When collaborating on social media, it’s important to be aware of and knowledgeable on all the different kinds of joint campaigns out there. You can’t just pick a random one. You need to know which is best and most useful for you!
“It’s important to be aware of all the different kinds of joint campaigns, understand and research them, know what you need most, and find people to collaborate with who want the same out of it as you.” – Like A Voss
Social Media Examiner outlines five types of joint campaigns for you to learn about.
So, what are the different types of joint campaigns and how do they work?
Partnerships
The first type of joint campaign to take note of is the partnership. Social media partnerships can be formal or informal, but they have to be long-term.
“A media partnership is a media collaboration between two organizations to spread certain content.” – Aragon Valley
It sounds simple, because it can be, but successful ones are always thought through and done strategically. Your partner should be just as passionate about the campaign as you. In a partnership, you both share rewards. It’s a team effort.
Collaboration
At first, a collaboration can seem like it’s the same as a partnership, but there are some differences. The most notable of those differences is that a collaboration is when you’re working on a short-term project, whereas a partnership is long-term.
There are different kinds of collaborations as well.
According to Shane Barker’s blog, some of those are:
- Sponsored social media content – when a brand gives an influencer product or money in exchange for sponsored social media posts. These can be a one or two time thing, or they can join with that influencer for the long term, making it a partnership rather than a collaboration
- Gifting – this is when you gift samples of your product to people and influencers in hope that they’ll share it on social media. It’s important to know, though, that if you’re just gifting product, they aren’t obligated to post about it if they don’t want to. You just have to make products or services so great that they want to share it!
- Takeovers – this is when you allow an influencer to take over your Instagram for a day, drawing their fans over to you, while your fans get to see them.
Choosing between a partnership and a collaboration is really about deciding how much you want to commit to and how much money you want to invest in it.
Cross-Promotion
“Cross-promotion is a set of actions aimed at promoting products from different brands with similar audiences that are not in competition. It helps promote products and services, generate leads, boost sales, and establish brand awareness.” – Send Pulse
Put simply, a cross-promotion is when you promote a brand and in exchange they promote you. Each brand gets exposure to each other’s audience, making it a pretty equal exchange (unless one brand is massively more popular than the other, but if a big brand is willing to do a cross promotion with your little company, then you’ve hit the jackpot so go for it!)
Content Placement
Content placement is when you and another brand put each other’s product in your social media posts. This can happen once or it can happen more than once. It’s up to you!
Content placement can work wonders if you’re strategic about it. Make sure you have joined with a brand that shares the same values as you so that you can share their product seamlessly on your social media.
“You and another brand agree to periodically share each other’s content with your respective audiences.” – Social Media Examiner
Value-add
Value-add is when you get another brand to share your product or service, using the promise of the exposure they’ll get from your followers. It’s when you join with a company that will actually benefit from promoting your product.
“When making a deal with another brand or vendor, you use some level of access to your audience as a negotiating tool.” – Social Media Examiner
On the surface, all these joint campaigns can seem very similar, but there are differences that you have to know, especially if you want to make the most out of what you’re investing in these campaigns. So, before you start on a joint campaign, make sure you know your options and what would be best for you!
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