How to choose the right pet influencer for you

Cute, quirky and loveable – there are now thousands of pet influencers who are sharing their everyday adventures, friendships and favourite products across social media. By creating funny, interesting or inspiring content, the most successful petfluencers are attracting hundreds of thousands, and even millions of followers.

If you’re a brand that’s looking to grow your visibility on social media, then you may have considered partnering with a pet influencer. However, with so many out there, how do you decide which animal influencer will be the best fit for your brand?

To help you, we’ve put together some questions you need to consider when choosing a pet influencer to represent your brand.

Do your audiences match up?

To get the best return on your pet influencer investment, you need to make sure their followers match the demographics you want to reach. For example, if you’re a high-end retailer of adult clothing, you don’t want to be working with a dog influencer who creates funny or silly content aimed at teenagers.

Doing your research is key. Most micro (10k-50k followers), macro (50k-1m followers), or mega (1m+ followers) influencers will have data on their followers’ demographics ready to share with you. Or, if you’re not sure, take a look at an influencer’s social media followers to see if their values and interests suit your brand.

Does your brand make sense with the influencer?

As well as your audience, your brand needs to match up with that of your pet influencer. If you’re in the process of a rebrand, then choosing the right pet influencer is a great way to refresh your creative approach.

One great example of effective brand matching is Loki the Wolfdog. The husky, arctic wolf and malamute mix shares his outdoor adventures with over two million followers. The inspiring, fresh photography and lifestyle feel attracted the attention of big car manufacturers, including Toyota USA.

Their vehicles now appear in the background of Loki’s adventures in a way that re-emphasises the outdoor adventure and aspirational lifestyle photography of Toyota’s own 4×4 brands.

Thorough research into a pet influencer’s content is key to ensure they’ll complement (not clash with) your brand.

Can you create a genuine relationship?

If your pet influencer (and their owner) doesn’t like what you stand for, then their promotions won’t come across as being genuine to their followers and do damage to both your brands. If your audiences share similar values, it’s likely that you will too. However, you need to make sure you can work together effectively before you enter into a long-term partnership.

To stay on the right side of social media marketing guidelines, your pet influencer also needs to try your products or services before they promote them. This means sending free samples or offering them a free trial before you enter into any paid partnership.

Weimaraner Harlow, and Miniature Dachshunds Indiana and Reese (@harlowandsage) have used their influence over 1.7 million followers for good causes, from rescue dogs and adoption charities, to increasing awareness of the potentially fatal Parvovirus. Their influence activity sits alongside the work they do with pet food giant Purina and Figo Pet Insurance – the perfect partners for these highly influential pet influencers.

By building genuine relationships, pet influencers and brands can make a real difference to their followers as well as to their own bottom line.

Can you collaborate on content?

Pet influencers make their impact by creating content that works on social media platforms. Whether it’s TikTok, Instagram or LinkedIn, make sure the pet influencers you choose are on platforms you know, understand and already create content on.

This will ensure you’re growing on platforms that are relevant to your brand and hold the potential for you to collaborate on new content. Whether it’s going live on Instagram, a Facebook Q&A or a cool video campaign, establishing a strong partnership with your pet influencer gives you the opportunity to create some effective and profitable content together.

Ragdoll cat influencer Miss Princess Lola recently worked with Barefoot Wine on a quirky and colourful video advertising campaign. This gave Barefoot Wines access to her 22.5k followers and meant Lola could lend her chic appeal to some standout content.

Have you thought about working with an influencer agency?

If you’re still not sure how to find the perfect pet influencer for your brand, then you might want to consider working with an agency like Urban Paws Influencers. We have the expertise and experience to match your brand to a pet influencer with the audience, values and style you’re looking for.

Our experts will work closely with you and the influencer to find the best way to work together. From organising and supporting shoots to creating campaigns and collaborative content, influencer agencies like us can help you get the best return from your influencer investment.

Send your brief to our team by emailing us at influencers@urbanpawsagency.com to begin your search for the perfect pet influencer today.