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Veterinary Practice News Editorial Blog:
Thursday, May 13, 2010
‘TweetUp’: Social Media for Fun and Helping Dogs
By Marilyn Iturri
Editor of VeterinaryPracticeNews.com and Veterinary Practice News
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Performing good works and having fun aren’t mutually exclusive. And social media like Twitter and Facebook offer more opportunities for doing both.
At least one dog-lovin’ company found a way to use them to benefit an animal shelter at next to no cost—an impressive achievement in today’s economy.
The benefit started out as a way for Southern California members of iLoveDogs.com’s Twitter and Facebook communities to meet each other.
But then Martha Smith, general manager of iLoveDogs, happened across a story about how food donations to spcaLA’s shelters were way down. Martha thought, why not ask attendees to bring a bag of food as price of admission?
With about three weeks’ planning—and announcements online and in the local “old media” as well--the event was put together and about 50 people—many accompanied by their dogs—attended the “TweetUp Meet-up.”
Hotel Maya in Long Beach, Calif., co-sponsored the evening event on an outdoor patio fronting Rainbow Harbor. The hotel donated the space and the staff, offered a complimentary sangria and extended its happy-hour pricing throughout the evening.
It also donated two luxury room packages as silent-auction items and four restaurant gift certificates as raffle prizes. Many other companies, including iLoveDogs and Chewsy Dog, also contributed to the auction and raffle.
Then Dogswell and the Animal Care Center of Huntington Beach (acchb.com) pledged to match dog food donations pound for pound.
Attendees brought 390 pounds of dog kibble … and at least one bag of cat food.
So the idea for a simple dog party resulted in 1,170 pounds of dog food and nearly $500 being donated to the pooches of spcaLA.
And people who love dogs got to meet each other and mingle on a nice spring evening in a beautiful location.
iLoveDogs’ TweetUp is a model for what any of us can do in our own communities with a little effort. An event doesn’t have to be huge and complicated to help a good cause—or to be fun.
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If you’re behind the curve with social media, be sure to look for part one of Dr. Jim Humphries’ stories about leveraging them to improve the practice in the June issue of Veterinary Practice News.
Dr. Humphries, president and news director of the Veterinary News Network (MyVnn.com), explains why it’s important for veterinarians to learn to use the Web for social networking.
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