Here’s how to put some bite into your influencer marketing strategy

Now a study by the University of Strathclyde in Scotland suggests that petfluencers may have an edge over their human counterparts when it comes to trustworthiness. 

The study, published in The Journal of Advertising Research, considers how animals’ endorsements of brands can affect consumer responses. 

Researchers studied why pet influencers are successful by comparing them to human endorsers in fictional advertisements for products such as wine and peanut butter.  

When the advertisements were tested with an audience, the results were clear: the pet influencer outperformed the human influencer in terms of consumer response. Their effectiveness was even higher when their message matched a consumer’s focus on immediate pleasure and satisfaction. 

The researchers also note that, as the number of sponsored posts by social media influencers rises, their perceived sincerity is on the decline, partly due to ‘influencer fatigue’. This is why petfluencers represent a viable alternative for more sincere endorsements. 

Distinctive advantages over human influencers 

“Petfluencers offer distinct advantages compared to human social media influencers,” says lead researcher Dr Laura Lavertu, a lecturer in marketing at the university. Her field of research focuses on the impact of digital technologies, including social media and virtual reality, on consumer-brand interactions. 

“While the persuasiveness of human influencers often stems from their relatability or aspirational appeal, petfluencers are seen as more genuine and sincere. Because they are pets, they have no hidden agenda. They don’t come with the baggage or scandals that sometimes follow human influencers, which makes them seem more trustworthy,” Lavertu states. 

Similar to human influencers, petfluencers often collaborate with advertising agencies to handle brand partnerships, but their owners maintain control over the content they post. 

Some petfluencers have become household names and sought-after brand ambassadors. Nala the Cat, for example, has more than 4.5-million Instagram followers and endorses a range of products ranging from cat food to mobile games.  

She holds the Guinness World Record for the Most Popular Cat on Instagram and has amassed a fortune estimated at more than US$103-million. So, if your influencer marketing campaign has been a ‘cat-astrophic’ failure – you know who to call. 

You can find out more about the study, titled ‘Petfluencers, the Fur-Mula for Sincere Endorsements: Examining How and When Pets Exhibit Greater Persuasion as Influencers’, here.