About Social Media
for Animals
Helping each other. Helping Animals.
Social Media for Animals has several goals:
- To serve as a clearinghouse on information related to using social media at a shelter or rescue.
- Tap into the brains of the many individuals who manage social media for shelters around the country and share their knowledge (with their permission of course) for others to learn from.
- Help those who work at shelters and rescues who may have limited resources or bandwidth to use templates and pull from other resources, so that they can focus on saving lives through social media instead of trying to draft up policies, templates, or other things that may get in the way.Read more about the vision for Social Media for Animals here.
Sarah Barnett, Principal
With a passion for helping animals and people, Sarah’s gained unique perspective and experience both online, managing social media at the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation for many years, and offline, working at an animal shelter. More recently she has worked in several communication roles at The Humane Society of the United States, with a focus on public relations, social media, crisis communications, and how they overlap. She is now the Public Affairs Adviser and Special Assistant to the President and CEO.
While managing social media for The Humane Society of the United States, she led the organization to be recognized as a leader in the use of Twitter for nonprofit engagement, and be recognized in industry publications such as “One of the Top 20 Nonprofits on Twitter” by The Huffington Post.
She’s a speaker on crisis communications for nonprofits, how to navigate brand attacks in the online space, and how to use social media to communicate effectively no matter the size of your organization or cause.
In her spare time, she volunteers with the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation managing the farm animal care and serving on the Board of Directors. She lives in Maryland with her dog Dimitri .
Jane Harrell, Co-Principal
Jane Harrell is Editor-in-Chief of AdvoCats (and Dogs, Too) and ’cause Digital Marketing. Jane’s passion for helping pets and focused understanding of the online pet-parent space has earned her a reputation for innovation, expertise and proven results with businesses like Petfinder.com, Purina and Pet Health Network.
With 16 years in the animal welfare space and 10+ in digital marketing, Jane’s lead award-winning and goal-exceeding marketing strategy from the ground-up. Jane’s worked hands-on on 15+ content management systems, personally lead and created social media channels for multiple companies, driven SEM and SEO campaigns that exceed expectations, and collaborated with countless major players in the pet industry. She’s won the Women In the Pet Industry Rising Star Award and her projects have been recognized by TIME magazine, SEO Land, the Webbies and even featured in an Apple commercial. These days, she uses this know-how to forge life-saving strategy and lead digital implementation teams for social-good organizations that reach goals, exceed expectations and help shape the pet industry.
Jane is a regular speaker at conferences, writer for industry and consumer publications and enjoys the rest of her time in Portland, ME, with her adopted dogs, cats, partner and box turtle, Turt.