Final Paper Due Dec

Bowman, Carpenter, Davis, Delgado, Diaz 1
Introduction
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary in Norman, Oklahoma was founded in 1989 by

community member and is currently run by CEO, Cindy Adams. Second Chance was formed
with a mission in mind to provide rescue, shelter, proper veterinary care including spay and
neuter and adoption services for abandoned dogs and cats in central Oklahoma. For almost 30
years now, Second Chance has been working to help homeless dogs and cats find their way into
a safe, permanent and loving home. The sanctuary can house up to 100 dogs and cats while
finding homes for over 900 animals a year. To date, Second Chance has found homes for more
than 15,000 pets and the organization values helping the community members find their perfect
“forever” animal.
Second Chance is a no-kill animal shelter that has a veterinarian come in and care for the
animals twice a week and a part-time trainer on duty. Second Chance runs solely on volunteers,
individual donors, foundations, and local business. Every dollar raised goes directly to the care
of an animal in need and gives them a second chance at life. Second Chance also provides a
Humane Education program to educate school children on the proper way to care for an animal
with kindness, respect, and compassion. Second Chance makes regular therapy visits to local
retirement communities because the organization believes people who have love and affection
for companion animals live longer and recover from illness faster than people who do not.
Second Chance operates solely on donations, therefore, the money the organization
makes is taxable. The sanctuary holds annual fundraising events that raise money through
donations for the animals in the shelter, but the shelter is mainly financially supported by
monthly individual donors and adoption fees. The sanctuary doesn't receive any money from the
government to help the shelter. The employees at the shelter have made it clear that they are
there for the animals, not the money.
Second Chance has a foster family program that helps the shelter when there is not any
more room in the facility to hold any more animals. This is the best way for Second Chance to
increase adoptions and allow some of the animals to be in the comfort of a home. While in foster
care, families will care for the animals as if they were their own pet, with the help of Second
Chance staff until the animal is adopted out to their forever family. The shelter is run by 15
members within the age range of 17-60. They work from 7-9pm every day of the week and allow
volunteers to help out at all times they are there.
The public rates Second Chance a four out of five stars but does give mixed reviews. The
public who gave lower reviews suggests that this shelter doesn’t take in animals from the street,
however, they go to other animal shelters to pick out the cute animals and sell them to make
money. Other negative reviews state that Second Chance employees are extremely difficult to
work with and lack communication skills. Although there are negative reviews, the public does
give positive feedback of the shelter. The positive feedback given by the key public is that
Second Chances application process is efficient and thorough. The public is satisfied with how
the animals are treated and taken care of while living in the shelter, and that the employees care
deeply about each and animal. Golden Gate PR hopes to increase awareness of the shelter and
change the attitude that the public has on it.
Second Chance collaborates with other animal shelters around the central Oklahoma area
to make sure the animals are placed in the perfect home. Second Chance values the animals
housed in the facility and adopts out hoping that the animals new home will keep them forever,
but once an animal is at Second Chance, they will always be welcome back to the sanctuary.
Key Facts
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary began in the home of an elderly woman in 1989. The
organization is now 29 years old. The organization has since grown and moved locations to deal
with the growing numbers of animals that are placed there. Since opening, Second Chance has
been servicing the Norman and Oklahoma City metro area. This organization is extremely
socially responsible. Second Chance is a no-kill non-profit animal shelter that rescues animals
from animal shelters in the surrounding area. These animals are given veterinary care until they
are adopted from the sanctuary. Second Chance provides care and comfort for all the animals
housed in the sanctuary. Any animal that becomes a Second Chance animal is a Second Chance
animal for life. If an animal’s owner can no longer care for it, the owner can return the animal
back to the sanctuary. Second Chance’s purpose is to serve the animals in the sanctuary. Shelter
manager, Cindy Adams, often tells staff members that they work for the animals. This mentality
distinguishes Second Chance from competitors in the area. Some of the sanctuary's competitors
aim to service humans that are adopting the animals or profit from the services that they are
providing. Second Chance has a distinctly different purpose. The organization also attempts to
prepare dog owners before allowing them to take home dogs. This ensures that owners have the
knowledge to take care of their animals and will be placed in their “forever home.”
The animal sanctuary’s brand image needs to be developed and improved. Certain
circumstances present challenges for the brand’s wellbeing. Second Chance would like to be
more well known in their area of service, and within the community as well to increase adoptions
and volunteers. Many members of the public within the sanctuaries area of service do not know
that the organization exists or how to utilize the sanctuaries services. Some challenges that
Second Chance’s brand image faces are public knowledge, a smaller budget compared to local
competitors and outdated branding materials and social media. These challenges are partly
responsible for the state of the organization’s brand image. The challenges have negative effects
on how the brand is seen by the public or virtually unknown by members of key publics. Second
Chance is also in need of volunteers to assist with daily activities at the shelter. Volunteers
directly assist Second Chance staff with the animals and services that serve them.
The City of Norman Animal Welfare is one of Second Chance’s direct competitors. This
adoption center provides pet adoptions, spaying, neutering, and basic medical services
(NORMAN PD). City of Norman Animal Welfare also provides Norman city pet licenses
(NORMAN PD) with an adoption fee of $60. This competitor has a larger budget than Second
Chance because of their access to public funding. While they offer similar services and adoption
options, City of Norman Animal Welfare may have a better brand image. Since they receive
more public funding than Second Chance, their adoption fees are lower. Comparatively, Second
Chance’s adoption fee ranges from $170 to $140 for animals of various ages. Norman Animal
Welfare is also closely aligned with the city of Norman which assists that shelter’s image with
the public. Factors like these contribute to the brand images of both entities. Breeders are one
example of the animal sanctuary’s indirect competitors. These groups breed animals based on
desirability and sell them to publics. The customers of breeders are likely those that would
consider adopting an animal from Second Chance. Second Chance has no control over the type
and breed of animal that is placed within the sanctuary. Breeders can place competitive prices on
animals that they sell. However, without the proper credentials, breeders can have a negative
image. Puppy mills are a type of breeding service that has a negative reputation. The United
States Department of Agriculture found animals in neglectful and extremely unhealthy
conditions in puppy mills (The Humane Society of the United States, 2018). Animals sold online
or through certain types of pets stores are often assumed to be from breeders like these. Due to
this problem, breeders have received a negative brand image. Comparatively, non-profit shelters
like Second Chance have a more trustworthy reputation than breeders and offer services that are
more reliable.
Key Features
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, no-kill animal shelter

that offers pet adoption of dogs and cats from local animal shelters. Second Chance was created
to provide animals with a safe and rehabilitative environment while waiting to be adopted. This
organization was created pet adoption to give families a new member and pets a second chance
for a new and loving home. Dogs and cats that are available for adoption have been vet checked,
spayed or neutered, microchipped, vaccinated appropriate to age, de-wormed and kept on flea,
tick, and heartworm prevention medicine in order for the animals to be completely ready for their
new loving homes. All of the animals that are made available for adoption from Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary were previously left abandoned at other local animal shelters.
The operators and staff of Second Chance are mostly made up of volunteers who are
working because of personal conviction and passion and while there are paid staff members,
none of the staff works for the sole benefit of monetary gain. Unlike state or city-funded shelters,
most of the staff members are volunteers who are working out of a personal conviction, which
highlights their dedication to these animals and to the cause that Second Chance stands for.
The process that animals go through before being made available for adoption through
Second Chance are found at other animal shelters and taken to the Second Chance facility where
they receive the medical attention required and additional training and socialization if needed.
Unlike other shelters, Second Chance is funded entirely through donation. All equipment used by
Second Chance is designed for animal use and non-abusive, aside from the laundry washing
equipment which is used to wash various linens used by the staff to care for the animals.
Upon receiving the medical attention and behavior training, the animals are made
available for adoption at the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary facility located at 4500 24th Ave
NW, Norman, OK.
Key Public Benefits
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary has a key public of those who wish to adopt animals.
But to be even more specific, the type of key public that Second Chance can appeal to ranges
from families to college students and single people. With such a wide range in key publics,
Second Chance can offer these publics two different categories of benefits. The first category is
the more generalized benefits of pet adoptions, and the second is the more specific benefits that
Second Chance offers as a non-profit organization.
Animal adoptions offer plenty of benefits to the public: physical and mental health
benefits, a better connection to their community, and moral advancement. Adopting a pet allows
for the pet owner to have a more positive and stress-free life. According to the article, 6 Ways
Pets Can Improve Your Health, states: “We found that pet owners, on average, were better off
than non-owners, especially when they have a higher-quality relationship with their pets,” says
pet researcher Allen R. McConnell, Ph.D. (Fields). This means that owning a pet has great
benefits for the owner’s health. For example, those who decide to own a pet tend to be a bit more
active than those who do not own a pet, because pets require walks and basic physical activities
just like humans. Adopting pets help overall human health by lowering blood pressure and
soothing stress just by the simple act of petting and caring for the cat or dog.
Pets also allow for better connection to the community because pet owners not only take
their pets for walks, but they also tend to converse with other pet owners around them. This not
only gets rid of the feeling of loneliness for pet owners that live alone and do not have significant
other, but it also allows for them to connect and get more involved with their community because
they have an easy way to establish friendships with the small talk initiated through the meeting
of other pet owners. Adopting a pet also gives their owners the chance to reach out to others on
social media, because people who tend to have pets post photos on social media, therefore
expanding their community on social media as well.
Adopting a pet also benefits the key publics by giving them a morale boost because they
are not contributing to the mass breeding of specific breeds of dogs. The article, Top Reasons to
Adopt a Pet, said:
If you buy a dog from a pet store, online seller or flea market, you’re almost certainly
getting a dog from a puppy mill. Puppy mills are factory-style breeding facilities that put
profit above the welfare of dogs. Animals from puppy mills are housed in shockingly
poor conditions with improper medical care and are often very sick and behaviorally
troubled as a result. The moms of these puppies are kept in cages to be bred over and
over for years, without human companionship and with little hope of ever joining a
family. And after they're no longer profitable, breeding dogs are simply discarded—either
killed, abandoned or sold at auction. (humanesociety.org, n.d.)
So, when a pet owner adopts a pet, they know that they are receiving a pet in an ethical way, so
they do not have to worry about if the pet that they have just purchased has been treated
improperly.
When someone adopts a pet from Second Chance, they know that they are getting a pet
that is receiving proper care and treatment, because Second Chance brings in a veterinarian twice
a week to care for the animals and make sure they are in perfect health before adoption. The key
publics can also receive lessons on how to properly care for the new pet they are adopting, which
shows that Second Chance really cares about the animals that are brought into the shelter. The
costs to adopt the pet can also be cheaper than getting a purebred pet from a breeder. Plus,
Second Chance is more open about what donations and profits are being invested in. Also, if
someone decides to adopt a pet from Second Chance they are gaining access to pets who are
always considered Second Chance pets, meaning that if for some reason the adoption does not
work out the adopter can return the pet back to Second Chance and not have to worry about the
well being of the pet.
In general, pet adoptions offer many different benefits to the key publics that cannot be
offered through the outright purchasing of a pet. Adopting a pet from Second Chance will give
the adopter the resource of having a great support system. From lessons on how to care for a pet
to pet security of once a Second Chance pet always a Second Chance pet. Adopting a pet gives a
feeling of morality, community, and better mental and physical health. Overall, pet adoption is
beneficial for the public because it does offer a multitude of advantages for pet owners.
Organization Research
Performance
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary is a non-profit organization that provides animal

lodging, medical care, and adoption services for animals in the Norman and Oklahoma City
areas. Being a non-profit organization, the majority funding Second Chance receives is from
donations made, creating a strict budget, limiting the resources and abilities. Unlike other animal
shelters, Second Chance Animal Sanctuary receives all of the animals in the sanctuary from
other shelters in Oklahoma City. Second Chance also does not receive stray animals off of the
streets due to the risk of animal aggression. It is unlikely that Second Chance will increase in
animal numbers due to its limited budget and space. An immediate and significant increase in
numbers would exceed the available budget. The number of animals that the organization has
serviced within the last few years has remained stable. Organization leaders are satisfied with the
organization's growth. Second Chance’s limited budget places the organization at a disadvantage
compared to competitors. In the last three years, Second Chance has not changed services. Since
the organization has been serving the Norman community since 1989, with an established
method of providing services, which does not create a need for changing. Within the next two
years, services and products are unlikely to change as the services do not have the capacity or
need to change.
Niche
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s brand can be used to the organization's advantage.
Any animal that has been adopted through Second Chance is considered a “Second Chance
animal” even after leaving the facility. This causes the organization to stand out among
competitors, because of Second Chance’s commitment to protect and care for animals
throughout their life.
Structure
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s mission is “... to Give abandoned dogs and cats a
second chance at a forever home.” (About Us, secondchancenorman.com) The organization’s
mission statement lists the products offered and directly addresses the issue. Second Chance
communication has limited methods available for potential public relations activities. The
organization does not have full-time staff members that are able to dedicate time and resources to
public relations. Shelter manager, Cindy Adams said that Second Chance has a volunteer that
could donate time to do update the animal sanctuary’s social media since Second Chance lacks a
public relations and communications staff. The internal environment of the animal sanctuary is
not currently supportive of intensive public relations activities. Within the next three years, these
resources and developments are unlikely to vary drastically.
Internal Impediments
Impediments for public relations stemming from within the organization are primarily
budgetary, not due to a policy, procedure or management. Receiving less funding than other
competitors meaning that Second Chance is not able to compete based on pricing and some
special circumstance cases. It is also an explanation for the company’s issues and public relations
staff. A limited budget prevents Second Chance from achieving many goals related to public
relations and other aspects. In order to increase the organization's budget, Second Chance ought
to develop strategies that increase the monetary and physical donations that are received. Staffing
for Second Chance relies on volunteers and while volunteers do not impact payroll, it creates
impediments through inconsistent volunteer availabilities. Volunteers are necessary for the
production of services. The animal sanctuary maintains a constant need for the use of volunteers
in order to provide services and maintenance at the sanctuary. Potential solutions to this
impediment are providing incentives to volunteers and marketing relationships with animals
more heavily. Non-profit volunteering has also been shown to have a higher person-environment
fit than business volunteering (Jaskyte, 2017). Volunteering at a non-profit shelter like Second
Chance offers an enticing opportunity for members of the community while improving shelter
activities and processes.
Competition
Competitors to Second Chance Animal Sanctuary consist of other organizational animal

shelters and private animal breeders. Two of the biggest competing animal shelters are the City
of Norman Animal Welfare and the Moore Animal Shelter and Adoption Center. These two
competitors offer products that are the most similar, specifically animals that have been
abandoned by previous owners. Private animal breeders offer animals that are bred to be of pure
bloodlines, which lessens the similarity between their products and the products offered by
Second Chance Animal Shelter. Both types of these competitors have not changed or developed
new products and it is unlikely that new developments will be made in the future. The senior
staff of Second Chance mentioned in her interview mentioned that the local animal shelters are
not really viewed as competitors that cause a negative influence toward Second Chance and its
operations, but helpers within the communities. The most vocal activist for the Second Chance
organization is the CEO, Cindy Adams, and she speaks mostly on behalf of the Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary.
Opposition
No vocal oppositional group exists in Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s area of

operations. Shelters are often the focus influential political groups such as The Guardian Angels
an animal rights activist group (New York Post, 2017). What sets Second Chance apart from
other shelters is the mission the organization has which creates little to no controversy because
the issue they work to resolve is a humanitarian issue. Second Chance Animal Sanctuary has
many supporters solely based on the fact that the organization is defined as a no-kill shelter,
unlike other shelters that euthanize animals.
External Impediments
Second Chance’s area of operations has an unstable and unpredictable environment. The
two external impediments to Second Chance are, because of the large amount of volunteer work
that is required for operations as well as fluctuation in local residents’ age demographics,
because of a large percentage of the population is temporary. For instance the temporary
unpredictable environment is due to the influx of new students every year to the University of
Oklahoma that come from a variety of different states to Norman, Oklahoma to live here for the
school year. The University of Oklahoma also has a foreign exchange program so there are also
an influx of students from different countries that are brought to Norman, Oklahoma every year
for the school semester thus creating an unstable unpredictable environment.
Situation Research
Background
Each year, 6.5 million companion animals enter a pet shelter, and of those 6.5 million,
1.5 million of them are euthanized (Pet Statistics, n.d.). Second Chance offers products and gives
vocal support for the resolution of this problem. 3.2 million animals that are adopted each year
from shelters in the U.S. (Pet Statistics, n.d.) and Second Chance products directly add to that
number. APPA reports that “23% of dogs and 31% of cats are obtained from an animal shelter or
humane society” (Pet Statistics, n.d.) Second Chance exists in collaboration with other
organizations that also address this issue. It’s that collaboration that produces the rough product
that Second Chance offers. After receiving animals from other shelters, Second Chance uses its
services to provide care and training before placing them for adoption and offering the product to
the public.
Consequences
Second Chance’s mission and entire operations rely on addressing the issue. As a
nonprofit organization that was founded to find a new home for abandoned animals, there will be
no deviation from the issue. Products from Second Chance affect two parties. First, the animal
that is offered finds a new home. Second, the family that adopts the animal receives a new pet.
Abandoned animals is an issue that will not ever be eradicated and its presence is what drives the
operations of Second Chance.
Resolution
Qualitative information regarding consumer habits will allow Second Chance to develop
public relations strategies that accurately target audiences in order to maximize the effectiveness
of their limited communication resources. Fully resolving the situation eliminates a humanitarian
problem facing the community and provides companions to the consumers. The issue is the top
priority for Second Chance management and the entire staff is committed to a resolution.
Publics Research
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary is located in Norman, OK. Norman’s last census
reported a population of 120,866 as of December 31, 2016 (normanok.gov). In addition to
permanent residents, Norman’s population also increases temporarily for the duration of August-
May. This increase in population is due to the out-of-state students who attend OU. Major
publics for Second Chance are the residents, both temporary and permanent, living in Norman
and the surrounding areas.
Customers
The primary customers of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary are Norman area residents.
Customers of Second Chance are stable with the exception of temporary residents who are living
in Norman while attending The University of Oklahoma. Over the next three years, there is an
expected change of this public as students graduate and leave.
Producers
The producers for the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary are students who are interested
in volunteering and donors. According to the Corporation for National & Community Service, 55
percent of youth volunteer in America (2005). Second Chance is located in a college town and
has the opportunity to communicate with a large number of students in order to promote
volunteer opportunities at their organization. A considerable number of student organizations at
the university require mandatory volunteer hours for their members, this creates a market to
communicate with specifically for the purpose of recruiting volunteers.
Donors to the organization are groups who are previously aware of the issue that Second
Chance works to resolve. On the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary website they mention the
vitality of having donations, “Second Chance Animal Sanctuary could not exist without the
extraordinary generosity of our individual donors, foundations and local businesses. Every dollar
raised goes directly to the care of an animal in need and gives them a second chance at life”
(Donate | Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, Inc., n.d.).
Enablers
Services and products are done by the staff of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, which
is mostly comprised of volunteer community members, ranging from high school students to
retired individuals. Second Chance operates solely on donations made, fees from each adoption
only partially cover the expense of medical attention each animal requires prior to its adoption.
Media resources available to Second Chance are limited due to its budgetary restraints, paid
communication is most likely not feasible because of the required costs leaving newspapers and
social media to be the most viable resources. The enablers are a consistent public, increased
effectiveness of communication could result in an increase of volunteers.
Limiters
Competitors to Second Chance are the Norman and Moore animal shelters, but the
management does not define them as limiters. Because of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s
nonprofit status that works for a humanitarian cause, there are no vocal limiters.
Secondary Research Summary
Golden Gate PR’s findings revealed that Second Chance Animal Sanctuary needs to
establish a steady and public communications strategy to promote awareness of the issue and
opportunities for the public to adopt, donate or volunteer. Findings also show that a lack of
funding acts as an impediment to the shelter, but utilization of communication outlets will
address this issue. Second Chance has the opportunity to expand their key public's attention by
creating a constant communication through social media. The existing information is largely
accurate but could be supported through additional research for more local statistical data. It is
very important to conduct additional research in order to analyze key publics and their
expectations and attitudes of Second Chance. More research on the key public will allow
strategies to be tailored to fit the public's’ needs. Once there is a more in-depth look into the lives
of the key publics by doing interviews, Second Chance will be able to construct different
personas that they can reach out to and allow for their organization to address its current
impediments and more effectively fulfill its mission. The following information is regarding the
methodology that was used by Golden Gate PR to produce our secondary research findings. The
methods included were a survey, content analysis, focus group, and interviews. All methods
aimed to answer and provide insight into the research questions. The research questions asked
which media platforms will increase awareness for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary and what
form of social media posts will increase engagement with Second Chance Animal Sanctuary.
These questions were used as a guide for all of the methods used for secondary research.
Research Method I - Interviews
Overview
The information that was missing from Golden Gate PR firm’s previous research was the
information about social media and how people interact with social media. In the previous
research conducted, which involved secondary research, the researchers focused on Second
Chance and how they use social media. The information conducted in the secondary research
gave Golden Gate PR insight into Second Chance’s internal and external strengths and
weaknesses. But researchers need to know why the target audience uses social media and how
they are using social media. The purpose of Golden Gate’s interview is to find out how to better
develop the communication between Second Chance and their target audience. Golden Gate PR
would like to see how their research questions can be made more specific before interviews are
conducted.
Golden Gate PR’s research question revolves around the connection between the
awareness of Second Chance and social media usage. Specifically, what forms of social media
platforms will increase social media awareness for the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary? The
research question also aims to find out which platform or media tool is the best way to reach
people. Finding the best media tools would allow Golden Gate PR to correctly service Second
Chance Animal Sanctuary. Golden Gate PR hypothesizes that Second Chance’s social media
platforms like Instagram and Facebook need to be dramatically improved to increase awareness.
Updating these platforms will increase the brand’s reputation and awareness with their target
publics. This research question was used as the major guide for the in-depth interviews.
Data Collection Method
Conducting interviews is a thorough investigative method into target audiences, client

relations and other aspects involved in creating public relations campaigns. The purpose of
interviews is “ to explore the views, experiences, beliefs and/or motivations of individuals on
specific matters” (Gill, 2008. P, 292). Interviews allow researchers to personally understand and
explore ideas relating to their client. The personal connection established by interview
circumstances allows researchers to question their interviewees about topics that cannot be
further defined in surveys or other forms of research. In the case of Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary, an in-depth interview is a good method because of the shelter’s location and the target
audience for the project. In-depth interviews with college students who attend the University of
Oklahoma, which is located in the same town as Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, serves as a
great method to question the target audience in a personal context. The personal context of the
in-depth interview allows interviewers to ask a more specific question and likely find more
information to help the animal sanctuary. Interviewing residents of the area that Second Chance
services improve researchers chances of gathering information that is related to the client.
Residents of this area are more likely to be familiar with the client’s services or conditions within
the area. In-depth interviews are an important data collection method for Second Chance because
it allows researchers to closely explore topics related to their client with an individual.
Regarding the data collection for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, five interviews were
conducted by Golden Gate PR. Each interview was conducted by a group member in person and
then transcribed. Interviews were conducted between October 15, 2018, through October 23,
2018. Before the interview, the conductors only asked for the consent of the interviewees.
Interviewees did not receive materials prior to their interview. The interviews lasted between 30-
40 minutes and were recorded with the consent of each interviewee The recordings were used to
aid in the transcribing process. In-depth interviews provided insight on Second Chance’s
reputation, social media usage, and animal ownership.
Sample
The population of interest for our interviewees were college students who attend the
University of Oklahoma and have an animal. Researchers chose college students with pets as the
target audience for the in-depth interviews. A stakeholder for Second Chance was also
interviewed, which was chosen to be someone who has volunteered at the shelter before. For our
sample, each person in our group interviewed one person that met our specific requirements.
Each person in our group is involved in different things and groups on campus, and Golden Gate
PR thought that even just interviewing people that researchers knew that were students and had
animals would provide us with a diverse range. The sample used for the in-depth interviews was
chosen through a nonprobability sampling method that chose the sample because of certain
characteristics they met. This sampling method was chosen because it helped researchers narrow
down interviewees that would be beneficial to gather information from the target audience for
the research question. For the sample size, all researchers from Golden Gate PR interviewed one
person. Four researchers interviewed students at the University of Oklahoma with dogs, and the
last researcher interviewed the stakeholder that volunteers.
The characteristics of our sample were college students at the University of Oklahoma
with animals. Some of their common characteristics are that they attend the University of
Oklahoma, own pets and like animals. Specifically, all 5 interviewees were female and between
the ages of 20-22 years old. All interviewees had received their high school diploma and all but
one was currently attempting to receive an undergraduate degree. All interviewees were dog
owners and only one also owned cats. Other characteristics of our sample that differed between
the two were their knowledge of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, whether or not they adopted
the pets they now own and the way they wish to be contacted and informed about Second
Chance. Social media was a popular way the interviewees thought would be an effective way to
advertise and promote the shelter, along with email and promoting the animals available to adopt
around campus.
Interview Guide Summary

Questions for the in-depth interviews were created by researchers at Golden Gate PR.
The questions and interview guide, included in Appendix A, were deemed as relevant to the
research questions by the researchers. The interview guide includes a range of questions that
were relevant to the client, demographics, social media usage and more. Researchers hoped that
interviewees’ answers to the questions would provide insight into further research to conduct and
solutions to the problems of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary.
The introduction that was used consisted of an explanation of the type of questions and
topics that would be asked and explored during the course of the interview. More specifically,
the questions were going to be centered around different forms of social media, animals, and pet
adoption. The core theme that was explored was: What forms of social media platforms will
increase social media awareness for the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary? What is the best way
to reach Second Chance ’s target audience, through which media tools; newspaper/ magazine
articles, social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Website, Youtube)? These core questions
helped create the basic outline for the interview guide. In order to create a division between
different question topics the interview guide was split into six different blocks: demographics,
participants relation to the topic (animal ownership/ preference), shelters, Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary, and social media. The questions were formatted in such a way that they
logically flowed from one question to the next. For example, asking a nominal, yes or no
question, and following it up with “if yes, then__” and “why/what compelled you to __?”. The
questions were also formatted and ordered in such a way that they were meant to get more and
more detailed the as the interview progressed. This was intentional as to ease the interviewee into
a sense of comfort and give them the confidence to answer freely, which is why the
demographics questions were first (age, gender, residency, education, student status,
employment status, and household income).
The next block of questions were background questions about shelters in general, which
lead to background questions about Second Chance specifically, and then lastly there were
questions about social media. The division of questions helped the interviewer cover all the
different topics so that it was easy to transition the conversation to the next topic by saying, “we
are now going to talk about shelters (or any one of the six blocked topics)”, and almost all “how”
questions were immediately followed with a “Why?”. The questions asking: “how do you
feel/perceive...” and “why?” where the main probes that were used in order to get the participants
to expand and explain in more detail why they responded the way they did to the previous
question.
There were many background questions included in the interview guide in order to gauge
the participant's knowledge about animal shelters, knowledge/ perception of Second Chance and
social media usage/preferences. Thus, they were asked; if they owned a pet, if they had a pet
preference if they had heard of/been to an animal shelter, potential previous adoptions,
positive/negative feelings towards adopting from shelters, volunteer work they had done, and any
previous donations they had made. Background questions were also asked in order to gauge the
participant's awareness about Second Chance specifically: if they had heard of Second Chance,
their first impressions if they received communications from Second Chance, and if they were
aware of Second Chances services, mission and goal. In the last block of questions, the social
media portion, the background questions attempted to gauge the participant's knowledge of
social media sites, how prolifically they use different sites, whom they follow, and their post
preferences across different platforms. The participants were also asked questions that could
potentially entice them to tell a story of a past event or experience (narrative questions) such as:
how did you acquire your pet(s), have you ever adopted from a shelter before, what are your
feelings towards sheltered/abandoned animals, do you participate in other volunteer work, what
are your perceptions of second chance, what compelled you to follow a particular organization
on social media, do you follow any social media accounts related to animals.
Interview protocol included giving interviewees a brief overview of the topic and asking
for their consent and presenting a consent form to them if they were willing to participate.
Researchers had a script with prewritten questions but could deviate from the script if they felt
like it was necessary. The script and protocol allowed there to be consistency along the
interviews with personal changes and answers when the interview was conducted. Protocol gave
the researchers a frame of reference and guided them through the interviews. The interview
protocol created uniformity needed to collect information regarding the research questions
through this research method. Interviews protocol also called for an informal, yet professional
environment to allow participants to feel comfortable while conducting research through this
method.
Findings
During the interview process, the Golden Gate PR Firm found that even though the
interviewees have some commonalities they also have differences too. Interviewees were
students who own pets, and our stakeholder was a student who has volunteered at the Second
Chance Animal Sanctuary. During, the interviews researchers noticed that interviewees would
not go as much into detail as researchers would have liked them to, so interviewees were
prompted with the question of “Why” to make them go further into depth on the subject. One
way our firm can fix this is to already ask them to explain in the question. For example, a
question of ours was, “Have you ever donated to an animal shelter?” A response from participant
1 said, “Yes, I have” (See Appendix A). In order to make the person being interviewed to go
more into detail, the question could have been phrased, “Have you ever donated to an animal
shelter and please explain why?” Researchers also noticed that the places where interviews were
conducted could have been a little more exclusive because there were some interruptions during
the interview and it made interviews stray from the topic.
A major common theme that emerged from the interviews is that most of the people who
were interviewed have heard of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. Another major theme is that
they all use some form of social media. For example, participant 2 said, “I have a lot of social
media accounts. I use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat” (See Appendix B). However, one
of the most useful theme to our research is the participants all willing to follow Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary on social media. They all unanimously said they would either follow Second
Chance on Instagram or Facebook. For instance, participant 3 said, “Yes. I would say yes to like
Instagram, but maybe like if it was like a page on Facebook I would like it. But probably not
Twitter” (See Appendix C). This helps our firm know which social media platforms to focus on
and create content on.
A major theme is that our participants all agreed was that Second Chance should indeed
be on Instagram and Facebook, and they agreed that the posts on these platforms should be
communicative and engaging, but they all listed similar but different ways for Second Chance to
reach their audience. For instance, participant 3 said, “I think rather than like the saddest pictures
that they can take of these animals maybe like photos of them using the facilities and like having
a good time running around. Or even shots of volunteers having a good time, that might make
other people want to volunteer there. Or like them highlighting the staff members” (See
Appendix D). However, participant 1 said, “I think they should keep an updated Facebook and I
think they need to hand out fliers. I think fliers are really important on campus and in public
places because sometimes people are not always on social media. I also think it is important for
them to create events on Facebook. If you make an event and people are either interested or plan
to go it's going to get spread throughout the community” (See Appendix A). And then participant
2 brings together these themes by saying, “I think social media would really be a big one because
so many people today use social media. That would be a good way to reach a big population. I
think since this is in Norman, they could post things on campus like in the Union. They could
post fliers or on bulletin boards that are in like Dale Hall which is like a really big auditorium
where there’s like big classrooms where there’s like classes of 400 plus students and they could
see that walking by. I think another good thing would be having someone come out and pass out
fliers. They do that in front of Dale Hall as well. They would just pass the fliers out and people
could see it and read it rather just looking at the bulletin board, but I definitely think social media
would be very beneficial” (See Appendix B). This allows for our PR firm to see all the different
ways that Second Chance can reach their target audiences.
Our findings imply that there are two very specific social media platforms that will
benefit our client and they are Instagram and Facebook. However, there is a multitude of ways
that our client’s target audience can be reached. In all of our participant's interviews, they
mentioned that Second Chance needs to have a very engaging and wholesome way of posting on
Instagram and Facebook. For social media, Second Chance can post success stories of all the pet
adoptions. They can engage with volunteers by posting volunteering recognition posts. They can
go more into depth about their services and reach out to people who are interested in services by
holding Q&A sessions. Second Chance can also be very proactive on campus by handing out
fliers about volunteering or adopting events, and they can also post on bulletins around campus
as well. Some participants also mentioned that Second Chance could also reach out to the public
by making some “cute” videos of the animals in the shelter, and these short videos will reach
more people. Also, some of our participants were interested in Second Chance putting out more
in-depth details about their organization to make sure that people could better understand what
sets the organization apart from other animal shelters.
After Golden Gate PR interviewed our participants, researchers wanted to know how
Second Chance’s brand awareness can be strengthened. For instance, now researchers want to
know how Second Chance Animal Sanctuary can be distinguished from other shelters.
Researchers would like to know how they can make Second Chance’s social media posts more
cohesive and more satisfying to their target audience. Golden Gate PR wants to see what type of
posts will appeal to their target audience. Will it be photos, videos, or blog posts? Will the flyer
idea presented by some of the participants be effective? If researchers change the way that
Second Chance reaches out to the student population bring more awareness to their animal
shelter? Ultimately, researchers really want to know if they start the process of diversifying their
social media content, will it make more people aware of Second Chance? And will it increase pet
adoption or interactions with Second Chance?
Research Method II - Focus Groups
Overview
The information that was missing from the Golden Gate PR Group’s research on the
public's was the fact that solid research was not done from the perspective of the public. This
means that Golden Gate PR just found facts about the public, but did not think about how the
public feels about the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. Researchers also missed finding out
what they expect from Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. These are some of the things Golden
Gate PR wants to address in the focus group. Researchers want to know what they think about
Second Chance and how they feel about Second Chance. However, now researchers want to get
more than just surface answers and want to get more information on not only how they feel about
Second Chance, but why do they feel that way about Second Chance. The research questions at
hand are asking which social media platforms will increase awareness about Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary and what types of content will increase their levels of engagement.
The messages that Golden Gate PR is trying to test for the client are about the social
media habits of the client and their target audience. Some of the PR firms questions revolve
around the content that an animal shelter should post and what would appeal to the client’s target
audience. The target audience of the client needs to have as much information about Second
Chance so that they know their purpose and branding about the organization. Another message
that researchers are trying to test is whether or not it would be beneficial for Second Chance to
be on all social media platforms or only certain ones. Again, researchers want to pick up on the
social media habits of the target audience, but also the usage of social media of the target
audience.
Golden Gate PR’s research questions relate to the link between the usage of social media
and the awareness of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. Golden Gate PR wants to know the best
forms of social media that the client should use to increase awareness about their organization.
Researchers also want to know the best way to reach out to the target audience of the client and
how to the optimal way to increase communication between Second Chance and their target
public. Golden Gate PR Group hypothesizes that the target audience of Second Chance will use
Facebook and Instagram to connect to the organization. Golden Gate PR also hypothesize that if
Second Chance were to regularly update these form of social media platforms they will increase
communication to their current and potential target publics.
Golden Gate PR’s focus group was held in order to gauge the target audience perceptions
of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary and animal shelters. According to Social Media Today, a
focus group allows observers to see the potential customers point of view, because the
participants have the opportunity to talk freely among one another (Lotich, 2011). Lotich writes,
“The open and free discussions typically generate ideas and can provide a wealth of information
for the business or organization” (Lotich, 2011). Topics and questions asked were used to
identify a sample of the motivation that leads an individual to adopt animals. The discussion was
also used to determine what increases audience feedback and involvement in animal shelters and
other organizations. The discussion also included topics regarding social media. The set of topics
included which platforms are used by the sample the most and the type of content is preferred for
each. Questions asked by the moderator also identified what discourages involvement and causes
a lack of interest.
Since Golden Gate PR’s target audience is college students and young adults in Norman,
the focus group consisted of four women and two men, five undergraduate students, and one
graduate student. Morgan Davis moderated the discussion and was chosen because of her
similarities with the group’s demographics in order for the participants to feel more comfortable
about responding to the questions posed. The similarities that the moderator shared with the
participants include education level and age group. All participants are active users of social
media on various platforms. Most common social media platforms used by all participants
included: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Snapchat was used by several of the participants,
however, its usage is less than the other platforms and is more commonly used for direct
communication between their friends.
Golden Gate PR held the focus group on October 30, 2018, at 5 p.m and lasted until 6
p.m. in the Gaylord College of Journalism. The location was chosen because of the facility’s
available equipment and space, as well as its convenient location for our participants. The group
of participants consisted of six students of the University of Oklahoma with varying fields of
study.
The audio was recorded for transcription of the conversation. Notes were taken in order
to record each individual’s body language to the conversation. No materials were provided to the
participants, aside from the consent form which detailed the purpose of our focus group and the
questionnaire used to gather demographic information about our sample. Questions and topics
discussed were all posed by the moderator, Morgan Davis.
Sample
The population of interest involved in this focus group was college students that attend
the University of Oklahoma and potentially own pets or have a connection to pets. This target
audience will provide information about a key audience for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary.
The focus group was composed of participants with some relation to the researchers, being that
researchers and participants are all students at the University of Oklahoma. Participants were
chosen through a nonprobability sampling method because participants were chosen because
they matched some or all of the characteristics of the target audience. Golden Gate PR thought
that these participants would create accurate and insightful responses for the focus group. The
sample included 6 participants, all of which were students at the University of Oklahoma.
Characteristically, all 6 participants were students. A majority of the participants owned

pets with their families or by themselves. A brief questionnaire was used as an introduction at the
beginning of the focus group. This questionnaire was used in an attempt to gather demographics
and important information incorporated in this focus group. The questions asked included the
participants' names, their jobs and if they were pet owners. A demographics questionnaire
(Appendix A) gathered information about the participants’ ages, genders, education, employment
statuses, and pet ownership. It also gives Golden Gate PR potential insight on participants’
reasoning for some of the answers provided within the focus group. The demographics
questionnaire found that the students were between the ages of 18 to 28 years old and included 4
women and 2 men. A majority of the participants identified as white, one identified as Asian and
one declined to say. In terms of education, 5 participants had completed some college but no
degree while 1 participant had received a graduate degree. A majority of the participants
considered themselves pet owners. The demographics of this sample impact the answers received
in this focus group and this groups’ research findings.
Focus Group Guide Summary
The focus group interview guide was created by Golden Gate PR and included the
question that researchers predicted to give insight into the research questions. Appendix B
includes the interview guide that was created and used for the focus group held on October 30,
2018. The introduction that was used by the moderator in the focus group was, “We are
conducting this focus group today so thank you for being a part of our focus group. This focus
group is about finding insights and information of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary in Norman.
We are Public Relations students in Gaylord college. To start we're going to have you fill out the
consent form in front of you. As you may know, this will be fully recorded, so this form ensures
that we have your permission to record this conversation today. The information that you share
will only be used for research purposes. So, we will start with introductions. If you guys could
say your name if you're a student just say student and if you are a pet owner” (M. Davis, personal
communication, October 30, 2018). The participants were then also told for the remainder of the
focus group to state their name before they spoke, as to correctly attribute quotes. They were also
asked if they had any questions or concerns before they began and were reminded that if they
needed clarification on anything to ask. The core themes explored were: What forms of social
media platforms will increase social media awareness for the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary?
What is the best way to reach Second Chance ’s target audience, through which media tools;
newspaper/ magazine articles, social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Website, YouTube)?
There were many background questions included in the focus group interview guide in
order to gauge the participant's knowledge about animal shelters, knowledge and perceptions of
Second Chance and social media usage and preferences. As well as their personal relationship
with animals and any preferences they had when it came to their personal acquisition of animals.
Thus, they were asked; if they owned an animal, where they acquired them from, if they had an
adoption preference, if they had heard of or been to an animal shelter before, potential previous
adoptions, positive/negative feelings towards adopting from shelters, volunteer work they had
done, and any previous donations they had made. The background questions that were asked in
order to gauge the participant's awareness about Second Chance specifically were: if they had
heard of Second Chance, their first impressions if they received communications from Second
Chance, and if they were aware of Second Chances services, mission and goal. The background
questions that attempted to gauge the participant's knowledge of social media sites were: what
kinds of social media accounts they had, how prolifically they use different sites, whom they
follow, their personal hashtag usage, and their post preferences across different platforms. The
participants were also asked questions that could potentially entice them to tell a story of a past
event or experience (narrative questions) such as: how did you acquire your pet(s), have you ever
adopted from a shelter before, what are your feelings towards sheltered/abandoned animals, what
are your perceptions of second chance, what are your different purposes for each social media
platform and why, what content so you like to see on different platforms and why, what
compelled you to follow a particular organization on social media, do you follow any social
media accounts related to animals, and how do you feel about target advertisements.
The questions were formatted in such a way that they logically flowed from one question
to the next. For example, asking a nominal, yes or no question, and following it up with “If yes,
then__” and “Why/what compelled you to __?”. The questions were also formatted and ordered
in such a way that they were meant to get more and more detailed the as the interview
progressed. First asking about their personal pets, then their knowledge about shelters in general,
then about awareness and knowledge of Second Chance, their personal social media usage, their
social media preference, their post preferences across platforms, what kind of content they like to
see across platforms, and lastly about Second Chances social media specifically. This was
intentional as to ease the participants into a sense of comfort and give them the confidence to
answer freely and voice their opinions. This is why easy nominal questions were asked first and
then probing questions to get more detailed answers. For example, almost all “how” questions
were immediately followed with a “why” question. The questions asking: “How do you
feel/perceive...”, “Why?” and “Can you expand?” where the main probes that were used in order
to get the participants to elaborate and explain in more detail why they responded the way they
did to the previous question. Transitions that were used were the titles of the five different focus
group interview question blocks which were: relating to the topic, shelters, Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary, social media, and Second Chances social media. This helped the moderator
with transitioning the conversation to different topics by saying “Okay, now we are going to talk
about__ (topic name)”. The conclusion that was used by the moderator in the focus group
interview was “Well that is all of our questions for today's focus group. Thank you for
participating today it is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions you can reach out to me or
our course leader. Other than that, you are free to go” (M. Davis, personal communication,
October 30, 2018).
Findings
Golden Gate PR did encounter some problems as the focus group was conducted. In the
focus group, only six people arrived which made it difficult to keep the conversation flowing.
One problem that was encounter was the same two or three people would be answering questions
and the rest would not provide their opinion or input. This is a big problem, because the point of
a focus group is to gather people with different characteristics and opinions, and when only half
of them are conversing it has the possibility to throw off researchers’ data and make it not as
accurate. Another problem encountered was near the end of the focus group, when researchers
ran out of questions to ask. Because of this researchers had to improvise and make up questions
on the spot. This issue made Golden Gate PR appear to be unprepared, and will be important in
the future to come up with plenty more questions that are deemed necessary.
Many issues came up when it was time to transcribe the focus group conversation. Each
participant was asked to speak loud, clear and state their name before speaking. In the beginning,
they all said their names pretty consistently before speaking, but pretty early on began forgetting
so this made it difficult for transcribers to tell the individuals apart. Another issue when
transcribing was the background noise and people coughing or laughing when someone was
talking. The sound was completely lost because of this reason and when people weren't talking
loud enough or mumbling, it makes the recording even harder to understand.
To maintain the control of the group, the moderator would have to talk over the group
and ask another question if they began to sway off topic. This didn't happen too often, but what
mainly had to be kept under control was the people who were not talking at all. To control this,
the moderator began to call on people, or ask them to add a comment on to the question so
researchers could get every person's opinion. To show enthusiasm and energy to the group, our
own PR Research group members would make a comment about something and interact with the
group as well, but without giving our own personal opinion. The moderator also attempted to
smile and stimulate conversation to show enthusiasm and energy during the focus group. Golden
Gate PR provided pizza and drinks to all of the volunteers to thank them for participating.
No other questions emerged after the focus group, but a minor theme found by
researchers was about what our volunteers do and do not like to see on social media. For
example, Participant 1 said, “ I don't like when people post the same thing over and over again.
Like, I already saw it the first time” (Appendix B). I think this quote is interesting and a good
point because being repetitive can be annoying, but at the same time, for business and
organizations, it’s important to be consistent with your message. A major theme was about the
lack of awareness students and Norman residence has about Second Chance Animal Sanctuary,
but after hearing Second Chance’s mission statement wanting to help out and learn more about
the shelter. “I think it's a great idea, a brilliant mission. How they operate, keeping, them
medically up to date and their records up to standard is probably difficult for them to do.”, said
Participant 2 (Appendix B).
From conducting this focus group, Golden Gate PR learned the different things the target
audience does and does not like to see on social media, and what type of content they are most
likely to interact with. The participants helped researchers realize how unaware many people are
about the shelter, but how likely they would be to volunteer, donate, adopt, interact and stay up
to date with Second Chance. The researchers’ job now is to make Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary known in the Norman and Central Oklahoma area.
Research Method IV – Survey
Overview
The Golden Gate PR firm had some information missing from our publics research and it
mainly had to do with the fact that researchers only conducted general research about the key
publics. Meaning researchers did not go into as much depth as they could have. Golden Gate PR
left out research about how their publics would feel about our client. So with the focus group and
surveys, researchers hope to uncover more of an opinionated idea about our client through our
participants. We have a sense of their persona’s as a key public, but we do not know how they
view and see our client. We want to know what they want from our client. Having the key
publics of our client fill out a survey will allow for us to have a better idea of what our publics
want to see from our client and what our client needs to do in order to appeal to these publics and
future publics.
Golden Gate PR Group wants to conduct research to see which media platforms will
increase awareness for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. The researchers want to know what
form(s) of social media posts will increase engagement with Second Chance Animal Sanctuary.
Based on the in-depth interviews and focus group that have been conducted, Golden Gate PR has
hypothesized that Facebook and Instagram will be the best social media platforms for Second
Chance to use. Golden Gate PR has also hypothesized that photos, adoption stories, and cute
videos will be the best media tools for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary to use to reach the
target audience.

A survey is a good method to examine this research question because it can help gather
key information needed to fully understand Second Chance’s target audience. For example, their
level of awareness of Second Chance, what social media platforms the target audience is using,
what kinds of posts they like to see and what is the most effective way to get a message across to
them. By understanding the audience Golden Gate PR can then begin to answer our research
question and formulate a campaign around their preferences so they are more likely to engage
with Second Chance on social media. Surveys provide percentages and comparisons among
different groups, which will help the researchers show how our target audience engages. Surveys
are also good for generating and identifying patterns for questions based on a large sample
number.
The content of this survey is intended to help answer the research question. The content
that is pertinent to the research question is about social media, content on different platforms and
general awareness of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. The ordering of the question was
strategically made to gather an abundance of information from survey respondents. This was
done by first asking simple general topic questions asking if the respondents owned animals,
where they got them from if they have volunteered/donated before. The questions then
progressively got more detailed and specific asking about their personal social media habits and
their personal preferences on posts and likelihood of following Second Chance. However, at the
end, the questions then got very simple once again with basic demographics questions. By
starting with simple easy questions its makes the respondent build confidence in their answers
and makes them more willing to answer the harder questions more honestly. The researchers
chose to do demographics questions at the end because the survey was fairly long and towards
the end is when some participants tend to give up and not finish. However, by having the last
section of questions be about their personal demographics they can answer those more quickly
and fully complete the survey. The survey questions were also segmented into categories in order
to make it easier on the researchers to see trends in data and easier on the respondents to have
similar questions grouped together.
Response bias was eliminated by not having any leading questions in the survey that
would make the respondent think that one response was better than another, and by having the
survey be anonymous. Since most people like to present themselves in a favorable light, they
will be less likely to admit to unsavory attitudes in a survey. Instead, their responses may be
biased toward what they believe is socially desirable. This is why the researchers made the
respondents answers anonymously to remove the problem of “social disability” that occurs when
results are not confidential. In doing this the researchers can gather more accurate and useful
data.
Sample
The population of interest of this project is students of the University of Oklahoma that
own pets. This group’s social media usage and awareness level of Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary will communicate how to reach this group effectively. It is likely that this group is a
large key demographic within the area that Second Chance serves and should be explored. The
population of interest is also extremely likely to be the respondents of this survey as well.
The sampling method used for this survey was a nonprobability sample (non-random).
The researchers decided this was the best sampling method because the sample population of
interest is University of Oklahoma students that own pets, which is a very large number of
people. There was no feasible way to reach every last University of Oklahoma student so that
each had a fair chance of being selected. Because of this, the main goal of the research is to
explore the phenomena in the given study context of our research question and to choose the best
sample representing this goal of the research and answer the proposed research question. The
anticipated sample size of the survey respondents is 200 complete surveys. This goal, of 200
respondents, was set so that the researchers could get as close to the maximum as possible and
have the most quantitative data to work with. Each researcher was assigned to receive at
minimum 20 responses to their personal survey link, which made this goal of 200 respondents
more attainable. The characteristics and demographic data from this survey were intended to be
college students between the ages of 18-27 that were likely pet owners.
Demographics of Survey Respondents
The researchers of Golden Gate PR Group sent out a survey through Qualtrics that
opened on November 12, 2018, and closed on November 15, 2018, to a non-randomized sample
and received 189 responses. The non-random sample was gathered by posting the survey link on
different social media platforms, emailing the link, sending the link in group text messages, or
individually texting someone the link. The questions on the survey were separated and ordered
according to these six different question blocks: the general topic (pet they have and previous
adoptions), about animal shelters in general, about Second Chance Animal Sanctuary
specifically, about their personal social media usage, about Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s
social media, and lastly about their demographics. The survey took approximately 15 minutes to
complete.
Frequency tests were run on the demographics questions of the survey, which included
gender and ethnicity, because there was not a specific number order to the answer choices, and
one was not more important than the other. According to the frequency test that ran on gender,
149 (78.8%) out of the 189 respondents were females, and 39 (20.6%) of the 189 respondents
were males
.
The researchers also ran a frequency test on the ethnicity of the survey respondents, and 134
(70.9%) out of the 189 of respondents reported being “Caucasians”, which was the largest
percentage of all the ethnic groups listed. 18 (9.5%) out of the 189 respondents reported that
they were either “American Indian/Alaska Native” or “Other”, which made both of these
ethnicities tie for the second-highest recorded ethnicity. The majority of respondents, 13 (6.9%)
of 15, that reported “Other” as their ethnicity recorded their ethnicity as “Hispanic/Latino”.
The researchers ran a descriptive statistics test to determine the age of the sample that
was surveyed because it was a free response question and there was an associated value with the
number that they provided as the answer. According to the responses, the age ranged from 16 to
82 with a mean age of 27 (M = 26.85, SD = 12.56).
The researchers have concluded that Second Chance Animal Sanctuary should focus on a target
audience of females ranging from their mid to late 20s because of the results from the descriptive
statistics tests ran on the respondents' age.
Characteristics of Survey Respondents

Golden Gate PR ran frequency tests on the characteristics of the sample because all of
these questions were “Yes” or “No” answers. The characteristics of the sample that the
researchers identified were questions about previous behavior. According to the frequency, test
ran on the question: “Were your pets adopted from an animal shelter,” 113 (59.8%) of the 189
respondents answered “No” and 76 (40.2%) of the 189 of respondents answered “Some”/ “Yes.”
However, researchers also conducted a frequency test that ran on the question: “Have
you ever visited an animal shelter before,” 151 (79.9%) of the 189 respondents answered “Yes”
and 38 (20.1%) of the total respondents answered “No.” Meaning that the majority of
respondents are just visiting shelters rather than actually adopting animals.
Therefore, the researchers concluded that Second Chance Animal Sanctuary may want to focus
their efforts on their in-shelter experience by giving visitors a more engaging environment by
providing them with additional information to “keep in touch” with the organization via social
media. Second Chance could do this by having a printed list of social media usernames or
scannable QR codes.
According to the frequency test that was run on the question: “Have you ever donated to
an animal shelter before,” resulted in 98 (51.9%) of the 189 respondents answering “No” and 91
(48.1%) of the total number of respondents answering “Yes.”
Another frequency test was also run on the question: “Have you ever volunteered at an animal
shelter before,” resulted in 131 (69.3%) of the 189 of respondents answering “No” and 58
(30.7%) of the 189 of respondents answering “Yes.”
This shows that the majority of respondents do not/ have not donated to or volunteer at animal
shelters. Therefore, the researchers concluded that Second Chance Animal Sanctuary could
potentially tailor some posts around donations and volunteer opportunities that are available so
that the audience is informed about these opportunities and can participate.
The researchers have concluded that in order for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary to be
a well-rounded animal sanctuary, they have to raise awareness and engagement to their goal
target audience of the mid to late 20s. According to the results of the tests, the researchers ran
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary can now better tailor their social media content towards
volunteer opportunities and donations. Second Chance Animal Sanctuary can also provide their
visitors with a more engaging environment by offering more opportunities to reach out and keep
in touch with the organization.
Survey Respondents Awareness of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary
Golden Gate PR Group ran a descriptive statistics test to determine the familiarity the
sample had of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. The researchers chose to run this type of test
because there is a numerical value assigned to the response the respondents picked: zero being
not familiar, five being neutral, and 10 being very familiar. The results indicate that a significant
amount of the sample did not have any familiarity with Second Chance Animal Sanctuary (M =
2.94, SD = 3.61).
The results of the descriptive statistics test about familiarity with Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary stipulate that respondents did not have previous knowledge about the organization.
This means that Second Chance needs to also focus on spreading awareness about themselves
and engaging their target audience. Second Chance Animal Sanctuary can do this by utilizing
social media to gauge engagement with their target audience and increase awareness about their
organization. The researchers recommend using social media to increase awareness amongst
their audience due to Second Chance’s limited budget that relies on donations, and social media
is a free tool they can utilize in order to get their messages out.
Independent Variables
Our survey was created to determine awareness of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary,
previous experience with animal shelters and social media usage and trends. The demographic
questions consist of seven items: age, gender, ethnicity, education level, employment, marital
status, and geographic location.
1. Age - how old the respondent is, was measured on a ratio sale based on the numbers
respondents recorded in the text box.
2. Gender - what gender they identify with, was measured on a nominal scale with the
following items: male, female, other (which included a text box/ free response answer)
and prefer not to say.
3. Classification - how far along in college they are/ classification based on credits, was
measured on a nominal scale with the following items: freshman, sophomore, junior,
senior, and other (which included a text box/ free response answer).
4. Ethnicity - what ethnic background they identified as, was based on a nominal scale with
the following items: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska
Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, other (which included a text box/ free
response answer), and I would prefer not to answer.
Dependent Variables
The dependent variable is the answers that the participants expressed about the way that
they interact and absorb information that is presented to them on social media. The researchers
wanted to measure the interaction and the type of content the respondents like to view on social
media so that the researches can better identify what type of media the client should be posting.
The researchers are also wanting to measure the social media behaviors of the respondents. The
questions that were used to gauge this were: why they followed someone/something on social
media, and what kinds of different media posts they like to see across different social media
platforms. Another way to gauge the respondent's social media behavior is by asking how
frequently they use different social media platforms, and what type of subject matter the
respondents prefer posts to be about across different social media platforms. Lastly, general
questions about who they followed, if/how they use hashtags, and how much they liked receiving
different messages from organizations on social media. The scales that will be used to measure
these constructs are: not at all likely/extremely likely, strongly disagree/strongly agree,
never/always, and dislike a great deal/like a great deal.
Procedure
The first step that will be used to collect data from subjects is to properly distribute the
survey through the correct channels in order to get the maximum number of respondents.
Participants will be recruited via online and/or cellular communications. This is done by posting
the survey link on different social media platforms, emailing the link, sending the link in group
text messages, or individually texting someone the link. Another data collection procedure that
has been implemented in the survey itself is “force response”, which means once a participant
has started the survey, they must answer every question on the page before they can continue to
the next set of questions. This ensures that researchers gather data for every question area in the
survey. Display logic has also been implemented in the survey itself, in order to ask additional
questions to participants that select a particular answer choice, thus providing more data.
Furthermore, the display logic also helps with not asking participants questions that don’t pertain
to them.
The survey begins with a greeting and introduction that explains what the project is
about, who is conducting it, what the topic of the survey itself is, what researchers want to
measure, the number of participants, and lastly asks for their consent. In the introduction portion
of the survey the participants are reminded that there are no direct benefits, nor risk associated
with the study, but if they feel uncomfortable, they are free to withdraw at any point. They are
also reminded that their responses are confidential and are given two different peoples contact
information if they have any questions pertaining to the study. Then by clicking on the continue
button, they consent to the gathering of the data that they provide in the survey.
The instructions are to answer each question and to complete the survey. The questions
are separated into six different blocks that range from general to specific topics. The first block
being the general topic, the second about animal shelters, the third about Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary specifically, the fourth about social media in general, the fifth specifically about
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary social media, and the sixth about demographics. The questions
within each of the six blocks are also ordered from general to more specific topics. In the first
two blocks, the participant is tasked with identifying their awareness of animal shelters and their
ownership of animals in general. In the third block, they are asked to identify their awareness
about Second Chance. Then in the fourth block, they are tasked with identifying their personal
social media habits across different platforms, whom they follow, what they like to see and why.
In the fifth block, they are asked a series of hypothetical questions about “how likely” they are to
follow Second Chance, like their posts, and or receive other forms of communications from them
(emails, flyers, follow requests, event invites). Lastly, in the sixth block, they are asked
demographics questions pertaining to themselves. The time allocated on the tasks in total,
completion of the survey, should be 15 minutes. At the end, the participants will be redirected to
a screen of completion that has an end of survey message thanking them for their time and
cooperation.
Research Method V – Content Analysis
Overview
The researchers of Golden Gate PR reviewed research that was conducted in previous
research methods to find missing information and research that could be expanded and improved
upon. Based on previous research conducted, the researchers believed it would be beneficial to
expand upon and conduct research that includes the preferred social media content of Second
Chance Animal Sanctuary's supporters. The researchers have already conducted research on the
preferred social media content from the target audience of Second Chance, but an analysis of
social media users who already follow Second Chance on social media is needed because it will
help Second Chance get an idea of what the supporters want to see on the social media accounts
of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. This allows the client to create social media content that
will fully engage the supporters of Second Chance. This missing information will be addressed
by the researchers in a content analysis that sought to answer the question: what is the preferred
social media content the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary supporters want to see posted on the
organization's social media?
A content analysis is a form of research that is used to examine messages for regularity,
structure, and content (Stacks, n.d., p.136). In a content analysis, researchers measure both
manifest content and latent content. Manifest content is what you see and count without any
deeper messages and latent content has a deeper underlying meaning or theme presented in
messages (Stacks, n.d, p. 120-121). A content analysis analyzes materials such as media releases,
social media, focus groups, and video content and scripts (Stacks, n.d, p. 120). However, the
researchers at Golden Gate PR conducted a content analysis that analyzed different posts from
the Facebook of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. The researchers used an excel spreadsheet to
measure the manifest content analyzed from the Facebook posts and created a codebook to
measure the latent content from the Facebook posts. The researchers concluded that content
analysis is an effective way to measure the statistical significance of posts created by Second
Chance Animal Sanctuary because it analyzes both manifest content and latent content.
Researchers believed a content analysis would also help the client better define and gage the
meanings behind the content being posted on Facebook. A content analysis was conducted to
ensure that the client of Golden Gate PR has research they need to engage with their target
audience on social media.
Population and Sample

The population interest for this content analysis was Facebook users because the content
that was analyzed was created for people who use Facebook. The medium of interest for the
content analysis were visual and verbal Facebook posts created by Second Chance. Facebook is a
popular social media service that provides statuses, pictures, and story updates for people,
businesses, new services and more. Researchers chose visual and verbal Facebook posts because
it is largely used by them as a method of promotion of animal, donations and volunteer
opportunities. The time period selected was from October 27, 2018, to November 14, 2018. At
the time that this content analysis was conducted, these were the most recent time frame and
content produced by the animal shelter on Facebook. Recent content will provide accurate
analysis to examine Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. Having up to date content provides
recent information about the Second Chance’s audience on Facebook. This sampling technique
was conducted by Golden Gate PR through chronologically selecting posts and analyzing their
content. Facebook posts, likes, comments, shares, and events were examined during the process
of this analysis because they allow for the researchers to see if a post is significant to the
supporters of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary.
Unit of Analysis
Appeal type. The unit of analysis for this study was the individual postings posted by
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. There were seven appeal types examined but the most
common most were represented on the individual posts chosen for this study.
1. “Thumbs up” reaction means a viewer either agrees or likes the content that was
posted.
2. “Heart” reaction means that someone really liked the content that was posted.
The “thumbs up” reaction was acted on in 100% of the posts. Most of the content posted was
also the content that performed the best on the social media platform, Facebook. This type of
content was defined as text+image. The second most common reaction that was used was the
heart. With the thumbs up and heart reaction being the top two most used reactions, a conclusion
can be made that the users are enjoying the content being posted to Facebook enough to interact
with it. The other types of post reactions that were used were: heart, angry, sad, and thumbs
down.
Layout Type. There were 17 forms of layouts were examined by the researchers.
However, there were only three layouts that were represented in the content. All of the content
examined had to be labeled as one of these categories.
1. Text with pictures were posts that had a prominent image of photos, illustrations,
or figures and models.
2. Events were posts that had any form of scheduling information on them and were
titled “Events.”
3. Cover photo/profile picture changes were any posts that stated that Second
Chance Animal Sanctuary changed their profile to a different visual.
The posts most often utilize images and texts to communicate their message. The text is either
thanking a family or an individual for adopting a pet, a story about a new animal available for
adoption, or something simple along with an image of an animal. Most posts the shelter makes
do include images which are highly suggested because images or videos are proven to perform
better. It would be beneficial for Second Chance to start including links to the shelters official
website on some posts to drive traffic there.
Visual Persuasion Indicators. There were a total of three different visual elements
examined in this study. The visual persuasion indicators were defined by color, image, and
spatiality.
Spatiality - Researchers noticed Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s posts that tend to
feature inconsistent themes. It is recommended that Second Chance make all their graphics and
images have consistent colors and have their logo located somewhere on the content. Second
Chance’s audience does a pretty good job at sharing posts from the organizations Facebook page,
but it is important that there is consistent spatiality by the brand to make them more easily
recognizable to the public.
Color - Second Chance’s brand and logo do not have a defined color scheme. This is
something extremely important because color is one of the most important and easy ways to
catch the eye and appeal to viewers. Based up the “message type,” there is not a dominant color
used throughout the content. The animal sanctuary will need to create a logo and have that
consistently and strategically placed across all platforms. The reliance on primarily white and
black colors show up the most consistently because that's what makes it possible to publish the
advertisements and posts in a broad range of publications at the lowest costs and directs
emphasis to the message in the advertisement. The content more often uses full-color
photographs as the main features of the posts. Content with highly saturated colors that attract
attention was not used often but should be used more.
Image - Second Chance does a great job of using images in posts on Facebook. Images
are used in the majority of the content posted by the animal shelter, but the tabulation suggests
visual elements communicate on the surface and are not used to convey a secondary meaning.
Overall, images are used in most of the posts, but the quality and consistency of the photos are
lacking. Researchers suggest for Second Chance to take photos with higher quality to make the
images have a more uniformed look and add quality to their postings.
Measurement Categories and Scoring Units
The content analysis consisted of seven categories: ID, date of posting, time of posting,
number of likes with a subcategory of Facebook reactions, number of shares, type of message,
and message intention. Each of these categories was mutually exclusive and exhaustive in its
parameters and definition they were given. This means that all our data was nominal because
they were labeled with only one type of category.
ID. The ID number was created based on the pre-set chronological order the posts were
posted in on Second Chance’s Facebook feed based on the time frame chosen.
Date of Posting. The start date was November 14, 2018, at 12:13 PM, thus that particular
post at that time and date was assigned as post number one, the one below it was then assigned
number two and so on, the older the post the bigger the number. The date was based on the day
the particular post was made, which was provided by Facebook on the post itself at the top left
and the date was recorded in the codebook as “mm/dd” since all posts were recent and made in
the same year (2018).
Time of Posting. The time that was recorded for individual posts was also provided by
Facebook on the post itself at the top left, indicating when Second Chance posted it and was
recorded in the codebook as “hh: mm” and if it was posted meridiem (PM), or ante meridiem
(AM).
Total Likes/Reactions. The total likes/reactions were defined as the total combined
number of times someone clicked the like button or clicked on a “reaction” on an individual post
on Second Chance’s Facebook page (“reaction” was defined as the thumbs up, thumbs down,
heart, laughing, sad, angry). These numbers were located at the bottom left of each individual
post. The number of comments was also recorded in the codebook and was found on the bottom
right of each individual post. A comment was defined as being either a reply to the individual
post or a reply to someone else’s comment on the particular post. A comment could consist of:
just text, a text and an emoji, text and a gif, text and a sticker, a gif, a sticker, or tagging someone
and they are exhausted and mutually exclusive to the definition they were given. All comment
details could be seen at the bottom of the post, and by clicking on the comments button at the
bottom right of the post.
Number of Shares. The number of shares was defined as the total number of times
someone clicked the share button for an individual post. This number and button were located at
the bottom right of each post. Facebook also provided the six pre-set “reactions” and their
names; thumbs up, thumbs down, heart, laughing, sad, angry. Each of the six reactions had their
own category and were define as the total number of times each individual reaction was clicked
by someone on an individual post (i.e. one post could have a total of 12 likes/reactions with the
thumbs up clicked 2, thumbs up clicked 2, heart clicked 2, laughing clicked 2, sad clicked 2, and
angry clicked 2). The breakdown of how many times each individual reaction was clicked can be
seen when you click on the total number of likes/reactions at the bottom left of the post.
Type of Message. The type of message was also recorded in the codebook. A message
was defined as a post that Second Chance had posted to their Facebook page. A post was then
defined as consisting of one of these 28 contents: only text, only pictures, only a graphic, only a
video, only a link, text and a picture, text and a graphic, text and a video, text and a link, picture
and a graphic, picture and a video, graphic and a video, picture and a link, graphic and a link,
video and a link, text and a picture and a graphic, text and a picture and a video, picture and a
graphic and a video, text and a picture and a link, text and a graphic and a link, text and video
and a link, picture and a graphic and a link, picture and a video and a link, graphic and a video
and a link, text and a picture and a graphic and a video, text and a picture and a graphic and a
video and a link, events, cover photo/profile picture changes, and others (this list is in the same
order as they were number in 1-28, for the code book).
Message Intention. Message intention was also coded and defined as what was the
purpose or point of the post. For the codebook, each post was constrained to one number in order
to simplify the codebook and to attempt to codify what the posts main point was in the text
portion of the post. Intentions were numbered 1-8 in the order they are listed and were defined
as: information about adoptions (available pets, fees, adopting events, animals that have been
newly adopted), information about donation opportunities (items they need to be donated,
information about their “Wishlist”, public campaigns for donation, how to donate money/make a
donation), information about volunteering opportunities ( posting about volunteers, volunteer
activities), sharing updated information about the shelter (new pets, new volunteers, new visitors,
new staff members, stories about adoptees/adoptions), sharing reviews (about adoption, facility,
people, animals that have been adopted form second chance), sharing general information about
animals/animal shelters (about other shelters in the community, other fundraising events about
rescue animals in the community, another shelters Wishlist/ donation site/ volunteer
opportunities), invitations to an event they are hosting (Facebook event they have created that
you can rsvp to), and other. For both “message type” and “message intention” categories we
created a sub-category named “message type other” and “message intention other” just in case
“other” was used to identify a post that wasn’t explicitly listed in the codebook. The two sub-
categories would then be used to identify and specify exactly what the new category would or
should be, and then potentially added to the codebook if it was a consistently reoccurring
category.
Media Use Results
Researchers ran a frequency test to analyze the source of survey participants’ previous
knowledge of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. Participants were asked “If you have
previously heard of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, how did you hear about it?” the majority
of the respondents 87 (46%) of the 189 selected the “Other “ option choice. The “Other” option
choice also included a text box, where the respondents could enter in how they heard of Second
Chance. The majority of the free response answers, 45 (23.8%) of the 189, reported not hearing
of Second Chance at all before. However, another 68 (36%) of the total number of participants
said that they heard of Second Chance through “Friend/Family”. Another 46 (24.3%) of the 189
reported hearing about Second Chance through social media. According to the survey results, the
most effective method of discovery was by word-of-mouth from someone the participant knows.
Furthermore, based on these results, it is recommended that traditional media (newspaper,
television and radio ads) not be used because of their apparent ineffectiveness. This was proven
through the data collected by the survey when all three answer choices were combined only 9
(4.8%) of the 189 respondents reported using these forms of media.
To gauge participants’ social media usage and preferences, researchers analyzed the
responses of four questions. For the question “How frequently do you use these different social
media platform: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Snapchat and Other,” researchers chose
to employ the use of a descriptive test on a scale from one, being “Never” to five, being
“Always.” Responses indicated that Instagram is the most commonly used platform (M=3.66, SD
= 1.426), with both Facebook (M = 3.33, SD = 1.333) and Snapchat (M = 3.19, SD = 1.620)
close in numbers. The specified platform with the lowest reported usage was Tumblr (M = 1.29,
SD = .774). Researchers can then conclude that the most effective way to communicate with the
survey respondents would be through the use of Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.
Researchers then questioned participants about their reasoning behind following an

account on social media. Reasons that were given for the question “How frequently are these the
reasons as to why you follow someone/something on social media?” were “Quality of media
(photos, videos), Informational content on posts of accounts they follow
(updates/facts/events/sales), Comedy, How frequently they [accounts followed] post, Because of
an incentive (social media sweepstakes/competition) and Because they [accounts followed]
followed you first.” Responses to each of the listed reasons were scaled from one, being “Never”
to five, being “Always.” The most commonly reported reason was “Informational content they
[accounts followed] post (updates/facts/events/sales)” (M = 3.59, SD = 1.245). The second most
popular reasons were “Quality of media (photos, videos)” (M = 3.57, SD = 1.213) and “Comedy”
(M = 3.57, SD = 1.19), which tied for second. The least commonly reported reason for following
someone/something on social media, according to the survey respondents, was “Because of an
incentive (social media sweepstakes/competition)” (M = 2.00, SD = 1.219). The most effective
kinds of posts to use in order to gain a larger social media following could be high-quality visual
content, informational content and using humor in posts.
Researchers analyzed how often survey participants are sent organizational messages
using the question “Do you receive messages (advertisements, direct messages, promotional
offers) from organizations through social media?” Of the responses, 92 (48.7%) of the 189
respondents answered “Yes” and the remaining 97 (51.3%) answered “No.” This insight can be
useful in order to analyze the amount of competition for an audience’s attention from other
organizations.
In order to gauge how frequently survey participants follow an account more specific to
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary on social media, researchers asked: “Do you follow any
animal shelters on social media?” Only 66 (34.9%) of the 189 respondents responded “Yes” and
123 (65.1%) of the total number of participants answered “No.” The implication behind this
information is important because it means that 65% of the sample population is not regularly
seeing other similar organizations and would allow Second Chance Animal Sanctuary to become
the first and prominent source.
Communication/Message Analysis Results
Respondents were asked about the different kinds of communication messages they like
to receive on social media, and what kinds of media posts they prefer to view across different
platforms. These questions were asked in order to gauge how the target audience wants to
receive messages and what they prefer to view on social media posts. Knowing this information
can be useful to Second Chance Animal Sanctuary because it could lead to an increasing level of
awareness and engagement on social media amongst Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s target
audience through tailoring the posts to their preference.
Therefore, researchers used descriptive and frequency tests to analyze the data that was
provided by the survey responses. Since Instagram and Facebook were the two most frequently
used platforms amongst the survey respondents, the researchers decided to run a descriptive
statistics tests on: “What kind of media posts do you typically like to view on Facebook?”, and
“What kind of media posts do you typically like to view on Instagram?” Participants were asked
to rate how much they liked to view posts that had different kinds of media incorporated in them.
They were asked to rate how much they like viewing: pictures, videos, typed text
(statuses/captions/comments) and Instagram/Facebook stories, boomerangs (only for Instagram),
and highlights (only for Instagram). The researchers ran a descriptive statistics tests on these
question because the respondents were asked to rate the different kinds of post on a seven-point
scale, with one meaning “dislike a great deal” and seven meaning “like a great deal”.
The majority of respondents reported that they liked seeing pictures on Instagram the
most (M = 6.25, SD = 1.28). However, respondents also liked seeing videos (M = 5.56, SD =
1.53) and Instagram stories ( M = 5.25, SD = 1.63). Nonetheless, the descriptive statistics test
that was run on different kinds of Facebook posts yielded slightly different results, the majority
of respondents recorded that they did not like to see Facebook stories (M = 3.54, SD = 1.93).
However, the majority of participants reported that they did like seeing picture (M = 5.83, SD =
1.24) and video-based (M = 5.46, SD = 1.34) content on Facebook. Based on this data the
researchers concluded that it would be beneficial for Second Chance to rely on photos and video-
based content in order to increase engagement on Facebook and Instagram but to only utilize
“stories” on Instagram. Knowing this is beneficial to Second Chance because it will help in
deciding where to allocate the majority of postings the organization makes. For example postings
on their Facebook story are not as likely to be viewed as compared to Instagram stories, which
are far more likely to be viewed by the audience.
Another question that the researchers tested was, “What type of subject matter do you
prefer posts to be about on each platform?”The social media platforms that were tested were:
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Snapchat or Other. And the subject matter that
the respondents could choose from were: News, Entertainment, Family/Friends, Events,
Business/Professional, Funny and Other. For these questions, respondents simply chose the
subject matter that they liked to see on each platform. Therefore, frequency tests were run by the
researchers. However, since Instagram and Facebook were the two most frequently used
platforms amongst the survey respondents the researchers decided to run frequency tests on:
“What type of subject matter do you prefer posts to be about on Instagram?” and “What type of
subject matter do you prefer posts to be about on Facebook?”
On Instagram, the majority of respondents, 109 (57.7%) of the 189 of respondents, said they
used this platform for family and friends. For Facebook, 123 (65.1%) of the 189 of respondents
also recorded that they used this platform mainly for family and friends. This data lead the
researchers to the conclusion that maybe Second Chance needs to base their photo/video posts,
on Instagram and Facebook, on families and/or friends that come to Second Chance to adopt.
Meaning tailoring posts to family or people specific adoption stories.
The next question tested was, “To what extent do you like receiving messages from
organizations through social media?” The different kinds of messages the respondents were
asked to rate were advertisements, direct messages, and promotional offers. Respondents rated
these different types of messages on a scale from 1-7. One meaning “dislike a great deal”, four
meaning “neither like nor dislike” and seven meaning “like a great deal”. Therefore, a
descriptive statistics test was run on this question.
The majority of respondents reported that they neither liked nor disliked receiving
messages about promotional offers (M = 4.07, SD = 1.93). The researchers concluded that, out
of all the messages mentioned, the respondents preferred messages about promotional offers
through social media as opposed to advertisements and direct messages. Because the majority of
respondents reported that they do not like receiving advertisements (M = 3.52, SD = 1.80) or
direct messages through social media (M = 3.42, SD = 1.81). This beneficial because it will help
Second Chance better reach their target audience with messages they actually want to receive
about promotional offers.
The last communication/message analysis question tested by the researchers was “If you
were to follow Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, what kind of content would you like to see
them post,” so the researchers chose to run a frequency test. The answer choices the respondents
could choose from were: information about volunteer opportunities, information about donation
opportunities, information about their services, information about animal care and information
about individual animals they have at the shelter.
The majority of respondents, 148 (78.3%) of the 189 respondents, reported that if they
were to follow Second Chance on social media that they would prefer to see content that
included information about individual animals they have at their shelter. Another 95 (50.3%) of
the 189 respondents said that they would not like to see posts about information regarding
volunteer opportunities. However, 121 (64%) of 189 respondents reported that they would not
like to to see content posted by Second Chance Animal Sanctuary in regards to donation
opportunities. And another 108 (57.1%) of the total amount of respondents reported they would
not like to see posts about information about their services. Therefore, the researchers concluded
that Second Chance should gravitate towards more personalized posts that are about individual
animals in the shelter.
Desired Behavior Results
Descriptive statistics tests were used by the researchers to analyze the data for desired
behavior. Descriptive Statistics tests were run on three different questions to test the hypotheses.
“How likely would you be to follow Second Chance Animal Sanctuary on social media if
accounts were made available?” was the first desired behavior question tested. The scale
provided for this question was between 0-10. With zero being “not at all likely,” five being
“neutral”, and 10 being “extremely likely.”
Results indicated that a majority of respondents would be likely to follow Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary on social media if accounts were made available (M = 5.74, SD = 3.063).
Based on this information, the majority of respondents will be moderately likely to follow the
animal sanctuary if accounts were made available.
The following question was also tested through descriptive statistics: “Which platform
would you be more likely to follow second Chance Animal Sanctuary on?” The respondents
were asked to rate how likely they were to follow Second Chance across six different social
media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Snapchat on a scale from
1-7. One meaning “extremely likely” and seven meaning “extremely unlikely.” Therefore, a
descriptive statistics test was then run on this question.
Results indicated that a majority of the respondents would be more likely to follow the
animal sanctuary on Facebook compared to other platforms (M = 5.12, SD = 1.91). Results also
indicated that respondents were likely to follow the animal sanctuary on Instagram (M = 4.99,
SD = 2.07). However, of the 6 questions, the majority of the respondents reported they were
unlikely to follow the animal sanctuary on Tumblr (M = 2.30, SD = 1.71) and Pinterest (M =
2.81, SD = 1.94). The data suggests that Tumblr and Pinterest would be the least likely platforms
to increase awareness of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s brand. The data shows preferred
platforms that could increase awareness for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. Based on the
mean and standard deviation of the questions regarding Facebook and Instagram, researchers are
able to conclude and suggest that a majority of respondents would be more likely to follow
Second Chance on Facebook rather than Instagram.
The last question regarding desired behavior was tested using descriptive statistics. The
question was: “Which media would you be more likely to use in order to receive information
about Second Chance Animal Sanctuary?” The respondents were then asked to rate how likely
they were to receive information about Second Chance across seven different forms of media:
television, local, website, flyer, email, social media, and event on a scale from 1-7. One meaning
“extremely likely” and seven meaning “extremely unlikely.” Therefore, a descriptive statistics
test was then run on this question.
According to the data run through descriptive statistics, respondents are more likely to
use social media (M = 5.70, SD = 1.66) and a website (M = 5.53, SD = 1.56) to receive
information about Second Chance. Of the given options, these would likely be the best to
increase engagement with the sanctuary. The data from this question also provides insight on
which methods of media are most appealing to Second Chance’s audience.
Discussion
The researchers at Golden Gate PR used quantitative and qualitative research to gather
data to answer research questions about the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. Quantitative
research is a form of research that consists of generalized statistics (Stacks, n.d., p.7). Qualitative
research is a form of research that consists of in-depth information that allows researchers to
understand the public’s opinion (Stacks, n.d, p.10). Golden Gate PR wanted to conduct research
to see which media platforms will increase awareness for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary.
Golden Gate PR wanted to know what form of social media posts will increase engagement with
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary.
Survey
The researchers used a survey to gather quantitative data for Second Chance. A large
portion of the researcher's survey was about the awareness of Second Chance, media usage of the
participants, and communication messages. The researchers wanted to analyze the familiarity the
respondents had of Second Chance because it would allow the researchers to know how much
awareness Second Chance has and whether or not awareness needs to be worked on for the
organization. The results of the descriptive tests ran by the researchers indicate that a large
amount of the respondents were not familiar with Second Chance. This illustrates the need for
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary to raise more awareness about the organization. As for the
measurement of media usage, the researchers ran descriptive tests to gauge the social media
usage of the participants. The responses of the respondents indicate that Instagram, Facebook,
and Snapchat were the most used platforms. This means Second Chance Animal sanctuary
should be utilizing these social media platforms to raise awareness about their organization. For
the measurement of communications messages, the researchers ran frequency tests to analyze the
type of social media content the participants prefer to see. The results indicated that the
respondents would prefer to view photos and videos. This means photos and videos should be
used to increase engagement with Second Chance Animal Sanctuary.
The findings of the survey are important because it allows the researchers to analyze the
data collected from the respondents and make connections to any trends found in the systematic
data. This enables the researchers to make suggestions to the client based off of the trends in the
data received from the respondents. The findings also allow the researchers to find trends that
prove and disprove their research question. For example, the researchers did find that photos and
videos on either Instagram or Facebook, would help their client raise more awareness about their
organizations. However, the researchers realized that their data indicated that the best target
audience for the client would be people in their mid to late 20s, but before the researchers
conducted a survey the target audience was classified as college students because Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary is located in the university town of Norman
Content Analysis
The content analysis is a systematic quantitative research method for analyzing messages
of documents, video and script content, interviews, and social media posts (Stacks, n.d., p.119).
The benefit of conducting a content analysis is the ability to provide clients with logical and
statistical bases for understanding the messages being created in different forms of
communication (Stacks, n.d., p.120). The researchers used a content analysis to analyze Second
Chance Animal Sanctuary Facebook posts. The content analysis revealed that Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary received the most reactions and responses when they posted pictures and
stories about animal adoptions or a new animal being welcomed to the Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary. This helped the researchers get an idea of what kind of social media content the
followers of Second Chance Animal Shelter likes to view.
In-depth Interviews
In-depth interviews are a form of qualitative research that allowed the researchers of
Golden Gate PR to understand the views of the target audience selected (Krueger and Casey,
n.d., p. 140). The researchers used in-depth interviews to establish a base of familiarity with the
target audience of college students with Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. The researchers
interviewed five people. The results indicated that three of the participants were not really
familiar with the organization and two of the participants knew about Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary because they had volunteered at the organization. This helped the researchers find out
that the target audience of college students only heard about the organization because of
volunteering and not because of adoptions.
Focus Group
Focus groups are a form of qualitative research that allows the researchers to have a more
complex perspective of the opinions of the target audience. The researcher's purpose of
conducting a focus group is to understand how the participants feel or think about the Second
Chance Animal Sanctuary (Krueger and Casey, n.d., p.2). The researchers found that the
participants of the focus group were not familiar with Second Chance Animal Sanctuary and
their social media habits were the usage of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. Many of
the participants thought that photos and adoptions stories were important to post on Second
Chance’s social media. The focus group helped the researchers gain more of a deeper insight into
what potential Second Chance followers would life to engage with on the social media accounts
of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary.
Limitations and Bias of the Research
A big limitation that the researchers at Golden Gate PR group experienced was not being
able to conduct research that had a random sampling. This means that all of the participants were
sought out by the researchers and does not portray a true representation of the target audience
should have. This is also a factor of bias represented in the research conducted by the Golden
Gate PR, which means that the participants in the research conducted felt more comfortable to
provide answers that the researchers wanted to hear. Another limitation is the researchers at
Golden Gate PR did not have any existing funds that would allow for the maximization of the
research being conducted. This means that if there was a budget for researchers, Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary could have someone can conduct all of the research methods used on a regular
basis. The researchers at Golden Gate PR had time restrictions, which prevented the researchers
from having a chance to conduct deeper research. This means that if the researchers at Golden
Gate PR did not have these time restrictions it is possible that the researchers could have had the
opportunity to have a random sample of research. This would give more valid responses and a
true representation of the target audience of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary.
A great way for Second Chance to extend research would be to conduct a survey about
their services. This would allow for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary to receive feedback about
their services and allow for the organization to improve upon their services and better appeal to
the target audience that best fits the organization.
Suggestions
Based on the analysis of the research conducted by Golden Gate PR the following
suggestions aim to be factual proof of the changes suggested for Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary’s public relations needs. The suggestions included will help Second Chance raise
awareness and engagement with their target audience of people in their mid to late 20s. The
suggestion topics are social media platforms, social media content, strategies and tactics, and
general future recommendations.
Social Media Platforms
The research conducted by Golden Gate PR found that the best social media platforms for
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary to use are Instagram and Facebook. The researchers
conducted a survey and the results indicated that the participants preferred the use of these social
media platforms. Utilizing these social media platforms will help Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary to effectively connect with their audience and increase awareness of their
organization. The most helpful and effective content on these platforms would be high-quality
visual content with information about adoption opportunities and adoption stories. Using high-
quality visual content with information about Second Chance Animal Sanctuary will help Second
Chance Animal Sanctuary to better diversify the content that they are presenting and help
increase engagement with their target audience of people in their mid to late 20s on Instagram
and Facebook
Social Media Messages and Communications
The messages that should be presented on Second Chance Animal Sanctuary should
unified branding statement that is universal enough to be presented on both Instagram and
Facebook. A good example of a branding statement would be: Second Chance Animal Sanctuary
offers a second chance and forever home to all the animals they help provide a temporary home
for. This branding statement can be used as their “bio” and as a quick statement at the end of
each post they make to make sure that they are presenting a message to their key publics that
accurately represent their values and mission as Second Chance Animal Sanctuary.
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary should post messages about different pet holidays. The
client can find these pet holiday calendars online and post visuals featuring these holidays to help
highlight the current animals they are trying to get adopted. Golden Gate PR suggests that
Second Chance pos content that includes unique personalized messages that will engage with
their target audience’s feeling. Producing content and with strong communicative messages that
are preferred by their audience will make their audience want to be more engaged and involved
within the animal sanctuary. According to the survey research results gathered by the researchers
at Golden Gate PR, the participants wanted to see more personalized messages from Second
Chance Animal Sanctuary.
Strategies and Tactics
The Golden Gate PR researchers suggest a rebrand of the animal sanctuary’s website and
public relations materials would also be helpful. For example, if Second Chance gave their
website a more simple layout, it would attract more people. As these tools are outdated, a
rebrand and update will help their audience be able to connect with them better through these
tools. A website update will allow visitors to explore their page more easily and clearly. It would
also demonstrate to visitors that Second Chance is current and up to date with their
communications with their external and internal publics. Second Chance can use a free website
creator like Wix or Sitebuilder. These free website builders give an easy guideline to create a
simple and appealing website.
Second Chance’s public relations material such as flyers, brochures and advertisements
should also be updated with any new information. Reprinting these items with current
information will help the animal sanctuary communicate their needs to those that encounter their
public relations materials. Including new information about shelter size and services might make
readers feel more compelled to donate and volunteer at Second Chance Animal Sanctuary. The
researchers at Golden Gate PR suggests that Second Chance Animal Sanctuary use a free design
platform like Canva to update and rebrand their PR materials and upload PDF versions of these
materials to their website so that they do not have to print too many and save money. The
researchers also suggest for Second Chance to create a QR code that links the flyers or brochures
to their target audience that visits the shelter regularly. This will also allow for their more in-
depth information to be shared easier through media tools.
Specific strategies that could beneficial for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary include
implementing a social media plan, hiring an intern or creating a volunteer social media team.
These tools would allow Second Chance to be consistent in their suggested posting across
platforms. Consistency is extremely important to the well-being of Second Chance’s public
relations. They need to be consistent with their postings and quality in order to attract their
current and new audiences. Consistent content paired with older content will show their audience
the dedication and state of the animal sanctuary, communicating success and trustworthiness.
Future Recommendations
Golden Gate PR recommends that Second Chance Animal Sanctuary utilize social media
and free media tools consistently because it will allow for growth in public awareness and
engagement because when someone finds something that they are interested in they tend to share
their interests with the people that are following. Researchers suggest that Second Chance try to
find interns or volunteers willing to work on the organization's social media and media tools for
no charge. Golden Gate PR recommends that conducts research involving their brand on a
regular basis. The organization can partake in this by creating a survey to put on their survey link
on their website and social media. The organization can also put a QR code linking to a survey,
flyers, and brochures.
The researchers at Golden Gate PR believe that Second Chance should rebrand
themselves with a clear branding statement, personalized social media posts, and clear and
concise public relations and media tools; they will have a more consistent message to present to
their target audience. Having a theme in all their social media and public relations and media
tools will allow for their key publics to identify them with ease. Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary should use Instagram and Facebook to reach out and target their key publics with
messages personality that represents the organization. Golden Gate PR believes that if Second
Chance works on a unified brand using social media they will be able to effectively raise
awareness about themselves while increasing engagement with their target audience.
SWOT Table
Strengths Second Chance Animal Sanctuary strives with

their customer loyalty and community
involvement. They interact with the
community in a way that brings adopters back
who want to adopt again from this specific
shelter.
Weaknesses Finances are the most apparent weakness for

Second Chance. They function off of
donations and fundraisers which leave their
employees with a low paycheck. Second
Chance also struggles with having enough
room in their sanctuary to hold and provide
for the animals.
Opportunities Second Chance is the only adoption shelter in

Norman, OK, therefore, they dominate in
getting all of the Norman community to adopt
from them. However, they do collaborate with
shelters around the area to help potential
adopters find the perfect pet.
Threats The threats for Second Chance goes back to

their financial status and space availability for
the animals. Another threat is the lack of
volunteers that they have which is a huge part
in how they operate.
Organization The organization of Second Chance is what

needs the most work. It is imperative that they
begin using the free advertising, fundraise
more than ever before and reach their target
audience.
Situation Second Chance needs to update all of their

social media platforms because this is the best
opportunity for free advertisement. By doing
this, the shelter will be able to promote their
shelter, ask for donations and keep their target
audience informed on what animals are up for
adoption.
Publics Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s key

publics are college students in the Norman
area. Students are usually the ones who
decided to make impulse purchases and
because of this Second Chance needs to make
sure they are reaching college students in the

most efficient way.
References
About Us | Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, Inc.. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2018, from
http://www.secondchancenorman.com/index.php?about-us
Jaskyte, K. (2017). Voluntary Membership and Well-Being of Nonprofit, Government,
and Business Employees. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary & Nonprofit
Organizations, 28(1), 358–378. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/10.1007/s11266-016-
9781-5
Pet Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2018, from https://www.aspca.org/animal-
homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics
Demographics, City of Norman, Retrieved September 30, 2018 from
http://www.normanok.gov/content/demographics
Issue Brief: Youth Helping America: The Role of Social Institutions in Teen Volunteering.
(2005,
November). Retrieved from
https://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/05_1130_LSA_YHA_SI_factsheet.pdf
Donate | Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, Inc.. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2018, from
http://www.secondchancenorman.com/index.php?donate
Fields, Lisa. (2013, October 24). 6 Ways pets can improve your health. Web MD. Retrieved
from:https://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/features/6-ways-pets-
improve-your-health#1
Get Involved | Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, Inc.. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2018,
from
http://www.secondchancenorman.com/index.php?get-involved
Gill, P., Stewart, K., Treasure, E., & Chadwick, B. (2008). Methods of data collection in
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295. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/10.1038/bdj.2008.192
Issue Brief: Youth Helping America: The Role of Social Institutions in Teen Volunteering.
(2005,
November). Retrieved from
https://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/05_1130_LSA_YHA_SI_factsheet.pdf
Krueger and Casey. (N.D). Analyzing Focus Groups Results (p. 140). Retrieved from:
https://canvas.ou.edu/courses/92998/files/10743820?module_item_id=1506534
Krueger and Casey. (N.D). Overview of Focus Groups (pp.2). Retrieved from:
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York Post, 17 Sept 2017, https://nypost.com/2017/09/16/animal-rights-activists-protest-
citys-kill-shelter-policy/
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www.socialmediatoday.com/content/what-purpose-and-advantages-focus-group-
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normanpd.normanok.gov/pd/animal-welfare
Second Chance Animal Sanctuary Google Trends. (2018, August 27). Retrieved October 1,
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https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2018-08-27%202018-09-27
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https://www.facebook.com/SecondChanceNorman/
Second Chance (@SCASNorman) | Twitter [Twitter]. (2010, January). Retrieved September 30,
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https://twitter.com/SCASNorman
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+norman&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
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Methodology (pp. 119-123). Retrieved from
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www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2018/05/horrible-hundred-2018-
uncovering-puppy-mills.html
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apps-ranked-by-audience/
Appendix A
Interview Guide & Questions - In-Depth Questions

I. Cover personal demographics
A. Age
B. Gender
C. Residency
D. The highest level of education received
E. Student/Non-student
F. Employment Status
G. Household Income
II. Relating to Topic
A. Own Animals?
1. What kind?
2. Is there a preference?
Shelters
B. Have you heard of any animal shelters before?
1. How did you hear of them?
C. Have you visited an animal shelter before?
1. If yes, which one?
2. How did you hear of this shelter?
3. Is there anything that would discourage you from visiting an animal
shelter?
D. Have you ever adopted an animal from a shelter before?
E. What encourages and discourages you from adopting an animal from a shelter?
F. Do you see any positives or negatives to adopting animals from shelters?
G. Have you heard of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary before?
H. Are there are any other forms of communication you would rather receive
information through?
I. How valuable do you feel the services provided by Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary are?
J. How likely would you be to share messages from Second Chance Animal Shelter?
III. Social Media
A. What kinds of social media accounts do you have?
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Instagram
4. Tumblr
5. Pinterest
6. Snapchat
7. Other
B. Which do you use most often?
C. How much time do you usually spend on each platform?
D. What kind of content do you typically view for each platform?
1. Pictures
2. Videos
3. Stories
4. Boomerangs
5. Other
E. Do you have different purposes for each?
1. News
2. Entertainment
3. family/ friends
4. Events
5. Business purposes
6. Funny content-- memes
7. Other:
F. Do you follow any organization’s social (businesses, clubs, non-profits) media
accounts?
1. If yes, what compelled you to follow?
a) Aesthetically pleasing photos
b) Informational content; events, sales,
c) Comedy
d) Other (free response)
2. What discourages you from following?
a) Photo content
b) Photo quality
c) Video quality
d) Grammar
e) Frequency
f) Other
G. Do you follow any nonprofit organizations on social media?
H. Do you receive messages (advertisements, direct messages, promotional offers)
from organizations through social media?
I. What kinds of messages do you receive? (check all that apply)
1. Advertisements
2. Direct messages
3. Promotional offers
4. Other
J. Do you like receiving messages from organizations through social media?
K. Do you respond to information communicated through these platforms?
1. What encourages and discourages you to do so?
L. What compels you to follow an organization’s social media accounts?
M. What kind of content do you prefer to see from each platform?
1. Pictures, messages, videos, etc.
N. Do you follow any social media accounts related to animals?
1. Rescue animals?
2. What kind of posts from these social media accounts do you prefer to see?
O. Do you use social media “hashtags?”
1. If yes, which ones?
P. Are you more likely to view posts that use hashtags?
Q. Are you more likely to follow organizations that use hashtags in their posts?
IV. Second Chance Social Media

A. Would you be likely to follow Second Chance Animal Sanctuary on social media
if accounts were made available?
1. Why or why not?
B. What would encourage you to follow the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary of
social media? (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)
1. Which platform would you be more likely to follow Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary on?
C. If you were to follow Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, what kind of content
would you prefer to see?
D. Would you be interested in receiving messages from Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary?
1. Why or why not?
2. Would this content compel you to respond?
a) Volunteer, spread messages, visit, adopt, donate
E. What would be the most effective way for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary to
spread awareness of its mission, goals, and services?
1. Why?
Appendix B
Interview Guide & Questions - Focus Groups
I. Relating to Topic
A. If you own animals, what kind and where did you acquire them?
1. Do you have a preference?
B. What compels you to adopt an animal?
II. Shelters
A. Have you heard of any animal shelters before?
1. How did you hear of them?
B. Have you visited an animal shelter before? If yes, which one and how did you
hear of this shelter?
1. Is there anything that would discourage you from visiting an animal
shelter?
C. Have you ever adopted an animal from a shelter before? What encourages and
discourages you from adopting an animal from a shelter?
D. Do you see any positives or negatives to adopting animals from shelters?
E. Are you aware of any statistics about sheltered or abandoned animals?
F. What are your feelings toward sheltered or abandoned animals?
G. Have you ever volunteered at an animal shelter before? If yes, what compelled
you to do so?
1. Do you participate in other kinds of volunteer work?
H. Have you ever donated to an animal shelter before?
1. If yes, what compelled you to do so?

2. Do you donate to other organizations?
III. Second Chance Animal Sanctuary
A. Have you heard of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary before? If so, what do you
know about Second Chance Animal Sanctuary?
1. How?
2. What are/were your initial thoughts?
B. Do you receive regular communication from Second Chance Animal Sanctuary?
1. If so, how do you receive this information? What kind of information do
you receive? Is it applicable?
C. Are there are any other forms of communication you would rather receive
information through?
D. Are you familiar with Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s mission?
Moderator: Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s mission is to give abandoned dogs and cats a
second chance at a forever home. All animals are vet checked, spayed/neutered, microchipped,
vaccinated appropriate to age, de-wormed and kept on flea/tick/heartworm prevention. Second
Chance does not rescue animals from the public, they rescue dogs and cats from local shelters.
1. How practical do you think it is?
E. Are you familiar with Second Chance Animal Sanctuary goals?
1. How practical do you feel they are?
F. How valuable do you feel the services provided by Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary are?
G. What are your perceptions of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary?
H. How do you feel that the general public perceives Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary?
I. How likely would you be to donate to Second Chance Animal Shelter?
1. Why?
2. Do you see any benefits in doing so?
J. How likely would you be to volunteer at Second Chance Animal Shelter?
1. Why?
K. How likely would you be to share messages from Second Chance Animal Shelter?
1. Why?
IV. Social Media
A. What kinds of social media accounts do you have?
1. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Snapchat, Other
B. Which platform do you use most often?
C. How much time do you usually spend on each platform?
D. What kind of content do you typically view for each platform?
1. Pictures
2. Videos
3. Stories
4. Boomerangs
5. other
E. Do you have different purposes for each?
1. News
2. Entertainment
3. Family/Friends
4. Events
5. Business purposes
6. Other:
F. Do you follow any organization’s social (businesses, clubs, non-profits) media
accounts?
1. If yes, what compelled you to follow?
2. What discourages you from following?
G. Do you follow any nonprofit organizations on social media?
H. Do you receive messages (advertisements, direct messages, promotional offers)
from organizations through social media?
I. What kinds of messages do you receive? (check all that apply)
1. Advertisements
2. Direct messages
3. Promotional offers
4. Other
J. Do you like receiving messages from organizations through social media?
K. Do you respond to information communicated through these platforms?
1. What encourages and discourages you to do so?
L. What compels you to follow an organization’s social media accounts?
M. What kind of content do you prefer to see from each platform?
1. Pictures, messages, videos, etc.
N. Do you follow any social media accounts related to animals?
1. Rescue animals?
2. What kind of posts from these social media accounts do you prefer to see?
O. Do you use social media “hashtags?”
1. If yes, which ones?
P. Are you more likely to view posts that use hashtags?
Q. Are you more likely to follow organizations that use hashtags in their posts?
V. Second Chance Social Media
A. Would you be likely to follow Second Chance Animal Sanctuary on social media
if accounts were made available?
1. Why or why not?
B. What would encourage you to follow the Second Chance Animal Sanctuary of
social media? (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)
1. Which platform would you be more likely to follow Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary on?
C. If you were to follow Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, what kind of content
would you prefer to see?
D. Would you be interested in receiving messages from Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary?
1. Why or why not?
2. Would this content compel you to respond?
a) Volunteer, spread messages, visit, adopt, donate
E. What would be the most effective way for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary to
spread awareness of its mission, goals and services?
1. Why?
Appendix C
Qualtrics Survey Questions
Start of Block: Introduction
Hello, The Public Relations Research students from the Gaylord College at the University of
Oklahoma invite you to participate in this research project for the nonprofit, Second Chance
Animal Sanctuary. This research is being conducted online throughout the U.S. You must be at
least 18 years of age to participate in this study.
The purpose of this research is to gather information about knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors
associated with the nonprofit animal shelter in Norman. We also want to gauge social media
usage and behaviors in order to increase social media awareness for the Second Chance Animal
Sanctuary and be able to reach their target audience more effectively. About 500-1,000 people
will take part in this research. Your participation in this study is completely voluntary. If you
agree to be in this research, you will complete the survey. There will be no follow-up questions
after today's participation. Your participation will take approximately 15 minutes. There are no
direct benefits to participating. There are no risks associated with this research. However, if you
feel uncomfortable answering any questions, you can withdraw from the survey at any point.
Your survey responses will be strictly confidential, and data from this research will be reported
only in the aggregate. Your information will be coded and will remain confidential. If you have
any question at any time about the survey or the procedures, please contact:
- Veronica Delgado at veronica.c.delgado-1@ou.edu or 972-834-7830
- Narae Kim, primary Instructor of JMC 4453 – 002 at OU nkim@ou.edu or 405-625-1306
Thank you very much for your time and support. Please start with the survey now by clicking on
the continue button below.

End of Block: Introduction
Start of Block: Topic
Q1 Do you currently own any pets? If yes, select all that apply.
▢ None (1)
▢ Dog (2)
▢ Cat (3)
▢ Fish (4)
▢ Rodent (5)
▢ Reptile (6)
▢ Other (7) ________________________________________________
Q2 Were your pets adopted from an animal shelter?
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
o Some (3)
End of Block: Topic
Start of Block: Animal Shelters
Q3 Have you ever visited an animal shelter before?
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
Display This Question:
If Q3 = Yes
Q4 How did you hear of this animal shelter?
▢ Friend/Family (1)
▢ Social Media (2)
▢ Newspaper (3)
▢ Television (4)
▢ Radio (5)
▢ Other (6) ________________________________________________
Q5 Have you ever thought about adopting a pet from an animal shelter?
o 0 (0)
o 1 (1)
o 2 (2)
o 3 (3)
o 4 (4)
o 5 (5)
o 6 (6)
o 7 (7)
o 8 (8)
o 9 (9)
o 10 (10)
Q6 To what extent would you agree/disagree that these are good reasons to want to adopt an
animal from a shelter (i.e. I "strongly agree" that, "wanting a companion" is a good reason to
adopt an animal from a shelter)
Strongly agree (30) Agree (31) Somewhat agree (32) Neither agree nor disagree
(33) Somewhat disagree (34) Disagree (35) Strongly disagree (36)
Wanting a companion (1) o o o o o
o o
Because the animal was cute (2) o o o o
o o o
Because you are financially stable (3) o o o o
o o o
Because you'll change a homeless animals life (4) o o o
o o o o
Because you'll save a life (5) o o o o o
o o
Because you are contributing to society (6) o o o o
o o o
Because pets are good for your health (7) o o o o
o o o
Q7 To what extent do you agree/disagree with the below statements as being good reasons for
not wanting to adopt form a shelter ( i.e. I "strongly agree" that, "not knowing how to take care
fo an animal", is a good reason to not want to adopt form a shelter)

Strongly agree (24) Agree (25) Somewhat agree (26) Neither agree nor disagree
(27) Somewhat disagree (28) Disagree (29) Strongly disagree (30)
Not knowing how to take care of an animal (1) o o o
o o o o
Not having time to take care of the animal (2) o o o
o o o o
Not having the money to care for an animal (3) o o o
o o o o
Animals in shelters have past trauma that could effect their behavior (4) o o
o o o o o
Not being able to know exactly what breed the adopted animal is (5) o o
o o o o o
Not being able to find the specific animal someone is wanting at a shelter (6) o
o o o o o o
Animals are in shelters because they were bad pets (7) o o o
o o o o
Q8 Have you ever donated to an animal shelter before?
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
Q43 Have you ever donated to any kind of organization before?
o Yes (24)
o No (25)
Q9 Have you ever volunteered at an animal shelter before?
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
Q10 Do you participate in any other kinds of volunteer work?
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
End of Block: Animal Shelters
Start of Block: Second Chance Animal Sanctuary
Q11 To what extent are you familiar with Second Chance Animal Sanctuary of Norman
o 0 (0)
o 1 (1)
o 2 (2)
o 3 (3)
o 4 (4)
o 5 (5)
o 6 (6)
o 7 (7)
o 8 (8)
o 9 (9)
o 10 (10)
Q12 If you have previously heard of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, how did you hear of it?
▢ Friend/Family (1)
▢ Social Media (2)
▢ Newspaper (3)
▢ Television (4)
▢ Radio (5)
▢ Other (6) ________________________________________________
End of Block: Second Chance Animal Sanctuary
Start of Block: Social Media
Q13 How frequently do you use these different social media platform?
Never (24) Sometimes (26) About half the time (27) Most fo the time (28)
Always (31)
Facebook (1) o o o o o
Instagram (2) o o o o o
Twitter (3) o o o o o
Tumblr (4) o o o o o
Pintrest (5) o o o o o
Snapchat (6) o o o o o
Other (7) o o o o o
Q14 What kind of media posts do you typically like to view on Facebook?
Like a great deal (14) Like a moderate amount (15) Like a little (16) Neither like
nor dislike (17) Dislike a little (18) Dislike a moderate amount (19) Dislike a great
deal (20)
Pictures (1) o o o o o o
Videos (2) o o o o o o
Typed text (statuses/captions/comments) (4) o o o o
o o o
Facebook Stories (3) o o o o o
o o
Q49 What kind of media posts do you typically like to view on Instagram?
deal (18)
o o o
Instagram Stories (3) o o o o o
o o
Boomerangs (5) o o o o o
o o
Highlights (6) o o o o o o
Q48 What kind of media posts do you typically like to view on Twitter?
deal (18)
o o o
Q47 What kind of media posts do you typically like to view on Tumblr?
deal (17)
Video (2) o o o o o o
o
o o o
Q46 What kind of media posts do you typically like to view on Pinterest?
deal (17)
o o o
Q45 What kind of media posts do you typically like to view on Snapchat?
deal (17)

o o o
Snapchat Stories (4) o o o o o
o o
Q15 What type of subject matter do you prefer posts to be about on each platform?
News (1) Entertainment (2) Family/Friends (3) Events (4)
Business/Professional (5) Funny (6) Other (7)
Facebook (1) o o o o o o
Instagram (2) o o o o o o
Twitter (3) o o o o o o
Tumblr (4) o o o o o o
Pintrest (5) o o o o o o
Snapchat (6) o o o o o o
Other (7) o o o o o o
Q16 Do you follow any organization’s (businesses, clubs, non-profits) social media accounts?
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
Q17 How frequently are these the reasons as to why you follow someone/something on social
media?
Always (18) Most of the time (19) About half the time (20) Sometimes (21)
Never (22)
Quality of media (photos, videos) (1) o o o o
Informational content they post (updates/facts/events/sales) (2) o o
o o o
Comedy (3) o o o o o
How frequently they post (4) o o o o o
Because of an incentive (social media sweepstake/competition) (6) o o
o o o
Because they followed you first (7) o o o o
o
Q19 Do you follow any nonprofit organizations on social media?
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
Q20 Do you receive messages (advertisements, direct messages, promotional offers) from
organizations through social media?
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
Q21 To what extent do you like receiving messages from organizations through social media?
deal (18)
Advertisements (1) o o o o o
o o
Direct messages (2) o o o o o
o o
Promotional offers (3) o o o o o
o o
Q24 Do you follow any animal shelters on social media?
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
Q27 Do you use social media “hashtags?”
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
Q29 How likely are you to view posts that use hashtags?
o 0 (0)
o 1 (1)
o 2 (2)
o 3 (3)
o 4 (4)
o 5 (5)
o 6 (6)
o 7 (7)
o 8 (8)
o 9 (9)
o 10 (10)
Q30 How likely are you to follow organizations that use hashtags in their posts?
o 0 (0)
o 1 (1)
o 2 (2)
o 3 (3)
o 4 (4)
o 5 (5)
o 6 (6)
o 7 (7)
o 8 (8)
o 9 (9)
o 10 (10)
End of Block: Social Media
Start of Block: Second Chance Animal Sanctuary Social Media
Q31 How likely would you be to follow Second Chance Animal Sanctuary on social media if
accounts were made available?
o 0 (0)
o 1 (1)
o 2 (2)
o 3 (3)
o 4 (4)
o 5 (5)
o 6 (6)
o 7 (7)
o 8 (8)
o 9 (9)
o 10 (10)
Q32 Which platform would you be more likely to follow Second Chance Animal Sanctuary on?
Extremely likely (11) Moderately likely (12) Slightly likely (13) Neither likely
nor unlikely (14) Slightly unlikely (15) Moderately unlikely (16) Extremely unlikely
(17)
Facebook (1) o o o o o o
Instagram (2) o o o o o o
Twitter (3) o o o o o o
Tumblr (4) o o o o o o
Pinterest (5) o o o o o o
Snapchat (6) o o o o o o
Q33 If you were to follow Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, what kind of content would you
like to see them post?
▢ Information about volunteer opportunities (7)
▢ Information about donation opportunities (8)
▢ Information about their services (9)

▢ Information about animal care (10)
▢ Information about individual animals they have at their shelter (11)
Q34 Which media would you be more likely to use in order to receive information about Second
Chance Animal Sanctuary?
Extremely likely (18) Moderately likely (19) Slightly likely (20) Neither likely
nor unlikely (21) Slightly unlikely (22) Moderately unlikely (23) Extremely unlikely
(24)
Television (1) o o o o o o
Local Newspaper (2) o o o o o
o o
Website (3) o o o o o o
Flyer (4) o o o o o o
Email (5) o o o o o o
Social Media (6) o o o o o
o o
Events (7) o o o o o o
End of Block: Second Chance Animal Sanctuary Social Media

Start of Block: Demographics
Q35 What is your age?
________________________________________________________________
Q36 Gender
o Male (1)
o Female (2)
o Other (3) ________________________________________________
o I would prefer not to answer (4)
Q38 Please select your classification.
o Freshman (1)
o Sophomore (2)
o Junior (3)
o Senior (8)
o Other (10) ________________________________________________
Q41 What is your ethnicity?
o White (1)
o Black or African American (2)
o American Indian or Alaska Native (3)
o Asian (4)
o Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (5)
o Other (6) ________________________________________________
o I would prefer not to answer (7)

End of Block: Demographics

Appendix D
Coding Book for Facebook - Content Analysis
Coding book (For Facebook)

- A unit of analysis is an individual posting on the Second Chance’s Facebook posted between Nov.
1st, 2017 to Nov. 1st, 2018.
1. ID
- Assign ID for each of postings.
2. Date of posting (open coding)
(mm/dd/yyyy)
- Date of posting each of postings on the second chance’s Facebook
3. Time of posting (open coding)
(HH/MM)
- The time of posing the each of postings on the second chance’s Facebook
4. Number of likes (open coding)
( ) times
- A total number of people click ‘like’ for each of postings on the second chance’s Facebook.
- A total number of people clicked ‘like’ for each of postings on the second chances’ Facebook is
located on the bottom of each posting.
4B. Facebook “reactions” on posts
- Thumbs up ( ) times
- Thumbs down ( ) times
- Heart ( ) times
-Laughing ( ) times
- Sad ( ) times
- Angry ( ) times
- A total number of people that click on each individual reaction of the six provided by Facebook
on second chances Facebook posts.
-A total number of people that clicked on each individual reaction for each of the postings on
second chances Facebook located on the bottom left of each posting.
5. Number of shares (open-coding)

( ) times
- A total number of people click ‘share’ for each of the postings on the second chance’s
Facebook.
- A total number of people clicked ‘share’ for each of the postings on the second chances’
Facebook is located on the bottom of each posting.
6. Type of message
- Select a type of message that has been posted on the Second Chance’s Facebook.
- A type of message means whether each of the postings includes which type of contents
1) text only
2) picture only
3) graphic only
4) video only
5) text + picture
6) text + graphic
7) text + video
8) picture + graphic
9) picture + video
10) graphic + video
11) text + picture + graphic
12) text + picture + video
13) picture + graphic + video
14) text +picture + graphic + video
15) events
16) cover photo/ profile picture changes
17) pic + text +link
18) others (be specify)
- Add others as additional categories if a total number of specific others takes more than 5% of
the entire posting
7. Message intention
- A purpose of each message that is posted on the Second Chance’s Facebook.
- If one posting has more than one purposes (intentions), check all possible purposes
- Categories should be kept updated.

- If a coder finds a new category which is not listed in this codebook, the coder should add it as a
new category and immediately shares the updated information with other coders
- Examples related to each of categories should be kept updated.
1) Informing adoption opportunities
(e.g., posting information about available pets ready to be adopted / information about adoption
about participating in public campaigns designed for adoptions, etc.)
2) Informing donation opportunities
(e.g., posting information about donations/information about participating in public campaigns
designed for donations, etc.)
3) Informing volunteer opportunities
(e.g., posting information about volunteer about participating in public campaigns designed for
volunteer activities, etc.)
4) Sharing updated news regarding shelter (introducing new pets, volunteers, people visiting
shelters, stories about adoptions from the shelters, monthly staff member meetings, introducing
new staffs and volunteers, etc.).
5) Sharing adoption reviews (adoption reviews, etc.)
6) Sharing general information regarding animal shelters (e.g., information about shelters not
specifically related to the second change, introducing other animal shelters, sharing other
shelter’s adoption/donation/ volunteer opportunities, etc.)
7) Posting about events (volunteer/ donate etc)
8) Others (specify)

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Bowman, Carpenter, Davis, Delgado, Diaz 1

Second Chance Animal Sanctuary in Norman, Oklahoma was founded in 1989 by

Second Chance Animal Sanctuary is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, no-kill animal shelter

Key Public Benefits

Second Chance Animal Sanctuary is a non-profit organization that provides animal

Competitors to Second Chance Animal Sanctuary consist of other organizational animal

No vocal oppositional group exists in Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s area of

Secondary Research Summary

Research Method I - Interviews

Data Collection Method

Conducting interviews is a thorough investigative method into target audiences, client

Interview Guide Summary

Research Method II - Focus Groups

Data Collection Method

Characteristically, all 6 participants were students. A majority of the participants owned

Focus Group Guide Summary

Research Method IV – Survey

Data Collection Method

Demographics of Survey Respondents

Characteristics of Survey Respondents

Survey Respondents Awareness of Second Chance Animal Sanctuary

Research Method V – Content Analysis

Data Collection Method

Population and Sample

Measurement Categories and Scoring Units

Media Use Results

Researchers then questioned participants about their reasoning behind following an

Communication/Message Analysis Results

Desired Behavior Results

Limitations and Bias of the Research

Social Media Platforms

Social Media Messages and Communications

Strategies and Tactics

Strengths Second Chance Animal Sanctuary strives with

Weaknesses Finances are the most apparent weakness for

Opportunities Second Chance is the only adoption shelter in

Threats The threats for Second Chance goes back to

Organization The organization of Second Chance is what

Situation Second Chance needs to update all of their

Publics Second Chance Animal Sanctuary’s key

sure they are reaching college students in the

Jaskyte, K. (2017). Voluntary Membership and Well-Being of Nonprofit, Government,

and Business Employees. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary & Nonprofit

Organizations, 28(1), 358–378. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/10.1007/s11266-016-

Pet Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2018, from https://www.aspca.org/animal-

Demographics, City of Norman, Retrieved September 30, 2018 from

November). Retrieved from

November). Retrieved from

York Post, 17 Sept 2017, https://nypost.com/2017/09/16/animal-rights-activists-protest-

Media Today, 16 Aug. 2011,

NORMAN POLICE. (n.d.). Animal welfare. NORMAN POLICE. Retrieved from:

Retrieved October 1, 2018, from

Stacks, Don W. (N.D). Qualitative Research Methodology: Content Analysis. Research

Methodology (pp. 119-123). Retrieved from

Stacks, Don W. (N.D). Understanding Research: An Introduction with Public Relations

Implications (pp. 7-10). Retrieved from:

Society of the United States. Retrieved from:

Interview Guide & Questions - In-Depth Questions

D. The highest level of education received

II. Relating to Topic

B. Have you heard of any animal shelters before?

1. How did you hear of them?

C. Have you visited an animal shelter before?