How to Get More Followers on Pet Instagram

Turning your pet into an Instagram star is about more than just snapping cute photos - it's about building a brand, telling a story, and connecting with a community of fellow animal lovers. This guide will walk you through the actionable strategies you need to define your pet's personality, create irresistible content, and grow a dedicated following organically.

Define Your Pet's Personality and Brand

Before you post another photo, take a moment to think about what makes your pet unique. The most successful pet accounts have a clear persona. Is your dog a goofy, uncoordinated giant? Is your cat a sassy, sophisticated queen who judges everyone? This personality is your content foundation.

Find Your Niche

Your pet's personality is your niche. This is what sets you apart from the sea of other cute animals on Instagram. Don't try to be everything to everyone. Lean into what makes your pet special.

• The Comedian: This pet is all about funny faces, fails, and relatable shenanigans. Their content makes people laugh out loud.
• The Adventurer: This pet is always hiking, swimming, or exploring new places. Their feed is full of beautiful scenery and a sense of wanderlust.
• The Fashionista: All about the outfits, bows, and stylish accessories. This pet is a trendsetter.
• The Heart-warmer: Perhaps a rescue with a compelling story or a therapy animal. This account focuses on emotional connection and feel-good content.

Once you nail down your pet's angle, it becomes much easier to create content that feels authentic and consistent.

Optimize Your Profile for First Impressions

Your profile is your pet's digital handshake. It needs to be clear, compelling, and professional. You have just a few seconds to convince a new visitor to hit that "Follow" button.

• Choose a Memorable Handle: Make your username easy to spell and remember. Something like @TheAdventuresOfOtis is far better than @OtisTheDog12948. If possible, try to include the pet's name and maybe a primary keyword like 'dog' or 'travelingdog'.
• Profile Picture: Use a bright, clear headshot of your pet. It should be easily recognizable even as a small thumbnail. Simple backgrounds work best.
• The Bio: This is your pet's elevator pitch. In just a few lines, capture their personality. Use a friendly tone and feel free to use an emoji or two. Always end with a call-to-action (CTA), like "Follow for daily zoomies!" or a link to your other platforms.

Think of your personal bio as an introduction for people who don't know who your pet is. Give a snippet like, "Leo the Lion. Majestic mane, couch potato heart. Living my best 9 lives in NYC. Shop my fav toys!"

Create Content That Connects and Converts

With your brand in place, it's time to create content that speaks to your target audience. Growth on Instagram is driven by content people want to share, save, and comment on.

High-Quality Photos and Videos are Non-Negotiable

Grainy, dark photos won't cut it anymore. You don't need a professional camera (your smartphone is fine!), but you do need to understand the basics of good photography.

• Good Lighting is Everything: Natural light is your best friend. Take photos near a window or outdoors during the "golden hour" (early morning or late afternoon). Avoid using your phone's harsh flash.
• Focus on the Eyes: The eyes are filled with expression. Make sure they are sharp and in focus to create an emotional connection with the viewer.
• Keep Backgrounds Simple: A busy, cluttered background distracts from your subject. Find a clean wall, a nice patch of grass, or use portrait mode on your phone to blur the background.
• Get on Their Level: Instead of taking photos from above, crouch down and shoot from your pet's eye level. This creates a much more immersive and personal perspective.

Crafting Captions with Personality

Your caption is where your pet's voice truly shines. A generic caption like "Happy dog" won't encourage engagement. Instead, use the caption to tell a micro-story or share a relatable thought from your pet's point of view.

Here's a simple formula:

1. The Hook: Start with a captivating first line. For example, "You're not going to believe what the hooman did today..."
2. The Story: Write from your pet's perspective. Talk about their likes, dislikes, and hilarious daily observations.
3. The Question: End with a question to prompt comments. "Does your pet do this too?" or "What's your cat's guilty pleasure?"

This approach transforms your post from a simple announcement into a conversation starter, which the algorithm loves.

Go All-In on Reels

If you want to reach new followers in 2024, Instagram Reels are your number one tool. The algorithm heavily favors short-form video and pushes it to people who don't follow you yet. Not every Reel needs to be a highly produced masterpiece.

Easy Reel ideas that perform well:

• Use a Trending Audio: Find an audio clip that's going viral and create a short, funny video of your pet that fits the sound. This is the fastest way to get discovered.
• Before-and-After: Show a picture of your pet as a kitten/puppy and then a video of them today. These transformation videos are almost always a hit.
• Instructional Content: Share a quick tip on a simple training trick, an enrichment idea, or your favorite product. This provides value beyond just entertainment.
• A Day in the Life: Stitch together short clips of your pet sleeping, eating, playing, and going for a walk. It gives followers a fun, behind-the-scenes look at their world.

The Smart Way to Use Hashtags

Hashtags help Instagram categorize your content and show it to users who are interested in your niche. Using only massive hashtags like #dog is like shouting into a hurricane. A smarter strategy involves using a mix of hashtags with different levels of popularity.

The Tiered Hashtag Strategy

Think of your hashtags in three groups. For a golden retriever account, it might look like this:

• Broad Tags (1-2M+ posts): Use 3-5 of these. Examples: #dogsofinstagram, #petlover, #cutedog. These will give you an initial burst of visibility but your post will get buried quickly.
• Niche Tags (50k - 500k posts): Use 5-10 of these. These are your powerhouse hashtags. Examples: #goldenretriever, #goldenretrieverlove, #retrieversofinstagram. These attract a highly relevant audience.
• Hyper-Niche/Community Tags (Under 50k posts): Use 5-10 of these. Examples: #goldenretrieverpuppies, #fieldgolden, #dallasdogs. These connect you with a passionate, tightly-knit community. You can also create your own unique hashtag like #FridaysWithFido to build a dedicated content library.

Look at what other successful accounts in your niche are using. You can put your hashtags directly in the caption or in the first comment - either way works just the same.

Engage, Collaborate, and Be Social

This is the "social" part of social media. You can't just post your content and expect people to flock to you. Building a community requires you to be an active participant.

It's a Two-Way Street

Set aside 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after you post to actively engage on the platform. Replying to comments is the bare minimum.

• Reply to Every Comment: When someone takes the time to leave a comment, acknowledge it. This shows you're listening and makes people more likely to comment again.
• Engage with Other Accounts: Follow other pet accounts in your niche. Don't just like their posts - leave thoughtful, genuine comments. "What a beautiful smile!" is leagues better than "Nice."
• Respond to Your DMs: People will connect with your pet's personality and reach out. These direct interactions are how you turn casual followers into super-fans.

Collaborate to Cross-Pollinate Audiences

One of the fastest ways to grow your following is to get in front of someone else's. Find other pet accounts with a similar size and engagement rate and propose a collaboration.

Simple collaboration ideas include:

• A Shared Story (SFS - Share-for-share): You each share one of the other's best-performing posts to your own Stories, tagging each other. This is simple, quick, and highly effective.
• A Feature Post: Post a photo of the other account's pet on your feed and write a caption introducing them to your audience, and they do the same for you.
• Instagram Takeover: For bigger collaborations, you can arrange to "take over" each other's Stories for a day, giving both audiences a fresh perspective.

Final Thoughts

Growing a pet's Instagram account comes down to consistency in four key areas: defining a clear personality, creating high-quality, engaging content (especially Reels), using a smart hashtag strategy, and actively building relationships within your community. It takes time and effort, but by following these principles, you can turn your adorable pet into a beloved internet personality.

Staying on top of your posting schedule, planning content in advance, and managing all your comments and DMs can feel overwhelming. At Postbase, we designed our platform to take that stress away. Our intuitive visual calendar lets you plan and schedule all your photos and Reels across every platform, and our unified inbox brings all your community conversations into one organized place. This way, you can focus on the fun part: capturing amazing moments with your best friend.