Petfluencer Marketing: Animals as Opinion Leaders in Social Media Marketing – A Comparative Content Analysis of Instagram Activity by Tika the Iggy, a Dog Influencer and Marta Sierra, a Human Influencer

<jats:p>Petfluencers represent a distinctive and rapidly growing segment within influencer marketing, as animals gain large online audiences through carefully constructed digital personas managed by their owners. These dogs, cats, and other animals frequently collaborate with brands and appear in sponsored content across various social media platforms, particularly Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Their growing popularity raises important questions regarding the effectiveness of animal influencers compared to traditional human influencers in shaping audience engagement and supporting marketing communication goals.This study aims to examine how petfluencers differ from traditional human influencers in terms of content characteristics, brand presence, and audience engagement. The research employs manual content analysis to investigate Instagram posts published in 2023 by Tika the Iggy, a well-known Italian Greyhound petfluencer, and Marta Sierra, a Spanish human fashion influencer recognized for lifestyle and fashion-related content. The analysis focuses on several dimensions, including posting frequency, dominant content formats, brand appearances, and engagement indicators such as likes and interactions.The findings reveal that video content emerged as the dominant format for both influencers, reflecting broader trends in social media communication and audience preferences. Nevertheless, notable differences were identified between the two cases. Marta Sierra, the human influencer, published a higher volume of sponsored and brand-related posts, yet these often generated relatively lower engagement rates. In contrast, Tika the Iggy, the dog influencer, posted less frequently but achieved substantially higher audience interaction and stronger engagement overall. These results suggest that petfluencers occupy a unique position within influencer marketing and may serve as highly effective and emotionally engaging actors in digital campaigns.</jats:p>