Caroline Dolan, Blue Cross’ Social Media & Communications Officer
Blue Cross is a charity that has been helping sick, injured, abandoned and homeless pets since 1897. Pets help us in so many ways and they depend entirely on us. That’s why Blue Cross believes in helping pets because pets help us.
We help thousands of pets in need every month, providing veterinary care, expert behaviour help and find them loving happy homes, as well as advice and education for current or future pet owners and pet bereavement support. Blue Cross develops lifelong relationships with pets and owners, providing quality care that is accessible and non-judgemental.
With your support we can give back to more pets in need.
Pets change lives. We change theirs.
StrawberrySocial has partnered with Blue Cross since 2021, providing engagement, safety, and support to every member of their social media communities. We work alongside the dedicated Blue Cross team during the charity’s Facebook Challenge fundraising endeavours, and in between these events we support their efforts to make all pet lovers receive the Blue Cross experience of excellence whilst participating on their Social Media platforms. We spoke with Caroline Dolan, Blue Cross’ Social Media & Communications Officer about her experience working together.
Our main goal for our social media is to educate people about pet welfare issues and build a community of animal welfare advocates who can help us at Blue Cross change the lives of pets. Our key to this is engaging with those who visit our social media pages, building that trust and helping them understand more about what Blue Cross stands for and how they can do more for us.
Having the time and resources to engage with the community has been a struggle inhouse, and when it comes to animals, some posts can really blow up (both positively and negatively!) and that’s when we need to be on the ground the most.
It’s key to show there’s an actual person reading the comments and messages, and taking on board what’s being said, however finding the time to respond to individuals proved tricky and it meant we were losing the attention of our community who could go on to do more for us.
StrawberrySocial now provides the resource in regular shift patterns meaning our community is responded to in a timely, efficient manner and ensures everyone gets a response, where appropriate. Because of this, they have been able to deepen our community engagement – asking questions and encouraging supporters to share their own content.
Having a dedicated BX team member and the StrawberrySocial Senior Production Manager overseeing the relationship greatly helps the success of the project and the team.
An increase in shifts and hours means not only will supporters be responded to more quickly but we can ensure everyone is responded to, where appropriate.
Alongside this, we are now using the tools necessary to be effective and timely with our communications and to brief or query anything, resulting in quick and prompt responses.
Having StrawberrySocial able to support by answering individuals and thank and encourage them with their fundraising activities shows that we really value our fundraisers.
It also means that if there are any problems e.g. individuals not able to access donation links, or not receiving their packs in time – StrawberrySocial have picked up these queries in good time which helps us resolve them in a timely manner, avoiding any elongated problems, and any disappointed fundraisers!
During our “Sign up and get a free face mask!” challenge, supporters were sent a free Blue Cross face mask which was only available to those who signed up via our Facebook adverts. The challenge actively drove 27 million impressions and 81.9k leads (vs. the 24,829 planned) resulting in a highly efficient CPL of £1.72 (vs. £3.00 planned).
The demand for these face masks exceeded expectations and supplier/postage delays meant supporters were unhappy that they hadn’t yet received their masks. StrawberrySocial were integral in not only replying to users, placating them and updating them on delivery times but they had to ask users to DM their details so our Supporter Care team could follow up. Without them keeping on top of this, I don’t know how we would have managed!
In addition to this, the StrawberrySocial team fed back on copy for the first round of adverts where they felt the CTA wasn’t clear enough and which initially received a lot of confusion from some of our supporters who ended up needing additional help. StrawberrySocial not only helped guide us towards improved communications, they were the team that helped to point our supporters in the right direction.
Absolutely! The StrawberrySocial team are hard-working, approachable and passionate about the subject matter, which really comes across in their community engagement not only to us but our followers as well. I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending them as a moderation agency.
The team takes great pride in responding to our community and I feel confident in their ability to use not only approved templated messages but their own judgement and expertise. Their passion for animal welfare shines through and it’s so encouraging to see conversations opening up as supporters respond to the engagement, especially when asking for help or guidance.
Thank you to Dan and all the team!
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