Have you been looking for ways to reach first-time and non-traditional adopters? You might want to try Facebook advertising.

"Facebook ads, when they first launched, were somewhat confusing, not particularly affordable for a shelter or rescue group, and not really flexible enough in their features to work for pet adoption and adoption events," says social media consultant Christie Keith. "But that's changed."

Today, Facebook ads have the potential to be targeted by geography, by other interests and affiliations, and by conventional demographic details like location, age and gender. But, Keith says, that's not their biggest plus for pet adoption advertising.

"Facebook ads allow you to easily and inexpensively reach people who are not already being reached by pet adoption messages," she says. "And that's critical, because if we want to find homes for more pets than we're finding today, we have to reach out to people we're not already reaching."

Facebook ads for pet adoption don't have to cost a lot, Keith says. "Even very small budgets, in the $25 to $100 range, can produce big results in terms of creating interest in your available pets," she says. "The key is targeting them well, and carefully watching performance so only ads that are getting lots of views and clicks keep running, and those that aren't as successful are stopped."

Ready to try it? Get tips on how to put a Facebook ad campaign for pet adoption together in this PDF how-to guide created by Keith for Maddie's Pet Adoption Days earlier this year.