By guest contributor Michelle Edgemont. Photography by Rinne Allen.
You’ve got your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest pages for your business up and running – excellent! Now that all of your profile pictures, backgrounds, and business descriptions match (if not, go take care of that), it’s time to grab the attention of those you’d love to collaborate with. Here are 4 tips on how to do that:
1) Keep your visual content relevant to your aesthetic
Your business, whether you’re selling products or services, has a specified aesthetic and niche. Most likely, it’s your personality, and/or your favorite things, that are being positioned as your brand. For example, I love things that sparkle, bright colors, handmade details, and modern shapes. Everything that I put out in social media needs to include at least one of those details. When you keep your content relevant to your company’s services and products, you build trust with those that you want to collaborate with. They’ll know what they’re getting with a collaborative project.
2) Type as you would talk
Pull up your twitter feed for the last week and read through the posts out loud. If each tweet were a face to face conversation instead of an online blurb, would you chose the same language? Do you actually say swooning in real life? If you found yourself sounding a little silly reading your posts aloud, try to start typing as you would talk. This has a two-fold effect: 1) your social media posts sound like you, instead of (what I like to call) the Internet Version of you; 2) others will relate more to your authenticity, rather than the trendy adjectives you use.
3) Engage with others you’d love to work with in a conversational manner
When a blogger you really look up to just posts an amazing DIY tutorial, what’s your first reaction? Probably to send a tweet or Facebook comment that says, “I love it!” However, nothing separates you from the scores of others who just posted the same comment as you.
Elaborate on your compliments. Start a conversation with a question. Engage with the bloggers you’d love to collaborate on posts with. Maybe they won’t answer your thoughtful compliment and question. Keep at it. Show that you are truly interested in their work by sharing interesting comments and engaging questions.
4) Look for opportunities that aren’t exactly there
Last December, Meg from A Practical Wedding was starting a book tour for her first published book. Here is a totally shortened version of what happened with us over twitter:
@PracticalWed: Book tour scheduling is crazy. Wish we could have a stop in Brooklyn. @Medgemont @PracticalWed please stop in Brooklyn because I will throw you the biggest, baddest book tour party ever. @PracticalWed: @Medgemont Ok, let’s do it.
From there, I designed a rad book tour party for her at a bar in Brooklyn. This started a relationship that would lead to me collaborating with her on wedding DIYs this past summer. My company was in front of my dream clients on her blog, all because of an idea I pulled out of nowhere. She didn’t inquire about someone available to throw a party, but I thought it would be a nice thing to do, and it was amazing.
Make your own opportunities. For example, say one of your favorite bloggers has been talking about how they are swamped. Offer to collaborate on a post idea they haven’t had time to put together and do the work for them. Or maybe you heard a blogger is starting a new magazine? Send her ideas for stories that you could work with her on.
With some guts and problem solving, opportunities to leverage your business through blogging collaborations will start to appear. The bloggers will have amazing new posts to show the world, and your business will be in front of the eyes of a whole new group of people.
