How can a puppy-influencer change over 3 months?! – Ash Cook, Comberton Sixth form

                                                                                                                

I last interviewed Lily from @Angus.the.border back in November and wanted to an update to see how much a beginner influencer can change over three months while being in full-time education. When I first interviewed her, she had been running the account for just over a year and I wanted to see how much she and her account has grown over 3 months. But first, a quick introduction.

“Hi! I’m Lily and I run an Instagram account for my red grizzle border terrier, Angus. He is now two years old, and I am sixteen, running the account while also attending sixth form as a full-time student.”

 

What have you achieved since we last talked?

“We have grown our account by at least 500 followers since we last spoke and we are now at 1150 followers which is amazing and crazy. We were able to perform our very first giveaway to celebrate 1000 followers while partnering with All About Dogs Show which we are now brand ambassadors for at this year’s dog shows. Angus has his second birthday, and we hosted an Instagram party to celebrate with all our supporters. I created a theme of everyone and their pups wearing blue, and a hashtag called #angusistwotoday for people to join in on the festivities. Of course, we celebrated pancake day recently by giving him actual doggy pancakes made with banana and egg instead of our human ones like we did last year!”

How do think you and Angus have grown in the past 3 ½ months?

“Angus is a lot more sensible and mature, now he is two he has lost a lot of his puppy energy and antics. Of course, he is still very playful but is a bit more controlled and has learnt new tricks such as “sit pretty” where he can sit and stand like a meercat which is very cute. I have become a lot more organised due to the new responsibilities such as being a brand ambassador and hosting events. I think I’ve realised more of the reality of running a professional Instagram account. People look at it and it looks fun and, don’t get me wrong it is, but most people don’t realise how much effort it takes to train, take photos, and edit them, come up with ideas for events etc. While I am grateful for every moment of it, it’s a lot more tiring and time consuming than lots would think.”

What is the thing you are most proud of doing since November?

“Definitely becoming a Brand Ambassador for All About Dogs Shows. Our role is promoting their company and their shows, they also very kindly invited us to one for free. We will be promoting the shows via our Instagram account to show our love, support and how excited we are to be attending the shows. Also to spread how doing such has so many benefits, since it was attending a dog show which inspired us to start our social media journey. To help promote this we held a celebratory giveaway in which we gave the winners two tickets to any show of their choice. We will be attending all four shows in Newark, Newbury, Norfolk and Hylands park in April, May, and August.

What else do you hope to achieve?

The big, amazing goal would still be to become a Pawsome Paws Boutique Brand Representative. We adore how far we have gotten but I think growth will always be a goal of mine both personally and through our account. My next big milestone I hope to reach is 5000 followers that would be absolutely wonderful. A more personal goal is to meet some of the online friends we have made. Growing a big community is amazing and we are looking forward to meeting many people at all the shows we are attending this year. This year is crazy for us, we have Crufts this month, even though we cannot take angus, then we have all the shows in spring and summer and there are so many holidays in winter. Despite this we are so so excited and grateful for everyone who has followed our journey and how much we have grown in just a few months. I know I sound cringey, but I am so in love with everybody who follows us. Yes, I would still post even if people didn’t see our posts but knowing there are people who do genuinely enjoy it make everything so much more fun and worth it.

 

And that was my lovely interview with Lily Burton from @Angus.the.border on Instagram. I love this account and the amazing human behind it so if you love supporting small creators or even just looking at cute dogs, pay a visit to their Instagram account. Lily’s story and growth is so inspirational as you can clearly see a young person following their dreams and just doing what makes them happy, something everyone needs to do sometimes.