Using Content Collaborators to Boost Your Brand’s Online Image

Content Creators and Influencers have set the tone for how users consume content through online mediums. Any brand looking to position itself as a credible source that drives traffic and engagement online needs to understand that creating high-quality, stand out content is critical to online marketing success. Content should strategically elevate your brand channels. It should serve your audience, boost visibility, and inspire engagement, while simultaneously promoting who you are and what you offer.

This is where so many brands get stuck. Internally creating a robust content strategy that meets your needs and stays on trend requires a lot of time and attention to detail, not to mention funds and resources. To stay ahead, brands must begin to think outside of the box and get creative with the ways they create and source fresh content for their online channels. One way to accomplish this is by tapping on Influencers and digital creators to develop branded content.

Asking a stranger to create content for your brand may sound challenging as it would be difficult for them to understand your brand’s tone of voice, story, and aesthetic, but when looking at the bigger picture, content collaborators can save your business on essential resources while helping you evolve your brand into a prominent online figure. Creating your own content all the time can be costly. The cost of hiring freelancers or in-house content creators can quickly add up. Collaborating with an individual who understands the landscape of digital content, and knows how to leverage storytelling is a great way to produce content that is relevant, appropriate, on-brand, and quick to produce.

Just over the past few months, we’ve seen how major companies have had to pivot their marketing, and how many have struggled to stay relevant or adapt to the changes in the market due to COVID-19. We’ve also seen how other brands have utilized influencers and customer content to create impactful, current campaigns that have generated wide-spread attention.

While every brand may not have the money or manpower to devote to curating customer images or hiring big influencers, they do have the ability to team up with talented digital creators to produce great content. Unlike influencer marketing, where you ask online personalities to promote your business to their owned audiences for a (not so small) fee, a content collaborator will actively work with your brand to create a set of images that are branded exclusively for commercial use on your brand channels.

The style of image, the tone of the content, even the aesthetic should align with your overall brand vision and goal. Content collaborators are then tasked to create those images as deliverables for your campaigns. Influencers, on the other hand, create content that aligns with their brand and often posts as a one-off promotional deal. Content collaborators get to know your audience and your key messages and have the ability to bring new life to brands and campaigns by using beautiful photos and content.  

The goal of content is to get your ideal customer to stop and read, or actively seek your brand messages. So if you are not capturing your reader with a good first impression, you will lose them. Using content collaborators in your content strategy;

1. Increases your brand’s visibility, web traffic, and engagement, as it attracts more users in your targeted audience through authentic, aesthetically pleasing images, and messages.

2. Allows you to create consistent content and post more frequently, earning the favor of social media and search algorithms. This, in turn, shows your content to more of the people on the platform that matters to your business.

3. Keeps your content fresh and your feed active with new, engaging content that your audience can appreciate.

4. Highlights your brand story and product features in a natural way that is true to your brand’s essence and allows prospects to make an educated buying decision.

5. Helps you build your audience by sharing the type of content your customers are wanting to see. Which will make them more likely to stay a fan of your page over the long haul.

6. Builds credibility for your brand. No one wants to see sales pitches every time they go on social media. Sharing an eclectic mix of cool content that would be relatable for your niche allows users to see you as a humanized brand.

The all-around skills of many influencers and digital creators make them the ideal partners for brands looking to deliver more engaging, well-produced content. At Idealgrowth, we know that content collaborators can be amazing storytellers for our clients; and in a time where people are consuming content more than ever before, we recommend using this marketing tactic to quickly pivot your strategy while you adjust your overall planning.

If you are looking for the next step in developing a comprehensive content collaborator strategy, we can help you identify the right partners for your brand and facilitate the right content for your next campaign.