Utilizing the internet and social media to advertise pets

I hadn't checked on Pet Rescue's efforts in a few months, so I searched FaceBook to see what they're up to. This search brings up four different pages: an error page by facebook that redirects elsewhere; an automatically generated business page that is not maintained by anyone; a "group" page which appears defunct, but used to be maintained and updated by Jackie Alleman; and, finally, the actual, currently official, FaceBook Page. (located here): https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pet-Rescue-Humane-Society-of-Eastern-Oregon/573075486046546?fref=nf

(It would be smart of the Pet Rescue management to clean up the FB listings for "Pet Rescue Hermiston", get rid of the defunct "group" page, and contact FaceBook about the erroneous pages, because it's confusing to people trying to find information on the rescue.)

The main page on Face Book is not a terrible page: they've made improvements to it in the last few years (especially starting in May 2013).  There's very little information on it (it doesn't even list what animals are currently up for adoption, adoption fees, staff or board member names/duties, hours of operation, bylaws, information on volunteering, etc)...

...but they are at least updating it several times a week with information on some adoptions, and even a Christmas fundraiser and discount adoption drive. This is a good thing, but it's only the first, small step needed to come into 21st century animal sheltering.

 As of this writing:
1) They still have no website of their own. (There is a blog that hasn't been updated in 5 years)
2) Nothing on Petango.com or Adoptapet.com or Petharbor.com (three of the four largest FREE animal adoption sites in North America)
3) The only other online presence they have is a page on Petfinder: http://awos.petfinder.com/shelters/OR103.html  however, the front page is outdated and ugly, and when you click on their "available animals" link, there are literally 4 dogs listed. No cats at all and the photos of the animals that ARE listed are terrible, and there are no descriptions for the animals (except their adoption fees), even for dogs that have been there for months (presumably giving the staff or volunteers ample time to get to the know the dog and take five minutes to type out a paragraph on their personality).

Compare Pet Rescue to the other shelters in the local area:
1) Pendleton PAWS (no kill) (website, Facebook updated multiple times daily; Petango and Petfinder have nearly all adoptable pets listed): http://pendletonpaws.org/
2) Benton Franklin Humane Society (no-kill) (website, Facebook updated multiple times daily; Petango and Petfinder have nearly all adoptable pets listed: http://www.bfhs.com/about-us/
3) Tricities Animal Shelter (unclear if "no-kill", but they have a nice website and utilize many programs to encourage adoption, volunteering, etc) (website, Facebook updated multiple times daily; Petango and Petfinder have nearly all adoptable pets listed: http://www.tri-citiesanimalshelter.com/adopt_pet.php

See a pattern? Pet Rescue's refusal to use the internet to advertise their animals means potential adopters aren't seeing them. In 2013, Jackie Alleman stated to the EO that Pet Rescue usually has about 60 animals up for adoption at any one time. Only advertising 4 out of 60 (7%) of available animals is ridiculous ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY ARE EUTHANIZING "FOR SPACE" (Alleman also stated to the EO that Pet Rescue euthanizes about 50% of their animals!). They can't just sit back and wait for people to visit them, that's a stupid way to do business, and worse, it's costing animals' lives.

What they should start doing TODAY:
1) Post every single adoptable/available animal in at LEAST two places on the internet (for example, petfinder.com and facebook) WITH a quick photo and brief description.
2) Put out a call (in the newspaper, on craigslist, on their facebook page, etc) for volunteers to design/create and host a website. It doesn't have to be fancy, and could be up and running within a week, easily.
3) Put out a call to volunteers to take "nice" photos of all animals to replace the "quick" photos. (The nicer the photo, the more likely to catch the eye of an adopter).
4) Designate 1 or more volunteers to keep the Facebook page updated at least once a day. This way limited staff time won't be taken up with FB posts.

That's just a start, but it's a good one, and these are all steps they could do TODAY and THIS WEEK.

Enough with the excuses, Beau and Jackie. Get it together, or stop calling yourselves a "shelter".

Things looking up?

The staff at Pet Rescue/Humane Society of Eastern Oregon seem to be stepping up a bit in the last few months. They are getting better at updating their Facebook page and actually attended a large adoption event in Kennewick.

They still have a long way to go before they operate like a 21st century animal shelter, but I hope they continue on this positive track.

Marketing of Adoptable Animals: Photography and Descriptions

One of the most important (and easy and cheap) ways to market adoptable animals is to have a good photo and description.

Why it's important.

Most shelters are lucky enough to have at least one volunteer who is a professional photographer or serious hobbyist. But even if they don't, anyone can take a decent photo, even with a camera phone: It simply needs to be well-lit, with an uncluttered background, in focus, and catching the animal looking relaxed and happy. This might take a few more minutes than simply snapping a shot of the animal coming in the shelter door, but it can make all the difference in the world.

Take for example, these screen shots from the first page of the Petfinder page of Humane Society of Eastern Oregon from May 30 2013:

Jack and Butterscotch have been up for adoption for at least a week, and yet no one has taken decent photos of them. The photos are poorly lit, poorly focused, and the dogs look scared and stressed. Not the best image if you want to showcase an animal. And if a potential adopter clicks through to read more about these dogs, they don't have any description on their pages:

The only information we get is the breed, gender, and adoption fee. Nothing about the dog's history, personality, energy level, or suitability with children and other pets. Certainly, an interested adopter could call the shelter to get this information, but why put up yet another barrier to adoption when it takes only a few minutes to make this information easily available to the public? And these dogs have been at the shelter for over a week. That is plenty of time for a volunteer to spend some time getting to the know the dog and write a brief description in Petfinder.

A good, brief description of animal anywhere he/she is being advertised: Name, aprox. age, weight, or adult size if it's a baby, maybe a sentence or two of background history, 1-3 sentences on personality, and a cute quirk that will help the animal stand out a bit. End the description with the contact info for the shelter so that interested adopters don't have to go searching for it, it's all right there and they can call or email the shelter within seconds of becoming interested.


I've had this job myself for a couple of the rescues I volunteer for. Petfinder's interface is simple and easy to use. This is an excellent task for volunteers, and takes only a few minutes to set up, take the photos, and upload them to the website.

Being very generous, let's say it takes a total of 30 minutes of time per animal to evaluate them, take a decent photo, upload it, and write a description. There's only 11 animals on the Petfinder page, that's only 5 1/2 hours. A single volunteer could knock that out in a day at no cost to the shelter. And if its a task that's made routine by the shelter management, it's something that could easily be kept up to date when new animals are added to the shelter. 30 minutes per animal is not a lot to ask.

We know that Pet Rescue is capable of this photos because the one of Aurora is good! It's well-lit, in focus, uncluttered background, and she's in an eye-catching pose looking at the camera. Not perfect, but clean, happy, and eye catching, which is all you really need.

We also know that Pet Rescue is capable of writing good descriptions, because Duke and Tigger (although their photos are terrible) have them:

Moreover, on May 30 2013, there were only 11 animals listed on the Petfinder page, all of them dogs. I suspect they also have cats and kittens for adoption (they almost always do), and probably more dogs, but I don't know for sure because there is no information about them anywhere online.

All adoptable animals should be advertised, it only makes good marketing sense. The longer it takes to get them adopted, the more money is spent to house them and the more time they spend taking up space that could go to other animals in need.

The internet is just bursting with tips on photographing shelter animals. Here are a few of them:

How to take better photos of shelter pets, step-by-step
How photography can save pets' lives, from Petfinder.com
Ten simple steps that improve animal shelter photos
Taking great photographs of shelter animals
Five non-conventional tips for creating compelling images of shelter animals

Marketing of Adoptable Animals: Overview

Why is marketing so important for animal shelters?

Despite the myth that there is a pet "overpopulation" problem in the US, when you look at actual statistics, there are vastly more homes for a new pet than there are pets being euthanized by shelters.

Overall, only 2% of America's dog population is euthanized each year in animal shelters. Now, that's still a large number: about 3.6 million pets are euthanized by shelters simply for "lack of a home", not for health reasons.  But it means that every shelter in the US is fully capable of adopting out every single one of the animals it would otherwise kill for space or "lack of a home".

Each year, about 23 million people are in the market for a new pet. Of those, 17 million have not yet decided where they're going to get that pet. For many reasons, some of these people choose to get pets from sources other than shelters. And that's OK, we just need to convince a relatively small percentage of people (3.6 million, or 21%) to choose a shelter animal instead.

Shelter pets aren't over-populated, they're under-marketed.

Once we do that, once we as the rescue community step up and truly do the best we can at marketing, then we'll never again be "forced" to euthanize another healthy animal for "space" or "lack of homes".

There will always be a need for animal shelters. There will always be a small number of irresponsible people out there; there will always be stray pets who need temporary shelter until owners can be found; there will always be people who need help re-homing a family pet due to lots of different (legitimate!) reasons.

A huge part of a shelter's job is to find homes for animals. This will always be true, and there is no escaping it; there is no "waiting it out"; there is no "waiting for the public to become 'more responsible'".

This is why organizations like Pet Rescue aka The Human Society of Eastern Oregon exist. This is why we allow them to be tax-exempt. This is why we pay them our tax dollars.

This is where marketing comes in.

Animal rescues and shelters are, in effect, in competition to "sell" their animals with a slew of other sources: Breeders, pet stores, free animals in the newpaper and on Craigslist (and from friends/family/neighbors), puppy mills, etc. It's the shelter's job to showcase their "product" and make it clear that it's better to get a pet from a shelter than anywhere else.

Too often, well-meaning people at shelters and rescues blame the public for not coming to them. They seem to think that everyone should just intuitively KNOW that it's a morally superior choice to get a pet from a shelter. This attitude leads to lackluster marketing, feelings of despair when the public doesn't show up, and a shelter "buying experience" that is depressing for customers. No one wants to come look for a new family member at a place that's stinky, poorly-lit, cheerless, and full of stressed-out, sad-looking animals.

There are some very simple, easy things that will immediately improve marketing of adoptable animals. Here are just a few examples:

Good photo of every adoptable animal


A good, brief description of every animal

Investing in every adoptable animal to make it more attractive (vaccinations, spay/neuter, trick training, etc) 

Posting ads in as many places as possible

Advertising widely

Taking the animals outside the building whenever possible to any dog-friendly event that will get the animal seen.


Customer-friendly shelter building. It doesn't matter how old or out-dated a building is, there are always wallet-friendly ways to cheer the place up.

I'll expand on the different aspects of marketing in future posts. I'll also give specific examples where Pet Rescue aka The Human Society of Eastern Oregon is currently failing in marketing, and simple steps they can take to improve. As long as they continue to euthanize animals for "lack of space", or "lack of homes", there is room for improvement. They are, in fact, obligated to improve.

Other resources:

Marketing best practices - a great list of resources for shelter managers
How to promote shelter pets for adoption, (pdf) from Best Friends Animal Society
How to find homes for homeless pets (pdf)
Show the positive side of shelter pets: increase adoption rates
Why people aren't adopting (Petsmart Charities/Ipsos study)
The where and why of adoption (Petsmart Charities/Ipsos study)
Using Facebook to increase adoptions
The care and marketing of long-term resident shelter pets (success stories from MI)
The life-saving equation
An entire Facebook page on the subject - tips and ideas
Unconventional marketing ideas for many kinds of businesses - lot's of ideas