Brief History of Dog Photos and the Dog Selfie in Social Media
At My Doggie Shoppe, our personal favorite social media channel is Instagram. We love this platform, because it allows us to connect to our users directly by sharing our interest for the love of dogs. Today in this article we will be discussing on how to take the perfect dog selfie. Today we will discuss some of the history of social media, and describe how dog lovers can share their passion through the use of Instagram.
With the ever increasing popularity of social media, people have been able to express themselves in ways that were not available in the past. Currently, Facebook, Instagram and even YouTube have taken the internet by storm for shareable content. This new era of content distribution enables users to participate with content creators and audiences directly.
The beautiful part of social media enables content creators to collaborate directly with their audiences to express feelings and opinions through comments and likes. The icing on the cake would be to post captions to share to your audience. These captions will help bring context to the moment.
Evolution of the Selfie
Our furry friends are not excluded from this trend. It is not surprising that dog lovers share their dog selfies on social media every day. It’s almost and addiction when you are following such hashtags as #dogsofinstagram #Doglovers, etc. Most dog owners can agree that Instagram has taken the landscape by storm, by allowing us to share those perfect moments with our pups. We have a special surprise for you, and will save you the best hashtags we feel that will allow you to grow your Instagram account consistently. These hashtags will located near the end of the article.
Jiff, The Dog Who Stole The Spotlight
In some amazing cases, some dogs have stolen the spotlight on Instagram. These dog sensations may in fact be already dominating social media feeds. One of these furry internet stars is Jiff Pom. A Pomeranian puppy who holds a world record for the fastest dog to run on two paws. In 2015, he was nicknamed “the most popular dog in the world”, a plus to his widespread online popularity. This Pomeranian pup is among one of the most followed dog on Instagram. Additionally, Jiff’s road to stardom has landed the account to a whopping 8.4 Million followers!
When to Take The Perfect Dog Selfie
Anytime you would like to capture the moment, can be the perfect time to capture your pup’s story. Here I will describe some ideas to get you started.
Setting
The setting is important because it tells a story that will capture your audience’s interest. Some of our favorite settings is when we are taking shots at the beach, during walks near wooded areas, and even when there is snow. The setting helps highlight the story you are trying to tell to your audience, and is the first thing that will captivate their imagination. You can use these settings to build onto your captions.
Ride The Trend
Seasonally themes and trends also make for great photo ideas. For example, the holidays are approaching quickly and if you prepare your social media pages to catch onto trends, you will like draw a larger audience to your page. Take advantage of seasonal hashtags and get inspired by observing current trends.
Show Them What You Got!
Finally, if you are involved in any dog related business, one of the best ways to promote your business page is to work with brand ambassadors. They will be the one’s who will represent your brand image. For example, if you operate a dog grooming business, you can photos of a client’s dog during a grooming session, with their permission. It shows your audience what services you offer, and tells your brand’s story.
The Difficulties of the Dog Selfie
dogs may not understand the important role Selfies play in our culture, but we certainly do. There is nothing a proud dog owner likes better than to post their the day in the life of their best friend. However, at times there are difficulties during the actual experience. Any dog owner will tell you that it is tough to get your dog to sit long enough for a selfie, let alone catch them looking into the camera.
Taking your dog a selfie requires skillful multi-tasking. You need to hold the camera to the right corner, entertain your dog to sit still, make sure you smile and press the button without dropping your phone. Many mistakes can occur, and we feel that the selfie process can be simplified by following our tips and guidelines on how to take the perfect dog selfie.
Preparing Your Dog For the Perfect Dog Selfie
Take the Shot in a Relaxed State
- It is better to play with your dogs and exercise with them before taking out your camera. The best time to take a selfie can be after your dog is tired of playing and exhausted.
- Pose with your dog instead of trying to make them pose with you. It may be difficult for your dog to sit or lie exactly where you want. If you want to be included, the best thing is to sit or lie with them. It is much easier to adjust your position than forcing them to change their position.
How To Grab Their Attention
- Some devices like a Dog Selfie Stick simplify this process. Many of these types of devices hold a treat to encourage your pup to stare into the camera. These devices effortlessly attach to your smartphone or DSLR camera in seconds with the provided clip. Additionally, wherever you go, you will be always ready to take a best selfie without worrying about odd angles for the shot.
- Bribe your dogs with treats. Keep the treat above camera and allow it to get your dog attention. It is likely that your dogs will move to a cute position in front of the camera while sniffing the treat.
So tired that I fit in a cup!
General Photography Tips
- Use the best camera available. The better the camera, the better the images will be. If you are a dog enthusiast, or hoping to make your dog an Instagram star, you should consider a good camera as a potential investment.
- Use a simple background. The simple the background provide more focus towards your dog. Also choose backgrounds that will make both of you stand out. For example, if you have a dog with a black coat, you should look for a light colored background.
- Use good lighting. Nothing can be compare to natural light when it comes to photography. Get outside on a bright day and take a shot during golden hour. You have a choice before the start of sunrise, or near sunset. If you are taking the selfie indoors, use as much light as possible. Please avoid using the flash as it can be stressful for your dog.
- And finally, be patient with your dog. Patience is the key ingredient to a successful dog photo. The canine attention span is much are shorter than ours. Especially if your dog is still a puppy. Puppy owners know their dogs want to constantly play and explore.
Burst Shots can do wonders!
Why do we love Instagram?
We love Instagram because it connects us directly with people who share our interests for dogs. If you have ever visited our Instagram page, immediately you will be greeted with happy dogs posing for photos. A lot of these photos were taken using the previous tips mentioned above.
We feel, Instagram gives the tactful social media experience and creates the highlights our passion we have for dogs. Photos tell a story beyond words and that is what we like to share with our doggie family! Finally, since you all deserve it we would like to leave you with our methods in choosing the best hashtags for the perfect dog selfie.
Optimizing the Instagram Dog Selfie
- Hashtags are commonplace to share your content with individuals who are interested in your passions. The first place to start is to use a broad hashtag like #dog and observe how the best performing dog photos are faring in regards to their hashtag selection. A list of twenty is a good starting point to identify how premium winning pages execute their Instagram posts.
- You can use the online website Best Hashtags to come up with popular hashtags that are successful in your niche.
- Evaluate the number of posts for each hashtag category that is can be seen through the Instagram explorer page. Ideally, you want to pick a hashtag between five hundred thousand to three million posts (500k – 3M). The reason for this selection is to avoid under stimulated hashtags and overused hashtags. Generally under stimulated hashtags will bring low traffic while overused hashtags will draw potentially bot content on your posts.
- If you ask a question in your caption you have a higher chance to encourage people to comment on your post.
- Content is king when it comes to getting those likes. Many modern mobile cameras are quite suitable to take quality photos. We suggest you set your camera to burst mode and choose the best photo from the arrangement.
- Testing is always key, Keep testing different ways you can optimize your posts, and repeat when you find a winning post style.
Best Hashtags
As promised, we are going to provide you our procedures for finding the best hashtags. The First step in beginning hashtag research is to look at the explore page of your Instagram niche. Get a few ideas and write them down! Additionally, you can use best-hastags to find the most trending hashtags in your niche. Keep testing different hashtags in your posts , and find out what works for you. We prefer to use minimum two word hashtags. Please avoid single word hashtags. They tend to attract “bot” activity and non- genuine accounts. For example, hashtags like #dog #puppy are ill advised to use.
Featured Product Spotlight
The Dog Selfie Stick is one of our favorite gadgets that we use day in and out. Many of our photos from our Instagram feed have been taken with the use of this device. Feel free to check out this product which contains our viral video of this device in action, and describes exactly how it operates.
As Always feel free to explore our shop. At My Doggie Shoppe we strongly believe in sourcing our fans with the best doggie products. Please like and share this article if you enjoyed or learned something today!