How to Make a Unique Instagram for Your Cat?

By Hannah Baker December 29, 2018

Maintaining a carefully crafted internet persona is a difficult task. You have to take great photos, make clever captions, and build a fan base. It’s a lot of work!  But that’s only if you’re human. If you’re an adorable cat, a cute dog, or a unique pet all around - it’s actually pretty easy. Well, for the pet, that is. All they have to do is sit there and look sweet, something that comes to them naturally. Okay, maybe occasionally they have to sit for a treat. So what? It’s an easy nine to five job, in our opinion.

The humans behind the camera, though? That’s a different story. Cultivating and maintaining a successful Instagram presence for your cat isn’t the easiest feat. But if you’re sure that your cat has something unique about them, or they’re just downright the cutest pet on the planet, you could be on your way to making your cat an Instagram star. 

But how, you ask? We’re glad you asked. Read on.

Step 1: Have a cute cat.

Okay, right. This one seems pretty self-explanatory. But why not take a moment to plug the various shelters around the country that have thousands of adorable, Instagram worthy cats available for adoption? Perhaps you only have a dog. Or perhaps you only have one cat that would rather hide on the roof than have its picture taken. Then here’s step 1: adopt a cat. And here’s a bonus tip: They. Are. All. So. Cute. Knowing this fact makes the process pretty dang easy.

Step 2: Believe in your cute cat.

It may seem silly, but if you’re truly interested in launching your cat into Instagram stardom, you have to be pretty committed. Of course, we all think that our pets are beautiful, but do you think that your cat is the most unique, show-stopping, incredible, unbelievable, and downright perfect cat that has ever walked the earth? Must the entire world see this cat or else they’re missing out? Good. Then read on.

Step 3: Um, give your cat a bath.

If your cat is anything like mine, he or she is likely covered in an array of debris at any given moment from rolling around in the dirt like a dog. If you have an inside-only cat, good news, you can probably skip this step! However, if you have an indoor-outdoor cat like mine, you may want to do a bit of bathing before you take any pictures or videos. After all, cats are at their fluffiest when they’ve dried off after a nice bath!

Step 4: Make an account purely for your cat.

If you already have a personal account, even if this personal account has progressively turned into an account that only showcases pictures of your cat, make a new one dedicated solely to your cat. Moreover, a lot of the owners of Instagram-famous cats like to set up the Instagram as if the cat itself was running the account, so perhaps this is a route to consider. Regardless, you should make your cat an account of his or her own. Consider throwing in some puns in the username or the bio. Also, in the bio, you should include anything that makes your kitty unique, including their likes/dislikes, habits, backstory, favorite resting spot, etc. Once you have some brand partnerships (see Step 12), too, the bio is a great place to put a link to these brands.

Step 5: Post pictures!

At this point in your life, you may already have a back-catalog of cat photos that take up your entire storage space on your phone. Great. Post a few to get started! Introduce the world to your cat and get a few conversations going. Use the first few posts as a way to establish your cat’s story, showcase how cute they are, and get a tone set for the profile. If you’re going for goofy or funny, make some jokes in the first posts. If you’re going for a royal vibe (maybe you have a Sphynx or a Siberian cat), take on a tone that sounds better-than-thou. People love cats with big personalities!

Step 6: Keep posting pictures!

This one may seem obvious, but you have to keep posting regularly. Once you grab a few followers, they’ll want to see the content that they followed the page for. So this means posting about once a day, maybe more, sometimes maybe less. To keep posting pictures, you need to take more pictures, obviously. So let’s explore a few tips on how to take unique, striking photographs of your cat.

Step 7: Take cool pictures and videos.

People love to see cats doing funny or unique things. Does your cat sit or shake for a treat? Wonderful - record it. Can he jump through a hoop to get to his snack bowl? So cool - show it. Does she make an adorably weird noise while she eats? Let’s see it. You’ll basically become the constant paparazzi for your pet. Follow it around. Take a bunch of pictures and videos, and then select the best of the best. To get your cat to look at the camera, consider holding a treat just above the camera. This will put them in the perfect position to highlight their beautiful face and wide eyes.

Step 8: Get creative.

Most cats do not like wearing clothes or costumes, but if you’re lucky enough to have a cat who tolerates that sort of thing, you may want to take advantage. Especially if you have a hairless cat, followers will love to see your pet in adorable sweaters. If a holiday is coming up, consider dressing up your cat for the occasion. But please: if your cat absolutely hates this sort of thing, don’t force it! Instagram isn’t worth ruining your relationship over (cats may or may not hold grudges…)

Step 9: Interact on the page.

Once you have a group of followers, stay active on the account! Reply to comments, interact with other related pages, follow people to get followers back. It’s important to be adamant about this step so that users keep coming back to your page and see that you’re legitimate, kind, and responsive. People love to tell stories about their pets, so if a user relates to something that you posted, it’s likely that they will tell you about it. Create good relationships on the account. If you chose to position the Instagram as if your cat was the owner, make sure to keep this tone consistent and reply to people as if the cat was talking. A bonus tip if you choose to speak from the cat’s perspective: interact with other cats on Instagram. People love this.

Step 10: Use hashtags

To gain more followers and become part of the Instagram cat community, it’s important to use relevant hashtags. To do this, find a few similar cat pages (we’ll list some below!) that you find interesting, and see what hashtags they use. Then follow some of these hashtags, look at the posts, and see what other hashtags are similarly used. You don’t have to go overboard with these - five to ten hashtags a post will do. However, it’s important to find your niche and to use hashtags that relate to this. Are you going for funny cat? High maintenance cat? Cat and dog friendship? Explore what it is that makes your cat unique and then find hashtags that tell this story.

Step 11: Don’t give up!

It may take some time before your cat gains traction and becomes relatively famous on Instagram. Stick with it. Cats on Instagram are some of the most followed and tight-knit community out there, so the users will eventually discover your furry friend! Try out new things, showcase your cat’s talents and personality, and never stop believing that you have the most adorable kitty that the world would be lucky to see.

Step 12: Partner with brands.

Once you have a following, you’ll probably be able to partner up with some brands to do giveaways, contests, and other events of a similar nature. This is beneficial for both you and the brand, as it will help you gain more followers and it will help the brand get more business. For some of the most popular cat accounts, they’re able to partner with big-name pet food brands, pet toy brands, and much more. And - if you’re a business type, consider that if you grow your following well enough on the cat’s Instagram, you could open up a unique business that’s named after them. Your followers would likely convert to customers!

Step 13: Check out these popular cat accounts on Instagram and then find more!

@nala_cat
@waffles_the_cat
@the.dailykitten
@cats_of_instagram
@balam_says
@rosee.and.toffee
@memphis2nosecat
@thewrinklebabes

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