Why Coaches Need “Co-Created Content” and How to Get Started
I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you are interested in having an instant online content team, let's talk.
Home » Resources » Why Coaches Need “Co-Created Content” and How to Get Started
It can feel almost impossible to grow your social media presence sometimes. For coaches and consultants especially, one of the biggest challenges is expanding your audience. In order to stand out from the crowd, you might have to take a different approach to growth. In this case, we’re talking about co-created content.
Co-created content involves collaborating with other professionals (even those outside your industry) to produce content that appeals to both of your audiences. These collaborations are mutually beneficial by giving you both access to a whole new audience and hopefully helping you find new potential clients.
Co-created content is essential for coaches who want to expand their audience and reach across social platforms. Here’s how you can start implementing it into your strategy.
The Power of Collaborative Content
The idea behind co-created content is simple: two (or more) minds are better than one. By partnering with professionals from different industries, similar spaces, or with similar focuses, coaches can reach new audiences. This can be especially helpful for solo consultants who rely heavily on personal branding and organic growth.
Coaches often have a very specific niche. While this is great for building credibility, it can be hard to find new clients outside of that niche. By collaborating with someone in a different space, you can introduce your services to a fresh pool of potential clients.
For instance, let’s say you’re a business development coach in the financial services industry, and you collaborate with a consultant that specializes in niche marketing for that same demographic. Even though you offer different services, you can both benefit by co-creating content. By posting your co-created content on each of your socials, you can reach a broader audience. Your audiences may even overlap, but each of you offers something unique that the other doesn’t, making it a win-win for both you and your audiences.
When you partner with someone from a different field, you bring a fresh perspective to your content. You’re an expert being featured in their post and they’re an expert being featured on yours. These varying perspectives in expertise can lead to more engaging discussions that your audience may not have seen before. This not only adds depth to the content but also makes it more likely to resonate with a broader audience. Plus, it’s going to boost your credibility and authority.
Types of Co-Created Content
“Sounds great… but what exactly are we talking about?”
Let’s look at some popular types of co-created content that you can try.
1. Social Media Co-Creation
Social media is a great place for collaborative content because it’s simple and straight to the point. Platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok offer a variety of ways to co-create posts, from sharing carousel slides with another professional to going live together for a Q&A session.
Most coaches spend a lot of time on LinkedIn as it’s normally the first platform people go to when they think “thought leader.” It’s common to see collaborative posts on LinkedIn where two thought leaders will create a carousel post together, sharing both of their expertise in one, easy-to-find place. Or, you can collaborate on two posts, one more catered to your niche and one more towards theirs. There are endless possibilities when it comes to creating engaging content with others for a variety of niches.
The same goes for Instagram, where you can actually “collaborate” with other creators. This means that the post will show up on both people’s pages and therefore, both of their audiences’ feeds.
First Steps: Identify professionals in similar fields and propose collaboration ideas such as joint social media takeovers, Q&A sessions, or shared posts that provide value from both of your perspectives.
2. Podcast Collaborations
Guest starring on podcasts is also an essential type of co-created content. They have clearly exploded in popularity recently, making them a perfect platform for collaboration. Whether you host your own podcast and bring on guests, or appear as a guest on someone else’s show, podcasts offer a conversational space for you to share your expertise. The goal here remains the same: partner with someone outside of your business to create content that reaches a new audience.
First Steps: Start by researching podcasts in your niche, space, or industry, where your expertise would be valuable. Reach out to hosts, pitch your idea, and offer to collaborate.
3. Guest Blogging
Guest blogging on reputable sites helps you reach a broader audience and enhances your credibility. By contributing articles to external websites, you can speak to an existing audience that already aligns with your industry.
Similar to being on a podcast, you would have to find sites that make sense for you to be featured on and pitch your idea. You can go about this in two ways:
You reach out to them and see if there’s something they would like you to write about.
You can write a blog that makes sense to be featured and ask if they would be interested in putting it on their website.
In both cases, you can offer for a blog of theirs to be put onto your own site.
Guest blogging also offers long-term benefits, as your posts remain on the web and can continue attracting readers over time. When you guest blog on well-known industry sites, your content will likely rank higher in search engines, further increasing visibility and pushing people to your site as well.
First Steps: Start by identifying high-traffic websites or blogs that your target audience probably reads. Reach out to editors with a proposal, highlighting the value your content will bring to their readers. Try to write a blog that bridges the gap between your expertise and the content already featured on their site.
4. Webinars and Live Events
Finally, don’t be scared to go back to the basics and participate in webinars and live events. These are excellent ways to create co-branded content. They allow you to engage with a live audience, meaning you can answer questions in real time and connect with participants.
You’ll gain access to a whole new audience, especially if it’s a larger event that features multiple speakers.
First Steps: Find a coach whose expertise complements yours, and pitch a webinar idea that covers a topic from both perspectives. Promote the event through both of your channels and make sure to record it so you can repurpose the content later on. Or, reach out to live events that would make sense for you to be featured at.
How to Get Started with Co-Created Content
How do you actually start creating co-created content? Here’s a simple breakdown:
1. Identify Potential Partners
The first step in making co-created content is finding people to collaborate with. However, you don’t want to partner with just anyone. Look for people who exist within the same spaces, industries, and niches. Try to find people who have a similar demographic as you or even your target audience.
The key is to look for people who make sense to collaborate with. You don’t want to partner with a direct competitor, but you likely can find people in that same realm. First focus on people within your industry, but outside of your field. For instance, if you’re a business coach, consider collaborating with experts in marketing, human resources, or finance.
Platforms like LinkedIn and industry networking events can be great places to meet potential collaborators. When approaching potential partners, highlight how your combined expertise will bring value to both of your audiences.
2. Plan the Content
Once you’ve found a collaborator, the hard part is done. Now you can enjoy creating content with each other. Layout the plan for how many posts you’re doing together, the topic, how much each person is contributing, etc. The goal is to focus on areas where your expertise overlaps with your partner’s without directly competing.
Identify a problem or topic that both of your audiences care about and figure out how your unique perspectives can come together to solve it. For example, if you’re a financial coach teaming up with a leadership consultant, you could co-create a piece of content about managing finances during periods of rapid business growth. This topic would appeal to both of your audiences without overlapping your services.
In terms of the actual creation of the content, that all depends on what route you’re taking. You could be collaborating on a carousel post for LinkedIn, a live stream on Instagram, an external webinar, blog posts for each other’s sites, or even guest starring on their podcast. There are so many options and ways to go about co-creating content. Choose what will be the most effective to reach both of your audiences.
3. Leverage Multiple Platforms
Now, despite the multiple options you have for content, the sharing of it should be similar. To make the most of your collaboration, you should share your co-created content across multiple platforms. Obviously, if it’s a social media post, it will already be shared there. But if it’s a podcast episode, for example, you need to promote that on your socials as well. Not only should you promote it, but you should also use audio and video clips from it to get even more out of your efforts.
The same goes for blogs, webinars, live events, and any other collaboration format, promote it everywhere else you can.
4. Measure and Refine
Finally, like any other marketing tactic, you should take a look at the analytics to see what kind of impact the content had. Working with others to create content is a win in itself, but still, you should see what kind of tangible change it made.
Track metrics like engagement, website traffic, and new followers to assess how collaborations are helping you. Then, be open to tweaking your strategy or your next collaboration based on what worked and what didn’t.
Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore Co-Created Content
The benefits of co-created content are clear: it expands your reach, enhances your credibility, and brings new perspectives to your audience. By collaborating with other thought leaders, you can effectively reach a fresh set of eyes.
As a coach, your content isn’t just about promoting your services—it’s about educating, inspiring, and connecting with your audience on a deeper level. Co-created content is a powerful way to achieve that by combining your expertise with others.
If you’re a coach or consultant wanting to grow your brand, build credibility, and expand your reach, it’s time to start exploring partnerships. Whether through podcasts, guest blogs, webinars, or social media, everyone can find the best way to go about it. If you’re interested in exploring co-created content and collaboration with others, we can help you with the process and actual creation of the content. Don’t know where to start? No problem, just click here.
Ready to Launch a Content Marketing Plan for Your Small Business?
We know that carving out the time, resources, and energy to create ongoing content for your brand or business is a full-time job. That’s why we created Breezy – your instant content marketing team.
You don’t need to hire multiple full-time employees to handle all of the strategy, planning, writing, designing, and publishing of content. You also don’t have time to wrangle tons of different freelancers to get this all completed. You need one expert team that can help get all of the amazing thought-leadership and subject matter expertise out of your head and into formalized, engaging content that keeps you top of mind with your audience.
We’re that team!
See how we can help your small business, startup, or agency with a free consultation.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
3rd Party Cookies
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
