Helping The Humane Society Of Macomb Overcome A Pet Peeve For The Humane Society Of Macomb

The Challenge

Protests resulting from false claims of animal mistreatment were garnering substantial negative press coverage. Although the State of Michigan determined these accusations to be false, HSM experienced a significant decline in adoptions, volunteers and its reputation within the community.

SSDM was asked to assist in its social media communication efforts to blunt the negative dialogue about the Humane Society Of Macomb, and move the needle from negative to positive.

The Solution

SSDM created an ongoing social-media strategy to help HSM achieve its goal to change the social-media narrative:

• Develop a new, fresh website focusing on healthy animals
• Assist with updated branding and logo
• Develop a social-media campaign to redirect dialogue to true stories about the shelter
• 24/7 monitoring and proactive response to negative/positive feedback
• Monthly social calendars and events to increase education, adoptions and volunteers
• Consult with HSM about physical changes to the shelter to brighten the environment, including new paint schemes and artwork reflecting images of happy animals
• Increase communication with the community through social media to better the welfare of sheltered animals (reunite lost pets, education, etc.)
  Provide better online resources to help increase adoptions and volunteer efforts

Project Objectives

SSDM was tasked with rebuilding the Humane Society of Macomb’s image within the community by communicating improvements being made by the shelter, as well as:

• Increase adoptions by offering better online resources.
• Increase positive discussions on social media and limit negative narratives.
• Increase communication with the community through social media to promote better animal welfare.

Target Audience

The campaign targeted animal lovers, pet owners, advocates for animal welfare, potential adopters, volunteers, donors and other concerned community members.

The Work Behind the Results

SSDM monitored HSM’s Facebook page to address negative feedback and ensure users that they were paying attention to their comments. Monitoring extended to Macomb Community Watchdog’s Facebook page and other third-party outlets so HSM or SSDM could quickly respond.

We implemented Google Alerts to notify staff whenever any media, positive or negative, was distributed regarding HSM. This enabled SSDM to keep regular watch over any HSM press.

Success included:

• 132% increase in Facebook likes
• 133% increase in social-media check-ins
• 222% increase in Facebook impressions
• 98% save rate; shelter achieved “no-kill” status

Delivering Quality and Measurable Outcomes

After just over a year, the protest group that initially targeted HSM stopped targeting the shelter, thus ending the crisis situation. The group even changed their name on Facebook! Additionally, HSM received the Michigan Pet Fund Alliance Award and achieved “No Kill” Shelter Status with a 98% save rate.