Paid social can be effective when executed properly. Our organization is a nonprofit spay/neuter clinic, but each week we sponsor the vet care of a pet from an area shelter. We use paid social ads to sponsor a post calling for donations to the pet's care and adoption. These are almost always successful for us. The trick is to know your audience and target the right consumers.
For instance, each social platform garners a unique audience. Facebook is frequented more by Gen X and Boomers. Millennials and Gen Z don't frequently use this platform. Knowing who is most likely to adopt a pet (those who are millennials or family-building age are probably your best bet). So, it's important to advertise where those people are.
You can also garner this information about your organization by doing data analysis on your social media accounts to see the demographics of the audience you garner via the respective analytics tabs. Furthermore, you can look through past adoption records and get a good feel for the age range of persons who have adopted from you in the past. Then, utilize the social platform where your following best fits this analysis and the most significant percentage of users on the platform best fits this demographic.
As a rescue, if you have specific requirements for adoption (i.e., they need a yard, etc.), you may also want to segment your audience by income brackets. It doesn't do much good to reach people who wouldn't qualify to adopt your pets.
Lastly, make your content engaging! Don't simply rely on photos and text. Create carousels, videos, gifs, etc., to garner your kittens' interest. Marketing is all about breaking through the noise and getting your message noticed in a sea of message overload/bombardment. Some accounts that have nailed this concept are:
I know these are all TikTok accounts, but the same strategies can be applied to other platforms. So, all of this to say, paid social can be great for reaching consumers who look like your current audience -- expanding your reach. Organic social is great for getting your message out to your current audience and engaging them so they can help spread your message.
Regarding Google's Ad grant, I recommend contracting with an agency to handle this for you. Some agencies like Cause Inspired Media (who we use) and Media Cause specialize in this. There are specific rules regarding the grant and funding that differ from standard paid ads (one of the biggest ones is conversion rate! Google wants your conversion rates to be below a certain threshold for grant funding). However, an agency like this will help ensure you maximize your grant dollars without going over, adhere to the rules, and provide you with regular reporting on their performance.
I hope this helps! If you want to chat more or have additional specific questions, feel free to email me at tiffanyditto.tcap@gmail.com. Before being marketing director, I specialized in digital marketing and am well versed in everything digital.
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Tiffany Ditto
Director of Marketing & Communications
Texas Coalition for Animal Protection
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Tiffany Ditto
Director of Marketing and Communications
Texas Coalition for Animal Protection
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