6 Ways to Make Your Pet Famous on Facebook

You’ve probably heard of Boo, “The World’s Cutest Dog.” Maybe you’ve even oohed and ahhed during one of his national TV appearances, read his book or snuggled with his plush toy clone. Boo’s rise to fame all started with a simple just-for-fun Facebook page that went viral, and now the puff ball Pomeranian has more than 3 million likes!

Yes, Boo is pretty stinkin’ cute, but isn’t your pet equally adorable? We discovered the social media secrets behind the success of Boo and a few other top dogs of Facebook. Follow our tips to make your dog famous - or at least get him few fans.

Making Your Pet Famous on Facebook: Getting Started

Creating a Facebook fan page for your pet is easy. Go to your account settings and then click on the link for “Create a Page” at the bottom of the screen. Select “Artist, Band or Public Figure.” Then choose a category - most pet pages are listed as entertainers, public figures or comedians. You’ll also want to pick a name for your pet. You could use your pet’s real name, but you might want to get more creative. For example, Kristin Moon created a page for her four black and white French bulldogs cleverly called The Moon Pieds.

Next, add a profile picture for your pet. This is your chance to show off a cute close-up of your furball’s face, so choose wisely. You can also fill out the info page with location, birthday, awards and a description of your pet. Now it’s time for your first wall post.

Making Your Pet Famous on Facebook: Be Authentic

When you post on your pet’s page, remember that you’re writing from your furball’s perspective, not yours. Give him his own voice and personality.

“People love that Boo’s posts seem genuinely from him, with a clear voice and simple text,” says April Whitney, the Chronicle Book’s publicist for Boo: The Life of the World’s Cutest Dog.

Making Your Pet Famous on Facebook: Focus on Cuteness and Captions

Not surprisingly, most fans of pet pages respond best to wall posts that include photos and videos of your pet.

“Boo fans want cute pictures with brief captions,” says Whitney. “Those posts get vastly more Likes and Shares than product announcements, charity posts or links to outside entities.”

And while quick cell phone snaps are okay, when you use a better camera your photos will be clearer, more adorable and more powerful. As for captions – if you’re funny, go for it. Everyone likes to laugh.

Making Your Pet Famous on Facebook: Post for a Cause

Many of the most popular pups on Facebook also post for a cause. Depending on your goals, you may want to go this route.

Take Stacey Mae, a Great Swiss Mountain Dog for example. Her fan page started out slowly, but once the therapy dog started a special Teddy Bear Project, her number of likes grew dramatically. She now has over 15,000 fans and the program, which helps channel stuffed animal and blanket donations to the elderly in nursing homes and kids in hospitals, is a big success.

“Stacey's page is about being a therapy dog," says owner Maria Mandel. "People really like hearing stories about Stacey helping others and bringing joy."

If you don’t want to start your own charity project, you can promote others. Moon says fans are very sympathetic and offer up a lot of supportive comments whenever The Moon Pieds ask for healing vibes for a sick pet friend or good thoughts for one who has passed. You could also link to local dog rescue organizations or pets that need to be rescued form high-kill shelters.

Making Your Pet Famous on Facebook: Add Something Unique

The Moon Pieds, who have more than 1,000 fans, started a special daily feature called Skipper’s Sit of the Day. Moon says Skipper likes to sit in unusual positions and she frequently captures them candidly and posts one each day. Now she also features friend-submitted photos on “Skipper’s Guest Star Sit of the Day,” which got an overwhelming response. There is currently about an 8-week wait from when photos are submitted until they are featured.

Making Your Pet Famous on Facebook: Build Your Fan Base

While you can’t control whether or not your page goes viral in a big way like Boo’s did, there are a few things you can do to start building up your following. First, ask your Facebook friends to “like” it. If you participate in any other pet communities, ask friends there to follow you on Facebook. Moon also suggests reaching out to other pet pages that have large numbers of fans and tell them that you’re looking for friends, enter Facebook photo contests that will link back to your page, comment on other dogs’ pages, post on dog related pages such as magazines or favorite brands, or post videos on YouTube with a link back to your page. Good luck!