Team Crowd recently took our Social Goes Local interview to Steve Byrne at the GSPCA, Guernsey’s local animal welfare charity, to find out more about how they are using social media to communicate with the public and why.
Tell us about the GSPCA.
The GSPCA is the only all animal welfare charity in Guernsey and was founded in 1873 making us 140 years old this year. We have been at our current site since 1929 and help thousands of animals every year. To run the Shelter and provide 24 hour 7 days a week cover it costs over £600,000 a year, and not only do we need to raise this every year to ensure we can care for the hundreds of animals at the Shelter but we also have to raise money to build a new cattery and quarantine building. Our aims are to promote kindness and prevent cruelty to animals, which we achieve with our 20 staff and over 150 volunteers.
In which areas of business has social media been most useful to you? What effect has it had on the organisation?
The GSPCA in the last 18 months has entered the world of social media in a very proactive way to help raise awareness of our work and to help find many animals new homes. Social media has been a fantastic way to raise funds for specific projects or animals. An example is Pickles, a cat with skin cancer; by blogging her on our website and on social media £135 was donated towards her operation within 24 hours. The largest event the GSPCA ever held last year was the Animal Welfare Seafront Sunday, and through the internet hundreds of businesses and groups got involved and thousands of people attended. The most wonderful aspect of social media is how it has helped animals find new homes and strays being reunited with their owners.
Which social media platform is most useful to the GSPCA? How do you use each platform that you are signed up to? And how do you feel interaction differs on each?
The GSPCA has a presence on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Flickr, Linkedin, Pinterest and Youtube which we are active on and then we also have a presence on others. Each has its benefits but we find that Twitter and Facebook in particular have the most active followers.We use most of them to spread the news from our blog page which includes the latest news, campaigns, fund raisers, events, appreciations and advice. Our Linkedin, twitter and Facebook profiles are linked which helps spread messages quickly as well as updates.On Facebook we get to see lots of pictures of our rehomed animals and get many messages asking about them, where as twitter we see many retweets and get support from all over the world, not just locally. Without a doubt we see much more traffic on Facebook and Twitter. Our Youtube page is also a fantastic tool and means we can easily embed videos on our website. One of the most popular tools has been our Amazon Wish list where we place items we need for the Shelter. Since launching it we have had over £3000’s worth of items donated and each post day we often feel is like Christmas as we don’t know what we are due next.
Do you think social media has been helpful in improving communications with the public, and how has it changed the relationship you have with the Guernsey community?
Without a doubt social media has definitely improved our communications at all levels with the community and has built a huge amount of support, increased donations, helped with volunteer recruitment and with our events. We are able to communicate instantly with a huge range of the community easily and this has also helped if there are animal concerns.
Have you encountered any problems using social media? For example, were there any immediate concerns for you, and have there been any issues you’ve had to tackle? How did you overcome these problems?
All animal charities see a huge range of opinions and strong emotions as we are dealing with sick and injured animals, as well as those cruelly treated and this does often pose quite strong views posted, but we are here to help animals and value everyones opinion. To ensure there is no foul language or inappropriate posts we do constantly monitor just in case, as many of our followers are children.
What’s your favourite aspect of social media?
Without a doubt when a stray finds their owner, or an animal finds a new home. It has certainly helped other Bailiwick islanders not on Guernsey find out about the many animals in need of a new home.
Do you think that the public expects communication via social networks? How does social media compare to other forms of communication over the years?
Communication is essential through social media, although often a phone call or talking face to face is a better way especially in the cases of cruelty and neglect reports. But in terms of adoptions and informing us how animals are getting on it is wonderful. We still receive a lot of mail and more traditional forms of communication, but the internet has opened many opportunities.
What does the future look like for the GSPCA? How does communication(s), especially via social media impact this?
The GSPCA is celebrating 140 years caring for animals in Guernsey and we have many plans for the future which we are very excited about, and social media will play an important role in spreading updates on these plans and the need for support. The biggest project is our Cattery and Quarantine Appeal which is needed to help replace three very old buildings.