How to run a smart social media takeover in 7 steps

A social media takeover that is well-run can be a win-win for both you and your partner. Takeovers are a great way for your audience to keep their attention on your social media accounts.

This guide will show you how your brand can benefit by a social media takeover. It will also help you run a takeover step-by-step. You’ll also find inspiration from other successful social-media takeovers.

What’s a social media takeover?

A social media takeover can be described as influencer marketing. A brand allows someone to temporarily post content on its social media accounts. They can be an influencer or a fellow team member. They can “take over” your account to post content they create.

Why would you host a social media takeover.

Influencers can give you a real-world view of your brand. This type of relatability is what your audience seeks. Let’s take a look to see why a takeover could help your social media accounts.

Increase brand exposure

Influencers often have a niche audience that is highly engaged. A vote of confidence in your brand’s reputation can go a long ways in building credibility. Takeovers can be a great way for a new audience to discover your brand.

Different points of view can resonate with different followers. Social media managers must always be open to considering and incorporating diverse perspectives. Takeovers can fill in the gaps or lift up certain voices. Social media takesovers are a way to bring new faces, ideas and experiences to your social media channels.

Broadway Sacramento hosted a takeover with one their ensemble cast members. They shared their behind-the scenes perspective on how it feels to prepare for a performance. This type of takeover can help audiences gain a better understanding of rehearsals.

Takeovers are a great way for brands to capitalize on the moment and create unique content.

Model Mika Schneider made a video for Vogue France’s YouTube channel, which covered her experience modeling during Paris Fashion Week. Paris Fashion Week is a special event that gets a lot of attention. Mika Schneider’s video offers unique coverage that is relevant to Vogue’s readers.

Get new followers

Diversifying your audience is key to your overall growth. You don’t want to have any followers.

Social media takeovers are a great way to reach the exact audience you desire: people who actually need your product or services. They will help you reach your ideal customers by collaborating with relevant influencers.

Brand affinity

Trustworthy influencers make it easier to build hype. People are looking for authenticity and takeovers can help them connect with their brand.

A takeover by an influencer is a great way to convince people that you are reliable when promoting a new product.

7 Steps to run a social media takeover

1. Define SMART goals

While social media takeovers can be fun, it is important to align them with your marketing strategy. It will be easier for you to manage expectations during a social media takeover if you have a shared vision with your influencer.

The SMART rubric is a smart way to set goals.

• Specific: Clearly state the metrics of your campaign.
• Measurable Describe the metrics that you will use in order to track performance.
• Realistic: Do not set yourself up to fail.
• Relevant Make sure that the takeover is tied back to the larger business goals.
• Time-Bound Set deadlines for your team or content calendar.

Social media managers have the tools to create SMART goals and run a successful takeover campaign. Don’t skip this step.

2. Choose your network

Once you have established your SMART goals, it is possible to choose the right social media platform for your takeover. Each platform offers different content creation options so it is important to consider your audience before choosing a network.

BuzzFeed Tasty used TikTok for a live stream to promote their cookware. TikTok might have been a better option than Instagram if their target audience was GenZ rather than millennials.

@tasty

Hint: It’s not brown! You can shop the #CookWithColor pans Inga used for the recent LIVE! @ingatylam

Original sound – Tasty

Target the network where your target audience is most likely see your takeover. This will help you create a successful campaign.

3. Make a detailed plan for action

Your plan of action will determine the success of your takeover. Without a plan of action, you and your influencer may end up on different pages regarding what is expected from the takeover.

You should answer the following questions:

• How long will the takeover take?
• What content is being created exactly?
• What media type will be shared? What captions will the influencer write?
• Will the takeover include stories or posts?
• What number of posts will the takeover contain?
• Will the takeover promote hashtags? Should it include other hashtags?
• Do you think content should include polls or links as well?

While you’re at this, share your brandsocial media styleguide with the influencer. This will help to prevent the creation of misaligned content.

Make sure that the influencer is still creating content with their voice and style. A social media takeover is all about creating new and interesting content for your audience.

4. Find the right creators

When planning a social media takeover, brands often partner with influential people. It’s a good idea. Influencers are often able to build a loyal following within a niche.

Create a list of potential collaborators if you choose this route.

If you aren’t sure who would be a good match, look at people who already follow and share your brand with them. This could lead you to a few authentic and relevant influencers.

Once you have identified influencers that you are interested in partnering with, begin to look at their metrics . It is important to see how many followers they have. You should also look at their past collaborations and niche engagement rates. Also, take a look at the type content they share.

You can request media kits from some influencers. These media kits can give you a better understanding of their audience, demographics, fees, and engagement.

Influencers aren’t the only way to get social media takeovers.

Your employees know your brand better than anyone, so they could be the perfect people to take over your accounts. Employees are able to quickly create and share social media takeovers, compared with partnering with influencers.

WebinarGeek hosts monthly employee takesovers on Instagram. Employees post about their work at WebinarGeek for a whole week. The goal is to inspire potential employees to apply for work at WebinarGeek.

Your company mascot may participate in the takeover if you really want to get your creative juices going. WebinarGeek also created an Instagram Reel using Business Booster Kiki, our office dog. A cute animal is hard to resist!

5. Permissions should be set up

We now move on to the technical side of a social media acquisition. Social media managers must set up permissions for content posting, even though this is not the most exciting aspect of a takeover. There are three options for brands:

Pre-delivered content

This scenario is where influencers create the content and share it with you before it goes. This allows you to review the content and make any changes necessary to ensure that it is in line with your campaign goals.

Managers prefer pre-delivered content, as it allows them to take over Instagram without having to give away its password.

It is easier to schedule the takeover in your calendar if you have pre-delivered content. Hootsuite Planner makes it easy to schedule and create posts for publication in advance.

It is the most secure option, but it has a major drawback. Pre-delivered content blocks live interaction between the influencers and your audience.

Real-time discussions can be a significant factor in your takeover, so this is something you should consider when planning your content.

Limited permissions

Sometimes, partial access to your social accounts is the best way for you to do a takeover. Many social media platforms allow companies the option to grant limited permissions to a collaborator to manage and publish content.

Facebook allows pages to assign different roles for users. There are six roles to choose from.

You might consider giving influencers the Editor role for takeovers. This allows them to create posts. They can also access Instagram. They can also view insights, but this may be too much access.

You can use the Instagram Collab feature on Instagram to publish the same post on both your and the influencer’s pages.

Another option is to co-host an Instagram live with your influencer.

Misfits Market used Instagram Collab with Kelly Mitchell to create an informative video about red wine.

TikTok does not allow influencers to guest-post. You can host a TikTok Live and invite other influencers to guest post.

Another option is to use your social management platform. Hootsuite allows social media managers to add influencers and give them specific permissions.

Members have limited permissions that allow them to upload content, but they need to be approved by an editor before it can be published

If pre-approval does not need to be obtained, editor permissions can then be granted to allow members to publish.

You can also customize permissions for members. You can request pre-approval for posts, but you can also grant permission to comment on and reply to messages.

Password handover

There are risks in giving your login credentials to someone outside. Sometimes, however, a password handover is all that’s required for influencers to access a social media platform.

You can securely send login credentials to another person using a password manager. There is less chance of your password being hacked by unauthorised people.

After the takeover is completed, you can revoke their login credentials.

6. Encourage takeover

It’s time for people to get excited about your takeover. Building anticipation is key to getting your audience excited about the takeover.

Depending on the terms of your agreement, you may ask your influencer to tease content before and during the takeover. Make sure they include your handle (or hashtag) when they do.

Peter Garritano, a photographer, recently took over New Yorker Photo’s Instagram page and shared many photos of his latest project.

He also promoted it on his personal account. This promotion increased the number of people who were aware of it before it actually happened.

The takeover is not only happening on Instagram, but you don’t have to promote it there. Use Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn and other relevant channels to let your audience know.

Aespa announced their acquisition of SiriusXM radio station via Twitter. This event was made more public by Aespa’s promotion on social media.

We’re taking over @MusicOnTikTok Radio @SiriusXM so that we can play our favorite songs! Listen to our takeover here: https://t.co/Dc4bGntAc0 pic.twitter.com/sJHs5OZAIw

— aespa (@aespa_official) July 22, 2022

7. Keep track of your success

Without a review of the performance, no social media takeover is complete. To determine which analytics will prove the success of your campaign, you’ll need to refer back to the SMART goals that you set earlier.

Many social media platforms have built-in analytics tools that can be used by businesses. They only provide basic information for a short time.

Hootsuite Analytics is an advanced analytics tool that makes it much easier to measure and report on results of takeover campaigns.

Hootsuite will find the numbers that prove your success, regardless of your success metrics.

We are obviously biased. Hootsuite offers fancy analytics tools that will help you determine why a social media takeover is a success.

Finally, don’t forget to show your boss your success!

Hootsuite will create custom reports to show you the true return on your takeover. These analytics can provide valuable insights into the success and failure of your takeover. Your next social media overhaul will be more successful if you learn from your posts.

That’s all! This is your step-by-step guide to running a successful social media takeover. We have the ultimate guide for influencer marketing.

Hootsuite’s dashboard makes it easy to schedule and manage your social media content. Schedule posts to go live while your OOO is asleep, and post at the best time possible — and monitor your post’s reach, likes and shares.

30-Day Free Trial (Risk-Free)

The post How to Run a Smart Social Media Takeover In 7 Steps appeared first at Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard.