Cane Toad Facebook Posts: How to best reach followers
During our cane toad control and education projects in 2020-21 we posted 39 cane toad related Facebook stories reaching 15,472 Facebook followers. The top three ranking posts reached a combined total of 9,833 people.
Community Participation - LP022-022
The issue
Cane Toads are not an exciting or pretty creature and the challenge is to engage the community in order to educate them about the issues surrounding this pest animal, with the ultimate goal being to facilitate an increase in community control. Facebook is one tool we have to engage the community. There are many Facebook cane toad posts made regularly showing photos of buckets half full of collected cane toads. There is always an interest in these posts but the top three topics surprised us.
The solution
We have made 39 cane toad related Facebook posts and many more for our other Landcare projects but the most popular post by far was "240 kg of Dead Frozen Cane Toads", which included photos of the freezers full of cane toads and a ute load of them going to the dump.
In 2020/21 we had three can toad control projects funded by the NSW Government through the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the NSW Environmental Trust and North Coast Local Lands Services. Each project has a community awareness/engagement component.
The impact
The three top ranking Cane Toad Related posts included:
1. "240 kg of Dead Frozen Cane Toads" = 6,058 facebook people reached.
2. "Cane Toads are moving closer to Grafton" which included a photo of cane toad leather products = 2,609 reaches.
3. "Cane Toad Leather and Gold Handbag" a Luxury item made in the Torres Strait community = 1,116 people reached.
It seems that the most quirky Facebook posts have gained the most attention.
Key facts
- In 20/21 we posted 39 Cane Toad related Facebook posts reaching 15, 472 followers
- Cane Toads are not a very interesting subject matter
- Cane Toad related Facebook posts don't often attract much interest
- Quirky subject matter can garner a lot of Facebook attention
- A post of 240kg of Dead Frozen Cane Toads reached 6,058 facebook followers
- The top three Facebook posts combined reached 9,833 facebook followers