Wolf Moon Post: Social Media Analysis & Free Graphics

Background

It’s almost that time of year again, when the first full moon rises. The wolf moon. Have you ever wondered why it is called that? I wonder if it has anything to do with the amount of howling being higher in December and January, before the wolves den down and prepare for their new arrivals.

Either way its almost time for the number of posts about wolves on social media to have a small spike. And I’ve noticed a specific type of post about the “super powers of wolves” which is a really fun concept I’d like to take my own spin on.

Pulling up several versions of this post, I wonder if we could improve them. What do you think?

Did you know wolves have “superpowers”? Anatomy of a Wolf post Nov 2024

Anatomy of a wolf post Wolf Hollow Jan 2024

Viewer, viewer, what do you see?

I see a lot of text looking at me.

Text in images isn’t bad by default. However, limit the amount of need to read text within an image. Too much text in an image bring extra complications. Complications such as: many people need to adjust the size of text on their devices to be able to read. Others need screen readers to interact with content online. Whether its a zoom in and out pinch-a-thon to read all the text in your image or the message skipped entirely by a screen reader, it can take away what viewers are able to enjoy about your post.

Once upon a time, Facebook suppressed posts and ads that contained images with over roughly 20% text. Whether or not that specific algorithm choice is still in effect now, it seems a good rule of thumb to follow. If over a fifth of the image is small text, why make the information into an image and limit who can read that information?

Kira, Kira, what will you do?

A lot of things boil down to the advice of “have a plan.” An easy way to start a plan is to answer your who, what, where, why, and hows. So out with the computer for a few moments and in with my paper and pencils.

Who

Who reads your posts already? Who do you want to read your posts? Are they more male, female, high income, low income, young, old, middle age? Is this related to their career or hobby?

These example posts target people who are passionate about animals. It could be career or hobby. If there are more career or volunteer activists that demographic skews slightly female. (Career Explorer Conservation Scientists 2025)

What

What do the who like to see? Facts? Jokes? Stories?

The example demographic social media contains a trend toward facts, stories about conservation efforts and inside jokes to those who already work in the field or enjoy directly adjacent activities such as hiking, fishing.

Where

Where are they interacting with you most? Where are they physically from? Where are the topics covered that they most interested in, things near them or far away?

While the internet is capable of reaching anywhere, the primary language of the groups I am seeing are pretty focused on English speaking countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and others.

Why

Why are they driven to interact with your content? Is it nostalgic, thought provoking, newsworthy?

My goal is to try to be a bit nostalgic to gain some comment interaction or shares that may not have happened on a post that is fun facts alone.

How

How do you capture the attention of more people like the who?

While the demographic of those currently working and volunteering in nonprofits for animal conservation skews female, interest in conservation and animals is pretty universal. Finding people who like animals and may become interested in these efforts can be found in all ages and overlap in multiple interest groups that aren’t as closely associated.

Perhaps more people could be found by expanding the interest group references to younger associated interests such as gaming and anime.

After poking around the internet and my own head for some penciled beginnings to the answers I move on to looking at examples of groups that have done especially well in social media.

In the name of the moon, let’s try something new!

National Parks Service current social media campaigns evolve much more around humor and pop culture references such as this Avatar the Last Airbender reference post. That animated kids show reference post got interaction to the tune of 176k+ likes, compared to the previous year and day’s post having interaction levels of about 10k. With these nostalgic and pop culture humor posts gaining almost 10 times more interaction, why not also give these anatomy of “super wolves” type posts a pop reference makeover?

Super powers have a built in reference to comic or film super heroes. My hunch is that the Last Airbender post did well in part because it tapped a demographic that was both nostalgic for adults over 30 and known by younger audiences who enjoy anime. That particular franchise reference enjoys a sweet spot by containing both current and older audiences. So, why don’t we shoot to reference another mainstay super franchise?

Does it work?

Bubble bubble toil and trouble. I add the ingredients of pop franchises, nostalgia, super heroes and a slightly female skewed demographic into the pot. I landed on experimenting with a Sailor Moon wolf graphic.

Of super hero franchises that may attract female over thirties and a younger 90s retro anime aesthetic crowd, Sailor Moon seems like a potential great fit. It has an iconic transformation sequence that almost every single magical girl or magical boy animation has referenced or riffed on since. Sailor Moon regularly has fashion collaborations, and currently has another show in discussion on top of its reboots and movies already in existence. It’s a show that is widely recognized, even by those who aren’t direct fans of the show.

One of my sketch pages after I gathered my thoughts. I sketched for a few hours so perhaps this one was spending too much time for a single social media post.

Finally here are some graphic experiments, one with manipulated photography and one that was hand drawn by myself in reference to the transformation sequence of Sailor Moon.

This is where you come in! If you are wanting a free graphic for your social media (perhaps for the upcoming Wolf Moon) feel free to use any of these for your social media posts.

Do you know a group I should follow in the conservation space and learn from? Let me know!