How Can We Use Social Media To Spread The Good Work Of Zoos?

Over the last few weeks, the zoo world has been in the media spotlight a lot more than normal. I'm saddened to say, that it's been for all the wrong reasons.

The most obvious of which, was of course the story of Marius the giraffe. You literally couldn't create a worse PR story for zoos globally, and has set us back years in trying to sway public opinion in our favour. Whether the actions of Copenhagen Zoo were correct is irrelevant, and largely a matter of opinion anyway. What is important, is that the vast majority of the public saw the event as a bad thing. It's inevitable that many would now view zoos as a bad thing too.

The truth is, however, that zoos are vital for the survival of wildlife species. Many are unaware that a species becomes extinct every 20 minutes in the wild. Every 20 minutes! The main causes for this are loss of habitat and poaching. We, the human race, are destroying the animal world. It's likely that within 50 years, there will be very little left, other than the animals we have protected in zoos.

The main purpose of modern zoos is to protect the genetic material of endangered species within carefully controlled breeding programs, so that we have a chance to one day reintroduce them into the wild. It is also our job to educate people about the need for conservation, and to encourage behaviour change in people to help with this goal. If we'd had zoos in the day of the Dodo, we would still have the Dodo today.

A few facts about accredited BIAZA zoos in the UK:

• 24 million people visit them each year
• 850 research projects are facilitated by UK zoos each year
• £14 million is raised for field conservation projects annually
• 1.3 million people visit zoos on educational trips each year

We're also part of several reintroduction programs for species ranging from the Golden Lion Tamarin to the Amur Leopard among others. Monies raised by UK zoos has directly helped the prevention of the extinction of the Sumatran tiger. But these facts remain unknown to the public at large.

So how can we get the message out there? Social media is rapidly becoming the primary method of communication for everyone. But how can we best use it to convey the good work of zoos around the world?

The Amur Leopard

Blogging is definitely a good starting point as it is for all good social strategies. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be talking more about our 100 year plan for saving wildlife through zoos. A very long term goal, but one that can be easily understood and related to. It shows that zoos aren't for entertainment, and they do have a higher purpose that most people are unaware of. It's a new idea and we are in the process of furnishing. So any ideas you might have would be gratefully received at alex@pwpark.com.

Another idea that we are working on, is the creation of an infographic full of positive zoo facts and figures. Easily read and reshared, infographics form a great way of conveying large amounts of information in an easily understood format. Again, we are looking for help with this. Any facts you might have or ideas for layouts and information would be gratefully received.

Beyond that, I'm keen to hear any creative ideas you might have to further the good message to the widest possible audience. How can we get the world to understand the importance of zoos before it's too late?