10 Collaboration Ideas for Caribbean Girls Who Blog
Last month I attended the Caribbean Digital Divas event here in New York City. Fellow Caribbean Girl Who Blogs, Mikelah of Style and Vibes, hosted the event. The event panel was focused on branding, and on the panel were the founder of caribBEING, Shelly Worrell, digital strategist, Kelly Pierre-Louis , and business blogger, Kerry-Ann Reid-Brown of Carry On Friends.The ladies shared some wonderful tips on branding including these principles:
The ladies shared some wonderful tips on branding including these principles:
- Branding is a long process. It doesn’t happen overnight and as vision gets clearer, things will change.
- Your Caribbean identity should be a part of your brand because it’s a great way to stand out from the crowd.
- Branding is about authenticity. Infuse your authentic story into your brand.
- A brand is not products, it’s the story you tell to sell the product.
Alysia of Rewind and Come Again did an amazing recap of the event. You can read it here.
During the Q&A section of the night, I asked a question about Caribbean culture going mainstream. It really centered on how we could ensure Caribbean people are credited for their cultural contributions as we see more and more mainstream artists and brands profiting from Caribbean culture.
Many of the panelists had really great answers to this question. The theme throughout their responses was the responsibility we as Caribbean people have in creating quality content and then working together to amplify our voices. It really got me thinking about the many ways we can collaborate to amplify our voices and take control of our narrative.
Caribbean Girls Who Blog is a huge collaboration between Tamara and I. We decided to come together and serve our community, and many people are curious about how we make our partnership work, especially since we’ve never met in person. The answer is that we believe in a much larger mission than ourselves. We understand the power of content creators in the quest to maintain control of our narrative. We also understand the power of a collective and that collective collaborations are definitely the way to go.
Truth be told, the blogosphere is a difficult place to navigate alone. There is so much on the Internet vying for the attention of readers so having a community of collaborators is a strategic way to maximize your audience reach while getting in front of someone else’s audience.
With that being said, here are 10 collaboration ideas for Caribbean bloggers:
- Guest Posts
Allow another blogger’s work to be posted on your site. If there is a blogger in your niche that produces quality content, publish some of their work or mention them on your site.
- Instagram Challenge
Host an Instagram challenge or create a movement of interest to your audience and your collaborator’s readers.
- Guest Appearances
Write posts for other bloggers’ sites. This is great for Search Engine Optimization since usually the blogger will link back to your site from the post.
- Interviews
Interview each other on your respective expertise and share it with your audiences.
- Giveaways
Offer gift cards, products, services, and free consultations. Doing this while joining with another blogger (or multiple bloggers) can increase your reach, especially for the giveaway.
- Contests
Consider engaging your audiences in a combined contest. For example, a photo of the day or a video contest can be a lot of fun.
- Chats
Twitter chats are a great way to connect and meet potential collaborators. We host our chat the last Wednesday of each month at 8pm EST. After the chat is over reach out to 2-3 people you connected with a pitch for collaboration. If you don’t have an idea for a collaboration just shoot them an e-mail letting them know you enjoyed chatting with them and would love to work together in the future.
- Podcasts
Podcasts have really taking off in the last year. This is a great opportunity to produce another form of content your audience may really enjoy. Reach out to a fellow Caribbean blogger and ask them to be a guest on your podcast or to be a co-host.
- Products
Collaborate and produce books, e-books, and/or workbooks.
- Promotion
If all else fails, just promote each other’s work. Hit that share button and share it with your audience and vice versa.
There is plenty of room for more and more collaborations throughout the Caribbean creative community. Get on it. If you have any more collaboration ideas, please add them below.
