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We all follow a furry influencer or two, from Bunny the talking doodle to Juniper Foxx and her friends. Most pet parents have tried running an Instagram account for their pet, but keeping up with clever captions and building a social community isn’t as easy as it sounds. Plus, it takes time to develop a voice and following for your furever friend. 

Still, the excitement of getting to share your best friend with the world, and maybe save some money on taxes, is hard to pass up! To help launch your pet into stardom, we’ve highlighted tips for becoming a pet influencer below. 

Create A Persona

We’ve all created a little voice we use to talk for our dog when they’re begging for a peanut butter sandwich or circle in excitement at the promise of a walk. It’s a character that represents their personality, and it’s a fun way to interact with our pets. 

Creating a persona builds an identity for your pet beyond their adorable scrunchy face or lovely long fur. It helps followers connect with an animal they’ve never met through sassy commentary written over howls or a creative narrative about their journeys as a space-traveling cat.

What you already know about your pet is a great place to start. If your dog loves daycare,  you can theme photoshoots around them getting ready, or donning different bandanas and outfits. 

A tortoise that loves to go on a walk around the block would look great in a tracksuit or may chat with their neighbors to organize a block walking group. 

You don’t need a big production to create these personas. Once you understand your pet’s brand, you can write comments or add funny captions to videos that help build this story between candid photos and a daily live story. 

Create A Content Schedule

Most people start an animal account to share cute photos and hope to go viral, but the secret to success is consistency. A daily post to your feed, a couple of Instagram stories, and connections with other creators will all help grow your reach and engagement. 

Comments Are King

Likes are easy to earn and easy to give, which is why they’re not as valuable as comments are. Comments show social media platforms that your content encourages interaction from your audience and should be interesting to other users. 

Comments also allow you to respond to build a personal interaction with your followers and keep them coming back. Genuine conversation and gratitude can go a long way in personalizing your content and creating a connection that can make your pet somebunny’s favorite account.

Connect With Your Community

There’s no shortage of other animal accounts out there. It can be a huge benefit to your brand to befriend them rather than make them competition to beat. Collaborating with creators allows you both to share your audience and can take some of the stress out of content creation. 

Leave comments on other local accounts or those with a similar niche. You know your audience probably has a ton of overlap, and boosting their posts with a comment will likely earn you a favor in return.

If your relationship gets strong enough, you can come together to promote projects or create a friendship between your pets to grow both of your presence in the community. A puppy playdate is a win-win for everyone involved. 

Study Up On Trends

You don’t have to hop on every new soundbite or meme that comes across your feed, but keeping an eye on trends can help you come up with creative content ideas and promote your pet to new audiences. 

Watch what hashtags other creators use in their posts to identify groups like #corgination or #DogsofHouston that pet lovers regularly browse to find new accounts. You can add these to your old posts and give them a boost and keep them in mind for future pictures, too. 

The other big trend to watch for is new social media platforms. Instagram is still huge for pet influencers, but more furry friends are getting their groove on with TIkTok. We don’t recommend abandoning your existing community for something fresh and new, but you can test the waters and start reposting on other sites to expand your reach and double-up on content. 

You’re already taking photos of your dog’s fresh groom and the funny face it makes before sneezing, so why not post to social media and build a passive income stream? Social stardom takes time to develop, but it can have huge payoffs and it’s more fun than you 9-to-5! 

Check out more tips on pet influencers from Annuity below.