Instagram Collabs: the must-have for your next Influencer Marketing campaign

Instagram Collabs: what is it?

If you missed this new feature, it’s time for a refresher. At the end of October 2021, Instagram unveiled its “Collabs” mode to facilitate publication collaborations. The principle behind this new feature? To allow users of the social network to share the parentage of the same publication or a Reel. A revolutionary new feature that changes the way brands, KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) and audiences connect. On a technical level, and for those who have already noticed this novelty, it is articulated by the two usernames visible at the top of the post broadcast on the Instagram news feed of the respective followers of the two accounts.

But that’s not all. Instagram goes further via this “Collabs” mode by also allowing people who use this feature to share the number of likes, comments, views (in short, all the impressions and engagements) of the said “collaborative” post. A new feature available to users worldwide of the platform and announced by the social network on Twitter, which, as Instagram reminds us, makes it possible to :

• To make the both names of the users appear on the header of the publication,
• To share the publications/Reels with the both groups of followers concerned,
• To make these same publications live on the feeds of the two profiles that share them,
• To share the views, likes and comments of these same publications.

How does it work and how do you fully embrace this new format?

Once again, Instagram is making things easier for its users by making the “Collabs” mode accessible to everyone. To set it up, nothing could be easier than these few steps:

• Create a post or a Reel via the usual Instagram features (the “+” icon at the top right of the screen),
• Once the post is created and the “Share” option is available, click on “Identify people”,
• Select “Invite a colleague”,
• Search for the Instagram account(s) you wish to collaborate with for this post or Reel and confirm,
• Press “Done” to save,
• Click on “Share” and the magic of the “Collabs” mode works.

Be careful though: for this new way of collaborating to be fully active, it is necessary that the identified user(s) accept your collaboration proposal. To do this, once your publication has been shared, they will receive a notification informing them of the collaboration request and whether or not they accept the invitation.

As for the number of possible collaborators on a shared publication, Instagram has set a limit of 20 mentions and users on a single post or Reel. This still leaves plenty of room for people who want to try their hand at collaborative publishing. It should also be noted that only public accounts can be tagged via the social network’s “Collabs” feature.

Collabs: the must-have feature for your next influencer marketing campaigns

With such a feature, Instagram also allows brands and KOLs to integrate a new creative and collaborative format into their Influencer Marketing campaigns. And for good reason, “Instagram Collabs” offers many significant advantages. Among them, notably :

• Speed: by sharing the same post or Reel on two or more Instagram accounts simultaneously, the “Collabs” mode makes it easy to collaborate on common posts in just a few clicks and avoids duplicate content for brands and influencers,

• Simplicity: as mentioned above, this new feature is accessible to anyone and allows, within the framework of an Influencer project, to highlight a collaboration, without the need for any screenshots or third-party applications,

• Boosting reach and impressions: likes, comments and other shares on a Collabs publication are “shared” between the different accounts. This greatly improves the reach of the post or Reel concerned as collaborating users have access to their respective communities. This is a simple, quick and effective way to gain new subscribers, reach a new audience (including the other account’s) and get additional engagement.

• Trust: in the same way that paid partnerships between a brand and a content creator are explicitly and legibly mentioned thanks to the features available on the social network, this “Collabs” mode makes it possible to present Influencer’s collaboration to the audiences concerned in a 100% transparent manner. Please note that the “Collabs” mode does not replace the clear mention of a paid partnership: it only complements it and should not replace it.  

It should be noted that “Instagram Collabs” allows brands to boost their visibility and engagement and content creators to make their Influencer Marketing partnerships visible more easily and simply. All this, by offering the possibility for brands and KOLs to create common posts and Reels in a few clicks.

When brands and KOLs take over the "Collabs" mode

And in practice, in your Influencer Marketing campaigns, what does it look like? Good news if you had any doubts, Instagram’s “Collabs” mode can quickly be integrated into your collaborations with KOLs and further facilitate interactions with your various audiences. Here are some examples of Influence projects and features that will inspire you.

Giveaways

Amongst the Influencer Marketing collaborations on Instagram, the giveaway is certainly one of the most unavoidable devices. Giveaways offer a lot of creative possibilities to brands and influencers and are generally very successful in Influencer projects. And for good reason, giveaways are a way to get new followers quickly and to significantly increase the reach, engagement and visibility of a post. In the context of the “Collabs” mode, this famous feature lends itself completely to the post or shared reel game. Indeed, thanks to this feature, brands and content creators facilitate the conditions for their audiences to participate in their various contests.

You’ve already seen the famous “Follow this or that brand account to participate” condition in a publication of this type, and you can certainly see what we’re getting at. Thanks to the “Collabs” tag, Internet users who wish to take part in the competition can fill in the participation conditions in a few seconds and with a few clicks. How do they do this? Thanks to the banner at the top of the post or the Reel which already mentions the Instagram accounts of the KOL and the brand. In this context, the “Collabs” mode facilitates this process by clicking directly on the account to follow. A single click is all it takes, as opposed to two with a simple identification. More speed, more efficiency, more transparency as to the parties involved in the competition and therefore more results.

This is, for example, the case of the German KOL Kim aka @kimmieous (218K followers on Instagram) to increase awareness of her ready-to-wear brand Kuini Store (2K followers on the brand’s account) launched alongside Julia Römmelt (1.2M followers on Instagram). Indeed, to spoil her followers, Kim proposed a contest to her community with the possibility of winning a key piece of the brand: a Leo dress. The conditions of this giveaway? To be a subscriber to the brand’s Instagram account and to mention a friend to whom “the dress would also look good”. A successful “Instagram Collabs” style giveaway to boost the page of a young brand to discover.  

Product placements

Let’s continue with the well-known and recognised Influencer Marketing devices. Product placement, as presented in one of our previous articles, allows a brand to present one of its products or services via the social accounts of a content creator. All this in a concrete context, without resorting to traditional front-end advertising.

In the context of a product launch, the “Collabs” mode can allow a brand to gain more visibility thanks in particular to the influencer’s loyal followers, thus reaching a larger community and sharing engagement signals. On the same principle as the giveaway, thanks to the brand’s Instagram account displayed at the top of the publication, audiences can access its content more easily and directly. This saves time and efficiency and can make a difference!

On the occasion of the premiere of her documentary series available on Amazon Prime Video “The Ferragnez” a few days ago, the Italian blogger, KOL and stylist Chiara Ferragni (25.6M followers on Instagram) offered a real spotlight on the house of Dior. Wearing a sublime green tulle dress for the occasion, the famous content creator allowed her followers to discover in a collaborative carousel the behind-the-scenes know-how of the iconic French brand. An “Instagram Collab” that did not go unnoticed!

Engaging and committed collaborations

Instagram’s “Collabs” mode also gives public institutions, other organisations and academies the opportunity to use the voice of a KOL to get a strong message across. In particular, Australian Milly Rose Bannister, the entrepreneur and engaging speaker with 163K followers on Instagram shared an impactful Reel alongside the Enterprising Girls Academy for young Australian women aged 10-18. In this collaborative publication, the KOL wanted to raise awareness among her community about the low representation of women in Australian business and presented the many barriers associated with this figure. The Reel also highlighted the Academy’s missions, which include “empowering girls to break down the stereotypes associated with entrepreneurs” but also to provide them with “the tools they need to gain the confidence, skills and mindset to thrive in the world of innovation”. A strong message for a Reel that already has over 4.4K views in just 4 days.

With this new feature, Instagram once again affirms its desire to satisfy its users and facilitate their journey on its social network. Through these collaborative posts and Reels, brands and content creators make their partnerships more visible and transparent to their audiences, while boosting their performance and joint reach and avoiding duplicate content. One thing is for sure: you’ll just have to try this feature in your next Influence Marketing projects to be really convinced.