Collaborations in business: how to use it as a content marketing strategy

The power of collaborations within your business is huge in the world of online content and marketing. It isn’t very well known that collaborating with businesses in the same industry as you can actually help in growing your audience and brand awareness, as well as give you a larger platform to share your stories and represent you as a trustworthy business owner.

This week we are joined by the amazing Elaine, aka @theclassytraveller_ on insta, to talk about all the benefits of collaborations on your business, the first steps to take when looking for other businesses to collaborate with and so much more! So if you’re looking to expand your audience, increase that all-important brand awareness or simply reach a wider dynamic of potential buyers - then this is the blog for you!

Let’s get into it, shall we?

What is a collaboration?

If we want to get technical, collaboration can be defined in a number of different ways. The best definition I’ve come across is one by AIIM, which you can check out here, which says that “Collaboration is a working practice where individuals work together for a common purpose to achieve business benefit”, a pretty spot on I think.

But if we wanted to make this definition a little more specific, I would have to add that we are focussing on collaboration with content. We are working with different people and businesses to create content and market your brand, which in the online business world is absolute gold!

Collaboration has to be one of my favourite things to do through Content Queen, not only because of the mutual benefits with everyone involved but also because of the new connections you make AND it’s fun! If you haven't thought about collabing before, this is your sign to look into it - I promise it’s so worth the effort you put in!

What are the collaboration platforms?

So, you’ve secured a collab with someone you’re really looking forward to working with… now what?

I know through my own experience that once you secure collaboration with another business it can be so exciting that you forget to actually choose how you want to work together! There are so many collaboration tools you can use that it can feel a bit cloudy, so where do you start??

Now with the new features on Instagram and the endless updates that other apps have to offer, the world of collaborations will forever be growing and the possibilities can seem to be endless. Well here are just a few of my favourite platforms and apps to collaborate on!

Instagram has so many features to utilise; Lives, Reels, and Story takeovers are some of my favourites
Podcasts - need some inspo? Check out the Content Queen podcast here
Guest Blogging - why not have a guest write a blog for your page and vice versa? It opens up a world of knowledge for you and your audience!
Clubhouse
Facebook lives
Workshops/zoom calls (psst you can record them and use them as IG Reels or IGTV’s later)
In person community (look at Facebook and Whatsapp groups)
Slack groups

If you haven't guessed already, Instagram is definitely my favourite to use. The possibilities just within the app are awesome and allow for lots of different uses for similar content, what could be better than that? If you want to check out how us over at Content Queen use Instagram, have a look here and say hey!

So don't be afraid to play around with one or all of these options and see which one suits your brand best, the more you try the better you’ll get!

How to start collaborations

As business owners and entrepreneurs we are all here to build each other up! The online entrepreneur world runs best when we, rather than being in constant competition, actually help each other out.

The power of collaboration for all parts is amazing, so start jumping on it. The opportunities that will arise and the doors that will open are endless, you never know what it could lead to (and that goes for both/all parties involved). If you’re a little stuck on how to actually approach a new collaboration, this is a structure that I find works really well!

Pick a platform
Connect with someone you are inspired by and where the audience aligns (you want to make sure the audience of both platforms work)
Engage with their content and connect
Ask them to join in a certain collaboration
Tell them how the audience will align and benefit
Pick a topic you want to learn more about
Coordinate a time and date
Promote
Before the collaboration, try and feel confident (dance, get inspired, feel prepared with questions)
Believe in yourself and know your business/ brand worth, you’ve got this!

Always remember to build connections first and then try voice-noting or messaging. Explain the benefits to the audience and them, be yourself, and most importantly, have fun with it. I promise that once you begin engaging, interacting, and reaching out, you will become so much more comfortable and be a collab pro in no time!

TIP: Don’t forget that you can have a list of people you want to collaborate with, it doesn't have to be a ‘one-at-a-time’ type of thing - just go for it!

How collaborations help you and your business

The benefits of collaborations don’t have to stop at ‘growing your audience’, it can be so much more than that. Being a part of aligned, fun and well-suited collabs will not only do wonders for your business life, but can also help build up personal skills as well!

Collaborations can help build your confidence, especially with things like going live or creating content that requires video, when working with someone else you don’t have to show up alone.

Finding the right collaborations that are well aligned with your business can also boost what both you and your audience learn! As creators we should always be looking for ways to improve and update our knowledge, not only for ourselves but our audience as well - collaborations can really help elevate your industry knowledge and help your future content to be even stronger.

Not to mention there are huge benefits for your brand awareness as well. Things like new networks being formed, mutually beneficial relationships, content generation and increased trust in different audiences can all help build on that brand awareness that is so important to convert viewers into followers and followers into buyers!

Get ready for a lot more engagement, because it’s coming your way!

What does a collaboration on Instagram look like

If you’re looking to use Instagram as your big collaboration tool, it can be tricky to know the little tidbits that will help push that collab to be the best it can be, but don’t worry I’ve got you!

Here are a couple of FAQs I’ve either come across or been asked that I think really help you get the most out of your IG collaborations (and yep, I’ll give you the most direct answers)

1. How long should a joint Instagram live go for?

The prime time that I’ve found is around 20-30 mins

2. How do I manage a live?

Pick a time that you can both stick to and promote, promote, promote to your audience!

3. What to do in the lead up

Make sure to talk about it on stories and promo it in your content, don’t be afraid to keep reminding people - the more times the better

4. Can the other person share it?

They can share it to their stories but if they want to post it on their feed make sure you save the video after you go live and send it to them as a file (but be aware that if it is over 30 mins you can’t save it)

5. What do you do after the live?

You’ve put in a lot of hard work so make sure to post it to your IGTV! If you need a guide on how to do this, see here

6. How can you add Instagram guest lives into your content strategy?

Start by looking at a day where you can go live weekly, fortnightly or monthly and build from there. Just like any other piece of content writing or creation you have to do, think of it like a podcast but on IG and schedule it weekly. This is something I am trialling on my personal branding page @mariah_contentqueen, so if you want to see how I’m going with that check it out. OR if you want to try scheduling it but not sure how, download our content strategy template here and start working on it with our help!

How to find people to collaborate with

There are so many ways to find people to collaborate with, but the main thing you want to consider is if they are aligned to your business.

So to make sure they are a good fit for you, start close to home, look at your current network or search IG hashtags that are similar, if not, the same to yours and see what you find.

Once you know the type of businesses you think would work well with, you can start joining Facebook groups, clubhouse, slack communities or even Google search different businesses to really expand your reach. Even listening to different podcasts that spark your interest or reading blogs can give you inspiration and point you in the right direction.

You can really find aligned businesses anywhere, you just have to start looking! Just connect with them, engage with their content and message them! Let them know how you would benefit their audience and how they would benefit yours, you never know the connections you’ll make!

Final thoughts

Overall, collaborations are an amazing marketing tool for your business and I highly recommend them for everyone. But that doesn't mean you have to do them all the time, you have seasons of collaborations where you might focus on them for a month and then not do it as much for a while and that’s OK.

Just like anything else, there are phases of development in your business. Work out what phase or season you’re in at the moment and work from there, but I do recommend that every business owner and content creator give it a try - so many opportunities will arise and, of course, it’s so much fun!