In recent times, Instagram has been rolling out one innovation after another, giving users the ability to share content more effectively across the platform.
Among the most interesting features are collaborative posts, or “Instagram collab posts”, a true revolution as they allow up to four accounts to share the same content simultaneously, appearing as co-authors of the post. This approach significantly boosts the content’s reach.
Collab posts embody the true spirit of community that is the foundation of Instagram, allowing creators to join forces in creative and effective ways. Discover in the following lines how to make the most of this new feature and grow on Instagram.
What is a collab post on Instagram?
Collab posts on Instagram are a feature you absolutely need to know. In a world where feeds seem dominated by sponsored posts, leaving little room for organic content, collaborative posts represent a real light at the end of the tunnel.
All you need to do is create content and send a collaboration request on Instagram to share visibility with another creator. Once the invitation is accepted, your post will be shared in both feeds, gathering likes, comments, and interactions from both audiences. The engagement from both audiences adds up, giving your content exponential visibility.
Collab posts are an ideal tool for establishing long-lasting collaborations with other creators, brands, and future prominent accounts on Instagram.
How do collab posts differ from user to user?
There are significant technical differences between the user who proposes (and publishes) Instagram collab posts and those who join. Here’s why it’s good to know them before adding this “weapon” to your arsenal!
First of all, only the user who sends the invitation for the collaboration and then publishes the post has the power to remove it, along with the ability to see who shared the post in their stories.
Additionally, certain metrics related to the post, such as interactions and engagement, are accessible only to the user who initiated the collaboration. This includes specific details like the composition of followers and non-followers who viewed the post, vital information for your marketing strategies.
Only the user who publishes the post can see statistics related to profile visits and new followers gained through the shared content. Lastly, comment management, including their deletion, can only be handled by the user who published the post.
Why use collab posts?
Collaborative posts on Instagram are, therefore, a fundamental tool that allows you to optimize your digital presence. This publication method not only amplifies the visibility of your content but also opens the door to a wide range of synergies, a crucial approach in the world of social media.
Below are the advantages you gain when you choose to leverage the potential of collaborative posts on Instagram:
- Increased engagement and reach: Shared posts on Instagram simultaneously reach the followers of all involved profiles, multiplying the organic distribution of your post. This results in more likes, comments, and shares, essential factors for visibility on Instagram;
- Building collaborations and relationships with brands and Influencers: Instagram collab posts are a valuable tool for consolidating professional relationships with influencers, brands, and other creators;
- Shared visibility and audience: By collaborating with other accounts, you benefit from mutual visibility sharing, exposing your brand to a new target audience and benefiting from their trusted relationship with the profile you decided to collaborate with.
Including collaborative posts in your Instagram strategy is one of the smartest solutions you can use right now, as an alternative to paid sponsorships!
Case study: Nike’s use of Instagram collab posts
Nike has demonstrated a strategic approach on Instagram by leveraging collaborative posts to balance content across its various accounts and enhance engagement. In their last 12 posts, 7 were collaborations, highlighting the effectiveness of this strategy.
Nike effectively integrates content between their main account and sub-accounts like Nike Women, Nike Running, Nike Football, and Nike Basketball. They also collaborate with high-profile athletes and creators such as Naomi Osaka and Beatrice Chebet, ensuring a diverse range of content that appeals to different segments of their audience.
For example, collaborations often involve:
- Showcasing athletic achievements: Posts celebrating world records and championship victories highlight Nike’s connection to elite performance;
- Product launches and announcements: By confirming new releases and upcoming collections through these collaborations, Nike keeps their audience engaged and anticipatory;
- Highlighting athlete stories: Collaborations with athletes not only promote products but also tell compelling stories of personal achievement and lifestyle, aligning with Nike’s brand ethos.
This strategy ensures that Nike’s content remains fresh and engaging, with a mix of inspirational achievements, product promotions, and athlete-driven narratives. It also broadens their reach, tapping into the followers of both Nike’s sub-accounts and the individual creators involved.
Below is another example of a post that achieved excellent results: the collab between Lino Banfi and Sooshimango.
Improve your Instagram results now: rely on Not Just Analytics to understand how to make your posts effective!
How to create an effective collab post?
Collaborative posts are the magic you need if you want to maximize engagement and grow your profile on Instagram. Let’s see the steps to follow:
- When you’re about to publish a post, before confirming, in the settings section, tap the “Tag people” button and then “Invite collaborator.” Find your ideal partner and invite them. Note: the account you choose must accept before the content is shared on their account. This is why it’s often better to agree in advance;
- Choosing the right partner is one of the most important aspects: look for that brand, creator, or influencer who speaks to the heart of your audience. Focus on profiles that share common values and seek accounts with engagement and followings that can truly amplify your message;
- To turn your post into a successful content piece, you need attention-grabbing images and design and super important tips that the audience won’t find anywhere else. Play with formats by choosing photos, reels, or carousels and launch themes that pique your followers’ curiosity, inviting them to interact and comment;
- Ensure you choose a format – whether single image, carousel, reels – that fits well with both profiles: both from a communicative point of view and in terms of the average reach results of previously published posts with the same format.
Best practices for Instagram collab posts:
To make the most of the opportunity to collaborate with other accounts, it is essential to follow some best practices.
Step 1
Identify the profile you want to collaborate with, focusing mainly on these aspects and ensuring they are consistent with your style and brand/personal brand:
- Topic they discuss
- Audience they target
- Tone of Voice used
- Loyalty and engagement of their community
Step 2
Next, conduct a preliminary evaluation of the profile by analyzing its data. You can use Not Just Analytics’ free analysis to get an overview of interactions and an evaluation of the Engagement Rate relative to the number of followers.
Step 3
Once you have completed the second step, you can get more specific and focus on different elements based on the reason for the collaboration:
- Simple collab post between two creators: besides observing the types of profiles they have collaborated with in the past, compare the interactions received by collab posts with other creators with those of non-collab posts. This way, you can get an idea of what to expect, but more importantly, you can learn from past experiences to understand what to replicate and what to avoid.
- Instagram vollab posts between brands and creators: the actions are similar to the case described above. The only difference is that the posts to analyze are those specifically related to other brands. By observing these contents, you can discover: the type of products successfully handled by the creator, whether they have already collaborated with a competitor, the communication styles and formats that yield the best results.
For these types of analyses, you have two options: manually, by looking at each post of every profile, or, if you value your eyesight, with the advanced analysis of public profiles available on Not Just Analytics Premium. To unlock it, simply add them to your profiles in the “Your Profiles” section.
Step 4
Now that the profile you are evaluating has passed all the steps, you can move on to the final check, which can confirm or overturn the result!
We are talking about verifying the business insights of the profile. This is a crucial step you cannot skip before starting any type of collaboration, for three reasons:
- Unfortunately, you may encounter profiles artificially constructed (aka “fake”) to seem good but are essentially empty shells. You definitely want to avoid these traps.
- Assess the actual potential of the profile, based on the data that truly matters, such as post and story reach, and comparing them with expected market values.
- Avoid losing money or wasting time and energy on activities that do not yield results.
Remember: what you lose is not only what you invested in a wrong collab, but also all the other opportunities you missed or delayed because of it.
We know how important and delicate this step is, which is why you can use Not Just Analytics’ new “Verify Influencers” feature. This tool is designed to verify the quality of the followers of a profile you want to collaborate with. To ensure the security of creator profiles and at the same time the quality, reliability, and accuracy of the read data, NJL uses Meta’s official APIs. Currently, it is totally free, and we invite you to use it while it lasts!
How does it work?
- Click here
- Log into your NJL account (if you don’t have one, you can create one for free)
- Send your personalized link, found in the “Verify Influencers” section, to the creators you want to collaborate with.
Once they have accepted your request, you can see the information shown in the screenshot above.
Before… you should know that…
When we think about an opportunity in the future, we tend to focus more on the benefits, ignoring instead the problems that might arise.
This section is probably the most useful of the entire article, as it summarizes everything that usually does not get the attention it deserves.
What difficulties might you encounter with collab posts?
- Image Conflicts: Collaboration can lead to branding or image conflicts if the messages or values of the partners are not aligned. An example was the collaboration between Vera Lab and Chiara Ferragni.
- Management Complexity: Coordinating an effective collaboration requires time and effort, especially when involving multiple people with different working styles.
- Reputation Risks: If one of the partners makes a “communication error,” it can negatively affect the other partners.
- Economic Issues: In any collaboration, regardless of the collab post on Instagram itself, economic tensions can arise. Always pay attention to contracts.
Common Mistakes in collab posts
Choosing the account you want to collaborate with solely based on the number of followers. It is crucial that their audience aligns with yours to determine the success of the content.
Another aspect to consider is creating visual elements, such as graphics and videos. A choice too skewed towards one profile’s style would make the collaboration unclear and therefore ineffective for the second. For this reason, we recommend adopting a mix of both accounts’ communication styles.
Additionally, some basic steps are often forgotten, but not to be taken for granted, such as tagging yourself in your own post. This is why it’s worth completing a few extra steps:
- Mention both profiles in the caption and the image or video
- Respond to comments, especially if you were invited to collaborate on a post.
Remember not to neglect the planning and consistency of the message. Confusing storytelling or contradictory messages can damage the perception of both brands.
Analyze Collab Posts: How to Do It?
After publishing the collaborative post, it is essential to understand if the content has achieved its goal. Analyzing the results is based on using metrics that allow you to evaluate the performance of the shared content. Instagram Insights are certainly the starting point as they offer a detailed overview of data such as impressions, reach, interactions, and profile clicks.
To effectively interpret this data, it is important to compare the results of collab posts with those of standard posts. Therefore, analyze the engagement and follower growth to understand if the collaboration brought added value; examine profile clicks and conversions to determine the effectiveness of the CTA included in the post.
For more advanced analysis, you can go to Not Just Analytics, specifically in the “Your Profiles” section. After selecting it, you will have advice like this on the content’s performance.
Conclusions
Today, collaborative posts on Instagram are among the most effective organic strategies to expand your account’s visibility, engage new audiences, and strengthen relationships with other influencers and companies.
Over the years, gaining visibility and results by working “alone” has become increasingly difficult. We haven’t become less skilled; Instagram has reached a point of maturity, so it can no longer guarantee the levels of visibility we were used to. For this reason, we strongly suggest using the collaborative post feature on Instagram, especially if you don’t have or don’t want to invest in paid sponsorships.
This feature not only emphasizes the importance of community and collaboration but is also a tool to stand out in a sea of similar posts.
“But I have few followers, no one will collaborate with me!”
First of all, as already mentioned, the number of followers matters to a certain extent. Rather, you should evaluate business data for a proper comparison.
You might be very surprised to discover how a profile with a few thousand followers, well-targeted, can have better data than one with three times the followers but not targeted.
Secondly, it can happen that profiles with more followers are still interested in collaborating with you. This happens when you can offer something unique like: specific expertise in a field, the ability to create engaging content, bring real and tangible conversions (here the saying “better few but good” applies), or simply taking charge of creating the content.
If you can’t compete on the “size” of the profile, focus on what extra you can offer that the other profile doesn’t have!
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