The Nebraska Humane Society houses a huge amount of dogs and cats (among other animals) waiting to be adopted. Seeing all of the animals in person makes it even more of a shame that they can’t be taken home, but that’s not why we’re here. We’ve come to hear a Creighton alum talk about her experience in running the brand’s social media, building it from the ground up into the powerhouse it is today.

For those of us who have grown up with the birth of social media springing up around us, the way we (and companies) interact may seem like common sense, but that isn’t necessarily true for older generations who might not be as well-versed in the advantages surrounding social media. That’s where metrics come in, and for companies like NHS, they are extremely important. Social media for companies may not seem like a necessity at first, but once you get into the numbers, it’s hard to see how a company could go so long without it.

Metrics show the often older leaders of companies that social media actually contributes to revenue, that it can have a tremendous ROI once things get rolling. If you can show through data how social media contributes to the bottom line, companies are bound to react positively.

That being said, it’s not a walk in the park. Social media takes constant work; it’s not just hopping on to your favorite social network when you want, it’s constant interaction and engagement with fans and followers. And it’s not merely enough to create a following, but to translate that audience into something tangible for your business.

Millennials are the dream demographic. With $1.3 trillion in annual buying power, they are the group businesses want to target, but they are a hard demographic to market to. NHS was able to use social media to promote an event targeted directly to millennials called Ales for Tails. By using social media and out-of-the-box ideas they were able to gain a bunch of new millennial donors, something that is notoriously difficult in the non-profit world.

The biggest thing to remember about social media is that it has created a tremendous shift in the way companies market to people. While before companies would tell customers what they needed, it now falls to companies to listen to their customers. By engaging with them and giving them what they want (like more cat pictures) companies are able to create a community of loyal customers that advocate for the brand. Social media is the best way to engage directly with people, and that is something the Nebraska Humane Society has done extremely well.