Here’s How Your Dog Can Go Viral

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Does your Shih Tzu have personality plus? Does your Weimaraner display all of the attributes needed to be a celebrity? If your canine companion displays all of the skills and innate qualities that combine to form the makings of a superstar, there are some ways you can help share the jaw-dropping charm and mind-bending star quality of your furry pal to the rest of the world. The tools to become the man or woman behind the dog are right at your fingertips!

Tik Tok

All the cool kids are doing it. You’ve heard about it, and now that you have discovered that your pet is chomping at the bit to break into the big time, there is no time like the present to open up a Tik Tok account and start posting clips of all that your pet/client has to offer, one six-second video clip at a time. Sure, Tik Tok has changed their winning format from 6-second clips to allow 15 seconds of footage at a maximum, but part of creating a star comes with understanding the audience at hand. Keep those adorable pet vids short and sweet (sort of like a dachshund) to appeal to short attention spans.

SEE ALSO: 23 Tech-Forward Pet Accessories To Share With Your Furry Friend

Start a YouTube Channel

If you have started a Tik Tok, and your favorite fur-covered client is starting to catch the attention of the entertainment-starved public, now is the time to expand upon your dog’s many talents. While trying to remember that attention spans in the modern world are short, create lots of unique content of your pet that showcases whatever talents they possess. If your dog is able to yodel, tap dance, paint landscapes, or expertly apply makeup, this is his or her chance to really shine.

Here are some useful items to invest in to help you and your pet produce professional-looking, unique content for the highly competitive world of YouTube:

• Film editing software: The industry standard for film editing is (debatably) Adobe Premier, but you can find free or cheap film editing software out there if you look online and do some hunting. Ideally, you can learn to edit your pet’s videos, because paying someone to do it is cost-prohibitive when on a budget. If your pet’s brand starts to take off, you will probably need more than just a smartphone to film and edit the footage to hold on to your audience and to grow.
• Lighting and sound equipment: smartphones take pretty amazing film footage these days, and you can probably get by with a smartphone camera for quite a while before investing in a good camera if you get some reasonably priced lighting equipment and a better microphone. Trial and error will help you find your dog’s best lighting. One pro-tip for filming outdoors with a smartphone is to put a small, round band-aid over your phone’s mic to prevent the wind from ruining the sound on your videos. You can get a professional-sounding microphone for less than $100.
• Invest in a professional-looking backdrop: these are basically huge, durable posters that sit in the background. They are printed in any number of ways to suit your needs, and they are usually under $25 for a low-priced backdrop. If you are on a “bare-bones” budget, use a clean white sheet to film indoor footage, especially if you don’t want to expose the dog crate and big bag of Ol’ Roy kibble that is sitting in your living room.

Spit Shine Your Pet’s Brand

Now that Fido’s YouTube is catching on, it might be time to prepare for great amounts of fame and fortune. Now is the time to establish a solid brand. First things first, you need to separate your personal assets from your pet’s growing income as a pet celebrity. This will protect you from losing everything you own in the event of some catastrophic event that throws your charming dog client into an undeserved bankruptcy.

1. Start an LLC under your pet’s business name. This can be accomplished through any lawyer (if you are in the US) for under $1k. If you are comfortable with the courts and with legalese, then you can do the legwork to set up your LLC yourself for significantly less. Try to come up with a catchy business name for your charismatic pooch. Write down a list of potential business names, and then choose the one that you think has the most pizazz.
2. Streamline your pet’s online presence. When your pet started out, he or she might have had a Facebook fan page and an Instagram, with avatars and profile pictures that were chosen willy-nilly from snapshots of puppy life. Get rid of that profile picture from two years back that features your up-and-coming celebrity pet with a chewed-up sock and a visible eye booger. Get some more professional headshots, find the most flattering one, and post that same photo as the profile picture for every single social networking platform. You are trying to burn this same image into the brain of the public, so post that bad boy anywhere and everywhere. Don’t change this picture too often. You can update, but when you do, do it across the board every time. You want people to remember that profile picture and recognize it.
3. Delete any racy tweets from years past. If your pet belonged to any fringe political groups with questionable opinions about politics or religion, now is the time to erase all traces of that phase in his or her life and pray that none of your salty cousins have covertly screenshotted any opinionated posts or jokes that have been made in poor taste. Try to break off any relationships with former friends from the dog part who may or may not have introduced your young, naive dog to fringe politics or obscure, isolated religious communities. Be nice when you do it, though. Take them out for a Starbucks, and make like you are moving to a place far away that has awesome dog parks but little or no phone service, and promise to keep in touch. Change your contact numbers and emails, and prepare for a bright new future as the owner of a celebrity pet!

SEE ALSO: 9 Best Pet Trackers Available On Amazon

Dip Your Paw Into Online Influencing

Influencers are huge right now. The amount of money and free products that some pet influencers receive annually is enough to make you break out in hot spots. Start by bragging about specific products in your video content, such as your favorite food for dogs, or a particularly appealing squeaky toy. If your video goes viral, and that company sees your pet as an asset, you might end up with an endorsement deal!

If your dog is particularly good at looking good standing next to expensive items, start putting that puppy next to all of the flashy bling that you can, and don’t be afraid to place products in the background in more subversive ways. Free advertising has magically turned into paid advertising for many lucky influencers in the past decade, and your pet may be the next lucky one to ride the first-class only Influencer train to stardom.

Prepare for Greatness

Now that you and the cutest dog in the whole, entire world have covered the main bases, the sky’s the limit on where you and your dog can go. Hold on tight for the rocket ride to come!