Social media has become one of the most powerful tools animal shelters have to save lives. A well-timed share can connect an animal with the right adopter. A thoughtful comment can boost visibility at a critical moment. Used well, online engagement helps animals move out of kennels and into homes. But not all engagement helps equally.
In this episode, Penny Ellison shares what shelter staff say actually makes a difference on social media—and what, despite good intentions, can make their work harder and reduce an animal’s chances of being adopted. The episode draws on direct feedback from shelter staff who manage social media accounts every day, combined with years of on-the-ground experience in animal welfare.
Rather than criticizing well-meaning supporters, this conversation focuses on alignment: how small adjustments in how people comment, share, and engage online can turn emotion into real support for shelters and the animals they serve.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How certain comments can unintentionally stall adoptions
- Why some common sharing and tagging practices create noise instead of solutions
- What kind of engagement actually reaches people who can take action
- When concerns should be raised privately rather than in public comment threads
- How tone, trust, and specificity affect outcomes for animals and staff
Key Takeaway
Social media advocacy is most effective when it is intentional. Small changes in how people engage online can reduce strain on shelter staff and meaningfully improve outcomes for animals.
Episode Highlights
00:00 – The Power (and Pitfalls) of Social Media Engagement
Learn how just one share or comment can save lives—but also why not all engagement is created equal.
01:37 – Why Social Media Matters for Shelters
02:39 – What Shelter Staff Say Actually Works
What helps animals get placed—and which well-meant behaviors slow things down.
04:01 – If You Can’t Adopt, How Can You Help?
Concrete ways to boost an animal’s chances without making false promises that hurt adoption momentum.
06:01 – The Right and Wrong Way to Cross-Post and Tag Rescues
Why tagging long lists of organizations can do more harm than good.
07:04 – How to Share for Maximum Impact (and Avoid the Echo Chamber)
Target your shares for real results, not just activity in like-minded groups.
07:43 – Complaints? How to Handle Concerns About Animals or Policies
09:02 – Trusting (and Questioning) Shelter Assessments the Right Way
10:42 – Appreciating Staff and Commenting on Intake Photos
15:17 – Learn Who Does What
Why understanding different shelter roles is key to effective advocacy.
16:45 – Responsible Advice and How Not to Overwhelm Shelters
Resources Mentioned:
Animal Advocacy Academy– Understanding Different Types of Animal Shelters (Episode 4)
Related Episode:
Transcript
If you follow your local shelter on social media, you have the power to save lives. Seriously. A well timed share can connect an animal with their perfect family. A thoughtful comment can boost a post to thousands of people. Your engagement can make the difference between an animal going home today or spending another night in a kennel. But I have to say, not all engagement helps equally. Some of it actually makes things harder for the shelter staff and ends up being counterproductive. So today I want to share how you can be the most effective online advocate possible for your local shelter, how to use social media in ways that truly help, and what to avoid so you don’t accidentally make their jobs harder.
Welcome to the Animal Advocate where we arm animal lovers with the information and inspiration you need to become effective advocates. I’m your host Penny Ellison, and I’ve taught animal law and advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania since 2006. If you’ve ever thought someone should do something about that, I’m here to guide you on your journey to being that someone. You can find us on the web at animaladvocacyacademy.com and that’s where you’ll find show notes and resources and you can send us your comments on episodes and ideas for topics you’d like to hear on future shows. So, onto today’s topic.
Social media has created some of the most powerful tools we’ve ever had to help shelter animals. Unlike years ago, when people had to come into the shelter to meet animals, people can see and get to know animals even if they don’t think they’d feel comfortable coming to the shelter. They can follow individual stories, learn about needs in real time, and step forward to foster, adopt, donate or volunteer because a post crossed their feed at the right moment. A lot of animals are alive today because of that visibility. Shelters rely on social media. Volunteers rely on it. Advocates rely on it. Used well, it expands reach, mobilizes resources, and connects animals with people who can help.
Now, if you listened last week you might remember that I surveyed volunteer coordinators about what jobs they really wished they had more help with other than animal handling. The response was really helpful. So, this week I wanted to hear from the people running shelter social media accounts. I asked them what kinds of engagements help them most and what kinds of comments and behaviors, even from well-meaning people, make their jobs harder. The response was immediate and generous. Within hours I had shelter staff from around the country sharing insights about what works and what doesn’t. And here’s what became clear the difference between helpful engagement and unhelpful engagement often comes down to just a few simple adjustments in how we interact.
So, I guess that’s the mediator in me – I was a mediator for a very long time – I see the view of the well-meaning volunteers and members of the public and I see the shelter staff’s view and I want you to see both. So, let me share what they told me and what I’ve witnessed myself over about 14 years of being involved in sheltering online and in person. Not to criticize anyone, but to help you become the most effective advocate possible for the animals in your community.
I’m going to walk these through as paired tips, the helpful approach and the not so helpful one so you can see exactly what makes the difference.
So first up, what do you do when you love an animal that you see but you can’t adopt? Well, do this. Be honest and specific about how you can help. Say I wish I could take this one home, but he looks like a great find so I’m sharing to my network. Or I can’t adopt, but I’m making a donation in their honor and I hope you do too.
What’s the Don’t? Don’t comment hastily “I’ll take him” or “I’m on my way to get him” when you can’t adopt or foster, I’m surprised how much this happens. And when people comment like that, real potential adopters scroll by assuming the animal is already spoken for and the post loses momentum with people who could help. And when staff follows up privately and learns you can’t actually take the animal, the damage is already done.
Next one – Before you comment,
Do read the entire post before commenting, take 30 seconds to see if your question is already answered. If it is, post something else supportive instead.
Don’t? Don’t ask questions that are already answered in the post. When people ask about things that are clearly stated, like whether the dog is dog friendly, what they weigh, where they’re located, it signals to the algorithm and to potential adopters that something’s unclear when it’s not, Shelter staff post four, five, six times a day, sometimes with all of that key information usually included. So read it first.
Cross posting and tagging other organizations. What you should do? In this situation?, What’s your “do”? If you see an animal in a distant shelter, you can share their post directly to your network. You can tag people you know personally who might be able to adopt or foster. That reaches potential adopters.
What not to do? Don’t forward urgent animals from other shelters to your local shelter’s social media or tag them to help. The staff seeing your tag aren’t in charge of transfers, and the people who are in charge are already doing everything they can. Shelters being tagged are often and usually already full. And don’t blindly tag long lists of rescues you have no relationship with. That’s called cross posting, and it’s an outdated practice that doesn’t work. Here in Philadelphia. If a shelter is sharing an animal publicly, they’ve already reached out to their rescue partners. And remember, most foster based rescues, they’re run by volunteers, so they don’t need to spend their day scanning through tags for animals they already know about and don’t have foster homes for. Cross posting like this just creates noise, not solutions. So share to people who can adopt, not to organizations that are already overwhelmed.
Next up, strategic sharing versus echo chamber sharing. Do this. Share to audiences who can actually take action. Post to neighborhood groups where people might be looking to adopt. Tag friends who’ve talked about wanting a pet. Think about who will see it and whether they can actually help.
What not to do? Don’t share photos of urgent animals on Facebook pages that are just long lists of shares of animals. That’s an echo chamber. It may make you feel good, but it doesn’t increase visibility for that animal.
Next, when you have concerns about an animal or a shelter policy, what should you do? Well, I’d tell you to do this. Reach out to staff privately. Ask sincere questions with curiosity. If you see something that concerns you, contact the shelter to understand what’s happening.
Don’t air complaints or concerns publicly in the comments where they might discourage potential adopters. Remember that shelter posts are marketing. They’re probably their most important form of marketing. They’re trying to find homes for animals. Personal grievances in the comments make that harder, not easier. And if you’re a volunteer and you think you see something incorrect in a post, check with staff privately before commenting publicly. Things can change instantly in shelter work. What was true this morning might not be true this afternoon.
Next Trusting shelter assessments of animals. What to do? Trust the shelter’s professional judgment about animals. They want successful, lasting adoptions as much as you do. If they’re honest about an animal’s needs or challenges, that’s them setting everyone up for success, not trying to discourage adopters.
What not to do? Don’t accuse shelters of misrepresenting an animal or second guess their assessment about what kind of home would be a good fit. For example, sometimes people will say the shelter is being too cautious when they recommend a dog be the only dog in a home. They’ll share stories about their own pets who learned to love other dogs. But people assessing these animals have experience with hundreds of dogs and make the best prediction they can. It’s their job. They know this dog, and they know that needing to be an only dog will make them harder to place. If they make that assessment anyway, it’s best not to undermine it or second guess it in the comments.
Next up, Showing appreciation. It’s great to say thank you for the work you do or I admire your dedication or I’ll share this to help recognize their professionalism and the emotionally demanding work that shelter staff do every day.
What not to do? Don’t say things like “I could never work there. I’d take them all home.” I know it’s meant affectionately, but it dismisses the emotional work staff do and implies that they lack your compassion. They care as much as you do. They’ve just found a way to channel that into professional, sustainable action.
Next commenting on intake photos that might look less than perfect. What you should do is focus your engagement on sharing the post to get potential adopters as soon as possible. Help the animal get seen by people who can help.
What you should not do when you see intake photos that maybe take you back a little bit? Don’t point out obvious things like “Poor baby, they look so scared.” Of course they do. They just arrived at an unfamiliar place and they may have been through something really hard. Don’t comment. “Oh, their nails are too long,” “They need a groom.” “They need to get to the vet “on those stray intake photos. The staff already sees what you see and they have a plan. Trust that they know what needs to happen next. Don’t make it seem like they’re neglecting the animal.
Next up, and I think this one’s pretty important. It’s all around media attention and publicity. What you should do if you think a story deserves media attention? Reach out to the shelter privately and ask if they’ve already contacted the press or if they’d like help with that if you have contacts,
What you should not do is just tag a bunch of reporters and media outlets or public figures indiscriminately in every post. Here’s what you should know. Shelters actively work to get media attention. They know it helps. This is not news to them. Many have relationships with reporters and they pitch stories intentionally and with care because it doesn’t work if you pitch every story. When people repeatedly tag media without a strategy, it can actually have the opposite effect. Over time, reporters start tuning out all tags from that shelter, which damages the relationships that staff have been carefully and strategically building
Next up, when the photo of the animal really concerns you, what to do if something genuinely concerns you is ask the shelter directly so that you understand the full context, or at least someone who actively volunteers there who might know. And don’t ask on social media. Ask privately.
What not to do. Don’t speculate publicly about what may have happened to an animal, assume abuse or neglect, or create narratives about wrongdoing based on incomplete information. For example, it’s harmful to speculate that a dog was a bait dog if it has injuries, and a lot of people do this. Lots of stray dogs have injuries from living on the streets. Most of the time we don’t know what happened. And when people speculate, these things spread quickly on social media and they can cause real harm. First, if there is an active cruelty case being investigated, public speculation can tip off the person responsible or complicate the case. Second, when commenters publicly accuse specific people of abuse without evidence and they do that on the shelter’s page, that could come back and bite the shelter legally. And third, when speculation and accusations fill up the comments every time a shelter posts about an injured animal, shelters start sharing less detail to avoid all the drama, which means less transparency for everyone and less exposure for that animal. Resist the urge to fill in gaps with assumptions.
Next up, offering suggestions and feedback. What you should do Build a relationship with your shelter first through volunteering, attending events, or being a regular donor. Then, when you have feedback or suggestions, you’ll have context about their constraints and your input will carry more weight.
What not to do? Don’t criticize shelters publicly when you’ve never volunteered there, never worked there, never donated there, and don’t know the legal or contractual constraints they operate under. Shelters love fresh ideas and suggestions and especially help with actually implementing them, but they operate within legal and financial constraints, processes and procedures. Criticism that isn’t grounded in real knowledge, relationships, or responsibility just doesn’t improve outcomes. It just shifts emotional labor onto people who are already stretched thin.
Next, and this is an important one too, Understanding the different shelter roles. I’ve talked about this before. I’ll talk about it again. Learn about the different roles that municipal shelters, private shelters, and national organizations play. That way you’ll better understand the context for the posts that you’re seeing. If you haven’t already, I suggest strongly to go back and listen to our episode about the different kinds of animal shelters. It’s episode number four and you can find it at animaladvocacyacademy.com/4. That’s your do. It’ll help you understand why different organizations operate the way they do, and then your comments will be in the right context.
What you should not do is, without understanding who plays what role in the animal welfare ecosystem in your community, you shouldn’t blame municipal shelters or private nonprofits for that matter, for their inability to “do more.” You shouldn’t disparage other local rescue groups or do things like complain about policies or adoption fees without understanding the financial realities and everything that’s going on. Misunderstanding organizational roles leads to misdirected criticism.
Now here’s the last category and you’ll see why it’s the most important to me, and that’s giving legal and other advice to people. So, let’s start with the do. Since we just said you’re going to learn who’s responsible for what in your community, you can point people in the right direction. If people witness cruelty or see a stray dog, sometimes they think posting it on social media is the equivalent of reporting it. It’s not. Emphatically not. And you can help by knowing where to report cruelty, local ordinance violations or stray animals. And know it’s often not all the same place. And that’s what makes it sometimes confusing and need the help of somebody knowledgeable to jump in and say, hey, this is where you report that. And make sure you tell people to report it who have firsthand knowledge of the situation. If people complain to you that the law is not strong enough, you can send them to the Animal Advocate podcast and animaladvocacyacademy.com so they can learn where to go to get help changing it.
And what not to do? I see a lot of people giving legal advice that aren’t involved in animal law, so I would refrain from giving legal advice if you’re not intimately involved with the law. And please don’t tell people who have only read about things on social media to flood the shelter with calls. I see this all the time and it’s so painful. No shelter has extra staff around to answer all those calls and read all those emails, and none of us want the officers tied up with hundreds of emails and calls about the same case instead of out doing investigations.
So these are the patterns I’ve seen and heard about most consistently, but I know the list isn’t exhaustive. Social media is constantly evolving and this is really different in different locations. So if you’re a shelter staff member or a volunteer and you have suggestions about what helps and what doesn’t, I’d love to hear from you. Send me an email at podcast@animaladvocacyacademy.com and I’ll definitely respond. This should be an ongoing conversation so that we as advocates use social media for all it’s worth.
Now, I want to be clear about one thing. None of this means that shelters are above criticism. Accountability, transparency, they matter. Systems fail, and mistakes do happen. But as Seth Godin, one of my heroes, says, not all criticism is equal. The criticism that actually helps comes from people who understand the work, who’ve taken the time to learn the constraints and the challenges, and who offer their insights with care and specificity. Criticism that isn’t grounded in knowledge, relationships, or responsibility doesn’t usually improve outcomes. So if you see something that genuinely concerns you, build a relationship with your shelter, learn about their constraints, and then engage constructively. That’s how you create real change.
Social media gives us incredible power to help animals. Used well, it saves lives every day, and you can be a part of that. And I think that’s so exciting. You can be the person who connects an animal with that perfect family. You can be the boost that gets a post seen by the right people. You can be the supporter that makes shelter staff feel appreciated instead of defensive. The truth is, most unhelpful behaviors come from people who genuinely care. I know that. But caring and helping aren’t always the same thing. Just small adjustments in how you engage make a big difference. And the animals in your community are counting on you to get it right.
So our Be the Change segment for this week is to be intentional about how you engage with shelter social media. Before you comment, read the whole post. Before you share, think about who will see it and whether they can help, and try to offer some additional specific information that brings it to the top of their feed. And if you love an animal but can’t adopt, find another concrete way to support. Share to someone who can adopt, make a donation, offer to volunteer. Turn your compassion into the kind of action that changes outcomes for animals. You have real power to help. Use it wisely.
That’s it for today. The Animal Advocate podcast is brought to you by the Animal Advocacy Academy. You can find episodes and show notes at animaladvocacyacademy.com along with a link to our Facebook and LinkedIn pages where we discuss our podcasts and we’d love to discuss your thoughts and experiences there. If you’re interested in learning more about protecting animals, subscribe to the show so you get every episode when it comes out. If you have any questions on this or any other topic, related to animal law, email them to podcast@animaladvocacyacademy.com and we’ll make sure to get them answered. We’ll either email you back or feature them in a future episode, or both. And remember, compassion is great, but compassionate action is infinitely better. Until next week, Live With Compassion.`
