Catfluencer – a combination of the words "cat", English for cat, and "influencer", i.e. a person who is particularly well-known and influential in social networks and conveys certain advertising messages, views or the like. With Catfluencern, however, the focus of the social media profile is not on a person, but on a cat.
In Sabrina Stallmann’s case, there are even two cats: Finlay and Salem. With her two British Shorthair cats the Halternerin reaches a following of 17.500 followers on Instagram with her account @finlays_kingdom.
Discovered the joy of photography through Instagram
It all started in 2019, when the 26-year-old wanted to get a cat into the house together with her boyfriend. Through Instagram, the two have found their dream cat breed: British Shorthair in the color "silver shaded". "This is how we found Finlay," says Sabrina Stallmann. A year later, she added Salem, a black British Shorthair cat.
Because Sabrina Stallmann found her cat via Instagram, she thought about creating an account as well. "At first, I only uploaded cell phone pictures. But I enjoyed taking pictures so much that I then bought a camera," she says. "It then became more and more. Also in my circle of friends with other animals."
How Sabrina Stallmann has become so successful with her Instagram account, she can not even say today. "Cats are always well received," she says. "And I was lucky that a video of mine went viral."On it the silver cat was to be seen, how it stretches itself at the window. Meanwhile, Sabrina Stallmann had to take down this video from her page. It violated Instagram’s new music guidelines.
"Only Instagram would not be for me"
Some of her fellow catfluencers have gone completely independent with their social media profiles. They finance their livelihood through advertising deals and collaborations. Despite thousands of followers, however, Instagram is still a hobby for Sabrina Stallmann. Her main job is working in a customer dialogue center.
"Only Instagram wouldn’t be for me," says the 26-year-old. "I can’t even say why. It’s incredibly fun for me, but the pressure of numbers is high."
Because after every picture or video that is posted, you look at the statistics: What is the range?? How many likes did I get? Which video may have flopped? The Instagram algorithm is tough as nails: if you don’t post regularly and are active, you get played out to fewer people in their timelines.
Nominated for audience award at Petfluencer Awards
Nevertheless, Sabrina Stallmann has already had her first success as a catfluencer. She was invited to the German Petfluencer Awards in November 2021, the "Oscars for four-legged friends," as the event is described. The Instagram and Tiktok stars from Germany, whose accounts focus on animals, came together there. "There were even ice sculptures in the shape of cats," says the 26-year-old.
Sabrina Stallmann’s Instagram channel was nominated for the audience award. Even though she didn’t win, it was a great event and experience for the Haltern woman. Especially to get to know the other petfluencers for a change. One of the things she likes most about the platform: "My favorite thing about Instagram is how many people you can meet who share your interests."
In the future, Sabrina Stallmann wishes above all: quite a lot of photographing. "But I’m missing the animal models," she says. "I would like to photograph more dogs. That’s something else again. Salem knows a few tricks, but cats just don’t listen to commands the way dogs do."
In general, the 26-year-old finds it more pleasant to photograph animals than people. "Humans always have something wrong with themselves in pictures. Animals don’t do that," she says and laughs.