How pet influencers can help you to grow your business

From cuddly cavoodles to dashing dachshunds, adorable canines are everywhere on social media, particularly on Instagram where they can earn $500 a post.

Celebrity dogs, also known as “pupfluencers”, with big social media followings are using their cuteness to sell products and help pet brands get noticed.

From cuddly cavoodles to dashing dachshunds, adorable canines are everywhere on social media, particularly on Instagram where they can earn $500 a post.

And the dog owners are being inundated with queries from small businesses looking to work with them.

“We’re seeing our pets doing increasingly more work for these homegrown companies,” says Luci Awad, senior consultant at Power Pets – a talent agency specialising in pet influencers.

“Many of our talents are small business owners themselves and understand the struggle we’re facing at a national scale.”

Coco the Peekapoo. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Awad says the agency has also seen a significant spike in applications.

“We’ve seen a 300 per cent increase this time around, which we account to lockdown fatigue, inspiring people to pick up new hobbies or even a potential business in our world,” she says.

See how these famous pups helped business growth and how you can turn yours into a star.

ULTI-MUTT EARNERS

The concept of the so-called pupfluencer has become big business for some pet owners.

Alina Michaels, owner of part toy poodle and part pekingese pupfluencer, Coco The Peekapoo, says she earns between $350 and $500 for an Instagram post.

“We started Coco’s Instagram page just for fun and bought accessories and outfits from small businesses,” she says.

“Coco started a trend in Australia by wearing tutus and we discovered Under The Cherry Tree, who made tutus for children and adults. We approached them about getting tutus made for Coco and now they’re popular in the dog community and remodelled their business to focus on dog tutus, glasses and bows.”

Coco has over 50K Instagram followers.

Alina Michaels with Coco.

Natalie Mitropoulos, founder of Under The Cherry Tree, says the Pawty Tutus have become bestsellers around the globe.

“I now have customers from all over Australia, Japan, USA, Sweden, France and Malaysia showcasing my products on social media,” she says.

“I have recorded a sales increase of 160 per cent just for the Pawty Tutus. I’ve also sold over 270 tutus with an average of 20 sold each month, alongside bows, collars and glasses.”

POWER OF PUPS

Karen Yang of the Stylish Hound says her brand’s Instagram gained 40,000 followers after their no-pull harness was pictured with pupfluencer Best Boy Brodie, who has more than 580,000 followers.

“Pupfluencers have been crucial in helping spread the word and growing our business,” she says.

“In a year, the no-pull harness has brought in $90,000 and it has been increasing 18 per cent month-on-month. It sold out three months straight.”

Cocker spaniel pupfluencer Archie was snapped wearing the harness.

Sophie Taeuber and her dog Archie.

Archie, the adorable little pupfluencer.

“The Stylish Hound had an increase of 200 per cent in online traffic that was directed from Instagram,” Archie’s owner Sophie Taeuber says. “When Archie promoted the matching pyjamas, it sold $3500 worth of PJs that week.”

Archie was four months old when he reached 10,000 Instagram followers and now has almost 30,000.

Taeuber says any dog can become a pupfluencer.

FROM PUP TO STAR

Alina’s top tips to turn your pup into a star.

● Great snaps are key: Take good quality photos and take time to edit them. It’s important to capture your dog’s personality.

● Focus on what makes your dog stand out: Our followers love Coco’s outfits (pictured left) and fashion, so we know that any post we do with Coco wearing outfits gains a lot of attraction.

● Be genuine and only promote products you love and use: We like to keep our account authentic and we know that most of what we promote, our followers have purchased these products because they know we are authentic.

● Engage with your followers: We have a rule; if you comment on our post, we will not only reply but we will like and comment on your last post. It’s a way for us to build rapport with our followers.

● Have fun: At the end of the day, dogs are dogs and it’s important for them to have fun and not be forced to wear clothing if they don’t like it.