Promoting Your Foster for Adoption

Promoting your foster dog might seem a bit intimidating, but you don’t need a degree in Marketing to be your foster’s best hype team! Below are some tips for capturing great photos and videos and talking about your foster to help them (and the Hearts & Bones team) find their perfect match.

Writing or talking about your foster dog

When writing about your foster dog on social media or talking about them to potential adopters, be sure to balance positivity and the facts. Everything shared with us about your foster dog – behaviorally or otherwise – will always be disclosed to potential adopters by our adoptions team. We don’t necessarily want to make the dog seem like a perfect angel, but we also don’t want to use meet-and-greets and social media as a place to discuss topics that are better addressed by an adoption counselor.

Instead focus on making an emotional connection for potential adopters through storytelling. Instead of saying your foster is energetic, you might talk about your daily routine of going to the dog run or a long walk through the park to give insight into the dog’s energy level. If they’re working with one of our training partners, talk about the progress they’ve made. 

Focus on the future. Now that they’re out of the shelter and in our care, they’re going to receive lots of love and support from Hearts & Bones, their foster, and their adoptive family. 

Check out these guidelines from Maddie’s Fund for more ideas on how to promote your foster. 

Photos

Photos are key to bringing attention to your foster and getting them adopted! Having a variety of photos that capture the dog’s personality are a great way to showcase how great they are to potential adopters. When viewed together, they give adopters a better picture of who the dog is.  

Headshots

These photos are the classic pup looking at the camera shots. Think of them as your foster’s profile pic. The best ones usually come when your dog is bored and relaxed. Catch your dog while they’re sitting or laying down and try some of the tips below to capture the perfect shot. 

Human Interaction

Snap a photo of your foster cuddled on lap, leaning in for a nose boop or kiss, or enjoying a belly rub. These photos can be incredibly engaging and interesting, and they share extra information about the dog’s behavior. They also make for great videos as well. And as an added bonus, the dog doesn’t need to be looking at the camera for it to be a great shot!

Personality Shots

We want potential adopters to get a feel for our dogs’ personalities. Are they obsessed with a plushie? Always asking for a belly rub? Love baths? Snap a photo that captures what makes them unique.

So how do you get those great shots?

Buddy up. Photographing a dog solo is really hard. Bring a friend, roommate, or family member to help handle the dog while you snap some shots. 

Take multiple photos. Dogs can be wiggly! Focusing the camera and taking multiple photos – especially in burst mode – increases the chances of coming up with something good. 

Shoot for eye contact. We love dogs looking at the camera whenever possible. Get down to their eye level or elevate them on furniture (if they’re allowed) or a front stoop. Once you’ve got your shot framed, try funny noises (like a loud “brrrrr” sound), squeaky toys, treats, or even crinkling a wrapper to catch their attention and get them to focus on the camera. 

Lighting. Outside photos are great, but great inside photos can be effective as well with good lighting. Photograph your foster near a window with bright light and position yourself with the window behind you. This will help illuminate the dog’s features which can be especially important for darker-colored pups. 

Skip the filters. Editing a photo to brighten it is often necessary, but avoid using pre-set filters. Filters can distort or darken the dog’s features, making them harder to distinguish in the photo.

For more tips on getting the perfect shot, check out this guide from HeartsSpeak. 

Videos

Videos have become increasingly important on social media and are a great way to highlight your foster’s personality and behavior! Is your foster great on a leash, friendly with dogs, or super affectionate? Capture it on camera as proof and cast a spell on potential adopters.

In general the same rules apply for videos as for photos, but here’s a few more things to keep in mind:

• Keep videos short. 3-10 seconds is usually a good limit but it can be longer if they’re doing something extra adorable.

• Have a mix of horizontal and vertical videos so we can share them on multiple platforms that use different aspect ratios.

• Save photos and videos before you add text or gifs. This will give us flexibility to reuse your footage in some of our other marketing materials to promote your foster.

Final Reminders

Tag @heartsandbonesrescue on any stories or posts so that we can repost them if the dog could use a marketing boost. 

Keep us updated. Many of our pups take at least a few days to adjust to NYC after growing up in Texas. The more comfortable they get in the city, the more their personalities come through so keep us updated on any changes in their behavior and share new photos and videos so we can update their profiles. 

Last but not least: don’t overthink it, and happy fostering!