Overview: November is National Pet Cancer Awareness Month and MedVet ran a campaign on social media to engage and educate our audience about cancer in pets. Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology are unique life-saving services that MedVet hospitals offer to pets.
Goal: See a 15% increase from last month in Shares and Interactions. (Last month we had 8,074 Interactions and 1,464 Shares, so our goal is 9,286 Interactions and 1,683 Shares).
Results: We did not meet our goal. We had 3,428 Interactions and 501 Shares on our Facebook posts for this campaign. For comparison, our October campaign had 2,040 interactions and 850 Shares and was for only 10 days rather than 30 days like this campaign.
Our overall numbers were down for the month of November. All our Facebook posts had 6,334 Interactions and 1,168 Shares. Compared to October, overall we saw a 19% decrease in Interactions and Shares.
I think I underestimated how Share-worthy the Pet Cancer Awareness Month content was. I was surprised at how few Shares and Interactions Titan’s video received as well as some of the infographics. I think perhaps information on pet cancer is less “shareable” than information on keeping your pet safe over the holiday.
In the future, I’m going to prioritize Facebook content about pet owner safety information that’s holiday focused. My next campaign will be focused on the 12 Dangers of Christmas (it’s a veterinarian’s take on the classic 12 Days of Christmas, get it?)
Campaign Assets with screenshots of their posts:
November is Pet Cancer Awareness Month. While cancer in pets cannot be prevented, it can be treated if caught early. Talk to your family veterinarian if you notice any changes in your pet’s lifestyle like loss of stamina, loss of appetite or new lumps or bumps.
Coping with a cancer diagnosis isn’t easy. What words of encouragement would you share with pet owners whose pets are fighting cancer?
A common question we are asked is “What’s a veterinary medical oncologist?” They are board-certified veterinarians who treat common and rare cancers in pets. They use state-of-the-art equipment and advanced techniques to safely and effectively diagnose and treat various forms of cancer. Read more about veterinary medical oncology: https://hubs.ly/H0lD3rd0November Social November Social 100% 10 There are steps you can take to lower your pet’s risk of developing cancer. Always spay or neuter your pets, limit their sun exposure, keep them at a healthy weight, avoid secondhand smoke, and most importantly, schedule annual wellness check-ups for your pet with your family veterinarian. Screen reader support enabled. There are steps you can take to lower your pet’s risk of developing cancer. Always spay or neuter your pets, limit their sun exposure, keep them at a healthy weight, avoid secondhand smoke, and most importantly, schedule annual wellness check-ups for your pet with your family veterinarian.When is the right time to check for oral cancer? Anytime they say “AHHH!” Take the opportunity to examine your pet’s mouth for unusual masses while they are sedated for an anesthetic procedure or anytime your pet yawns. For more information about cancer detection for your dog or cat, talk to your family veterinarian.Telling a child their pet has cancer is something many parents would prefer to avoid. However, no matter the child’s age, being honest about a pet’s diagnosis can be beneficial for you and your children. Be prepared for reactions of anger, sadness, and guilt. Reassure them that it’s not their fault. Together, remember some of the fond memories you shared.It can be scary when your best buddy is diagnosed with cancer. At MedVet, we offer different types of Radiation Therapy Treatments to safely and effectively treat cancer in pets. Read some FAQs about Radiation Oncology services: https://www.medvetforpets.com/frequently-asked-questions-faq-radiation-oncology-dogs-cats/
Most patients tolerate chemotherapy very well and maintain an excellent quality of life during a chemotherapy treatment protocol. Approximately 80-85% of patients have minimal to no side effects from chemotherapy. Patients typically are sent home with anti-nausea and anti-diarrheal medications for use as needed. Because the priority in veterinary medical oncology is to maintain a patient’s high quality of life, veterinary medical oncologists use doses and schedules of chemotherapy with the goal of minimizing side effects. Learn more: https://www.medvetforpets.com/specialty/medical-oncology/As National Pet Cancer Awareness Month winds down, learn some of the early signs of canine cancer. If you notice any of these symptoms, make an appointment to see your family veterinarian to discuss your pet’s specialty healthcare options.
Throughout the month, we also highlighted local patient stories on Facebook.
Sharing real stories of patients who have beaten cancer.
Before I created graphics for this campaign, I did some research about what other groups had posted. I was really inspired by the graphics that AAHA had created and shared.
Inspiration from the AAHA Facebook page for this campaign
TL;DR: I was disappointed that we didn’t see more engagement on Giving Tuesday but now we have a new opportunity to do better with our upcoming End of Year giving campaign.
I admit Giving Tuesday was a bit anti-climatic, what with all the hype starting, back in the summer. I subscribe to a lot of non profit marketing newsletters and I can’t count the number of emails and webinars claiming to spell out the perfect Giving Tuesday strategy. It’s like Black Friday for retailers. (Side note to retailers: Cyber Tuesday is not a thing. Let us have this one day.) For this year, I admit we didn’t spend as much time as we could’ve strategizing about how to differentiate ourselves among the #GivingTuesday herd. We used a lot of the images that National (voa.org or Volunteers of America, versus the affiliate Volunteers of America Ohio & Indiana that I work at) provided to us. I made a couple of unique images for us in Canva. I didn’t use the copy from National exactly because I felt it wasn’t uplifting, donor centric or on-brand for us. I wrote my own variations. I spent like half of Monday last week sitting down, and scheduling out in AgoraPulse all our Thanksgiving and Giving Tuesday social media posts. We’ve got two Twitters, two Instagrams, a Facebook page plus 9 thrift store Facebook pages- oh, and LinkedIn, so it’s a lot. By the end, I was really proud of myself. I had laid out and scheduled in advance these important posts across all our channels. And, I did some boosting of posts and events on Instagram and Facebook as well as ran some Facebook Ads. We spent about $100. In my head, since I put so much time and effort into these posts and thought I did a great job, I naively expected to be overwhelmed with Likes, Comments, Shares and Messages saying “Wow this social media post changed my life!” (Just kidding on that last one. I’m not quite that delusional.) Alas, it was pretty much crickets. One woman did comment how she didn’t want to donate on Facebook and that she would donate “thru her nank.” I think she meant to say bank. Yeah, not the engagement I was hoping for.
I told my boyfriend Nate about this on the phone today and saying it all out loud helped me realize that I can’t get bent out of shape over people not engaging or responding to my posts. That’s social media, ya’ll. That’s life. Keep in mind, these were mostly posts about giving, donating, fundraising. These were not the most hilarious, shareable, viral posts. Thinking more about it, we don’t typically do these hard-asks of “Donate Now!” of our audience. I try to share meaningful and positive posts, celebrating our amazing supporters. I try to do the Jab, Jab, Punch method of sprinkling, or jabbing, helpful content and then here in November and December we do more punching with the Give Back posts.
When one campaign ends, another begins. Giving Tuesday is out and now End of Year giving is in. Okay, in an ideal world of butterflies and rainbows, I’d already have this campaign all figured out, but we merged our affiliate with Indiana this summer, I got a new boss, our team has grown and things have been hectic across the organization. All I can do is focus on the now. Today, I used a Creative Brief template that my old boss, Stephanie, came up with and that we used before. It’s helpful for me to use to spell out the
Goal
Objective
Tone
Creative
Deliverables
Look & Feel
Assets
of the campaign. I like to say that it helps me get my ducks in a row (this is my new favorite phrase. I just like picturing a bunch of scattered ducks and me herding them into a single file line.)
Instagram post on Nov. 27
Facebook post. I made graphic and wrote the copy.
Tweet.
Tweet that partially came from GivingTuesday.org I used their image and some of their copy.
Facebook. Someone donated $5! We boosted this post and that really helped a lot.
Focusing on Lawrence, using him in a lot of posts. I made this graphic and wrote the copy.
Our Facebook profile photo and Cover Photo.
I was inspired to write this copy by a po st I saw on Instagram that used #GivingTuesday and I wanted to emphasize that it’s not about how rich you are or how much you can give. It’s about giving back.
Our Twiter cover photo. Consistency among social media channels.
Lightbox image on our website.
On our nine thrift store Facebook pages, I shared this post to let folks know about Giving Tuesday and to ask them to donate online or on Facebook.
Debbie Gillum Wakefield 