Cincinnati Animal CARE Social Media

From March 2024 through June 2026, Cincinnati Animal CARE's social media strategy evolved into a mission-driven storytelling platform designed to inspire immediate action and community engagement. By focusing every piece of content around a single, clear call to action: adopt, foster, volunteer, donate, or share, we transformed social media from an awareness tool into a lifesaving resource that directly supported shelter operations and fundraising efforts.

 
 

Through a combination of emotional storytelling, impactful photography and video, transparent communication about the realities of animal sheltering, and strategic audience engagement, our team built a highly responsive online community. Together, these efforts contributed to raising more than $77,000 through social media-driven fundraising campaigns in 2025 and more than $25,000 in the first quarter of 2026 alone.

 
 

The strategy centered on creating intentional emotional connections. Every post was designed to evoke a specific feeling: hope, joy, urgency, compassion, grief, or even outrage, but always with a clear path forward for the audience. Rather than generating emotion for its own sake, we focused on empowering supporters with meaningful actions they could take to create positive change for animals in our care.

 
 

My Role

As a key contributor to Cincinnati Animal CARE's social media strategy, I helped develop, produce, and execute content that educated the public, inspired action, and strengthened community support for lifesaving programs. I was responsible for creating and managing high-impact content across social media channels, including photography, videography, copywriting, campaign development, and performance analysis.

 
 

I collaborated closely with leadership and, beginning in July 2025, partnered with our Social Media Specialist to expand content production and engagement efforts. One of my proudest accomplishments was helping train and mentor our incoming Social Media Specialist, sharing the storytelling techniques, content strategies, and audience engagement practices that empowered her to become an exceptional content creator and advocate for the animals we serve.

 
 

Some of the work I am most proud of includes:

  • Duke: Unwanted: A powerful storytelling piece highlighting the challenges faced by long-stay shelter dogs, achieving a 4.77% Engagement Rate by Reach (ERR).

  • Chuckie's Adoption Story and Euthanasia Education Post: Combined a successful adoption update with transparent education about CARE's euthanasia practices, generating a 4.37% ERR.

  • Runner's Lifesaving Video Plea: A staff interview-driven video campaign that humanized shelter capacity challenges and inspired immediate community action, achieving a 10.13% ERR.

  • Frappe Memorial Tribute: A heartfelt memorial post honoring a beloved shelter animal that resonated deeply with supporters and achieved an 8.94% ERR.

  • Spicy Small Dog Posts: Humor-driven content featuring some of CARE's most opinionated canine residents. Highlights included Sqweezy Jibbs yelling at his Thanksgiving dinner, which generated more than 1.84 million impressions and became one of CARE's most widely viewed posts, and Bogey, another fluffy menace with significant barriers to adoption whose humorous spotlight post achieved a 6.11% ERR and helped find him a home within days. These posts demonstrated how strategic humor can broaden audience reach, increase shareability, and ultimately drive lifesaving outcomes for harder-to-place animals.

 
 

Responsibilities

  • Developed and executed social media content strategies aligned with organizational goals.

  • Created and produced original photo, video, graphic, and written content.

  • Identified emotional storytelling opportunities that connected audiences to shelter animals and programs.

  • Crafted content around clear calls to action focused on adoption, fostering, volunteering, donating, and sharing.

  • Collaborated with leadership and shelter staff to gather stories and create authentic content.

  • Monitored engagement metrics and adjusted content strategies based on performance data.

  • Helped lead fundraising and awareness campaigns through organic social media efforts.

  • Educated the public about the realities of animal sheltering and no-kill operations through transparent storytelling.

  • Trained and mentored an incoming Social Media Specialist, providing guidance on content creation, strategy, and audience engagement.

 
 

Results

  • Contributed to social media efforts that helped generate more than $77,000 in fundraising revenue during 2025.

  • Supported campaigns that generated more than $25,000 in fundraising revenue during Q1 2026.

  • Leveraged humor and personality-driven storytelling to expand audience reach, including a viral Sqweezy Jibbs post that generated more than 1.84 million impressions and adoption-focused content that helped place difficult-to-adopt animals into homes within days.

  • Built a highly engaged online audience through intentional, action-oriented storytelling.

  • Increased community participation in adoption, foster, volunteer, and donation programs.

  • Produced multiple high-performing posts with engagement rates significantly exceeding industry benchmarks.

  • Strengthened public understanding of animal welfare challenges and no-kill shelter operations.

  • Helped establish a scalable content strategy that continued to succeed as the social media team expanded.

  • Successfully onboarded and trained a new Social Media Specialist, strengthening Cincinnati Animal CARE's long-term content capabilities and lifesaving impact.