Content Collaboration Strategies to Grow Your Audience, Fast

By Andrew and Pete | September 25, 2018 |

Do you want to know the fastest and cheapest way to grow a high quality relevant audience? It’s with content collaboration!

In this week’s 5min Marketing Unboringed video we’re going to share our best tips on how to do it.

We’ve collaborated with some of the biggest names in our industry and grown our audience and sales significantly because of it.

So, in this video we’ll show you two ways to collaborate with influential people, how to get people to say yes even if you don’t have a large audience yourself… and what big mistakes you need to avoid!

👉 Click here to learn how to grow your audience quicker than ever…

What is content collaboration?

We’re defining a collaboration here as either you going onto somebody else’s content platform – guest blogging, being a podcast guest, being on a FB live, etc. Or, you getting people on your platform. For example, we ran an online conference, we invite guests onto our podcast, or getting people onto our YouTube channel.

It could also be you and somebody else working together on something new. Just a teeny word of warning on this one… it rarely works. Unless it makes 100% sense, and there is a ton of trust, and everyone is clear on what is expected, then you can do it. But just from what we’ve seen, these types of collaborations usually end up in the crapper 🤭

It’s best if somebody has control, either you on your platform or them on theirs. It just makes things much easier and you will cry much less 😭

So, let’s focus on the first two types of content collaboration.

Why is content collaboration so powerful?

Simply because they increase your discoverability and visibility. If you can get in front of someone else’s audience (and do a good job), chances are some of that audience will come back to your platforms.

And, if you can get someone else on your platform chances are that people that already like and trust that person will come over to check it out (and hopefully stick around), AND that the person you are collaborating with may share it with their audience too.

It is WIN-WIN.

But… this isn’t a novel idea anymore and just saying, “Hey you… fancy doing a guest blog?” probably is going to get you a big fat no 👎

Even if we say so ourselves, we are pretty good at getting people to say yes to us, so here’s our top tips.

Getting influential people on your platform

We have 2 rules for you:

Rule Number 1 – Make it Easy

Writing a guest blog isn’t easy – it’s time consuming, takes thought and will probably always be bottom of the to-do list, unless you have an influential site and people want to write for you.

So think about how you can get guest content easier. If they are MORE influential than you, then the ‘work’ part of the content collaboration should be on you.

☄️Can you interview your guest and write it up?

☄️Could you do a podcast?

☄️ Could you repurpose something they already have?

Think about how to make it easy for them to work with you.

BUT just because it’s easy doesn’t mean it should be simple and boring!

Tip Number 2 – Make it remarkable

The more influential the person you are asking, the more they probably get asked for this kind of thing A LOT… so think about what you are asking them to do and is it something they’ve probably done a thousand times? If so, how can you bring something fresh to the table?

When we got started we had no audience, but we didn’t let that hold us back, we just thought… “How can we make it more remarkable so people say YES to us?”

This is even more important if you want them to share it. Why would they already share something they’ve shared a thousand times already? 😴

BONUS RULE / TIP – The Sneak and Tag Collab

Don’t ask them!

Sometimes we don’t ask the people we want to collaborate with – we just feature them in our content without asking… we call this the sneak and tag collab.

Why not use your chosen influencer as the basis for your content, and let them know after you’ve published it?

Quick example, when we went to a Seth Godin event, we wrote a WHOLE blog about his advice… we didn’t ask him, we just did it!

He even commented on it… and a small part of us went to heaven 👼

What about getting YOU on somebody else’s platform?

This is, in our humble opinion, the best option because the exposure you personally get is higher.

But… it’s harder to do!

So we’ve got 3 more rules for you!

Rule 1 – Pitch an idea that makes sense

If you want to guest blog, or be on someone’s podcast… look at what they create content on and send over a few ideas that

Make sense for them
Make you look like you’ve done your homework

Rule 2 – Build a relationship

OK… so we have got some cold yes’s in the past, but they are harder to get in all honesty.

So if you can try build some kind of relationship first… even if you get to a stage where your name just slightly sounds familiar, that is way better.

For some people this is easier said than done we know, but at least try using social to get your name or brand in front of these influential people.

Rule 3: Look good

If you are going to ask to be on someones channel we are 99% confident that before they say yes they are going to check you out.

If you are not creating consistent content yourself, if you are not walking the talk, if your website looks like it was made in the 90s and your Twitter profile is still an egg (even though the eggs are no more) , then chances are you are going to get a hard no 👎

Even if you are the most qualified person on the planet to talk about that particular subject, if your online presence doesn’t say you are, then you are relying on your word alone.

People have literally told us, “It would have been a no, but I love your site, or that video, or you guys clearly know your stuff because I checked you out.”

So, look as good as you ARE!

What are gonna do?

Let us know in the comments what you are going to do about using collaboration, and if you’ve got some questions, we’ll jump to your rescue! We also want to know who your dream collaborations are… so let us know that in the comments too!

Posted in Blog

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