How to Collab on Instagram and Double Your Reach

Highlights

• Collabs are a great way to amplify your reach

• Learn how to collab, step by step

• Essential collab best practices and etiquette

• Creators can leverage collabs with their community

• Experts should collab on education content

• Brands will succeed with influencers collabs

• Collabs are perfect for joint giveaways

• The Collab will become essential for social commerce in 2022‍

Fostering your community on Instagram can help build your brand and following. It can also help you create new content and connect with new people. Recently, collaborating on the app has become a lot easier.

There are many ways to collaborate with other businesses and users on Instagram. One common practice is to exchange shout-outs. More sophisticated options include Instagram Live broadcasts. 

Yet, a new powerful feature has been taking Instagram by storm. The Collab feature on Instagram is soon becoming an invaluable feature for Instagram creators to amplify their reach. 

Why Collab is a popular feature

Collabs are a relatively new way to co-author Feed posts and Reels. These days, discoverability can be hard to track, and more than ever, users are using the app for quick bursts of entertainment. People over the age of 25 spend more than 32 minutes a day on Instagram, prioritizing video content.

Both image posts and video posts have access to the Collab feature. However, the majority of the successful Collabs out there are mainly in video format as they tap into short-form video content and its popularity.

Why are Collabs so popular? Essentially, it's a great way to amplify reach. When collaborating on a post, both names will appear on the header. The post will be shared with both sets of followers and will live on both profile grids.

Even better, you will be able to share views, likes, and comments, and you'll be saving time as the feature credits everybody involved in creating a post.

How to Collab with another IG account

Instagram Collabs allow you to invite someone to collaborate on a Feed post or Reel so that they can share the content with their followers. 

When you tag a user, you now have the option to Invite as a Collaborator as well as simply tagging them. 

After choosing your collaborator, share the post as usual, and the creator will receive a request in their DMs. 

The post will not appear in the feed until they've accepted your request. If you get invited to a Collab, it will appear directly in your DMs. Once you accept the invitation, both of your handles will appear at the top of the post.

Collabs are a great way to get more exposure for your content, connect with other Instagram users, and improve transparency and trust with your followers.

Collab etiquette

Are you looking to create a simple Collab strategy? You’ll want to start by identifying who would be a good fit. List 3–5 people you could send a pitch to collaborate with. 

First, do your research. If you want to boost your impact and awareness for a new brand account, here's a handy tip: team up with someone who has a similar or complementary audience. Second, send some ideas for the type of Collab you'd like to run together.

Are you looking to cross-promote existing content instead? Collabs are a great option, yet they require coordination between the people involved. 

If you invite someone who has been a guest of yours to collaborate, please check with them first. Let your collaborators know you'll be creating co-branded content on Instagram after your episode/video is going out, and they have a choice to join as collaborators.

Think about Collabs as a short campaign if you are co-creating the content. You and your collaborator are the team running it. Are you going to be sharing the post with them? If you are, you'll appear first in the order of tags, so I recommend writing the caption over your collaborator. 

Agree on the graphic, post, or video shared, and if you are using Reels, don't forget to approve a cover together. It will make communication a lot easier. 

Four ways to use Collabs

Collaborating on social media posts can be a great way to tap into new, relevant audiences. However, it is essential to ensure that the content works for both collaborators' feeds, which can be the trickiest part of Collabs. Let’s look at some common collabing strategies.

Co-create with the community (for creators)

Whether you are going to record, shoot, or produce video content together, or just looking to run a joint competition, Collabs can be a great way to connect with new people in the community.

You can do a few things to make sure your collaborations are successful and help you get the most out of the partnership.

First, make sure you find someone who has a similar audience to yours. Collaborating with someone who has a very different audience will not be very effective.

Second, make sure you have a good relationship with the other person. It will help ensure that the collaboration goes smoothly and trust them with the process.

Third, make sure you have similar content. Collaborating on content that is very different from what you usually post—aesthetically or topic-wise—will be jarring in your feed.

Most collaborations are focused on short-form video content, and it’s no surprise since the platform is prioritizing Reels for its 2022 strategy.

Create educational content (for experts)

Collabs are a faster and easier way to reshare content. And by sharing your content in a variety of ways you can reach more viewers. And the more people you reach, the more exposure you'll gain.

Whether you run a YouTube series, interviews, or a podcast, Collabs can help with coordinating cross-promotion and using this as an alternative to manual posting with the incentive of saving them time and amplifying reach.

You can even use them for the specific announcements of external collaborations with fellow experts and build credibility by associating yourself with other people in the same field. 

Influencer marketing opportunities (for brands)

For brands, the Collab feature opens up a new way to partner with creators, gain trust, and create a real unique opportunity within paid partnerships. 

You can use the feature to create engaging content, build relationships with customers, drive traffic to your website or online store, and amplify the brand's credibility as both accounts share the content.

In this case, it's more important than ever to ensure that the creator has the freedom to create content within their visual aesthetic and tone of voice. Equally, you need to ensure, as a brand, that the creator's aesthetic matches your own.

Oh, and don't forget to disclose the partnership following appropriate guidelines.

Run joint giveaways (for anyone)

You can partner with small brands or other creators and organize a joint giveaway. In a giveaway, followers are usually asked to visit multiple profiles or comment on posts from various accounts, which can be time-consuming.

The Collab tag makes this more accessible, allowing followers to tap on collaborators' profiles with ease and transparency.

To get started, you’ll want to agree on what will be included in the contest announcement post on Instagram. Before posting, discuss all details such as the prize, how to enter, and the deadline. 

Be sure to keep an eye on the entries and engage with users participating in increasing the chances of winning. And, when the contest is over, you can both see entries and select a specific winner.

Why Collabs are here to stay

Social media is rooted in social interaction and social proof, so if a reputable brand or trusted influencer is willing to collab with you, it’s only verification for your account. Collabing builds brand awareness, extends reach, creates trust in your brand, and contributes to community building.

E-commerce is becoming social commerce, so if you want to build your influence, brand, or business, it’s essential in 2022 and beyond to not go it alone. Team up with others to amplify your efforts. 

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Photo by Artem Podrez from Pexels