The key elements of strong petfluencer marketing

Social media marketing is one of the most efficient and effective ways to connect with your target audience, build relationships and create brand awareness. But doing it well isn’t easy. It takes a lot of hard work, careful planning and consistent execution to create a campaign that delivers real results.

Collaboration
Influencer marketing is a form of collaboration. A company works together with an influential person to promote its product, service or campaign. In today’s digital world, social media content creators with a niche audience can offer brands significant added value. Influencers have committed groups of followers– a petfluencer is a pet on social media, or an influencer with a pet, who inspires people.

The numbers
In 2021, US and European pet industry media spending was around €2 billion ($2.2B), but only 5-8% was used for social media marketing. Yet Statista and Nielsen research data shows that up to 72% of customers decided to buy a product or service because of an influencer on Instagram, YouTube or TikTok. So the industry has to rethink its media spending, as the influencer market may well reach more than €60 billion ($55B) in revenues this year.

Why go to influencers?
Why should the pet industry take a closer look at petfluencer marketing? Because consumers don’t really like ads, with 76% of them using ad blocker technology. But consumers do trust people and, as Nielsen discovered, 92% trust people rather than brands! So, a brand is no longer what a company tells the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is!

What can go wrong when brands try petfluencer marketing?
• You didn’t know much about social media campaigns beforehand
• You tried working with some petfluencers but they didn’t deliver
• The campaign wasn’t briefed, monitored or reported properly
• You sent your products to petfluencers–no idea what happened after that!
• There was no actual budget, or you just lost money doing it
• You spent a massive amount of time collecting and calculating insights, screenshots, numbers, even though spreadsheet analysis isn’t really your thing

The right choices
To create a successful campaign, while avoiding mistakes, brands should focus on a number of key facts. A social media campaign always needs to be properly structured; from idea to storyboard, chosen channels, campaign type, do’s and don’ts, campaign brief, petfluencer recruitment, budget, monitoring and final reporting. And the petfluencer must really match the product, service or brand, target group and campaign goal. There are several types of petfluencers, from rising (0– 1,000 followers) to micro (10–50 thousand followers) to macro (500 thousand – 1 million followers) and mega (+1 million) to VIP.

Depending on the number of followers, several metrics also need to be checked:
• Level of trust. Opinions evoke different degrees of credibility and confidence from friends and followers, which are higher the less followers a petfluencer has
• Brand relevance. Connection with a brand, product and brand-relevant topics, which is higher the less followers a petfluencer has
• Degree of volume. Depends on different numbers and petfluencer types regarding different content, which is higher the less followers a petfluencer has
• Level of loyalty. Relationship with a brand compared to rising, micro, macro and mega influencers, which is higher the less followers a petfluencer has
• Level of influence. Influence over the petfluencer’s network of followers, which is higher the less followers a petfluencer has
• Reach of followers. 0-1 million+, which is higher the more followers the petfluencer has

All this means that if your brand is aiming for conversions, or anything other than reach, you should go with smaller petfluencer accounts. If you want to reach a lot of people, it’s better to go for the big accounts with lots of followers.

Petfluencer campaign workflow
• Determine KPIs, budget, target, etc.
• Determine influencer marketing channels & publishing schedule
• Match petfluencers
• Briefing
• Negotiate rates and contracts
• Review content and publish
• Reporting and analysis

Key takeaways
Social media marketing with petfluencers works. It combines great storytellers with brands that are looking for ways to connect and to leave a positive, lasting impression among audiences and future customers. The goal of petfluencer marketing is to stand out from the crowd of branded content, and authentically connect with audiences. So …

Obsess over your audience. The more you know about your audience, the better for the campaign. And the better the petfluencer followers match with your customer base, the better the results.

Rely on word of mouth. Whether this means a handful of micro-petfluencers or a celebrity-level petfluencer – you need to make sure the campaign content is so interesting that it creates a social discussion and word of mouth.

Think long term. With your brand you should think long term. A good idea is an always-on strategy or brand ambassador, so your brand gets the love it deserves.

Repeat successful tactics. If you have worked successfully with creators, then it’s best to use these tactics for your future campaigns. Check reporting to measure the success of current and ongoing campaigns and optimize successful points.

Don’t be afraid to try something new. Brands should have fun with petfluencer marketing. Half of the fun comes from directly working with petfluencers who connect with target audiences in new and exciting ways. People enjoy seeing brands in new and exciting ways. So, it would be cool to create content that will showcase your brand outside the norm.

Create trust above all. Existing brands have a preceding reputation. You need to make sure the petfluencer you work with, and the content they create, appeals to audiences and enhances your brand’s trustworthy and authentic reputation.