Welcome! Social Media Demystified for Animal Welfare Folks

Welcome! The World Wide Web today (also known as Web 2.0) is all about niches (among other things). This blog exists to fill a very particular, very narrow niche.  I’m passionate about animal welfare in the United States and I am evangelistic about social media. My experience with my local organization, the Central Oklahoma Humane Society, has proven that social media and Internet tools can have a HUGE positive impact on your organization, with little investment of time and money on your part.  Why does that matter?  Because you’ll save more lives. Ultimately, that’s what it’s all about, right?

I hope that we become so successful that we put ourselves out of business and we can all go on to other pastimes…such as knitting or playing solitaire.  But I think we all know that’s not going to happen anytime soon…so let’s avail ourselves of all the tools and resources available to us, shall we?

Who am I writing this blog for?  Anyone who is working or volunteering in the animal welfare world. I know that most shelters and humane societies and small rescue groups don’t have a marketing person on staff, so I know I’ll be talking to a lot of volunteers.  Some may be very web savvy, and some may not.  Either way, you’re going to learn something here.  I’m agreeing to impart valuable knowledge to you, and do the work of distilling it into something highly digestible that you can implement immediately.  And you have to agree to do the footwork, to actually commit to spending the time to DO this stuff.  It doesn’t work if you don’t do it.

I don’t care if you’re 20 years old and don’t remember a life before cell phones.  I don’t care if you’re 55 and scared to death of computers.  You can do this!  We’ll do it together.

We’re going to take this journey together.  I promise I’ll make this accessible; in return, please ask any questions you have, and if something doesn’t make sense, tell me.  You’re probably not going to be the only one with questions.  And if you get a great idea, share it!  That’s one very cool thing about animal welfare: we’re not in competition with each other.  We’re all just trying to save lives.

So who am I? Why should you listen to me? Well, I’m a professional. This is what I do for a living.  When I’m not working for a paycheck, I’m implementing everything I know for my local humane society.  It’s working pretty well for us (I’ll break down all the stuff I’m doing in subsequent posts).  Why should you reinvent the wheel?  I’m part of the first generation to literally grow up on computers. This is my world. I love teaching people what the Web can do for them, and this blog is my way of sharing with the community I love most: people who work their hearts out every day for animals.

If you want to know more about me, you can check out my new media resume web site to see my credentials.  But it’s not really about that.  Just subscribe to this blog and see if you like what you read, see if it’s helpful to you.  If it is (and if it’s not), let me know.  And tell your friends! Spread the word!

That’s my introduction. I’ll be back tomorrow with some actual information you can use.

Get in Touch!

I'm available via most social media, so drop me a line! I'll answer your questions and I really look forward to hearing from you and helping if I can!

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