RSPCA video and transcript

Transcript

LAUREN COCHRANE: The RSPCA is a community based animal welfare organisation. We have a system of shelters across each state and we also have an inspectorate and we also do campaigning for animal welfare issues.

At the core of our online presence we have our RSPCA.org.au website. As part of that we have a donation platform, a online shop and we also have several social media presences such as on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. On our website, we have our online store so people that aren’t near a RSPCA retail outlet can go and buy RSPCA merchandise. We also have a knowledge base which allows members of the public who have queries about the RSPCA, our policies, our positions or animal welfare queries in general to get the answers without necessarily having to use our Call Centres which means that staff productivity actually increases because our staff no longer have to answer the same questions. We can direct them to the knowledge base for all their needs.

We have about 100,000 hits per month on our website which is quite significant, we believe. It does increase quiet steadily month on month in line with general internet traffic trends. One of our websites adoptapet.com.au,  we introduced a few years ago, which helps people to view animals available for adoption online which has actually helped foot traffic increase through shelters and also adoptions itself so that has certainly been one benefit of [going] online for us.

At the very core of our strategy we want to listen to what people are saying about the RSPCA so we monitor social media channels for what people are saying about the RSPCA. That, in turn, influences what we are saying to the community so we are getting feedback about our campaigns. We are constantly improving our campaigns based on that feedback. Particularly on Facebook, if people don’t like a particular aspect of a campaign or they don’t like a policy, they will tell us and the great thing about it is that we are actually able to explain on a one to one basis why we are doing what we are doing and more often than not they really appreciate that.

We are finding that it definitely improves our work in three areas:  in fundraising, in campaigning and also with our Call Centre functions. With fundraising we are finding that we are able to reach people in new ways. With campaigning, same thing again, we are able to reach a whole new demographic when we are talking about issues and as well with the Call Centre because we have features on our website such as the knowledge base we are able to direct people to the right answer and they don’t necessarily have to call us to find out something that is very easily found on our website.