PETA’s Social Media Genius
Whether you agree with their politics or not, you have to give it up to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for their dedication to their message, as well as they’re genius marketing and social media presence. For 30+ years now, PETA has been at the forefront of the pursuit for animal rights. Often polarizing, there’s a bit a stigma that seems to linger around PETA, as their old ways of getting the word out seemed to have painted a lot of vegans with a bad brush. With changing times and new ways to reach the public, there has been a noticeable reevaluation of how they address the public. They have become masters of social media, integrating the use of social as their main way of engaging the public these days. Over the last few years, PETA has climbed to the top of brands and businesses with the most social media engagement. This means clicks, likes, comments, and follows. Not only are they engaging with their audience, but their audience is a global one, as they extend their campaigns all over the world. Regardless of what someone may think of their polarizing persona, they are consistent in their message, deliberate in the ways they choose to convey that message, they know their target audiences and know exactly what their end goal is.
PETA’s social media successes begin with knowing their cause, or causes, rather. Although the end goal is to wipe out animal cruelty in all forms all across the world, this isn’t achieved by targeting one issue. PETA’s activism targets slaughterhouse cruelty and the consumption of meat and dairy products, animal cruelty in the entertainment industry, the fur industry, the cosmetic industry, and any to all other forms of animal cruelty. All of these issues are arguably big issues, and to have a dedicated team of social media strategists working diligently around the clock on each of these issues ensures that PETA’s presence is felt in multiple industries.
Having an established message is fairly easy, but the way in which you spread that message is where things get tricky. The issues that PETA wishes to resolve aren’t exactly limited to a narrow scope of people. These issues are worldwide. They are trying to speak to society as a whole, but society has many layers, and each one holds a lot of importance and is targeted in different ways. PETA targets mass media through PSA’s, the use of celebrities, and novel publicity stunts to break through and get some media coverage. This was the norm in the organizations early days, as the internet was not as prominent. They target businesses, taking on full industries at times in order to convince corporations to change their ways, whether it be to stop selling fur or to stop testing on animals. “I’d rather go naked” is a notable slogan that is still used today. They also target lawmakers, calling for law reforms to prevent animal cruelty. This can sometimes go hand in hand with their targeting of businesses as well, as it is tough to be a match for billion dollar industries. Though they can sometimes be at a financial disadvantage, PETA has a strength in numbers with their army of dedicated supporters. PETA has great personal relations with the public, and in recent years can be attributed to their masterful use of social media. In order to take on big corporations and change the societal norms, PETA needs to speak to the every day person. By gaining the support of the every day consumer, their presence is felt by lawmakers and business in a clearer way. This can’t happen these days without a concise, expertly crafted social media presence, which PETA has and is not afraid to use to confront the public. Ads and slogans used to be what PETA had to depend on to get the word out, now they engage people through all sorts of mediums.
People are bombarded with information every day. Someone’s attention span is valuable for businesses, so competition to gain the consumers attention is fierce. PETA recognizes this and uses it in their strategy get the consumers attention. PETA’s successful PR comes from their ability to elicit a very emotional response (good or bad) from the people who see their content online. Animal rights can be a hard thing to get people to talk about and focus on due to the societal taboos associated with a vegan lifestyle and animal activism, so PETA typically aims to be provocative to initiate discussion. Regardless of whether or not everyone can agree, people are still talking about animal rights, and thats a success in and of itself. The organizations’ approach to social media is to hit people in an emotional way. PETA functions under the idea that people have an underlying empathy towards animals and uncovering these feelings can help people think about animal rights or realize what their lifestyle is contributing to.
Most of the videos that earned PETA their social media stardom are focused on people and their every day involvement with animals. They aim to enlighten people about how close to home the violence of animal agriculture really is and how we are not as separate from the problem as we might think we are. For example, “Chicken In Reverse” is a video that works backwards from what you see on your dinner plate, ultimately showing where that chicken dinner comes from. In classic PETA fashion, the video is graphic, candid, and very honest in its presentation. Its unsettling to anyone, and is thought provoking to the average consumer of animal products. This video was shared 151,000 times and was viewed over 15 million times on PETA’s Facebook account. Thats a huge amount of engagement happening on one video, and it received a lot of positive reactions. Other notable videos are “Glass Walls”, narrated by Paul McCartney, an incredibly graphic and equally honest depiction of slaughterhouse norms, and “The Year of Vegan”. The latter is another video detailing a woman’s journey to adopting a vegan lifestyle from the first few Google searches to helping her own mother transition into the same lifestyle a year later. Both of these videos received over 1 million views and continue to be shared every day. They hit so close to home because the finger is pointed at you, and the message is blatantly clear: you’re a part of it. This is unsettling for people and causes them to react either positively or negatively out of discomfort, but yet, PETA’s message is still the focus.
PETA’s approach is a personal one. Honesty is the best policy and they make no effort to hold anything back. Their content aims to make you feel something and get you thinking, talking, and sharing views on animal rights and lifestyle choices. Not only do they do this extremely well, but they do it often. Not only is PETA’s presentation notable, but the sheer volume of content they have being put out into the world is nothing short of impressive. In the first half of 2016 alone, PETA had made made close to 500 Facebook posts related to vegan eating and exposing animal cruelty. They published over 350 posts on Instagram and 3000 tweets, managing to be trending during the Super Bowl, one of the most competitive days of the year in terms of social media visibility among brands. This ranges from content being produced and posted almost daily to a few times a day depending on which social network they choose. With this much content, they expect a lot of engagement. PETA treats their social media engagement like a conversation, responding to people fairly quickly after they engage with their content. According to the organization, their social media staff work seven days a week to be able to reply to as many people as they can with recipes, advice, or just to reciprocate the engagement and show that they are aware of their presence and the notice their followers are taking. They see every interaction they have with someone on social media as an opportunity to discuss their message and further their campaigns. Although in the mainstream media they can be viewed as a sort of bully due to their aggressive campaigning, their one on one social media presence is kind and outwardly positive no matter who they engage with. This works in their favour by not only avoiding poor publicity, but by fostering positive relationships with the public by keeping things conversational and approachable. Where their engagement with the masses is rather in your face, the “kill them with kindness” approach is their secret weapon in keeping things positive with the every day person and allowing an open and flowing conversation with their followers that happens in real time.
Overall, PETA shows all the signs of having a masterful social media presence, and a good grasp on what social media can be used for in terms of marketing and keeping the spotlight on themselves. They actively engage their target audiences with content meant to bring out an emotional response, leaving a lasting impression and never failing to stir the pot and keep their message at the forefront of their brand and the publics mind. There never has been, and i doubt there really ever will be a time where PETA isn’t at the forefront of whatever social network is popular at the time, using it to further their brand and their message in novel and innovative ways.
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