While social media influencers have quickened their growth over the last few years, it may have escaped notice that humans aren’t the only beneficiaries of the booming market. Furry friends have been increasingly valuable commodities for marketers, with some pet influencers commanding thousands of dollars a post.
Brands far and wide, from Google to 20th Century Fox, have been partnering with pet influencers to take advantage of the undeniable influence of beloved pets. Universally loved and unlikely to cause trouble with unfiltered opinions, pet influencers present a unique opportunity for a diverse set of companies looking to resonate with audiences endeared by pets.
Dyson branding has used dog influencers in the past, predominantly featuring a playful tone that is typically a hallmark of these influencer campaigns. Pets make a natural fit for Dyson, a brand who features landing pages directly speaking to pet owners. Dyson markets its products as vacuums capable of heavy-duty chores, including the cleanup of the inevitable pet fur and other messes. As the Instagram user mark glides past 1 billion, Dyson is keen to target consumers (especially those with pets) to spread awareness and perhaps, some pet-induced humor.
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This case study evaluates Dyson’s Instagram influencer campaign strategy from March to November of 2018. Dyson recruited a set of influencers of varying popularity, including micro- (10K-50K followers) and mid-tier influencers (50K-500K followers), to harness the power of lesser-known but still valuable social media personalities.
The campaign almost exclusively utilized dog influencers and centered around Dyson’s effectiveness in cleaning up after house pets. The sponsored posts typically had an upbeat or comedic tone, and influencers expressed their satisfaction with Dyson’s product. The tags #DysonPets and #DysonV10 were consistently used throughout the campaign in posts, with influencers expressing creative freedom by depicting their cleaning chores and writing individualized descriptions.
Combined results from 25 analyzed posts:
Social Reach
Engagement
Pomeranian nano-influencer Mochi is Dyson’s smallest influencer with just under 2,600 followers. Mochi’s owner usually features her pup in adorable outfits. Her post features her dog sitting next to a Dyson hair dryer and recommends the product to those with pets that don’t like bath time or loud hair dryers. While this post was not sponsored, Dyson’s branded hashtag, #DysonPets clearly caught on with its target audience. With 216 likes and 5 comments, @mochi_fluffpom notched an impressive engagement rate of 8.6%.
Izzy The Frenchie is a French Bulldog and one of Dyson’s mid-tier influencers with over 125,000 followers. Posts on Izzy’s page usually showcase her “Pawshion” and witty humor. In the middle of November before Petcon, Izzy uploaded three sponsored Dyson posts with her highest performing post featuring her atop the box of a Dyson vacuum while donning a “matching” outfit. The Bulldog racked up 5,455 likes and 137 comments for an engagement rate of 4.47%.
Chewie is a popular Pomeranian micro-influencer with over 80,000 followers on Instagram. Again, outfits and travel make up a significant amount of the page’s content, with several other sponsorships present. Chewie was featured in a three-post campaign in November, also in the run-up to Petcon. Each sponsored post showcased Chewie posing with the V10 accompanied by short, snappy text and the #DysonPets tag. Chewie racked up 9,206 likes and 434 comments on his highest performing post equaling a strong engagement of 12.1%.
Helmut The Pug is another micro-influencer for #DysonPets with over 30,000 followers. His Instagram features him being anything from social, stylish, sleepy, and sarcastic while wearing amusing outfits. Helmut’s sponsored Dyson post was uploaded in August—a comedic video of him sitting next to his sheddings being vacuumed. The post garnered over 50,000 views, with 3,287 likes and 122 comments for an engagement rate of 10.8%.