{"id":34486,"date":"2024-01-05T08:53:18","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T08:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rivaliq.com\/?p=34486"},"modified":"2024-01-05T09:06:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T09:06:00","slug":"top-pet-brands-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rivaliq.com\/blog\/top-pet-brands-on-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"The Top 4 Pet Brands on Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether you love cats, dogs, or something a little more exotic, the odds are good that you have a pet of your own at home.<\/p>\n

As of 2023, 66% of U.S. households have a pet, according to a Forbes Advisor survey<\/a>. It\u2019s no wonder why the pet industry has become such an interesting, fast-growing business to be in.<\/p>\n

With the growth of this industry comes new marketing tactics to target the different audiences who love pets, such as social media marketing. Although the survey found that millennials were the age group most likely to have a pet, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers weren\u2019t far behind. Meanwhile, 16% of Gen Zers currently have a pet, but the number seems to be increasing as they get older, buy houses, and gain higher incomes.<\/p>\n

Social media marketing can help pet brands target all of these generations, though different tactics and platforms will need to be used, a fact that some pet brands are already embracing. Let\u2019s check out the pet brands that have their audiences barking<\/i> for more online.<\/p>\n

The Top 4 Pet Brands on Social Media<\/h2>\n

The Best Pet Brand on Facebook: Diamond Pet Foods<\/h3>\n

What They Do Best<\/b>: Acquiring UGC<\/p>\n

Once you have a user-generated content (UGC) strategy down pat like Diamond Pet Foods<\/a>, you\u2019ll find that you\u2019ll hardly need to make your own content for social at all. Using UGC is a cost-saving measure, as you save on having to hire your own photographers and plan photoshoots.<\/p>\n

Diamond Pet Foods uses an ambassador program called their Fan Family Program<\/a> and contests that ask fans to send in their own Diamond Pet Foods-related content to build a portfolio filled with photos and videos that can be repurposed on their social media accounts. All of the brand\u2019s top 10 posts by engagement rate between December 1, 2022, and November 30, 2023, were UGC, like this post of a cat named Mowgli.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

This post served several purposes. In addition to reusing UGC, the photo was also captioned asking for images of other people\u2019s pets in the comments. By asking for return photos, Diamond Pet Foods gained access to even more UGC and boosted the likelihood of conversation in their comments, upping their engagement rate. The post scored an engagement rate of 41.5%, which is 345x the average engagement rate for the retail industry on Facebook, according to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report for 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Best Pet Brand on Instagram: BARK<\/h3>\n

What They Do Best<\/b>: Utilizing Reels<\/p>\n

BARK<\/a>, an online shop for all things dogs that\u2019s likely best known for their BarkBox monthly subscription service, found that the key to a great year on Instagram is maximizing their Reels usage. Nine of BARK\u2019s top 10 posts in terms of engagement rate during this time period were Reels. When it comes to the retail industry, the posts with the highest engagement were Reels in 2023.<\/p>\n

However, BARK also found success by following a formula similar to that of competitor Diamond Pet Foods. Nine of BARK\u2019s top 10 posts were also UGC. BARK added additional value to their reused Reels by adding captions that explained what was happening in the video or provided directions to access more information on BARK\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

\"Instagram<\/p>\n

Consider, for instance, BARK\u2019s top post by engagement rate during this time period, which was a repurposed TikTok video of a dog rushing to look out the window when he hears something. The caption explained why the dog could listen to what humans couldn\u2019t and why an Australian Shepherd like the one in the video is especially great at hearing even the slightest sound. The Reel earned an engagement rate of 1,990%, 1,600x the average engagement rate for the retail industry in Instagram.<\/p>\n

\n Dig deeper: \n<\/strong>Find out what is a good engagement rate on Instagram<\/a> and how to calculate it.<\/div>\n\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The Best Pet Brand on Twitter: Blue Buffalo<\/h3>\n

What They Do Best<\/b>: Encouraging conversation<\/p>\n

Over on Twitter, Blue Buffalo<\/a> reigns supreme with a strategy that takes some time but clearly paid off for the brand in 2023, as they used conversational content and consistent replies to keep the conversation going. Many of Blue Buffalo\u2019s tweets for the year were memes or photos, but the key was what they wrote in or about the image. Blue Buffalo\u2019s Twitter account used their tweets to ask for responses in the form of pet photos.<\/p>\n

This simple strategy fits right in with the findings of a Mars Petcare survey<\/a>, which found that 65% of pet owners post about their pets at least twice per week. Blue Buffalo essentially gave them an outlet to post. With another survey by OnePoll<\/a> finding that owners take about 400 photos of their animals per year, those pet parents have a wealth of pictures to choose from. It makes sense why asking for pet photos would be an effective way to gain responses online.<\/p>\n

\"Pet<\/p>\n

Blue Buffalo\u2019s top post by engagement rate was a photo asking people to retweet if their Twitter account is run by a cat and share pictures of the cat behind it all. The tweet garnered an engagement rate of 90.9%, which is 6,060x the average engagement rate for the retail industry on Twitter.<\/p>\n

What also seems to have helped Blue Buffalo is the fact that the social media manager took the time to respond to many of the photos in the replies. Although asking for photos initiated the conversation, the engagement rate continued to increase as the social media manager kept the discussions going.<\/p>\n

The Best Pet Brand on TikTok: Spot & Tango<\/h3>\n

What They Do Best<\/b>: Entertaining over advertising<\/p>\n

Pet food delivery service Spot & Tango<\/a> partnered with popular content creator Tyler Regan<\/a> to help them secure the title of the best pet brand on TikTok. Regan is best known for his funny videos about strange yet relatable interactions. Although he does videos about interactions between neighbors or customers and workers, he did several videos throughout the year for Spot & Tango showing an interaction between someone looking to get a dog and someone else trying to steer them in the right direction for their needs.<\/p>\n

\"Spot<\/p>\n

For instance, Spot & Tango\u2019s top TikTok by engagement rate during this time period was about someone looking to apply to adopt a boxer. In the video, Regan can be seen playing both the potential adoptee and the shelter worker. The result is a funny video that\u2019s all too relatable for boxer owners, as Regan details a boxer\u2019s propensity for being energetic, twerking, and stealing all the room on the bed. The TikTok gained an engagement rate of 1,660%, over 110,000x the average engagement rate for the retail industry on TikTok.<\/p>\n

Regan also did a litany of other videos for Spot & Tango, including ones detailing all the dogs different celebrities have, comedy-laced explainer videos about different breeds, and a series of videos centered around a weekly joke about dogs. The videos are highly engaging and fun, and they noticeably lack direct references to Spot & Tango<\/p>\n

So, why is it such a good strategy if Spot & Tango isn\u2019t making direct advertisements? It\u2019s all about creating a TikTok strategy that actually fits what people want to see on TikTok. According to a survey from The New Consumer<\/a>, the top two reasons people spend time on TikTok are \u201cmindless entertainment\u201d and \u201ccomic relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although you might learn a thing or two about dogs from Regan\u2019s videos, these TikToks are more about having fun and making people laugh than they are about anything else. Regan\u2019s videos, as funny as they are, will pull people to Spot & Tango\u2019s TikTok page to find more comedy.<\/p>\n

There, they\u2019ll also find links to Spot & Tango\u2019s website, where they can learn more about the company\u2019s products and services. The comedic TikToks work as more indirect advertising instead of using the videos as direct ads.<\/p>\n

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