With competition increasing on social media, there is a need for businesses to think of unique ways to promote their brands. One of the most effective ways is through collaboration. By working with other brands and influencers, you can have a comprehensive social media promotion strategy to drive engagement.
However, if it’s your first time collaborating with other brands or influencers, it can feel like navigating unchartered waters. This article will guide you on leveraging relationships with other brands to grow engagement on your social media account.
What is social media collaboration?
This is a strategic partnership between individuals, brands, or businesses, where you agree to co-create content and leverage each other’s audiences. The partnership can be between influencers, non-profit organizations, businesses, brands, etc. The collaboration can be in different forms, such as:
- Guest posts
- Joint campaigns
- Co-hosted events
- Giveaways
Benefits of social media collaborations
Here are some good reasons why businesses should collaborate.
Reach new audiences
When two brands join forces, they can create a new world where you can reach each other’s customers. This will result in increased visibility in the digital space.
Vote of confidence
When a popular brand or influencer endorses your product, this is seen as a vote of confidence in the brand. This can build the trust and credibility for your brand.
More engagement on your posts
When you work with an influencer, you are likely to see an increase in likes, shares, and comments for your posts. You will also see increased followers, especially when collaborating with a social media promotion service.
A cost-effective marketing strategy
Advertising on mainstream media can be expensive. On the other hand, collaborating with a brand is a cost-effective way of making your brand known.
Tips for successful social media collaborations
To ensure that your collaboration works and brings more traffic, here are tips to follow:
Choose the collaboration type
You must determine your goal and the kind of collaboration to choose. Some of the questions to ask yourself are:
- Is it a temporary collaboration or a permanent partnership?
- What are your expectations, and what do you expect to give in return?
- What is the compensation for both parties?
- If any contention creation is needed, who will hold the intellectual rights?
- What contingency plans should be there if the relationship doesn’t work?
Choose a collaborator
After determining the kind of collaboration you need, the next step is to choose a partner. This is an important step as you want to find one whose values align with your goals. Some of the issues to consider are:
- Do you share audiences, or do they complement one another?
- What value will you be getting from the candidate?
- Does the candidate have a solid reputation? Are you convinced of their track record online and offline?
Choose a candidate whose goals align with yours.
Have open communication
For collaboration to succeed, there is a need for honest and open communication. Therefore, you should have an agreement laid out in writing. Ensure you agree on how often you will keep in touch to check the progress.
Agree on a shared goal
Goals are important for any social media marketing, and this includes collaboration. Before creating content, you should agree on a goal that can be tracked and measured.
The goal could be driving traffic to a page, increasing conversion, and more. Avoid goals that can’t be quantified, such as getting more followers. It can be hard to measure the success that the increased followers bring.
Develop a framework for collaboration
Ensure that you set clear expectations, firm deadlines, and explicit objectives. The framework should be direct and detailed and should set the terms of engagement such as:
- Period of partnership
- Aim of the collaboration
- How costs are to be shared
- Milestones to gauge success
- A guide on the style of posts
- Role of each party
Agree on a social media style
People will associate your brand with a certain tone. You should ensure that even in your collaboration, the tone is maintained. Therefore, before creating content, meet and share your style with your collaborator. But remember that a good collaboration should take into account the interests of both brands. So, where necessary, you should be ready to make adjustments.
Disclose on partnership
When a post has been created in collaboration with other brands, you should always disclose that. This is not only required legally in most jurisdictions, but it will also help you gain the trust of your collaborator and audience. Therefore, ensure that all sponsored posts are well-labeled.
Collaboration with influencers can bring more business.
Final thoughts
Social media collaborations are based on the premise that two heads are better than one. With a good collaborator, it’s possible to increase engagement and conversion on your social media account. By following the above tips, you can have an effective collaboration that will grow your social media accounts.
