Animal accounts can have big payoffs – both emotionally and financially.
When 27-year-old Megan Cotton started accepting brand deals for her growing Instagram account for her dog and cat – who are actually friends – she started a whole new career for herself and her family.
Although their account Tweet embed She’s been receiving requests for the brand’s deals since reaching 30,000 followers last year, and Cotton didn’t start entertaining them until the end of the year, she told Insider.
“I had no interest [then] “Because I was like, ‘I’m doing this page for fun,'” she said. “But one time when the brand arrived and they told me how much money they were making, I was like, ‘Wait…Wait a second.’ I started diving in and doing research on industry rates. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m probably going to make a living out of this.’ “
It accepted its first brand deal at the end of 2021 from PetSmart. It consisted of one Instagram post for the main network and five Instagram Stories. She has signed about two deals per month since January 2022 for the account, which now has more than 92,000 followers. So far, Cotton has made more than $22,000 this year in brand deals alone. Insider check this number with documents provided by Cotton.
As her pets Instagram account grows, Coton wants to continue choosing the brands she works with
thebeagleandthebun / Instagram
Cotton could theoretically make more money, but she said she’s chosen to only work with brands she’s naturally compatible with.
“I receive dozens of emails a week from all kinds of different brands,” she said. “There are a lot of brands that I have turned down. I will only work with brands that I like and will use in real life – that is one of my biggest rules. Someone offered me a lot of money once, and I said no because I don’t like your brand.”
From time to time, Cotton also offers deals on brands they really like, usually in animal care and their products.
Because of the non-disclosure clauses in their contracts, they cannot disclose their negotiated prices. But she said she makes between $3,000 and $7,000 per campaign on average.
Brand deals are still her biggest source of income, making up up to 70% of her income to date. to her merchandise shop It is her second biggest source of income, Amazon storefront and some bonus that she paid from posting Instagram Reels account for the rest of her earnings.
“Many of my friends and family are shocked at how much money I make doing this.”
Cotton, who is based in Seattle, still has a part-time job doing online marketing, but she dedicates most of her time to curating Instagram content.
The Instagram handle @thebeagleandthebun was originally created three years ago for her 7-year-old beagle Chloe and her bunny named Roe. Rou died a year and a half ago, but he was Unconventional friendship between pets Beagles were originally bred to hunt animals such as rabbits – which gained their initial counting fame. Cotton decided to keep the handle because it’s an attractive name. She now has a one-year-old kitten named Chlea who is very distinguished by Chloe, and the two are closely related.
“It’s a really fun thing to do just because my passion has always been photography and animals,” she said of the account. “I started this because it was such a fun thing. Once I realized that I could turn it into a career, it was really exciting to find what you love to do in life, and that you can live from it. It was really amazing and shocking because it is such a pet account.”
