It was 4th of July week, which is one of the most dreaded weeks for all shelters across the country. Typically, we see animals flood into our shelter over that time period – most as strays and many without forms of identification. Each year during the days leading up to and following Independence Day, KC Pet Project hosts a Tweetalong Day to show the public what one day is like at our shelter.
What’s a Tweetalong Day?
For our Tweetalong, we post everything that happens at the shelter in just one day: strays that come in, medical cases while they’re getting treated, playgroups in action, owner surrenders as they come in, surgeries your clinic is performing, kittens that are being bottle-fed, pets who are getting adopted or going back home to their owners…everything! We see so much on a daily basis and most people have no idea the extraordinary situations that happen on a daily basis.
This gives the public a rare chance to see how hard your staff works to save lives. This year, we coordinated our Tweetalong Day with our first annual KCPP Day of Giving where we are raising funds for one day of care for the pets in our shelter. This gives your donors a great insight as to where their funds are going when they give to your organization.
What we also find is that our staff love Tweetalong Days too! They love getting information that can be posted to Twitter, and also, it’s a great opportunity for all of your staff to see what happens in other departments on a daily basis.
This is also a great media opportunity! If you can inform the media ahead of time that you’re doing a Tweetalong Day, they can follow along and help boost coverage. We always get a great response and reporters retweeting our posts. And don’t forget about a hashtag! We use #KCPPTweetalong, so people can follow the hashtag and see all of the tweets in one place. You can post updates later on about the pets you shared on Tweetalong Day, how they’re doing and if they get adopted or are reunited with their owners.
Of course, not everything can be posted. Some cases have sensitive information, you may handle bite cases that can’t be shared or if pets have to be euthanized. Though, for some euthanasia decisions, sharing these too and the reasons behind them also gives your followers insight into how hard a day can be at the shelter and that difficult decisions must be made.
Overall, Tweetalong Days are a lot of fun and give everyone an idea of the struggles, the heartbreaks, the victories and all of the moments of lifesaving that your team is doing in your community. All you need is your cell phone, some comfortable shoes (for running all over the shelter), and the teamwork of your fellow shelter staff to make it happen!
See more sample content from the Tweetalong by searching #KCPPTweetalong or read more here
Feature image by Ackerman Images and additional images by KC Pet Project
