Choosing Who to Collaborate With Wisely (Brands and Other Creators)
Creators know that how they present themselves to their audiences is a big part of building a successful platform. What’s just as important, however, is who they present themselves with to their audiences. Choosing collaborations as an influencer can be a great way to grow your platform and build strong relationships within the creator community. Still, the wrong collaboration can alter the perception of your brand and tarnish the hard-won loyalty you’ve built with your fans. So, how do you know whom to consider for a content collaboration, and how do you choose the right partnership for you? If you’re wondering about choosing collaborations, we’ve got you covered with this trusty guide. We’ll tackle everything you need to know about evaluating potential partnerships and making the wisest choice for your brand and your career as an influencer. Let’s go!
Why You Should Collaborate With Brands and Other Creators
There are many reasons why influencers should pursue collaborations with brands and other creators. Partnering with fellow influencers can increase your reach, build your visibility, and boost your engagement. Importantly, you’ll gain access to and build trust with people outside your core audience, which can be invaluable if you are trying to grow your platform. You’ll also entrench yourself in the creator community, building strong relationships with fellow creators that can help inspire your work and generate more collaborations in the future. There are also financial considerations for brand and creator collaborations. Many influencers dream of building a full-time career out of their content creation. Teaming up with brands through affiliate marketing partnerships can be a great way to monetize your platform and build financial stability from your work. Brands can also choose to sponsor you through gifts, giveaways, sponsored marketing posts, or other initiatives. Many full-time creators maintain their careers through these mutually beneficial brand partnerships, and they’re a great reason why you should consider choosing collaborations as an influencer. To learn more about the finances behind being an influencer, check out this guide to Influencer Taxes: Everything You Need To Know.
What to Consider When Choosing Collaborations
Content collaborations can be a great way to grow your platform and build relationships across industries. Not all collaborations, however, are beneficial to every influencer. Finding the right collaboration to enhance your platform can take some work. We’ve assembled five key criteria to keep in mind when considering a collaboration with another creator or brand. These are: 1) Common interests 2) Shared values 3) Similar goals 4) Aligned expectations 5) Audience identity Let’s break down each of these five areas of choosing collaborations below:
Common Interests
Brands and fellow influencers typically seek collaborations with creators who share similar interests or niches. For example, a company selling hiking gear is more likely to partner with a fitness influencer or outdoor enthusiast than a beauty blogger. Similarly, influencers who create related content or engage with overlapping audiences tend to resonate better within the same social media space. You also have to consider the interests of your audience when choosing collaborations. Audiences who come to your platform for food and dining content may lose interest, for example, if you start producing exclusively book-related posts in collaboration with a Booktoker. If you are inviting other influencers onto your platform or joining the platform of someone else, be sure to think about how the collaboration might appeal to your audience’s interests, and vice versa. Striking a balance between your interests, your audience’s preferences, and your potential collaborator’s goals is key to building successful creator partnerships. Need some inspiration for your next collaboration? Here’s What Successful Brand Collaborations Look Like.
Shared Values
Beyond similar interests, potential collaborators should share similar values with one another. There are several sets of values to consider: your values as an influencer, your values as a person, and the values of your audience. Let’s break down what we mean by values. If you prioritize a consistent and punctual posting schedule, but your potential collaborator prefers to post spontaneously, you may have conflicting values when it comes to content creation. Similarly, a creator who is intensely involved with environmentalism and green initiatives may find themselves at odds with creators who rely heavily on AI to produce their content. Finally, creators should consider the values their audience members bring to their content. A fashion creator who collaborates exclusively with fast fashion brands may alienate viewers—or potential future collaborators—who prioritize sustainable fashion. Value alignment is necessary to ensure a cohesive, valuable, and sustainable collaboration between brands and creators. Think carefully about your values when considering potential collaborations. Want to learn more about what a great brand campaign looks like? Here’s how Your Brand is Not the Duolingo of its Niche.
Similar Goals
Brands and other influencers typically collaborate with creators with certain goals in mind. Those goals could be anything, from capitalizing on a new trend to growing a platform to marketing a specific product to an audience. Creators who can execute these goals make good collaborators with brands and other influencers. When choosing collaborations, consider the goals you have for your platform and the ways you can help brands achieve their goals. If you want to increase your follower count, consider working with influencers who have a bigger audience than you or who have an audience outside your typical demographics. If you want to establish a strong brand partnership, reach out to brands that would have an interest in marketing to your specific audience.
Aligned Expectations
If you decide to pursue a partnership with a brand or other creator, you will be beholden not only to your workflow but also to the expectations and demands of your partner. Communicate early and often about how, when, and how often work should be completed on both sides of the partnership. If your expectations don’t align from the start, it may cause problems down the road. Specificity is always better than generalization when it comes to establishing expectations between collaborators. Describe upfront exactly how many posts, at what size or length, and on what schedule you and your partner will be collaborating. This may be a good opportunity to request a campaign brief or similar document to ensure everyone is on the same page. If you can’t align expectations around the scope of the partnership before the collaboration begins, it may be a sign that the partnership isn’t the right fit.
Audience Identity
The most valuable asset you bring to a future collaboration—other than your skill and charm as a content creator—is your audience. Brands and other influencers alike will have a target audience in mind when it comes to creating collaborative content. When considering a potential collaboration, consider the aspects that make your audience valuable and unique, such as their demographic profile or the ways they engage with your content. Think about ways in which this valuable and unique audience could benefit from a potential collaborator, and think about the types of audiences that appeal to you as a potential collaborator as well. Assembling a media kit or similar descriptive document can streamline this process and make it easier for potential collaborators to evaluate whether you will be a good fit for their brand. As an influencer, keeping your audience’s trust is a must. Here’s Why Your Pride Marketing This Year Has to Be Flawless.
Final Thoughts
Collaborations can be a win-win scenario for the brands and creators who team up to create something together, but only if it’s the right fit. If you’re an influencer looking to collaborate with a brand or fellow creator, make sure to do your research before committing to a partnership. If you can find common ground on your interests, values, goals, expectations, and audience identity, you’ll be in good shape to make a collaboration that is beneficial to your platform, your collaborator, and your fans alike. Need inspiration for what a great collaboration looks like? Here are the 10 Best Brand Collabs that Just Make Sense.