Collaborating—working in cooperation with another—can be useful in both B2C and B2B interactions. Collaboration can also take place within a company. Whatever the form, collaborating is used to “meet a business need or objective,” according to Jacob Morgan at Social Media Today. In any collaboration, assess whether your marketing objectives are 
being met because of the union. If not, get out. Your partner should be assessing likewise and you should be helping them meet their needs as well. This is a symbiotic relationship—both should benefit from the collaboration. Even with B2B collaboration, both companies should feel they have gained an advantage. “Don’t sell collaboration,” advises Morgan. “Sell the ability to meet a business objective.” Additionally, when collaborating keep in mind that you must have “a solid understanding of the problem that you are looking to solve,” both within your business and your collaborator’s. This way everyone is clear on the part they are to play.
Engagement—or, listening to customer needs and responding—is one way to gain insight. When your company takes action based on these insights, both your team and your customers are empowered. This is a less direct form of collaboration. The customer may not even realize they are in collaboration with you. By engaging enough to tell you how they feel about your brand, product, company, website, etc., the customer is giving you the insight you need to step up to the next level.
Morgan again reminds us to keep objectives forefront:
- Don’t say: “we are going to build a community around brand XYZ”
- Instead say: “we are going to build a community around XYZ that is going to help us decrease market research costs which are currently rising”
How is your company using collaboration and engagement in SMM?
