Collaborate To Grow Your Reach

If you and your competition are both publishing the same number of posts, on the same platforms at the ideal time of day, how do you stand out?  This series of posts will help your small business optimize your social media and take you beyond the benefits of mere “activity”.

CONSCIOUSLY COLLABORATE

Never has it been more important to collaborate with other businesses.  Why?  Every time you tag another business, your post will go out to a selection of your followers but also a selection of the tag’s followers.  This makes tagging a tool for organically growing your reach, and a strategic maneuver to put your business in front of other curated audiences.

HOW TO TAG?

Just in case you’re not familiar, tagging is when you type the @ symbol before a person or business page.  You should see a drop-down menu appear where you can select the person or place you are talking about.  This makes their name a LINK to their own profile and also cues Facebook or Instagram that the followers of that profile might be interested in the post.

[*Note – sometimes tagging doesn’t work well on mobile.  You can post anyway, and go back later on a desktop and EDIT the post if needed. Even though its a pain.  Tagging may also not work if the privacy settings of the person or business don’t allow for tags, or if you haven’t liked their page.  Scoot over and give them a like, and usually, the tag will work. Finally, don’t tag too much.  Multiple tags in a single post should only be used if there are multiple people present in the photo and you’re tagging them, or if you are listing people who worked together on a collaboration. This is really common in wedding photos that tag the flowers, dress company, venue etc.]

LET THE TAIL WAG THE DOG

We encourage businesses to let social media influence other facets of your business. This is true technology adaptation. And pre-selecting your tags and collaborators should be one of the elements of your marketing plan.  You want to choose businesses or organizations to tag that have the same ideal client as you, or are somehow in alignment with your brand.  Be conscious that while working with them, you can gain access to their following and customer base. So consciously choose your relationships so that they benefit you!  Charitable work is a great example of this. Choose to work with charities whose followers or network might make good clients.  Our charity of choice is Girls Inc. as it tends to attract a lot of female entrepreneurs as well as inspired girls that we hope might work for us one day!

If we work with a charity or offer them free design work on an initiative, we’ll make sure that we do several social media posts about the project and tag the organization in order to get access to some of their reach. Whether you are a construction company working with a roofing company or a photographer working with a baker – make sure to share some pictures that give you a reason to tag.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED TAGS & COLLABORATIONS

We generally recommend to our clients (depending on the industry) that they tag their suppliers, other businesses they buy from, companies that frequently buy from them, or if you can find a good reason, a business that they would like to work with, in the future.  Collaborating with another business on an event or charitable activity can also be part of strategic marketing if you make sure that you utilize your tags.  If you go to a networking event, make sure to snap a pic with some of the people at your table and tag their business in the post.  This is a great way for everyone to support one another.

Social media has changed the way that we market, and it is more valuable to spend your time thinking about who and how you can collaborate than it does to think about who is your competition.