Pup-ularity contest: The advertising practices of popular animal influencers on Instagram

Given the rise of online influencers, this research aims to analyze non-human social media influencers. Using a qualitative in-depth content analysis of Instagram images and captions, we analyze the social presence strategies—affective, interactive, and cohesive strategies—and the social media influencer advertising practices of top animal influencers. While all three social presence strategies were used, animal influencers most often employed...