Small Business Collaborations On Social Media Work- Here's The Proof

Over 2024, my social media presence, particularly on Instagram has skyrocketed. While my TikTok remains a roller coaster but ultimately got me started on this social media journey, it was Instagram that put me on the radar of many brands and decision makers.

I get contacted by businesses all of the time wanting to collaborate to tap into my unique audience that is heavily hispanic based, speaks a mixture of English, Spanish, and Spanglish, and is spread throughout parts of the United States with a heavy Latin American population and dips into Mexico too.

Oftentimes, these brands are all just fake or scams and I tend to ignore about 95% of the emails that come to me. One of the biggest red flags, the products themselves. You can't ask a big bearded hispanic man to model and promote push up bras and women's lingerie and expect me to say yes.

However those 5% of brands that are legit are usually small businesses that are needing some help get some eyes on their product.

While I have shifted away from full on social media management as a service, I have leaned heavily into content creation and collaborations and if I feel a brand is a good fit for my audience, I'll sit down with them and talk. I'll try it out for myself before I ever pitch it to my audience too because if I won't take it, I'm not about to tell others to. That's just not how I work.

One brand that I've worked with in particular gave me some fantastic news today. A video that was released nearly a week ago from the date of this post told me that one of their locations, specifically one that I was recommending to people, asked to double their weekly order because the product had been in such high demand over the past few days.

The video never once mentioned "Go buy this product" or was salesy whatsoever. However it had a deep cultural connection with me and my audience and felt it was the perfect fit. Besides it being a great product (in my opinion), I did my best to make an authentic, genuine connection with my audience and engaged like crazy with them in my comments, which only helped increase the reach and engagement with the post itself. As I do with every post, I try to respond or acknowledge every single comment on my video, positive or negative. Most people don't expect me to match the energy they bring though (I'm looking at you trolls).

I've been doing content creation and digital marketing for years and while I have my niche and understand my audience, it just goes to show when you partner with the right people, you can have a huge impact just with a social media post when done right.

And don't be fooled, this line of work isn't something for the weak. It's a grind, we all know social media can be a cesspool of hatred, everyone wants to turn things political nowadays. It takes a toll on one's mental health because while you may see a video and move on, you don't see all of the commentary like the original creator does. And good content creators will engage with their audience regularly. If you're working with one that doesn't, you won't yield good results.

There's a stigma around influencer marketing and I in fact hate being called an influencer because I don't see myself as one (despite people calling me one). I create content. I'm a content creator. I script, film, and edit everything by myself, then post it, engage, and manage the posts I put out to make the biggest splash possible.

But it's all about working together as a team. And also, staying true to yourself.

A rising tide can lift all boats is a commonly heard quote, but one that a friend and someone I look up to as a mentor (and much more experienced content creator than I) once told me as we've worked together in the past and it is VERY true.

If you need help with your social media, if you treat a content creator with the respect they've earned and are able to establish a collaborative partnership with them, the benefits your business can reap can be endless. Because remember, they have something (such as an engaged audience) you may want, and if you want access to what belongs to them, make sure you understand their business is just as important as yours and don't take them for granted.