Adored by Brands: Mississauga Pet Influencer Program

Are you considering pet influencer marketing for your pet business? 

If so, now is a great time to start implementing an influencer marketing strategy for your business. Marketing with pet influencers can provide to be extremely beneficial as they help to reach a wider audience. This is mainly because pets appeal to the general public and not just pet parents.

In this blog, we will explain who pet influencers are, how to effectively leverage the use of a pet influencer and how to choose the right pet influencer for your pet store business.

Who are pet influencers?

With influence comes opportunities.

In layman’s terms, a pet influencer is someone who partners with brands to promote and market their products or services. They usually have large followings and an established social media presence on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Some examples of pet influencers include @realgrumpycat, @jiffpom, @itsdougthepug, @venustwofacedcat, and @prissy_pig.

Past studies have shown that people are heavily attracted to and fascinated with animals which is why there has been a drastic increase in pet influencers in the influencer marketing space. Our furry friends are authentic which makes them extremely likable and relatable which results in higher engagement rates compared to other types of influencers such as beauty, and food. This not only increases their campaign impressions, but they help to create virality, thereby increasing the number of shares on campaign posts.

How can my brand effectively use pet influencers?

Pet influencers can promote pet-related products, brands, or services that are offered by your pet business. For example, pet grooming services can be promoted through the use of before and after photos or even vlogs of the grooming process.

How to choose the right pet influencer for your brand?

The pet influencer market is niche but crowded, therefore it is important to know what to look for to find the pet influencer that resonates well with your marketing objectives and end goals.

The first step in this process is to ensure that you have set clear goals, objectives, and desired outcomes you want to achieve from partnering with a pet influencer of your choice. Here are a few things to consider when choosing a pet influencer for your pet store business:

·  Nano vs micro vs macro pet influencers

Influencers can be grouped based on their following size, where macro-influencers have followings greater than 100k, micro-influencers have less than 100k, and nano influencers have only a few thousand followers. Many businesses may believe macro-influencers will produce the results, but in reality, each group has its strengths and weaknesses so it is important to determine what will work well for your brand.

If you are looking to raise awareness for your pet business then partnering with a micro-influencer would be suitable, whereas if you are looking to increase overall engagement with your pet business then a nano influencer would better suit your marketing objective. Macro influencers may produce engagement rates between 1-3%, while micro and nano influencers produce 7% or higher due to a higher level of trust and reliability. The key difference is that influencers with smaller scale followings market to their audiences like everyday consumers therefore they are more relatable. Macro influencers are viewed as celebrities who tend to solely push products to a larger audience for views, and may not be viewed as a trusted source, so engagement rates are typically lower. Nano and micro-influencers are more dedicated to the content that they create so it is viewed as more authentic and trusted and therefore yields higher engagement rates.

·  Type of pet used to market

Depending on your marketing objectives, there are different pet influencers that you can choose from such as cats, dogs, pigs, squirrels, etc. If your business caters to a specific animal, then you can choose a more relevant niche pet influencer. For example, if your focus is on pet services such as grooming, you can work with aesthetically pleasing animals such as poodles, shih tzus, and maltese.

·  Quality of content

Many influencers create aim to create aesthetically pleasing content, but the most important part of a successful campaign is how well information about the partnered brand is relayed to the influencer’s audience. A good sign of quality content is how an influencer explains their feelings, experiences, or perspectives on products and services because their audience will read their captions and use the content provided to inform their buying decisions. Therefore, the tone, voice, and sentiment of a pet influencers content are important to ensure that those values are aligned with your pet business.

·  Past brand affiliations

It is highly recommended to avoid using pet influencers that have a history of working with your direct competitors, or who markets for several companies at once. To choose the right pet influencer for your brand, you must identify their history of brand promotions to ensure that your campaigns will not get lost in a chain of other campaigns being marketed by a pet influencer.

·  Use of a marketing agency

Finding the right pet influencer for your business may be a bit tedious and time-consuming as it takes a lot of research before you can properly decide who is best to partner with. The use of a marketing agency may be more beneficial as it saves you time and money given the expertise and experience marketing agencies have.

At PSB Digital, our Mississauga Pet Influencer Program is leveraged by our clients to help save time and money. Our network includes a variety of local pet influencers who are well established and trusted to help create an online persona for your brand that attracts and engages your ideal customers.

Our marketing experts work with pet brands closely to find the influencer that best suits their marketing needs to produce relevant and purposeful content that will attract attention and create virality. We cover all the bases from strategizing, organizing to creating campaigns and high-quality content that is authentic and compelling to help you get the best return on your investment.

Best practices for working with pet influencers

·  Audience demographic

It is important to ensure that the pet influencer you choose to market your pet business matches the demographics that you intend to target/reach. Most established influencers have social media kits that include data on their followers, so it is key to get this information during the recruiting process.

·  Potential for long-term collaborations

Even though the pet influencer market is a niche, there are still many opportunities for pet businesses to capitalize on the market to raise brand awareness and gain loyal customers. Pet businesses may find it more beneficial to establish long-term relationships with pet influencers that fit their marketing objectives and goals to yield more successful campaigns over time.