Behind the Camera

What happens behind the scenes of global animal rescue?

In this candid episode, we sit down with Sarah and Genie, the duo behind Worldwide Vets’ social media and marketing. From strategy to storytelling, they share how digital content becomes a tool for rescue, fundraising, and building a global movement for animal welfare.

Whether you're a content creator, aspiring nonprofit marketer, or just curious about how mission-driven media works – this episode offers both heart and insight.

You can also watch the full interview on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@worldwide_vets

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

That actually gave me goosebumps with you saying that. It is insane. It's just like everyone has somehow managed to just make this pure connection. And it's all based around the same word. Like it's all based around a love for wildlife and love for animals and wanting to make a difference in the world. Welcome back to World Wide Tales, where real stories, real animals, and real impact come together. We are your hosts. I'm Jess. And I'm Kristen. This season, we're bringing you behind the scenes of conservation, veterinary medicine, and the people making it all happen, including today's special guests who help tell those stories to the world. One thing we've learned during this podcast and throughout our internship is how much work happens behind the scenes that most people never see. And honestly, none of you would even know what World Wide Fest does without the incredible work that goes into the storytelling, the content, the fundraising and the engagement that happens online. That's why today we're pulling back the curtain and chatting with Sarah and Jeannie, who both work behind the camera every day. to make sure the mission reaches people all across the world. Every post that you've liked, shared or paused to read from Worldwide Vets likely started with these two. Sarah, our marketing manager, and Jeannie, our social media associate, are the creative minds behind the messaging. They're turning the field updates into powerful digital stories. From fundraising campaigns to rescued animal spotlights, they help the mission travel across screens and into hearts around the world. So let's jump in and get started with our conversations with both Sarah and Jeannie. Okay, so you oversee the bigger picture of Worldwide Vets marketing efforts, Sarah. So can you maybe just tell us a little bit about your role and how you got started with the organization? Yeah, so it's a little bit of a long story short. I didn't jump straight into the marketing side of things. So I started off as a volunteer coordinator, kind of just assisting with the social media and doing a whole bunch of social media management along with booking students onto the project. Starting with that, funny enough, Our CEO, she told you a little bit about her travels and couch surfing. Funny enough, when she was couch surfing in South Africa, she ended up staying on one of my current friend's couches. She told me about her. She was like, oh, she has horses in Zimbabwe. And maybe I should hook you up with her and you go and spend time and hop with the horses there. At that time, I was still finishing up with my studies. So it didn't really work out, didn't really reach out. And scrolling on Facebook, once I'd finished my degree and I saw this opportunity come up for a volunteer coordinator and I sent it to friend tears and she was like that's the lady that couch surfed on my couch and like and has the horses and all of that. So like put me in as a reference and let's try and get you in there. Like I know her really well. She's doing incredible work. You definitely love it. I mean, I got into it and I'm very grateful that I managed to get into it. And now here we are. And I've moved over into the managerial role of media and marketing after three years of being with the organization. And it's been life changing. I mean, I never saw myself going on this path. And here we are today. Three years ago, Sarah would be like, what are you? serious that's amazing that's cool no way so yeah uh that's kind of how i got to where i am now that is so cool yeah it's definitely very cool i think as well like the the running theme of how everybody has found each other in this organization seems to be we just stumbled upon it and we can come together for that one passion and it's just so lovely to hear everyone's like stories and how it all just interlinks so well that actually gave me goosebumps with you saying that it is insane it's just like everyone is so managed to just make this pure connection and it's all based around the same work like it's all based around a love for wildlife a love for animals and wanting to make a difference in the world and I think that's the most remarkable part is we're a team strong of people that want to make a change definitely so marketing in a non-profit has its own unique challenges what would you say are some of the biggest hurdles that you face when trying to market international conservation work if I'm being honest it is getting content from our loved partners they are so busy on the ground yeah they're so busy on the ground and obviously trying to get as much done and you know nobody's really thinking about filming anything or oh that's that would make really good content in abscess pop because everybody loves an abscess pop you know I think that's probably one of the biggest challenges is getting that content but I think another another challenge that kind of tops that off is it's a little bit hard to say but is people's opinions so being able to market this work and you know do such incredible things it's not always the most incredible thing to other people like we have a large group of people that are like yes we want to support that but then you always get those Facebook warriors that want to push back but that's also a pro to it because we push straight past that and know that we're truly making a difference in animals lives one step at a time you know one donation at a time so that proves to be a challenge but challenges are about growth and about learning and being able to come out of the other side and go okay cool we did it we did it better this time and we'll do it better next time you know so yeah that's a really nice approach because I guess you can't avoid that so you have to find a way to work through it yeah and it's also you know I think I have a huge love for open-mindedness and you know being able to quietly and calmly explain things to people not just to tell them that they need to believe this and this is what they need to understand and I will change your perspective it's just open up your brain a little bit and look at the different perspectives as to why we do this you don't need to agree with everything that's being done but at least have an understanding for why and then I can like I will be happy with you disagreeing because you've allowed yourself to go okay cool I understand why you would do this but it's not my cup of tea I respect you for that topic a little bit there but it is it's a challenge but at the end of the day animals are the voiceless and we're trying to speak out for them and being able to have other people around the world speaking out for them too in whichever way they can that's the goal absolutely yeah you mentioned obviously speaking for animals and it ties into the storytelling aspect How does that directly support fundraising and outreach and specifically the stories that we capture in the field that you mentioned? Again, I have goosebumps because the storytelling is the most important part. It's hard because it's very hard to connect an organization to people. It's much easier to connect the face, to connect the story to an individual that they relate to. And that I might be giving away some of my marketing secrets here. We're not gatekeeping. We're here to make a difference. that is my biggest thing is being able to share a story that is true and real and that people can connect with and i think that's one of the most important parts because you're not going to get people wanting to make a difference in the world unless they've really truly connected with something and you know i did something and taken a genuine interest in it so the storytelling path that comes in it's not just about you know when we look at the volunteers that come out and we work with it's not just about the animals you know it's about changing the perspective of every free one and allowing them into our world to truly understand why we do the work that we do and you know what happens really in the background and um it kind of integrates into all areas of of the charity um being able to influence people to change lives of others so that storytelling part is definitely the highlight of it because you get to share even one individual story um or just a snippet of their story they don't even get the full story you know um and that really you know that can be impactful i've sat and watched that kind of stuff on my own and started crying. And I'm like, this work is incredible. I want to be involved in it. You know, when you see those rescue pages and stuff like that. So the storytelling is the most important part, especially the factual and the truthful and being able to let people in. So they feel like they genuinely know you and they trust you as an individual or as an organization, not just as worldwide vets, but as Gemma, as Jeannie, as Bailey, as Danny, you know, as Sarah and as our lovely two new interns. and our podcast, not just the podcast, but Jess and Kristen. It's a little family. Yeah. And it's, you know, knowing everybody's story and going back to what you said earlier, Kristen, everybody somehow was on a Brandon path here. That backstory, even people can relate to and, you know, being able to relate to people is a foundation. Just being able to connect with them in that kind of way, connect them with animals. And yeah, I could babble about this forever. So I'm going to give it a pause there. We want you to babble about it because people don't really see this part of the mission. They don't see, you know, you don't see you and Jeannie and, and, everybody else that are working so hard to tell these stories but it's not just the stories of the animals it's the stories of the and emotions of everybody that's involved as well so we want you to babble babble all day we can do another episode if you want stories in the field i got plenty of those oh it's so nice though it's so inspiring i feel inspired and i'm just here at home oh yes that's what we're going for here you know and the people that you meet and when you are immersed into their world and you know get to see the love and the effort and the passion that they put into all of this it sparks it kind of just sit back and you're like i love that they love this so much like i want to love it this much um as soon as people talk about things with this strong passion you immediately want to listen because you can see that they're passionate about it you can see that they just are working so hard and they've got a smile on their face all the time and knowing the backstories and the efforts that people have gone through to say like i'm a wildlife girlie through and through the things that people go through to protect wildlife to be kind to wildlife the efforts and all the things that volunteers get to learn through these people who have worked in the field for years it's just it's so beautiful to see at the end of a trip when a volunteer leaves how much it impacted them and how much a difference the entire experience makes of wildlife work domestic animal work you know it leaves a mark and it's often the Africa bug that bites people and I claim that Africa's one of the best South Africa oh that's so cool I have heard it's infectious Once you go, once you experience it firsthand, you'll never look back. There's no doubt about that. This is a great place to be. So you have a lot to coordinate in your role, social media, and you also liaise with part of the fundraising team with grant writing, partnerships, donor communication. How do you prioritise your campaigns and projects? That's a marvellous question. It's a challenge, to say the least. Going back to the challenges, that's one of the challenges. You do it flawlessly. Why, thank you. I'm glad it looks flawless, does not... feel flawless. So I think I think that's, like I said, it is a challenging one to make sure that all of these things are, you know, I've got the top of the list, the bottom of the list. At the end of the day, being able to prioritize them obviously is super, super important. And I kind of try and focus on, you know, what's happening at the minute, especially if Jem is out in Ukraine or when she's in Egypt or wherever she is in the world, we kind of base it around where Jem is and what our focal point is. I mean, it fluctuates from time to time because obviously the marketing is not just solely focused on the fundraising and fundraising is something that we've recently brought brought on as a bigger area of worldwide vets. Whereas in the past, we were kind of focusing just on volunteers, getting students out to projects, supporting our projects. And now with the expansion of it, it's definitely been a change. When it comes to the fundraising, we try and focus on the projects that need it most. And also depending on where Jim is and what she feels needs to be done. So the whole role is actually just based around being able to chop and change and be super, super flexible when it comes to how this time is managed. what is a priority. I mean, it's always changing. I can never say that it's the easiest thing to manage because there is a lot that goes into it, but it's just trying to keep on top of it and focusing on what is important, such as fundraising for Egypt, fundraising for Ukraine, fundraising for Rhino Dehornings to make sure, you know, that we can slow down poaching a little bit and try and contribute back to that. So I can't give you a direct answer to it. It's a challenge, full stop. And I don't know how well I do it, but we somehow managed to nail it most of the time what's the saying and what is it organized chaos right that's my favorite saying my like my space can be a mess if someone goes in and neatens up my space i knew where everything was in the chaos and now someone's neatened up my chaos just because they thought it needed to be neatening no no no no no that's not how this organized chaos indeed yeah and then i guess tying into that what are because you obviously you mentioned that you you do so much you juggle so much and there's been so many kind campaigns and you know fundraising projects that you work on but where what is something that you really looked at and was like wow like this impact is crazy like what's something that's stuck with you the most so far I wouldn't okay like I said I'm a wildlife girlie so I love our wildlife projects so much um I think something that really has truly like stood out to me is um Bailey and myself when we started doing a bit more research and came into contact with Rescue Charitable Trust out in India um that connection was you know it stood out to me like a shining star because those people and the work that they're doing to manage human wildlife conflict to go out into the streets to go out into really tough areas and go and rescue wildlife when people pick up the phone and call is insane i mean the amount of incredible work that that team has done and being able to partner with them and be recognized alongside them is for me a highlight um just i mean i cannot even explain and how incredible that team is and the amount of effort that they put into absolutely everything that they do. The dedication is from early morning till late at night, sometimes all nighters, and it's just incredible. And that's a definite highlight for me. And then I want to throw in a highlight of actually having a full understanding of what conservation is. Conservation is not just focusing on one animal. It's not rhinos. You know, we need to protect rhinos. Yes, we do need to protect rhinos. And I 100% agree on that. But what is conservation as a whole? And that is the biggest thing that I've learned in my role of being able to spend time on projects, time with people through marketing, through collaborating with different organizations is conservation is not just the animal, it's the space, it's the people, it's the ecosystem, everything that goes alongside it and being able to create that balance and being able to hold it. That is where the importance is. That's where the importance lies. So I think that was probably one of the most motivating things for me since I've been learning it every single time I go out on projects and when I chat with friends that are on projects and that is the most impactful for me because I feel like so many people don't know that. They know a tiny percentage of what conservation really is and what goes into it. The nitty gritty, the hard stuff to see and the really great stuff to see. So yeah, I mean I'm in awe about it and I learn every single day and it's not about being closed minded but open to the possibilities and open to the learning of what you you know you really see for a future and being able to understand that and share it with people like that's the biggest thing for me is being able to share my reality with others so that we can make a difference like that's all I want to do is make a difference and have people understand how it works and the effort that goes into it and be a part of it and be a part of something bigger than themselves so yeah that was beautiful thank you talk about goosebumps now you've got goosebumps now i don't know maybe the marketing role wasn't something we needed to talk about i think we needed to talk about the projects and spending time with people and maybe we'll get to that at some point but i love sharing that stuff i mean you can it's what i said when people have a passion in it you just want to listen you just want to let your jaw drop onto the floor and listen and that's not even like that wasn't even my story those are things that I've learned from other people and like those stories are insane it is yeah it just goes on for for miles and miles and that's the beauty of it but I think it ties in really well with your role because you're a lot of your role is a storytelling obviously as we said so like it's good that you've got a passion for it and you can babble on about it because at the end of the day you know you're you're showing the side of the iceberg that nobody shows so you have a fantastic perspective there because i haven't thought about it from that view so when you was like honestly when you was describing that then i thought of you know that picture that you always see on like facebook of the iceberg yeah it's like what you see and then what's going on that's just what came to my head when you was talking of obviously the whole set okay so if if you don't know what i spoke she's talking about she's talking about this iceberg yeah this iceberg right here guys yeah that one right there that's perfect I was born for this. So I'm sure that you will have inspired a lot of people who are listening. And what advice would you give to them if they were interested in nonprofit marketing? Well, I think that can expand a little bit to... not only NPO marketing, but conservation, any kind of, wait, I'm getting there, any kind of ocean conservation, spay neuter clinics, anything that extends to any kind of, you know, passion that people have. You don't need to be a vet. You don't need to be a biologist. You don't need to be all those things. There's so many different ways that you can get into an area of work just through different doors, you know. And that, again, I go back to closed-mindedness. You need to open up your mind and really think about different ways and different options of being able to get you in because there's not a chance that I can tell you right now that I would have expected to get in this way with marketing but marketing is a fantastic way to be able to get into absolutely any role that you're passionate about because at the end of the day everything needs to be marketed and being able to share people's stories again is you know if you have a flair for it or even if you don't have a flair for it and you're trying to learn there are always ways that you can get in social media marketing it's a nice simple one just got to put a little bit of work in you know digital marketing everybody needs a website everybody needs seo so the literally the world is always set like there is no limit to how you can or can't get into this industry because it's likely that you very much can you just have to show passion you have to show grit and determination and that's what it comes down to is just show people why you are the person that they should choose perfect thank you pleasure Shall we start at the beginning? Yeah, let's start way at the beginning. I'm starting way at the beginning. Life story. We want it. We want it now. All right. So when I finished school, I knew one thing and that was that I didn't want to study. That was out of the question for me. I didn't enjoy school. I didn't want to go to university for the next five years. That was absolutely clear to me. So I took a gap year. And I, what did I do? I volunteered, but not through worldwide vets, just through things in Cape Town. I traveled around. And then as lots of family and friends ask you when you finish school is what are you going to do with the rest of your life? and i grew up in the production industry so around photographers videographers my entire life um so i thought what's the easiest i can do is i'll just study photography since i knew what it was and i enjoyed it i loved being creative and yeah i did that so i studied that's what i did i studied photography and videography um and then i came across worldwide beds via a tick tock I was scrolling. I saw one of their videos on a project called Safari Stables. Not the one we currently have, a different one that we don't currently represent anymore. And I went out there for about a month and I volunteered there. And at the time, Sarah, who is now the marketing manager, was actually my booking agent. And she booked me on this project. I went out there. I had the time of my life. made friends that I'm still in contact with till today. And I think that's the best part about volunteering is that it sounds so cliche, but you really do make friends for life. I know that if I ever go to Australia, I will always have a place to stay, which for me is like the best part. And then the place I volunteered at offered me an internship. And I went back a couple months later, did an internship. I managed the stables with up to 30 horses. I then got offered a full-time job. And that's when I moved to Zimbabwe. And I lived there in the middle of nowhere in the bush. But the only thing we had was a shopping, like a grocery store, a pharmacy, a hospital and a liquor store. All the essentials. It's all the essentials. It's all you need. And then I lived there. And then I moved back to Cape Town about two years ago. And I saw that Worldwide Vets was looking for a media and marketing intern. So I popped Gemma WhatsApp. And I was like, you remember me, you want to give me an internship? And yeah, and then I started my internship with World Wide Vets. And that's kind of where it all really started flowing and going and the ball started going. And I learned so much. And that's when Sarah, who was my booking agent before, was now the person I was working under. And then World Wide Vets offered me a full-time job. And this is where we are today. And the rest is history. It did a full circle, you know, you started as a volunteer and now I get to inspire other people around the world to also go and volunteer. So it's really, yeah. Just as a little one-off, this isn't included, obviously, in the questions, but did you always have a love for animals that drew you to Worldwide Vets or...? Yes, I was always that kid that found injured animals and was like, I'm going to save it. This bird is mine now, which as a kid is the best thing ever. As someone that now works in conservation, I'm like, what were you thinking? You can't save this bird. Step into it. qualified place that can um but no i've always been i've always done horse riding i've always loved animals i loved conservation i was always the kid that could either live in the middle of nowhere on a farm but never in the city center like it just wasn't city life never for me i was always someone that liked to get down and dirty get my hands dirty it's just how i'm wired i guess and i think that's like it makes you also doesn't it doing stuff like that do things that you would never usually do like you know getting down on the dirt and absolutely i've done questionable things never pushed me to my comfort zone out of my comfort zone but um it's always those that come those things that happen that come to the best stories you know and character building and if nothing else a good story I think the best is when you've got no the best moments are when you do not have evidence of it you don't have videos you don't have photos it is literally a memory and the people that you've experienced with always know what you're talking about and you can try and explain it to people and make them understand but they weren't there They can't actually 100% comprehend what you went through together. Okay. Could you tell us what a typical day looks like for you in your role? Yes. A typical day? Your favorite day? My typical day. I mean, I think the best part is that I do get to work remote. massive difference i've never been someone that considered an office nine to five um so for me i'll usually go to the gym in the morning and then come back and probably answer some emails um follow up with our various projects Every day is different, to be very honest with you. There's not really a set schedule. You know, we've got a marketing calendar, making sure that that's up to date, making sure that we're rotating through every project and that if there are projects that still have availability, that we're pushing those. So there's not really a set day, a set routine. It's hard to answer in that sense. That's kind of exciting, though, that every day is different.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

It is.

UNKNOWN 25:43

Every day is different. I might get a call from Sarah or Gemma saying, oh, please do this. And the nice thing is that it's not just marketing related that I do. When it comes to

SPEAKER_00 25:56

The t-shirts that our volunteers wear on projects, Sarah and I said we designed these on Canva. There's so much more to than just social media posting. Organising the marine vet project that we've just launched in Cape Town. All the projects, all the activities that our volunteers will be doing is properly set up, that they've got accommodation, the accommodation's good. The activities are set in stone, the shuttle service kind of organising everything from day one to the day they depart again um there's a lot behind the scenes yeah a lot behind the camera literally it's so true there is too much that goes on behind this camera that nobody would ever know and i do you know what i really do because from me and jess obviously editing these podcasts i've been editing the videos and jess for doing the podcast i didn't It's so much. You don't realize how much the design and the editing and the captions and the posting and organizing. It takes up so much time. It is a lot. It is a lot, you know, and also keeping the people that comment on your social media, asking you questions, keeping that engagement going, you know, making sure that when they do want more information, you're providing them with more information and that it's not really a copy paste situation. Every question's tailored to the question. There's a lot and every platform's different, you know, every platform's different age range, different, following, you know, your LinkedIn is more of your donors, your more older crowd, you know, your Instagram is relatively younger. TikTok is even younger. So it's kind of also making sure that what you're posting is going out to that audience that you are trying to reach. Yeah, it's really nice that you do tailor it towards different audiences as well. That well, personal or professional response isn't just a one size fits all. Exactly, exactly. Because it's not. Every project we have is different. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. Not everyone's someone that horse rides. Not everyone's someone that wants to go into the bush and would rather go to Zanzibar where there's ocean. And, you know, everyone's different. And being able to make it available to everyone is so important. Yeah, I think it absolutely is. And I think everyone should know that there's so much hard work that goes on behind every aspect of what happens. Not just seeing a cute animal on the screen and being like, oh, wow, amazing. But actually just appreciating you, Jeannie. We're just appreciating you in this episode, you know? Always appreciating you. Put it to me. We'll shower you with love. We'll shower you with love. So in terms of biggest challenges, what would you say so far has been... a big challenge for you when sharing the conservation stories online? I think the biggest challenge in general with sharing conservation stories online and working in this field is that context matters so much. You know, you've... You can post a video of you bottle feeding an animal, for example, but there's so much context to it. This isn't a pet. It's not a pet. This is a rehab facility. These animals are being rehabilitated to be released, and there's so much behind it. And if people don't have context, they tend to make up stories. It's immediately jumping to conclusions. A big struggle is rhino dehorning. We had a real go out for that and there was a lot of conflict in the comment section, you know, about is it the right thing to do? Is it not the right thing to do? Does it change their behaviour after they're dehorned, you know? But I just recently visited our SOS Wildlife Project and it was the first time that I was actually on the ground witnessing a rhino dehorning and it was an extremely emotional process for everyone that was there. It was such a reality check, such a wake-up moment that this is what it's come to, to protect them from something that's equivalent to a fingernail. Wow. A massive shock to your system. I mean, I don't cry easily, and that was... I had tears in my eyes. It was a real massive reality check that this is what we need to do in order to protect them. So I think that's the biggest challenge, you know, is... making sure that there's context there's explanation that people understand these are not pets these are wild animals um i think the hardest day was my first week as an intern that was probably my hardest day um i had to post that we had up i had to upload our most recent blog to our instagram and that blog was about a poaching that went down in Zimbabwe's National Park of four lionesses that were poached. And my colleague sends me the images and it was the most horrific thing I've ever seen. And that was on my first week worldwide event and my stomach just dropped. Yeah, I bet. So that was tough, you know. But it's so important to educate people out there and make them aware of the animals that can't speak up for themselves absolutely and i think the saying is that ignorance is bliss right that's the saying but also we can't be ignorant forever we have to open our eyes and we have to see everything that's going on because otherwise nobody will change it it won't change without people seeing it absolutely i mean That saying where you throw one piece of plastic on the floor, oh, it's just one piece, said 50,000 people. Yeah. Absolutely. Eventually, you're going to have to open your eyes, wake up, take a reality check, and kind of inspire the next generation to... To help. Have you got a favorite part of running social media or is there a campaign that's really stuck with you or made you think, yes, I really love, or this is why I love what I do. I think for me, the favorite part is seeing the stories that our volunteers put up. um kind of seeing them have the time of their life yeah i was on the group for the first vet visions group that just went out in zimbabwe and seeing these girls sending each other the photos via this group chat you know chatting back and forth if that for me was just it's so amazing because i can relate in the sense that that was me once that was me making friends making memories i think for me yeah that's that's probably my favorite part is is the yeah the visual storytelling that comes with it um to a big audience um yeah the visual storytelling that's probably my favorite part i think a picture tells a thousand words did i say that in our last one uh you've definitely said it recently I feel like there's some phrases that I say every single time and then I have to go back and I'm like, I've literally said that about 10 times. I can't listen to myself say that again. I think my favorite saying is that a photograph has the ability to tell the past, the present and the future in just one click. That is good, actually. That is really good. I love it. And that is so relatable to you as well. Yeah, it's my favourite thing. Can we change the episode title to that? It's really quick for it. We definitely have to put it in the description at least. You'll have to probably remind me because I'll probably get some words mixed up somewhere. But being on the ground at Issa Isna, I think my favourite part, we're seeing how these volunteers arrived as complete strangers, super quiet, didn't know each other, and then leaving as friends, bubbly, laughing, goofing around, joking. That's also, I think, one of my top favorites is that. Transition is just insane. Well, you're seeing us grow, aren't you? Grow as people. Yeah, it's incredible. I think everyone, when they go into that environment as well, they're all in the same boat, but because you are anxious or you're overthinking in your head of, oh, how will they, what will they think? Will I like them? Blah, blah, blah, whatever else is going on. You don't realize that you're all in the same boat, but then after that two weeks or however long it is, you actually then just not thinking about that. You're just thinking about, oh, wow, I have nothing to worry about in the first place. Yeah. And also that you realize they're all there for the same reason, for love of wildlife conservation. They all love animals. So I think that they realize that very, very quick. Yeah. Going back to Dan, you mentioned about the difficult times. We've obviously said your challenging times and we've said the good times that you've had so far. But how do you balance? balance the difficult content with the authentic so how are you balancing that difficult and good times when when it comes across on the social media aspect social media hmm ha so very good question um you obviously don't want to flood your followers with super sad content all the time but it's also weirdly enough people love the gory it's it's the weirdest thing but our videos that are gory the videos that are they're kind of a shock to the system do really well because i think like we said earlier on it's kind of like a wake up in that sense where they're like whoa you know um but it's also so important to show the good side of things a balance like it's so important it's really hard to do I think kind of just keeping people up to date. People love to follow stories. We had a blog go out not so long ago with kind of success stories of 2024. So that starting it off without shock, you know, of how these animals came in and then versus how they are now. And people love that kind of stuff. They love to see the success in it. But also it's important to show that not everything is a success story. And that's also reality. Not everything is going to go the way we want it. That's life. It's hard. I kind of try to think of it in a sense of what would I want to see? Putting myself in the shoes of someone that volunteered. What would I want to see to inspire me to go and do this? That's a really nice perspective. But then also when I click on the profile to view, in this case, worldwide vets, also having educational side of videos, you know, things that are a shock to the system, are a reality check. So having that really important balance is important. Yeah. Because it is a hard balance because you not only have to balance all of that, getting the context right and getting the right audience you've got to look at the statistics you've also got to look at the trends and algorithms and yeah it's a lot all at the same time that's not easy that's really hard yeah and it's also you've got to make sure that you're covering all our projects you know we've got quite a few so being able to keep our followers up to date on all our projects, which is why we often reach out, you know, is there something new going on on the ground with you guys? We launched something called Ask a Vet, which is when we interviewed, We grab a vet from a project. We have our followers ask questions related to a specific topic, things that interest them, and then have these vets actually answer them. Oh, nice. Which also gives our followers the ability to meet the people on the ground. So we are looking for more vets to interview if anyone out there wants to join our Ask a Vet. Cool, yeah, that's exciting. Yeah. When you're working on campaigns or social media related projects, what do you find brings people together? Because World Wide Vets has such a global community, people from different backgrounds, cultures, maybe even with different languages. What do you find really connects those people to the work of World Wide Vets? The love of animals. That's a big one. The love of animals. I think that that is probably our biggest thing that brings everyone together. that we all share the same love, the same passion, the same drive. And like you said, everyone might come from different religions, different cultures, different backgrounds, different countries, different languages, but there's one thing that we all have in common, and that's the love of wildlife, preserving, protecting those that can't do it themselves. Yeah, that's really nice. Yeah, so kind of bringing that together in campaigns and fundraisers. Let's say you want to volunteer but you can't necessarily get out there and be on the ground with us. Being able to donate towards something or one of our initiatives is still a way of supporting us when you can't physically be there. It's not the same. But it still has the same impact. Definitely. It's all important, isn't it? Every aspect. Absolutely. Every little bit counts. All of this work, whether it's on social media, in fundraising or in the field, ultimately comes back to making real changes for animals. And if today's episode inspired you, you can get involved too. Whether it's by donating, volunteering or simply sharing these stories. If you do want to get involved with anything, then... Just visit the link in the episode description and then you can enter our fundraiser and support animals in need. We're also running a survey feedback form and if you submit your feedback into that form, you can be in with the chance to win a cute crocheted animal. A huge thank you to both Jeannie and Sarah for giving us a peek behind the camera at Worldwide Vets. Coming up next time on Worldwide Tales, we will be stepping into the field with the people at the heart of Worldwide Vets, the volunteers. You'll hear real experiences from Danny, our volunteer coordinator, as well as one of our volunteers who travelled across the world and found themselves forever changed. Whether you've volunteered or are thinking about it, you won't want to miss it. Until then, keep caring, keep sharing and keep making an impact.