Your followers adore you. Your content is a big hit. And brands are finally beginning to notice you. Life as a creator is good. Then, you perceive that your growth has slackened. Your reach is not what it used to be. Does that mean you’ve hit the ceiling of #CreatorLife? Does that mean that you’ve reached the limit of your “influence?”
Hardly so! It just means you need an influx of fresh air, and how does a creator get that? By collaborating with other creators. The good news is that plenty of them are always on the lookout for collaboration. The bad news is that finding the kind of creator you should collaborate with can be difficult. Here’s how you do it.
3 Ways To Find the Right Kind of Creator You Should Collaborate With!
Without sounding like we’re tooting our own horn, the easiest way to search for a creator who wants to collaborate with you is Do Your Thng.
To be more precise, any creator community, be it on an app (DYT), platform (YouTube Creators Academy) or offline event (Creator Con) is a great opportunity to find people who’ll be ready to work with you.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s look at the steps you need to take to identify the right kind of creator.
What do we mean “right kind?”
Aren’t all creators right?
The answer is no. Not for you. For example, if you talk about sustainability, eco-friendly products, and going green, collaborating with a creator who promotes all-things-plastic hardly makes sense!
So, here what you gotta do…
1. Research creators
The first step is to research creators on the online medium you use. That’s the polite way of saying stan a few Instagrammers (if that’s your poison). Follow them and then familiarise yourself with their niche, tone, and sort of content they post. This will help you shortlist a handful of people with whom collaboration is possible.
Don’t fixate on one creator. That way lies heartbreak if you get a hard pass. Be measured in your approach and pinpoint a variety of creators who match your wavelength and niche.
Connect with creators
All those creators you’ve shortlisted? Connect with them on social media – it really is the best place to start partnerships!
Start liking, commenting, and sharing their content. Even if the creator has a much higher following than you, they will notice you at some point. And once they do, you can ask them for a collaboration.
When you drop a comment, make it meaningful. E.g., if you love a makeup artist, then ask them the name of products they used to achieve a recent look. Then recreate it and tag them in your post!
2. Ask your audience
Another way to find the right kind of creator you should collaborate with is by asking your followers. Ask them which content creator they like to see you work with. If you have a particular niche in your mind, mention to your followers that you want the names of people who are specifically into skincare, gaming, etc.
This helps in two ways. One, your followers will tag the same creator repeatedly in the comments section letting the creator know that you are looking for a partnership. Two, you will get an idea of the type of people your audience is excited about, and then you can reach out to them!
3. Utilize another channel
As a creator, you tend to stick to one creative medium. There is nothing wrong with posting only on YouTube if that’s where the audience is most engaged. But at times, a different approach does help.
Move beyond the scope of your present channel and look for creators on another networking platform. If you blog about sports, then why not search for a podcast creator? If you create YouTube makeup tutorials, then why not do a Q&A with a fashion creator on Twitter.
This trick works because a creator on another medium will be more receptive to a collab, and you open yourself to a brand-new audience.
Don’t Fear The Creator You Should Collaborate With
The biggest hurdle to finding the right kind of creator to collaborate is not the search itself. It is your fear that you may lose followers to them. The fear is understandable, but it is baseless. It is your unique content that keeps the audience hooked. No other creator can make it in your tone, style, touch, and perspective.
Rather by collaborating with another creator in your niche (and sometimes in an adjacent niche), you grow your audience because your work diversifies which introduces you to a new fanbase.
We leave you with one final advice. If you are a nano- or micro-influencer, a matchmaking platform like DYT is genuinely the best place to find the right kind of creator to collaborate with. The platform manages the entire process for you. All you have to do is ask for collaboration!
