As mentioned in previous videos, Instagram has become a place where pets can become influencers. Pet accounts can even make money with well-known brand partnerships. The question is why pets are more popular than people?
Researching on why pets are more popular on Instagram, I found the main reason is due to pets being considered neutral and there are no negative reactions when people see them. Having positive reactions to posts containing pets for brands has shown an increase in site traffic and some revenue. An example of this was when Sotheby’s featured a photo on an upcoming exhibition that included a piece from artist, William Wegman, posted below. According to an article, the engagement on this particular post went up over 200%.
With more pets becoming brand ambassadors The Dog Agency was opened in order to help pet owners manage negotiations for their pets with brands in order to get the best compromise for both parties. Some pet influencers can make as much as $15,000 (roughly €12,600) per post that is featured on their page, while stories are worth a couple thousand dollars. Those paychecks are generally reserved for the influencers having a million or more followers. Other agencies have started to take on pets as their clients due to the pet influencer marketing industry becoming a multimillion-dollar revenue in recent years. My personal opinion, I would say do your research on an agency and always remember to be an advocate for your pet. In an interview with the founder of The Dog Agency, Loni Edwards, stressed that she would not take on clients that showed they got a pet only to make money. A few other articles referenced having a natural transparency with the pet and brand interaction is what made the photos more liked because they are so relatable to the viewers.
So now that a pet has cute content, a following, a great caption that helps to emphasize its personality, the next key thing is hashtags #. Though hashtags started on Twitter it has become a big thing promoting content on Instagram. According to the algorithms used by social media sites, having hashtags is an easy way for users to interact with content. As seen with trending hashtags it reaches a worldwide audience in a very short amount of time. That being said, it is recommended not to use too many hashtags because then it becomes too cumbersome for viewers to engage with. I know I have seen posts with so many hashtags I gave up trying to engage with it and I am guessing I am not the only one.
Enjoy interacting pet posts whether they are influencers or not 🙂 And remember not all pets are dogs or cats, they can be any animal that is considered part of the family.
Interesting post! I never thought of it that way, to look at pet’s Instagram profile as something wholesome. It is true though, I always find myself scrolling through the photos and videos of pet profiles (#maxandmurphy) just because they are so adorable and it does not give me any stress whatsoever (except the stress of not having them). I also agree with the transparency part. While it’s cute that some pets are “Insta-famous”, I do think that it should be done out of fun and play, instead of forcing pets to do something that (may possibly) make them uncomfortable – e.g. uncommon tricks, awkward poses – just for the possibility of fame. Nice read!
Nice post! I do too, enjoy looking at animal photos on instagram and follow some (cute) animal oriented accounts. For example, Endo the blind horse, which documents the adventures of a horse that has lost his eyes, and him slowly learning things that would be quite easy for a horse with vision. And a friend of mine pretty much devotes his instagram account to his gecko. Like your title says, I would describe this as very wholesome content.
Transparency as part of the brand of the animal is something I haven’t thought about, as well as them possibly having an agent, although it makes perfect sense when you think of the whole industry of people and (their) pets being well-known online and creating a fanbase for themselves. I also very much agree with the founder of The Dog Agency, that people getting an animal so their pet can become an influencer shouldn’t be endorsed and that more ‘natural’ content – even if it’s carefully planned or staged – is way more fun to look at.
I absolutely love pet pages on Instagram! A few of my friends also have instagram pages for their pets but they’re not influencers with like a million followers (yet haha). But I love seeing pets on instagram and often look up different hashtags like #DogsOfInstagram or #CatsOfInstagram. Hashtags play a big role in social media today. If you want your posts to gain popularity, using hashtags is a must.
I agree with the things you mentioned in your blogpost. Seeing natural content makes one feel much more happy and wholesome instead of content posted by people who just get pets to make money. Therefore the Dog Agency is doing a good job in not taking on clients just for the money. Overall, this was a well written blogpost.