If you love dogs, there’s a good chance that you spend a good portion of your days watching random dog videos, fawning over the latest dog fashion trends, and following the lives of canine celebrities online. But have you ever considered that your dog has what it takes to be a social media influencer as well?
If you’re keen on giving it a shot, here are steps you need to take to get a good social media following and make your dog famous enough for endorsement deals:
What do you want your dog to be known for? The more unique, the better. Just see how far Walter Geoffrey’s hilarious meltdowns have taken him.
Anyone can get dressed in clothes for dogs, but a personality, quirk, or theme will set them apart.
You don’t need really need professional photography skills and equipment, but proper composition, good lighting, and gorgeous backdrops help a lot. Beautiful photos are undoubtedly what propelled Loki the Wolfdog to superstardom.
Don’t just post photos and videos. If your pup is wearing a new dog raincoat, explain what they’re wearing, why they’re wearing it, and where you’re off to.
Always support posts with witty or descriptive captions. Better yet, take Doug the Pug’s cue and write captions from your dog’s perspective to make audiences feel even closer to them.
Take note of popular yet relevant hashtags. Use them either in your description or as a comment on each post.
Manny the Frenchie uses both methods to keep from cluttering the main caption but still enjoy the traffic you can get from each additional hashtag.
To be a successful pet influencer, you need to be consistent not just in how frequently you post but also the general appearance of your social media presence.
Tucker Budzyn, for example, has the same look and the same funny captions in doggo lingo on every video. Also, he stays true to his promise of a new video every single week.
Every so often, there are trends and challenges that are all the rage among dog lovers on social media. Participating in them will help get your dog more exposure.
For example, #TongueOutTuesday is for adorable photos of dogs with dangling tongues, while the #WhatTheFluff challenge was for videos that showed dogs’ hilarious reactions to their parents disappearing.
Connect with other dogs and dog-related accounts. Spend time liking and commenting on others’ content, and they’ll reciprocate.
Eventually, you might even be invited to a high-quality engagement pod where members band together to boost each others’ content.
Allow your audiences to feel like they’re participating in your dog’s life. You can set up polls, ask questions, and encourage them to share their own stories with you. Contests are also a great way to engage your viewers and grow your followers.
Start featuring items that you and your dog already use and genuinely like. It could be anything from your dog’s premium bed to their new, swanky gold dog chain.
As you do this, you give brands a good idea of how suitable your pet is for endorsement deals.
Some social media accounts exist to feature other dogs. Find the ones with massive followers and find out what it takes to get featured so that you can benefit from the exposure boost.
If you get featured by Dogs of Instagram, for example, you stand to gain some views from their more than 4.5 million followers.
Unless you’re lucky enough to have a post go viral right away, understand that it takes some time and effort to turn even the cutest dog into a social media influencer. But, if you persevere and approach it correctly, your dog will soon be not just your best friend but your business partner as well.
