not, you can click on the plus symbol and create one from scratch. Be aware that Facebook won't let you promote a photo, even if it's on a link, if it has a large amount of text on it.

For now, we'll assume you already have a post ready to promote.

Now click "Continue."

1. In step 1, Facebook will give your campaign a generic name. You may want to re-name it. Just delete what they gave you and type in anything that makes sense to you, such as the pet's name and the date.

2. Scroll down to step 2, "Create your ad set."

3. Ignore the custom audience field for now.

4. Under "location," the default will be your country. For adoption, you usually will want to target within a given distance of your area. Type in the name of your community and select it from the available choices. The default will be a 25-mile radius, but you can edit that as appropriate, to as little as 0 miles to as many as 50. If you want to advertise beyond 50 miles, simply select another community farther away, and target them as well, with the appropriate radius.

5. Select your desired age range and gender. These selections can influence how much your ads cost and how many people will see them, which you should take into consideration. However, you should  make your selection based on the best audience for the pet you're featuring instead of cost and reach.

6. Typically, it's not necessary to select language, but if it's important in your community, you can do so here. Be aware this will have a definite impact on reach and cost.

7. Scroll past "Interests" and "Behavior" and select your budget. For right now, leave it on "Per day" and select $5 if it's not already selected for you. Now return to "Interests."

"Interests" is where you'll have the most fun, get the most bang for your buck, and see the most benefit over using the "Boost" button on your page itself.

1. Interests can be another page, a hobby, or any type of activity that someone might post or participate in pages and groups about on Facebook. It can be running, hiking, baseball, knitting, or shoes! You can also select "dogs" or "cats," or big terms like "pet adoption" and "animal welfare."

2. You can add national and local organizations and businesses, including other shelters and rescue groups in your area. Remember if you add national organizations or businesses, your ads will still only be shown to those people in the area you targeted in the location section.

Be aware that pages without large numbers of followers, or interests that aren't already in the database, can't be selected.

3. Play around with this section. Add one interest, and see how it impacts your reach. Often, adding a very popular interest drives up the cost of the ad, which reduces reach. If that happens, remove that interest and see what the result is. Through trial and error, you'll come to a balance of a good audience for your message and a substantial reach at a low cost.

You can see more examples of how careful use of targeting can impact reach and cost here.

4. Note that you can save your audience, so if you are happy with the one you've created, give it a name and save it!

Now, you can go back to the budget.

1. If you're a beginner, it's best to start small -- at Maddie's Institute, we rarely spend more than $3 to promote a post, but once you get the hang of it, you might want to invest more money and let the ads run for a longer time period. For now, though, start small and see how the ad performs.

2. You can set a daily or lifetime budget, and select when you want the ad to run. If you select "lifetime budget," you can actually select the exact times of day you want the ad to run! Note that considering pet adoption is a popular late night activity for a lot of people, so don't shut the ads down just because you figure everyone will be in bed!

3. Optimize for post engagement, and let Facebook select the bid for you.

4. Facebook sells ad space on a bid basis, which means ad costs change constantly. It varies day to day and throughout the day, so if you get disappointing reach for your budget, you can always wait and run the ad later, when prices are lower.

5. Big retail holidays like Black Friday or Memorial Day weekend, and the whole period around Christmas, tend to be very expensive, so plan to avoid them if you can.

Now you'll go to Step 3, still on the same page.

1. Since we're boosting an existing post in this example, there's little to do here except look at all three views: Desktop, mobile and right column.

2. You shouldn't run an ad that doesn't look good on both desktop and mobile, but if the right column view is unattractive or confusing, de-select it. This will impact reach and cost, so be sure to scroll back up to check. Sometimes it increases reach, sometimes it cuts it in half.

3. Once you're satisfied with how your ad looks, and the reach you've obtained, click on "Review order." You can give your ad a name at this time if you want.

4. Click "Edit order" if you see things you want to change, or "Place order" if you don't.

5. Facebook will review the ad and send you an email when they've approved it, and let you know if they didn't. Rejections normally happen because of text on images, and if you're sure the text isn't excessive, there's an appeal link in the rejection email you can click. However, this process can take several days.

6. You can monitor your ad's performance right on the post itself, or through the Ad Manager at the same link you used to create the ad.

Is that all? No! But it should be enough to get you started. We'll share tips and tricks, as well as how-to instructions on more advanced features in future blog posts.

In the meantime, let us know how you do by commenting on our Facebook page!

 

Is Twitter worth the time for animal shelters and rescue groups?

Animal organizations have limited time and staff resources to spend on social media. Should they spend any of it on Twitter?

Twitter has changed a great deal in the last year or so. It now displays photos, even multiple photos, in the timeline, making it look like Facebook but with shorter posts.

It's revamped its sharing feature so that re-Tweets can be commented on by the sharer without eating into the 140-character limit.

It's revised profile pages so they look more like... well, Facebook... allowing organizations to create a more professional and appealing landing page for Twitter audiences checking them out.

It even recommends accounts to its members, potentially growing your follower base with no effort required on your part.

But beyond those and other Twitter innovations, it also offers some advantages over Facebook, Pinterest, and other platforms. See if any of these might be helpful to your organization:

1. Media and public figure reach. While some famous Tweeters are out of reach other than through an army of publicists -- yes, you can stop trying to Tweet Ellen now -- local media, many businesses, and less Internet-famous celebs can often be reached best with a few thoughtful Tweets. This can generate buzz and coverage of your available pets, fundraisers, and adoption events.

2. More frequent posts are welcome. Facebook starts to clamp down on organic reach -- the number of your followers you can reach without paying -- if they perceive your posting frequency to be "spammy." Posting more than once or twice a day can have negative impact on Facebook reach, but Tweeting up to eight times a day can actually make you more successful on Twitter.  Even sharing the same links or appeals multiple times, as long as they're worded somewhat differently and especially if they have photos, can drive more traffic on the second or third Tweet than the first. Just keep at least one hour between Tweets.

3. RTs are easy... just ask! While there's increased reluctance on Facebook to share, and Facebook will actually reduce reach on posts that ask for shares, on Twitter, requesting a re-Tweet is both very successful and effective in spreading your message.

Also of interest:

10 Twitter best practices for nonprofits

Strategies for Effective Tweeting: A statistical review

Twitter 101: How to get more clicks, retweets, and reach

Twitter for beginners

How to get huge pet adoption Facebook post reach for just $5

Are Facebook ads really too expensive for pet adoption promotions? You might be surprised at what you can get for $5.

At a recent "Adoption Options" seminar in Nashville, TN, social media consultant Christie Keith walked attendees through a number of different ways to promote a pet adoption post on Facebook. "What a lot of people don't realize is that you can, through use of Facebook's very robust targeting tools, get a lot of visibility for a pet for just a few dollars," she said.

Here are her tips:

1. Don't boost the post from the Facebook page. "That 'boost' button on the Facebook page is very tempting," she said, "but it doesn't get you the most views for the least money, and it doesn't let you target your ad effectively to reach the people most likely to adopt the pet. The place to boost your posts with the full array of Facebook's targeting features is the Ad Manager."

2. Don't use your page's fans as your audience. "One of the biggest mistakes groups make is targeting their own followers with a pet adoption ad," she said. "There's nothing wrong with targeting your followers, and there will be times you'll want to, but many of them will see the post organically anyway. When you're paying, target your audience based on interests and demographics, not whether they follow your page."

3. Try out several different audiences to get the best reach for your dollars. "The same $5.00 spent in a number of different ways can get reach from as low as 390 views to as many as 26,000," Keith said.

Here's a series of examples of the same promoted post for the same page, with the same $5.00 budget, but very different reach numbers when targeted in very different ways:

This post is targeted to the page's fans, using the "Boost" button on the page. Reach is 390-1,000 people:

This post is targeted to the page's fans and their friends, using the "Boost" button on the page. Reach is 2,300 to 6,000. "While this number is higher," Keith said, "it's not at all a given that your fans' friends will be the right target for your message. They may not be animal lovers, and they may live outside your area if that's important for that particular post."

This post is targeted to general animal welfare interest, using the "Boost" button on the page. Reach is 450-1,200 people:

This post is also made using the "Boost" button, but with a slightly different, more focused audience. Reach on this post rises 890-2,300 people. The more focused targeting might make this a better investment, depending on what your message is.

This post is targeted on the basis of more precise interests, using the Ad Manager. By using richer targeting options, you can increase reach to 9,800 to 26,000 for the exact same $5.00 budget.

"Yes, there's a bit of a learning curve for the Ad Manager as opposed to using the "boost" button," Keith said. "And there are times when hitting 'boost' is all you have time for. But it's well worth the investment in learning to use the Ad Manager -- which is extremely easy once you get the hang of it -- to get your adoption listings in front of the largest, most appropriate audience for the least amount of money."

You can take a tutorial in creating Facebook ads, including a short video, here.

How shelters and rescue groups can get free Google ads

Could your pet adoption efforts use up to $10,000 a month in free Google ads?

Most shelters and rescue groups have little or no budget for online advertising, relying primarily on social media to spread the word about their available pets. Social media is a powerful tool, but can lead to over-reliance on a network of people who are already connected to your organization.

What about new adopters? Where can you find them?

A lot of people begin their search for a new pet on Google. You should definitely optimize your website for Google searches, but adding Google advertising to the picture can make those efforts even more powerful.

The problem is, few shelters and rescue groups have the know-how to use Google ads, as well as struggling with budget constraints.

Unlike Facebook, Google has a lot of opportunities for nonprofits to use its tools, including grants for Google ads and tutorials on how to get the most out of them.

Your nonprofit can find out how the program works and apply for it here.

Also of interest:

One simple question your animal organization's website should answer

How changing your organization's website can double donations

Why shelters and rescue groups should stop sharing YouTube videos on Facebook

There's a war raging between Facebook and Google-owned YouTube, and some shelters and rescue groups may find themselves caught in the crossfire. Here's what they can do to fight back!

Facebook's making no secret of the fact it wants to dethrone video-sharing giant YouTube. It's also no secret they have a long way to go. One step they're taking along the way is reducing the reach of shared YouTube links on its social platform, and giving greater reach to videos uploaded directly to Facebook by pages.

In fact, even when pages share video originally uploaded to Facebook by a different page, those posts are getting much greater reach than any other content, such as a photo shared from one page to another.

"It's not just organic, or unpaid, content, either," social media consultant Christie Keith told Maddie's Institute. "When pages pay to promote videos uploaded directly to Facebook, they'll get much better reach at a much lower cost than promoting other kinds of content."

This is especially important, said Keith, for posts promoting fundraising campaigns or pet adoption.

Some pages are actually getting pop-up notices when they try to share YouTube links encouraging them to upload the video directly to Facebook instead:

"Obviously," Keith cautioned, "that's only a good idea if it's your own video you were trying to share. But my recommendation to shelters and rescue groups right now is to upload to YouTube and Facebook, then share the YouTube version across other channels like Twitter."

Although it's possible to embed Facebook videos on a blog or website, right now YouTube's embeds are more robust, said Keith. "That might change, but for now, stick with YouTube anywhere other than Facebook. But on Facebook, native video is the way to go to get the greatest reach and engagement -- which is what it's all about if you're trying to find homes for pets!"

Also of interest:

Are photos being pushed out in favor of video on Facebook?