Quite often in training I’ll talk about the need not to be always selling on social channels.
You are not trying to recreate the high testosterone antler-butting of ‘Glengarry Glenross’. You are not always trying to close the deal to win a set of steak knives.
Often human-centred story telling can be really useful but there’s also another way to engage people.
Animals.
A police comms person once told me that they used pics of horses and dogs because people love them. They would build a bigger audience ready for when they really needed them.
That’s really good advice.
So, this week I thought I’d take a look at just what good cute animal looked like. It’s far more than just whacking up a cute puppy for the win.
Animal as news story
The world champion of animal in good news story is Digby, Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue’s dog. A woman was thinking of taking her life in Exeter and police were struggling to convince her to come back to safety. A firefighter who was nearby offered to bring the dog who is often used to ‘defuse’ situations after stressful incidents.
Digby was deployed, the woman stepped back from the brink and the service’s Facebook post reached 72,000 engagements, 38,000 shares and global coverage.
Realistically, its the kind of seriously good off-diary coverage that can’t be built into a comms plan.
Q: Do you have a dog attached to your organisation that’s done something great?
Animals as a new member of staff
Here, Lancaster City Council on TikTok announce Patsy their new pest control dog.
It’s a short clip that focuses quite rightly on the dog. Who wants to see a Councillor when they have such a cute council officer?
True, the clip doesn’t go into the detail of how exactly a dog can help with pest control. Maybe they are things best kept unsaid.
Q: Do you have an animal member of staff?
Paying tribute to a departed animal
Announcing the death of an animal who has served is also part of the circle of life.
In this Merseyside Fire & Rescue LinkedIn post Vesper the rescue dog was given the appropriate send-off. It also acknowledges the loss of her human partner Niamh.
The comments were appropriately professional seeing as this was LinkedIn.
As a Forensic Scientist I mostly encountered Accelerant trained dogs. However I have a huge respect for any service dog and their handler. RIP Vesper, with thanks for your service and sympathy for Niamh.
Q: Do you have a service animal who has passed away?
Does your service animal have a birthday coming up?
It’s not as though Culzean has done anything heroic in this post.
Celebrating a birthday is enough to get dozens of likes and comments for this Police Scotland horse on Instagram.
Q: Does your service animal have a birthday?
Acknowledging good work from a service animal
Those who work with service dogs more than likely see their work as fairly routine. This is fair but frustrating.
So, once in a while celebrating their work is absolutely in the line of duty.
In this X post from the dedicated @PSOSDogs account Police Scotland’s own dogs account Obi’s work in tracking down a missing 77-year-old is recognised.
Q: Have your service animals performed well?
Acknowledging good work from a human
The story ‘cat stuck up tree rescued’ is the ACME of a small town fire service being heroic.
But how about ‘stuck dog rescued?’
This post from Bridgnorth Fire & Rescue on Facebook captures the moment when a rescued animal thanks one of the team who dragged him out of the mud.
Q: Have your humans performed well with animals?
When your day job is working with animals
It’s not just one post, it’s a whole Facebook page
Here, Middlesbrough Council Dog Warden Service have an entire page. There’s 12,000 followers and its regularly updated.
Sometimes, comms people can be sniffy about service areas running pages. If they update regularly, as they do here, I’m all for it. It may be the only council stream they follow and if it provides good content, why not? Plus, it can also generate content for the corporate account.
All councils have a responsibility to re-home lost dogs. This is a rich seam of content that often goes unmined.
Q: Does your council look after dogs?
Yes, cats can be cute too
In this BBC World Service Reel a school from America has a therapy cat called Pinecone.
Again, media relations and a news story that’s reaching a wider audience.
The cat with clicks shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, Larry the Cat the 10 Downing Street mouser commands a huge audience online. So does Stourbridge station’s resident cat.
Q: Can you work with other animals?
Newsjacking the hashtag
No round-up of animal content could possibly be without the excellent #dogsatpollingstations hashtag. While this emerged organically, it’s good to see organisations making the most of it.
Here, the Electoral Commission collates an entire carousel of images.
Q: Is there a hashtag you can tag onto?
For more, I deliver training to help you make sense of the changing landscape.
ESSENTIAL AI FOR PUBLIC SECTOR COMMS
ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER
ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS REBOOTED.
Picture credit: National Archives at College Park – Still Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
