How to successfully collaborate with others to grow your brand

Do you ever get tired of creating the same types of content on the same topics for the same audience? It’s a modern-day creator’s interpretation of Groundhog Day.

If your creative juices are drying up, or you’re seeking a new creative avenue to reach a broader audience and grow your business, it might be time to explore content collaboration. 

Keep reading for answers to the most common content and social media collaboration questions. This step-by-step guide to content collaboration will give you a roadmap to make it happen! 

What is content collaboration? 

Content collaboration is a mutually beneficial partnership among creators. It can involve a one-off project or an on-going relationship. It can also include any number of creators working together to achieve a common goal.

A few content collaboration examples:

• Promoting one another’s products or events
• Hosting a webinar to share another creator’s expertise with your audience
• Writing guest posts for one another’s blogs
• Working together to host a podcast
• Having a guest in a YouTube video
• Contributing to a video series, infographic, or ebook
• Building a course taught by multiple creators

Check out this example of a content collaboration video between Amy Porterfield and Kajabi. Amy Porterfield created content for Kajabi's YouTube channel to get exposure to Kajabi's audience.

But these are only a few ideas! You simply need to find content collaborators who you enjoy working with, and anything is possible.

Why collaborate on content?

Here are a few benefits of content collaboration.

Fresh ideas and perspectives

Content creation can be exhausting. Sometimes we run out of ideas or need a fresh injection of energy. For that, nothing beats collaboration. 

With the right content collaboration partners, you’ll be inspired to think bigger and more creatively. Most collaborators find it fun and exciting to work with other experts in their field. There’s nothing like being in a room (or on Zoom) with other creatives who are as passionate as you about your industry or industries.

The ability to tackle projects outside your expertise

Because you’re sharing the workload, you may be willing to tackle more complicated projects than you’d be able to tackle alone.

With lots of people working together, you have the ability to draw upon a variety of life experiences, ideas, processes, and strategies. One partner may be a strong writer or speaker. Another may have a huge audience. Yet another may be gifted at promoting content.

As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. And when a group of content collaborators combine their strengths, everyone benefits. 

Greater organic reach

Collaborating on content allows you to get your content in front of new audiences, so you can extend your reach and authority. As each collaborator talks about and promotes your partnership and content, it gets more eyeballs on your brand.

This can give you both more contacts, leads, and customers. It can even rev up your business growth. You know what that means - more revenue!

Lower marketing costs

Content collaborations allow you to get in front of new audiences without having to invest heavily in advertising. 

It also multiplies your time and energy — tasks are divided among the collaborators, so no one is overloaded with work. If you happen to hit a snag, you have friends who can help you work through the problem. That’s right - you might even find your new BFF.

Who to collaborate with + how to find them

When you have an idea that’s bigger than you can accomplish as a solopreneur, consider collaborating with someone. But before you start making plans, ask yourself two questions: 

• What do you want your content collaboration to accomplish? 
• What do you want the outcome of the collaboration to be? 

Make a list of people you’re considering for the partnership. Then reach out to them one at a time. Make it clear up front what your goals are and gauge their interest in contributing. 

If you’re looking for one collaborator, wait for an answer before moving to the next person on your list. If you’d like multiple people, you can reach out to everyone at once.

Be aware, some of the best content collaborations aren’t planned. You may be chatting with someone and realize you have a lot of synergy. Or, you may mention a goal you’re pursuing, and the other person offers to help.

That’s why it’s important to network with other creators. Whether they’re in your industry or a complimentary (non-competitive) one, your network is one of your most valuable assets. Visiting trade shows and conferences can help you meet these people in person, which may yield better results than an email.

Talk to people. Share your ideas. Generously support others. You might find that collaborations become a natural part of your content strategy.

What kind of content should you create?

You can collaborate on any type of content, but these six are a good place to start! 

Guest posts

Guest posts can add variety and depth to your blog, webinars, and membership site. This is especially true if your guest has more in-depth experience in a topic or skill than you do. Ask them to provide their best insights, tips, and suggestions in the content they create.

If there’s a specific topic you’d like them to cover, be sure to let them know. The more guidance you can provide, the happier you’ll both be with the collaboration.

Interviews

Want to test the content collaboration waters before diving in? Host an interview! They help to build relationships with other experts in your space, plus take only a few hours of your time. Eventually, they can lead to more in-depth collaboration opportunities.

To prepare for an interview, set aside time to read the interviewee’s website - read over their About page, get to know their products or services, and study their marketing strategies. Learn what their talking points are, so you can lean into their strengths.

If you’re the one being interviewed, give the interviewer a list of questions that would allow you to demonstrate your expertise. That helps them steer the conversation toward topics you can talk about comfortably.

Case studies

Case studies are a strategic way to showcase your customers’ success and demonstrate the value of your training. Look for customers who have achieved success or reached significant milestones because of their work with you. 

A good way to get the information you need for a case study is to create a form in Kajabi that asks key questions about your customer’s situation before and after working with you. Then use their answers to create a page that illustrates how you were able to transform their life. 

Podcast guest spots

An easy collaboration, if you have a podcast, is to invite someone to speak on it. If they also have a podcast, you might also offer to appear on theirs. This is a great way to generate exposure for both of you, helping both your audiences grow. 

Kajabi makes it easy for you to host your podcast and broadcast it across all major listening platforms, including Spotify, Apple, and Amazon. 

Content roundups

Roundups make interesting blog posts, social media posts, webinars, and events. If you know several people with expertise on a topic, a roundup is a fun way to create valuable content together. Here are a few steps to creating a successful content roundup:

• Make a list of the people you’d like to collaborate with. 
• Send them an email asking a question your audience cares about. 
• Then curate their answers in a "roundup" style presentation. 

Here’s an example roundup from the Kajabi blog.

Coach content collaboration

As a coach, you teach a specific set of skills to help your customers gain mastery and achieve their goals. You may identify some peripheral skills they need to learn, but you may not be an expert in these areas.

That’s when coach content collaboration can help. By partnering with other coaches, sharing one another’s expertise with your coaching groups, you can provide more value to your customers without tons of extra work. 

Not only is this a fun way to support your coaching clients, it can take the drudgery out of content creation. 

Creating a successful content collaboration

Once you've selected the right content collaborators and everyone’s agreed on the type of content you're going to create, the next step is to create it. If you haven't done a content collaboration or a social media collaboration before, here's a step-by-step guide for getting started. 

Step 1: Write your creative brief. 

Your creative brief is a brief description or outline that details the scope of the project. Here's where you'll include the goals for the collaboration. 

Detail the scope of the project, what you expect, and what you hope to achieve as a result. A brief doesn't have to be formal or detailed, but it helps to get everyone on the same page. 

Step 2: Lay out your project. 

A content collaboration often has many moving parts, so it's a good idea to list all the tasks that need to be completed in order to achieve your goals. 

Beside each task, write a brief description including instructions, attributes like word count or image sizes, links to examples, and recommended tools. Some tasks may include smaller subtasks. Be sure to include them all!

Step 3: Assign tasks with deadlines. 

Once your project is fully mapped out, it's time to delegate the work. To make sure nothing gets overlooked, start from the end and work backwards. This also allows you to divide up the tasks fairly and completely, especially if there are a handful of people working together on different assets at the same time (like video, blog posts, and graphics).

Consider if certain tasks need to be done to allow another task to begin, such as having copy done before graphic design. Then, be realistic with the amount of time needed to complete each task. You may even want to build in buffer time to account for delays so you can meet your overall project deadline.

Having a plan in place, along with deadlines, helps everyone understand their role in the content collaboration process. It also gives you a smoother, more seamless result. 

Step 4: Create a review process. 

Finally, to ensure everything reflects the quality you expect from your collaborators, set up a review and approval process. This helps to guarantee your content meets the goals you've set for the collaboration and fulfills the brief you created in the first step. 

The final word on collaborating with other creatives to grow your brand

Content collaboration can be as simple or complex as you like. It depends on the project and how much responsibility you’re willing to share. But no matter the complexity of the project, successful collaboration can benefit everyone involved! 

The key is to select collaborators you enjoy working with and ensure everyone knows what their responsibilities are. 

Now that you’re prepared - come on, dive in. The content collaboration water’s fine! See for yourself how easy and rewarding it can be to unite creative minds. With your powers combined, we’re sure you’ll create memorable content your customers and members simply can’t get enough of!