Social Media Extends PIC’s Reach

Pets in the Classroom would be just another website without the potent

outreach afforded by social media sites. Since teaming up with LuCorp Marketing

of Phoenix, AZ, PIC has gone viral through Facebook, teacher blogs, online article

distribution services and other social media sites.

Cindy Woudenberg of LuCorp initially analyzed the Pets in the Classroom website

for keywords that Google and other search engines would find when someone

searched for information on pets and classroom grants. Next, information about PIC

was distributed to hundreds of grant sites for public schools and on teacher blog

sites. Articles on the PIC program were sent to sites such as www.edutopia.org and

www.teacherlingo.com that are frequented by teachers. A Pets in the Classroom

blog was added to the PIC website to allow for two-way communications between

the Trust and teachers.

The net result of all of this activity has been an explosion of grant requests

from teachers. From fewer than 40 grant requests received before social media marketing

was implemented in March, we have received more than 300 requests in the

two months since. “This has been an eye-opening experience for me,” commented

Pet Care Trust Executive Director Steve King. “The increased exposure that social

media tools have provided this program has been astounding, and we have spent

relatively little money making it happen, leaving more funds for teacher grants.”