How ‘pet influencers’ can earn US$16,000 for one photo of their dog on Instagram
Purina, Dyson, Google and 20th Century Fox are just some of the brands using pet owners with up to one million followers to help promote their products
An emerging “pet influencer” community on the photo-sharing app Instagram has led to the owners of dogs and cats earning up to US$16,000 from a single post.
Brands are clamouring to hire dogs and other pets for sponsored posts and adverts, according to the American monthly business magazine, Fast Company.
Loni Edwards, founder and CEO of The Dog Agency, a New York management company that facilitates business deals between brands and owners of pets with at least 50,000 Instagram followers, said demand for pets on social media was “expanding and growing”.
Edwards said: “Pets are universally loved, they make people happy.
“And they’re safe. They’re not going to say politically charged things or get drunk at a party. So they have all the benefits of traditional, human influencers with all these extra plus factors.”
The Dog Agency’s website said it had paired its 160 pet influencers – which includes a few cats and monkeys – with a wide array of brands, from Purina and Dyson to Google and 20th Century Fox.
Edwards’ average client has between 100,000 and 200,000 Instagram followers and earns “a couple thousand dollars per post, she said.