Profit by working together so everyone can score a win

Working together, people can do great things. Collaborating on social media optimizes everyone’s results and gives them the best return on investment.

“Are you a business owner ready to stop being a best-kept secret?” asked Melanie Benson. “Become a go-to expert and make another six to seven figures a year.”

Host of the Amplify Your Success podcast, Benson has created her “7 Step Proven Framework to Leverage Other People’s Audiences.”

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Together with digital marketing expert Madalyn Sklar, Benson shared insights on how to optimize collaboration tactics.

“Engage with other people,” Benson said. “Don’t just push out content. The more you engage, the more social media — especially the Twitter community — will engage back. That’s how #LaunchandFounders community was born during the pandemic.”

Sklar offered her Twitter tips for beginners:

• Get Creative With Different Kinds of Tweets
• Focus More on Providing Value
• Take Advantage of Twitter Lists
• Join Twitter Chats

Gasping those individual principles makes working together easier.

“Collaboration currency is the principle that when we co-create opportunity with our peers and competition, we amplify profit and impact exponentially,” Benson said.

“When collaboration is present, there is zero competition,” she said. “Everyone is winning. Creating opportunity together is a form of currency in itself.”

In her vision, collaboration currency is a mindset first and a strategy second.

“We start with the decision to give value and visibility freely,” Benson said. “That activates the Law of Reciprocity.”

Pathway to Success

This is what Sklar practices every day, online and off.

“Collaboration currency is all about coming together and leveraging the audiences of multiple businesses to generate success,” she said.

Size is irrelevant when determining who will do well from collaborating with competitors.

“All businesses can benefit,” Benson said. “It’s a win-win-win — win for you, for them and for your community. It just might look different in each industry or niche.”

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She gave pointers for specific social interactions:

• If you have a podcast and you interview guests, collaboration is super easy. Invite the guest. Explore more opportunities. Nurture the relationship.
• If you have an email community or Facebook group, collaboration can be very fruitful for everyone. Share collaboration’s great content. Highlight offers. Use affiliate tracking if referral commissions are involved.
• If you are active on social media and have established your influence, share other people’s content. Give first, and watch the engagement soar. It feels good to receive freely.
• Co-create a new offering who serves your target audience but has complementary superpowers and strengths.

“Many businesses could benefit from working with competitors,” Sklar said. “It just depends if you can come up with something that would be mutually beneficial.”

Several activities are involved in collaborating with business peers.

“Collaboration is finding a win-win approach,” Benson said. “That means you might need to get creative and do something outside of your normal practices.”

Plethora of Podcasts

She gave some of her favorites:

• Being a guest on other people’s podcasts. This is a super evergreen lead-generation strategy right now with 2 million active podcasts. This is my favorite from the others.
• Email each other’s list about a freebie, book or offer. Triple win: Your audience gets a valuable resource, your partner gets leads and sales, and you get referral commissions.
• Form an online community to give support, community and social media love like we did with #LaunchandFounders.
• Host a Twitter chat or Twitter Space. Facebook Live where you spotlight others is a great way to activate collaboration currency.

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Benson asked her Twitter community for their best Twitter tip for connections, which she compiled in an article.

During the pandemic, a fellow podcaster spotlighted 20 people including Benson in Podcast Magazine

“Spotlight intriguing, talented people in your blog post,” Benson said. “Of course, they’ll probably share it over and over again.”

World Class Performer features another Benson profile.

It depends on which activities businesses should pursue for collaboration.

“Activities could include creating a social media campaign, writing blog content, filming videos or going live on Twitter Spaces,” Sklar said.

Influence can extend from personal connections.

“‘Borrowing influence’ means that persons who have influence have built their own engaged community — inviting someone else into the ‘expert’ spot,” Benson said.

Doing that compounds the effect.

“By ‘borrowing influence’ you gain exposure, generate brand awareness and boost your credibility in your field,” Sklar said.

Co-create Right Away

With the concept in hand, there is no reason to delay.

“Get started today,” Benson said. “As soon as you have established your business, start looking for ways to co-create opportunities and collaborate.

“Collaboration currency is an ongoing practice,” she said. “If you’ve got something new or a promo, now is the best time to activate it.”

Those who take the first steps come out on top.

“Don’t be afraid to initiate,” Benson said. “Most business owners are so busy that they don’t have time to get started. You’ll be the hero.”

Sklar also advocates starting “wherever you want.”

“If you want to collaborate, go ahead and reach out to someone you think would be a great person or business to work with,” she said.

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Ideal collaborators share common traits.

“Businesses with synergy are best,” Benson said. “Both have the same potential clients, but have different offerings.

“Your competition is a power-packed collaboration currency opportunity,” she said. “Podcasts are a super easy way to tap in. Everyone with a podcast needs content. You can provide it if you know how to pitch them.”

One of Benson’s preferred tactics is to keep things simple and build on friendships.

“You want to work with businesses that have an audience you want to target,” Sklar said. “This way, you’ll be able to reach the right people. A great strategy is putting them into a Twitter list so you can closely follow their conversations.”

Valuable Energy Boost

One of the advantages of collaboration is an increase in credibility.

“This goes back to the ‘borrowing influence’ concept,” Benson said. “Also, collaborations often elevate our brand energy, which makes us more visible to new audiences.”

This keeps your business top of mind for those who have wants and needs you can provide.

“Collaborating allows you to gain more exposure and gives you a chance to establish yourself as a thought leader to a much wider audience,” Sklar said. “Plus, it’s essentially like the person you’re collaborating with is vouching for you.”

Beginning a collaboration is deceptively simple.

“If you want to initiate a collaboration, just ask,” Sklar said. “Propose your idea and let them know how it could be mutually beneficial. Don’t make it all about you.”

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Be sure to play to your strengths.

“Start by being consistently visible with high-quality content that illuminates your value — aka the specific expertise you have,” Benson said. “That’s a great way to get invited first.

“Give first,” she said. “Interview them, spotlight them, share their content, and connect them to other influencers.”

The best result comes when you just ask.

“Invite the person to an exploration conversation to see what might emerge,” Benson said. “It might just surprise you what collaboration currency gets ignited.

“Don’t cold pitch,” she said. “Add value and explore. Remember, you are co-creating a long-term relationship. Date before you try to get married.”

About The Author

Jim Katzaman is a manager at Largo Financial Services and worked in public affairs for the Air Force and federal government. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.