How To Become a Pet Influencer: 10 Tips & Tricks

Updated on Feb 15, 2024

cat owner taking a photo of her pet cat

Some pets are even more famous than humans and many have become beloved pet influencers with large audiences. It’s very possible that your own pet can become the next big pet influencer. However, no matter how adorable or talented your pet is, it will take hard work and patience to build an online presence.

While there isn’t a single formula that will guarantee to propel your pet to internet fame, there are some practical things you can do to increase your chances of building a large audience. Here are some tips and tricks to help you and your pet become pet influencers.

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The 10 Tips for Becoming a Pet Influencer

1. Develop Your Pet’s Voice

One of the most important things you must do is develop your pet’s voice and personality. Think about what makes your pet special and unique and start highlighting those qualities. For example, if your cat has a quirky eating habit or makes funny noises, start recording and documenting those moments.

There are a lot of pet social media accounts, so curating your pet’s special moments will help catch people’s eyes and want to get to know your pet.

cute labrador looking at laptop — Image Credit: LightField Studios, Shutterstock

2. Decide on a Theme

The pet industry is large, so posting photos of your pet may be too broad. You’ll most likely have to focus on one or two topics to attract a larger audience. Examples of more specific pet topics you can choose include product reviews, pet fashion, or pet wellness and education.

Deciding on a theme is essential because it’ll help people in your audience know what to expect when they visit your page.

3. Start with Your Friends and Family

Starting a new social media account can be less daunting if you start sharing with your friends and family first. There’s a good chance that your friends and family are already fans of your pet, and they’ll also engage more with the content you post.

Friends can also provide helpful feedback and tell you what sort of content they like from your pet’s social media account. They can be a good gauge to help you determine what kinds of posts will attract more people.

4. Connect with Other Pets

Trying to build an account on your own is challenging, so it doesn’t hurt to enlist help from others. Making online friends can also help your pet’s social media account to get more exposure. This can be as simple as following, liking, and commenting on other people’s posts.

If you develop a good connection with someone, you can plan fun playdates and capture engaging photos and videos of your pet interacting with friends. Connecting with others online is also a great way to connect with people who share the same interests as you.

happy young caucasian woman with her cat using laptop at home — Image Credit: Fusso_pics, Shutterstock

5. Post Consistently

Posting consistently lets your audience know that you’re an active account and that they can rely on you to see new content regularly.

Posting new content can be a challenge, and many new pet accounts end up fizzling out because creating and developing new content can be draining. So, it’s helpful to make a social media posting schedule and have a running list of content ideas. You can also do some research by looking at similar accounts and looking up online trends that you can participate in with your pet.

6. Engage with Your Followers

Your audience will want to get to know you and your pet. Engaging with your followers is a great way to build rapport and secure a consistent audience. You can reply to any comments on your posts and also create other engagement opportunities.

Some other ways to engage with your audience are going live, planning meet-and-greets, and posing questions to your audience in your posts. Building trust with your audience is key, so make sure to provide authentic content and information to become a reputable online presence.

7. Take High-Quality Photos

Learning to take high-quality photos will help attract people to your social media page. Since people scroll quickly through content, an eye-catching, well-edited photo can help pique someone’s interest and head over to your social media account.

Fortunately, you don’t need a ton of expensive and professional equipment to take good photos of your pets. There are plenty of free online tutorials and videos that will give recommendations on angles, lighting, and other tricks to help you take better photos.

Cute cat sitting in donut cat bed — Image Credit: Nailia Schwarz, Shutterstock

8. Use the Right Hashtags

Hashtags help users find posts related to a keyword or specific topic. So, using the right hashtags will draw other people to your posts. A blend of general and specific hashtags can help people reach your posts. So, if you have a specific cat breed, don’t forget to include that breed in your list of hashtags.

You can also see what relevant hashtags are trending by looking at other posts or doing a quick online search. However, it’s important to be selective with these hashtags because if they have amassed too many posts, it’s highly unlikely that your post will show up, especially if you have a smaller social media account.

9. Create Your Own Merchandise

Once you have a substantial following, you may want to consider creating your own merchandise for your audience. This strategy can help secure your fanbase and can also become a substantial income revenue.

When making your own merchandise, make sure that you know your audience well enough to know what sort of products they’ll like. T-shirts and mugs are always a safe option, and you can get even more specific by producing fun and unique collars, bandanas, and other pet products.

10. Record Videos

These days, videos seem to be more prized and viewed than photos. So, make sure to have a good mix of photos and videos posted to your pet’s social media accounts. There are plenty of trending sounds that you can add to your videos to help them appear on more social media feeds.

Videos add more personality to your posts, so do your best to capture funny and endearing moments with your pet.

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