TARGET AUDIENCE REPORT

Introduction:

This report aims to explain the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Best Friends
Animal Society based on its communications practices in relation to their traditional media
coverage and engagement rates. The report identifies stakeholders and influencers, as well as
target audiences and their common traits, and two “persona” infographics. The report gives a
summary of the influence of Best Friends Animal Society’s communication.

SWOT Analysis:

This SWOT analysis highlights the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to Best
Friends Animal Society in the context of measuring engagement rates and traditional media
coverage.

Strengths
● Large and passionate following and
volunteers
● Celebrity support/public endorsement
and organization partnerships
● Positive mentions and feature articles
in traditional media coverage
● Transition to online fundraisers and
events due to COVID-19
Weaknesses
● Lack of brand awareness to the
everyday person
● Lack of engagement on social posts
(comments/likes in relation to amount
of following)
● Inconsistent press releases - most
recent two press releases are three
years apart

Opportunities
● Partnerships with celebrities who
support BFAS
● Collaboration with Amazon and UPS
● Increased attendance at fundraisers
and events due to the transition to
virtual
Threats
● Potential negative reviews/media
coverage
● Low turnout at virtual events and
fundraisers
● Decrease in volunteers and other
contributors due to COVID-19

Strengths:

Best Friends Animal Society engages the target audience of animal lovers of all ages and
demographics and backgrounds. Rather than having a set target audience consisting of only a
specific age group or interest group, BFAS is able to engage people from all backgrounds who
all share one common interest - the love of animals. Their target audience dictates the amount of
people who will support BFAS as opposed to their competitors, such as the Humane Society of
the United States. Social media and traditional media content attract them to the aspects of
compassion and care for the wellbeing of animals that BFAS is known for. The target audience
consists of the people most likely to volunteer, donate, attend events, publicly support and adopt
pets from BFAS. Best Friends Animal Society has received praise from several celebrities and
influencers from various backgrounds and has made partnerships with other large companies to
gain awareness and support of their organization. Over the past seven and a half weeks that I
have analyzed the traditional media coverage of BFAS, there have been 0 negative mentions of
the organization, only positive and neutral. Best Friends has been successful in announcements
and making a smooth transition into hosting their events virtually due to the pandemic.

Weaknesses:

While Best Friends does have an extremely loyal and passionate following and supportive
audience, there is still a massive group of people who have never heard of Best Friends. While
BFAS has grown to one of the largest animal societies in the United States, it is not as well-
known as their competitors. It seems that all animal lovers know of organizations such as the
Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (ASPCA), not all of these people have ever heard of BFAS. This could be due to being
a rather new organization and getting their start in the small town of Kanab, Utah. Best Friends
has a prominent presence on all social media platforms, with millions of followers. However, the
organization's engagement rates on posts should be higher than they are, receiving only a few
thousand likes and a few hundred comments on each post is not proportional to the follower
count. Press releases are another weakness of Best Friends, from an industry standpoint. While
the majority of people who support BFAS are not looking out for their press releases, it is still
important to keep them up to date for anyone looking for updates. The organization used to put
out press releases monthly, on average, in 2017 and prior. The last press release was on October
7, 2020. The most recent press release prior to this one was released on November 9, 2017.

Opportunities:

As a nonprofit animal society organization that has the mission of creating a no-kill world for all
pets brought into shelters, Best Friends’ clients are passionate about the organization and are
extremely willing to get involved. Recently, there have been several prominent celebrities and
influencers publicly showing their support for encouraging their following to get involved with
and adopt from BFAS. Some of these celebrities and influencers include Reese Witherspoon,
Jennifer Aniston and Charli D’amelio. Best Friends has a major opportunity here to create
content and partnerships with these willing supporters. Best Friends has also recently created
several partnerships with companies such as UPS and Amazon, which is not only benefitting the
organization, but increasing the number of people who are aware of the organization and their
values. One of their weaknesses is that it is not an overwhelmingly well-known organization, so
creating these partnerships will raise awareness among the public, even extending to people who
are not in the target audience of BFAS, but in the target audience of the companies they are
partnering with. Another opportunity BFAS has, due to current events regarding COVID-19, is
that they are hosting virtual events. While there are both benefits and disadvantages to this
transition, it does increase the amount of people that can attend these events. Only a select group
of people would be able to attend an event in a specific location due to where they live,
transportation, etc. By hosting events online and promoting them correctly, the likelihood of
BFAS supporters and animal lovers from all over the country attending the event is more likely;
it is easier for people. By increasing event/fundraiser turnout, donations, support, awareness and
amount of potential future volunteers is also increased.

Threats:

Best Friends Animal Society receives a lot of media coverage based on the data I have analyzed
over the past seven and a half weeks. The organization averages 2 mentions per day in traditional
media in the United States. Over this time period, there have been 0 negative mentions of BFAS,
but it is still a threat they face. At any point, an individual or other organization/company could
come out on social or traditional media platforms sharing false/confidential information or a
potentially negative experience with BFAS. While the transition to virtual events and fundraisers
due to the pandemic is an opportunity for BFAS, it could also pose a threat depending on the
reaction of the news by the target audience. While virtual events could increase turnout, it could
also significantly decrease turnout depending on the way that the events/fundraisers are
promoted. Another major threat to BFAS regarding the pandemic is the lack of people willing to
volunteer and get involved with the organization. Being a nonprofit organization, BFAS heavily
relies on their loyal volunteers to keep things up and running. Although their volunteers and
following have proven to be passionate about the organization and donating their time and
efforts, health is the top priority of most people and some may not be willing to expose
themselves to COVID-19, resulting in decreased volunteer involvement.

Stakeholder Analysis:

Stakeholders of Best Friends Animal Society, whether they be primary or secondary, are affected
by the everyday decisions that the organization makes. Some stakeholders include investors,
volunteers, clients and competitors.

Primary: Best Friends Animal Society is an American nonprofit animal welfare organization
and serves a multitude of clients all across the nation. There are many stakeholders that are
affected by the day-to-day operations of the organization. Some of the primary stakeholders
include board executives, investors and other companies that BFAS partners with.

Best Friends Animal Society’s executive board is made up of nine members: six women and
three men. The board is an integral part of Best Friends’ success overall. The executive board
chooses the best direction for the organization and those choices subsequently affect all other
stakeholders. Best Friends is a nonprofit organization, so investors are a primary stakeholder.
Best Friends’ board of executives can be contacted through social media or through the
organization's department email addresses, as the contact information of each executive
individual is not readily available.

The organizations that create partnerships with BFAS are primary stakeholders for a multitude of
reasons. If a company such as UPS or Amazon creates a partnership with BFAS, they are heavily
reliant on the company to make sure they are in good standing with the public. If an issue were to
arise around BFAS while there is an active partnership or campaign with another company, this
would also shed a negative light on that company. These partnered companies are also most
likely investing in some way to Best Friends during the partnership, so if something were to go
wrong, they would not be receiving a return on their investment and hurting their reputation, too.

Competitors are another stakeholder that are heavily affected by Best Friends and the decisions
that are made by the organization. These are other organizations that are in competition with Best
Friends for donations, adoptions and supporters. These competitors may include but are not
limited to the following: The Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). These organizations are primary stakeholders in
the sense that their success is dependent on the success of BFAS and their other competitors. For
example, if BFAS is doing well and rapidly gaining support, a larger following and donations,
this decreases the likelihood that these same individuals would feel as passionately about their
organization.

Secondary: There are some stakeholders that are not as impacted by Best Friends’ decision
making, they are referred to as secondary stakeholders. These include corporate, foundation and
network partners, influencers and clients at large.

Best Friends Animal Society is only one of the many animal society organizations in the industry
today. Corporate, foundation and network partners are key stakeholders in the organization.
They’ve had corporate partnerships with Fresh Step, PAWZ, ALDI, Little Tikes, Physician’s
Formula, Too Faced and many other well-known companies. These partnerships help bring
financial benefits and increase brand awareness. The stakeholders invest in the quality of content
produced for Best Friends’ clients with events, social media content and involvement
opportunities. Best Friends and its partners work to ensure the experience is successful for the
clients, investors, employees and volunteers.

Influencers: Some of Best Friends’ most influential clients at the moment are Charli D’amelio,
Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. These people all have huge social media platforms
with millions of followers and represent Best Friends well.
One of Best Friends’ most impacted secondary stakeholders happens to be their clients. Because
BFAS is a nonprofit organization, when a client pays to adopt an animal, they are essentially
making a donation to the organization. The opinions of these clients weigh heavily on the
choices that are made by the organization overall. Clients depend on and expect BFAS to put
their “donations” to good use and to continue their valuable work. Without clients and
supporters, Best Friends could not carry on with their daily operations. Best Friends clients are
people of all ages who have a passion for animals or just simply want to adopt a pet from a
genuine animal society. Clients can be reached through various channels. They can be reached
by posting on social media platforms as well as being contacted through a mass or direct email.

Audience Analysis:

When it comes to adopting a pet, the majority of people have their standards on the type of
organizations they would adopt from, based on their values. Best Friends has a “no-kill” mission
and a “save them all” slogan. While their target persona may not be a specific age group or
demographic, BFAS does still have a target audience that they should be appealing to, according
to research collected.

Individuals of any age who have a passion for the wellbeing and rescuing of animals or anyone
looking to adopt a pet from a genuine organization are among the people who support Best
Friends. Older members of the target audience are more likely to be the supporters who will
donate to the organization, and younger supporters are more likely to be the ones to volunteer
and get involved. Both of these groups are among the individuals who are likely to adopt a pet
from BFAS, follow them on social media and create brand awareness. According to my survey
produced on Qualtrics, people who know of Best Friends are various ages and come from
various demographics. Best Friends should focus more on attracting more brand awareness
through the use of their existing supporters. Social media campaigns will gain more support from
those who have heard of BFAS, maybe follow the organization on social media but are not
significantly involved. These campaigns would be educational and also hold the attention of the
viewer. According to my research, people are more likely to follow organization pages on social
media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as a lot of people use Instagram just to
keep up with their friends and family. Supporters of Best Friends should do more promotion of
the organization on their personal accounts, so the organization needs to create content that
people feel passionate about and are willing to share/repost. This audience group can be reached
through social media or through mass emails that they can subscribe to, either from a specific
board member or Best Friends in general.

Audience Personas:
Persona one:

Name: Avery
Age: 24
Location: New York City

Avery is a recent college

graduate who is entering the
workforce, pursuing a career in
business management and
marketing. Avery has been a
lifelong animal lover and has a
strong compassion for the
wellbeing of animals. Avery is
known to take her dog everywhere and always stop into animal shelters on adoption day. Avery
often donates after viewing the sad animal commercials she sees on TV. Avery has a passion for
all animals but has never really done her research on what organizations are genuine and worth
donating her time and money to. Her boyfriend is also a huge animal lover.

Persona two:

Name: Charles
Age: 55
Location: Salt Lake City

Charles is about to retire after a

long career in the corporate world.
He has always had a strong love
for animals and is looking forward
to having some downtime when he
finally retires. He also wants to
adopt a pet to keep him company
during his upcoming days without work. He is considering adopting a kitten or a dog. He has
thought about taking up golf or tennis but is looking for something he can do that will not only
be fun for him, but also give back to the community. He is now looking into places he can
volunteer. Due to his love of animals, he has considered volunteering at the Humane Society, but
they just don’t share the same values as him. Charles is looking for a genuine organization to
volunteer with.

Summary:
Overall, based on Best Friends Animal Society’s communication practices the brand informs and
engages its target audience through social and traditional media, videos, fundraisers and other
events. The target audience is participating in the support of Best Friends and staying engaged
through their communications tactics. While the entirety of the target audience may not know of
Best Friends, the organization is working hard to raise brand awareness every day. Even though
not every individual in the target audience knows of Best Friends, they know what types of
characteristics they value and look for in an animal society to potentially adopt from, donate to
or volunteer with. Best Friends, as a nonprofit animal welfare organization, has integrated
various communications tactics with the help of their corporate, foundation and network
partners, and continues to create a strong relationship with their supporters.

Citations

For the Media. (2020, October 07). Retrieved November 20, 2020, from
https://bestfriends.org/about/media/press-releases

Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2020, from https://bestfriends.org/about/leadership

Media Monitoring & Social Listening Platform. (2020, September 21). Retrieved November 20,
2020, from https://www.meltwater.com/en
Qualtrics XM - Experience Management Software. (2020, November 16). Retrieved November
20, 2020, from https://www.qualtrics.com/

Supporting Network Partners. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2020, from

https://bestfriends.org/no-kill-2025/priorities-2025/supporting-network-partners