Maggie Deller
Title: How to make your pet Insta famous
Everyone loves animals – it’s a fact. Whether they’re fluffy, feathery, or covered in scales, there are people on the internet more than willing to hit the follow button for your pet. Being behind the camera also comes with rewards including receiving frame-worthy shots and taming your critter to pose. While those are reasons enough to create an Instagram for your pet, a large following is also a rewarding aspect to snapping pictures. Here are five tips to help you get your pet Instagram famous.
Select a Theme
Is your pet outdoorsy or are they more of a homebody? If you have an indoor pet, change the scenery of the background by readjusting decorations or buying new toys. For an outdoor pet, take advantage of natural backdrops such as flower beds and sunsets. People don’t want to see the same picture every day, so keep it interesting!
Secondly, filters are very important, especially if you are taking pictures off a phone and not a professional camera. A recommendation is to select a filter (you can adjust the strength of the filter on Instagram) and use it for the majority, or all, of the pictures you post. You can also edit a photo on the Instagram app where you can sharpen the picture for a clearer image, saturate it to punctuate the natural colors of the photo, adjust the photo to tilt the image, and more.
Shameless self-promo: for my Instagram @peepandjuniper I moved my duck outside of her fenced area to get a shot of her on a hillside. In the Instagram app, I moved the filter Ludwig up to 64, moved the saturation up to nine, and moved the sharpness up to eight for the final effect.
Accent your pet’s personality
It’s undeniable that every pet has their own personality. Accent this by creating a fitting environment. Is your yorkie sassy? Tie a pink bow in their hair and place a champagne glass next to them. Is your German shepherd outdoorsy? Snap a photo of them rolling around in mud during a hike.
There’s so many different personality traits to highlight through photos. Follow your pet around, and maybe they’ll come up with a shot you hadn’t even thought of yet.
Impromptu: While taking a few photos on her favorite blankie, one of my ducks began flapping its wings for the perfect picture that shows they are energetic animals.
Follow People with Similar Interests
Many people flock to Instagram to share pictures of household pets. All species are undeniably adorable, but you may be surprised to find all kinds of exotic animals on Instagram. No matter what animal you are presenting, there are others on the app with similar interests. If you know they like the animal you have, mutually liking each other’s photos is a benefit for both. Another benefit is getting inspiration from other accounts, as well as advice when you need. Seek these accounts out, and you might just get a follow back from them!
Shared interest: @lady_beebee_ducks is the owner of Instagram Pekin ducks Lady, the “sweetheart” and Beebee, who is “clever and cheeky.” As of the date of the article, she has 160 posts and over 1,000 followers.
Create Clever Captions
Bland captions don’t intrigue anybody’s attention. Instead, take time to come up with a caption such as citing a relevant quote or a summary of the pet’s day. Some accounts even post in the pet’s point of view, addressing the audience through the captions as the animal. Also, try engaging with your followers by asking questions in the captions to make personal connections.
Another tip for captions is the usage of hashtags. Using relevant hashtags can help your post reach people who do not follow you but have similar interests. People can also follow hashtags, so your post may pop up in their home feed.
Asking for your followers’ opinion: One of my ducks poses proud with a Halloween-themed bow tie. The Instagram caption “Does this bow make Peep spooky enough for October?” is accompanied by hashtags and received comments from followers and duck fans.
Stand out of the crowd
It’s no secret that there are numerous pet pages on Instagram. To help compete with these other accounts, try doing different things to stand out from the bunch. Examples of this include dressing up your pet, posting advice for others with your pet, and posting regularly. No matter what you post however, run your page the way you want and have fun doing it!
A two dollar budget: A quick run to a party store produced an outfit for one of my posts. This photo stood out from my other pictures of my ducks standing outside. The outfit cost less than $2 altogether, and it received a lot of attention on Instagram.