The Power of Facebook! Social Media Network Answered the Challenge!
This is a great story about the real power of social media and how it can help in every day situations that we have never dreamed about. Thanks Marnie for sharing this stiry and pics of the cute little sta rBia
Hello ActiveRainers,
This is Barbara Hensley's team partner, Marnie White, hijacking the ActiveRain blog from Barbara for a great story about Paying It Forward and the impact of Facebook for promotion for all of you still on the fence about social media.
Wonder if you want to keep reading???? Well this picture is bound to draw continued interest....
Meet Bia, short for Columbia. When Bia was about 2 months old, she was found trying to cross Columbia, a multi-lane busy street in Downtown Dallas. A photographer, Melody, who is also a volunteer for Animal Allies of Texas saw this "thing" and couldn't tell if Bia was a dog, pig or large rodent. You see 90% of her hair was missing and she was mostly white flesh and a fiery red rash. She was so miserable, she had to stop in the middle of crossing the street to scratch.
In the midst of her scratching, a truck drove over her never bothering to stop of slow down. Luckily the tires missed her but she was upset nonetheless. Melody was able to corner her, along with a police officer that had been called. Upon looking at her further, it was obvious that she had parasites and covered in contagious sarcoptic mange. All Melody had was a favorite sweater to swaddle around Bia to pick her up--not knowing if Bia would bite, snap or try to run off. With sweater around her, Melody couldn't believe it when she could feel Bia's tail thumping up against her waist. This was a baby who needed help.
Onto the vet where Bia was clearly the finalist in "Just How Bad Can It Get Game" Not only did she have the parasites, no hair and sarcoptic mange--she was starving and also had parvo and bordetella. She had to be quarantined for 30 days at a cost of $22 a day.
Here is where Facebook comes into the story (and yes, there is a happy ending). To help support Bia's mountain of vet bills and quarantine, the group started promoting on Facebook..."What can you buy for $22 a day?". The power of promotion and the power of having an engaging tag line brought responses and support as people learned her story. The support and donations started to arrive.
In addition, at the studio where Melody worked, she had a donation jar with Bia's story. Models from LA and New York donated and looked for updates when they returned to the studio.
Facebook allowed the opportunity to tell the story and the power of social media spread the word. More on Facebook in a moment. Meanwhile back at the vet..
As Bia laid in quarantine for 30 days fighting to live, she never complained and never growled. She had a window she watched constantly waiting for the little human interaction when she was fed and got to go on a rare walk outside. Her vet bills amounted to over $3,000. While many people would have quit on her, she had a strong following.
Bia did get better, had a wonderful foster home to get her strong and last week....I proudly announce that my daughter and I (and our 70 pound adopted mutt Mabel) were lucky enough to adopt Bia last Saturday. She is now 7 months, loaded with fur, health and so much love.
The day after adoption, I saw a story on the news about a similar situation with Tugg the Bull Terrior Puppy , he was dumped with the same mange and had horrible pictures portraying his early beginnings. Well Tugg has his own Facebook page and I thought it would be cute for Bia to post on Tugg's Facebook wall to tell her similar story and welcome him to his newly adopted home too.
Literally within one minute the messages started to arrive from Facebook members commenting & congratulating Bia on her comeback and other positive encouraging messages. By the next morning I had numerous responses.
While some causes we want to promote or homes that we are trying to sell, may not be as cuddly and cute as Bia or Tugg, neither of them was either when found. But through great marketing campaign and Facebook, the message was heard.
I hope this blog has showed the power of how one person can take $22 and pay it forward for such a happy ending. In addition an angel like Melody was there to rescue an ugly hairless mess at what must have been the lowest point of Bia's life. We sometimes want to turn our heads when something is too upsetting for us to deal with when we really need to put ourselves second and help the one in need. It's not always about us...it's about others. Bia was not a throw away and her fight and determination to live is one that I will think about often to inspire me.
As for Facebook, we have made great progress on our page The Barbara Hensley Collection , but I realize there is more to learn to engage people to respond and to entice them to want to come back for more. The subject of our wall posts is important but the marketing effort of the message and content is vital to keep people coming back and ultimately spreading the word.
Bia and I thank you for reading. I leave you with a few more pics of Bia and her big sis Mabel as well.
And if you want to see the most beautiful homes in Rockwall County......
Living & Loving Rockwall County, Texas
Marnie White
The Barbara Hensley Group at RE/MAX Hometown
www.barbarahensley.com www.thebarbarahensleycollection.com
www.facebook.com/thebarbarahensleycollection
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