How PETA Builds Shock Into Their Social Strategy

When PETA shows up in my feed, it’s usually people making fun of a post. After all, it’s not every day that you see a cartoon that says “You wouldn’t drink your mom’s breastmilk now, so why drink a cow’s?” with an illustration of a man sucking an older woman’s breast. It’s…a lot. But as I found out in today’s interview, that’s intentional.
I chatted with Ashley Frohnert, Director of Social Media at PETA, about how they build shock into their social strategy. As she puts it, “We’re happy if people share our content in any way, including on everyone’s favorite meme accounts. We want to get everyone talking and sharing, because progress needs to start somewhere!”
And if you’re wondering if it works? “Over the years, we’ve had countless people send us messages asking to unblock their accounts because they had a change of heart and decided to go vegan.”
We also chat about building awareness for causes on social, their 22 person social team, and community management when the comments are rough.
First, we've got a brief ad from our friends at Sprout Social, the social media management and analytics tool helping more than 30,000 brands deliver smarter, faster impact from social.
We talk about this a lot in Link in Bio, but you don’t need to be on every single platform. In this new article from Sprout Social, they outline why now is the time for brands to meet their audience in more intentional ways. Here are a few takeaways:

• Double down on a smaller number of networks and diversify which networks you invest in
• Stake your claim in the ground by leaning into unexpected platforms and owning your niche there
• When you take ownership of a new (or abandoned) network for your industry, you’re most likely to build brand loyalty, increase retention and foster community