---
title: 'Instagram Collab Posts: Expand Your Reach | Social Media Makeover | EP 7'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=0PWQAiPGmJk'
video_id: '0PWQAiPGmJk'
date: 2026-08-21
duration_sec: 3425
channel: 'Adobe Live'
---

# Instagram Collab Posts: Expand Your Reach | Social Media Makeover | EP 7

> Source: [Instagram Collab Posts: Expand Your Reach | Social Media Makeover | EP 7](https://youtube.com/watch?v=0PWQAiPGmJk)

## Summary

In this episode of Social Media Makeover, host Lucas O'Keefe, joined remotely by Phil Palen, provides a comprehensive guide to planning, creating, and posting Instagram collaboration posts. The video covers everything from choosing the right partner and pitching the idea to designing a cohesive post using Adobe Express and generating buzz. The hosts emphasize that collaborations are a powerful tool for expanding reach and building community, provided they are done with alignment and mutual respect.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to Collaboration Posts** [00:30] — Lucas introduces the topic of collaboration posts, noting they are an intimidating but high-reach feature on Instagram. He explains that a collaboration post appears on the feeds of all collaborators, up to four accounts, allowing access to multiple audiences.
- **Using Adobe Express Template** [02:37] — Lucas introduces a free, remixable Adobe Express template designed as a worksheet to help plan a collaboration post from start to finish. The template is available in the video description and is meant to be filled in digitally or printed.
- **Example of a Video Collaboration** [03:59] — Lucas shows a past collaboration with Phil, which was a video post. They organized the script together in Google Docs, then used Adobe Express's real-time collaboration feature to design the post, tag each other in comments, and give feedback.
- **Example of a Graphic Carousel Collaboration** [07:16] — Lucas highlights a carousel post he created with Ruben, a UI/UX designer. They created an Instagram size dimension guide, finding overlap in their audiences. The post included a clear call-to-action slide tagging both creators.
- **Tip 1: Choosing the Right Partner** [09:50] — Phil's first tip emphasizes that choosing a partner is about alignment, not follower count. He advises looking for someone who shares your values, has a similar audience, and has a visual style that complements yours. Trust and mutual respect are key.
- **Tip 2: Sending the Pitch** [14:54] — Phil's second tip is about sending a pitch via DM. He recommends keeping it casual, kind, and clear: start with a compliment, pitch the idea, and show the value. The message should sound like talking to a friend, not selling.
- **Tip 3: Merging Visual Identities** [19:50] — Phil's third tip is to ensure the collab post blends both creators' brands. Lucas demonstrates using Phil's brand kit in Adobe Express, including fonts, colors, and logos, to create a post that feels authentic to both creators' audiences.
- **Tip 4: Generating Hype and Buzz** [41:04] — Phil's fourth tip is to treat the collab like a launch. Use Instagram stories with teasers, countdown stickers, or sneak peeks before posting. After it's live, repost, reply to comments, and DM people who would appreciate it to extend the post's life.
- **Tip 5: The Crucial Engagement Phase** [53:12] — Phil's final tip emphasizes that engagement after posting is the most crucial part. He advises replying to every comment, especially from the partner's audience, making them feel welcome, and adding the partner to a close friends list to never miss their posts.

### Conclusion

Collaboration posts are a powerful tool for expanding reach and building community on Instagram. The key to success lies in choosing the right partner, creating content that blends both brands, and actively engaging with the new audience after posting.

## Transcript

of Social Media Makeover. I'm Lucas O'Keefe and I'm running solo today. Usually I'm joined by my good friend Phil Palen as we dive into all things social media, all things content creation, all things Adobe Express. We
usually tackle that together. Phil is off to an exciting destination. I'll be giving a little preview on where that is shortly in some videos because even this intro from me, I am not running solo entirely. We'll have definitely
have some input from Phil and he's going to be sharing some tips remotely. But today we are talking all about how you can organize and implement a strong collaboration post. So I find whenever we talk about collaborations similar to
Instagram live which we did in our last episode of social media makeover, collaborations are one of those amazing features that get us tons of reach, tons of growth, but so many people haven't tackled them yet and they can be
intimidating. So it's for good reason. You're not alone. If you're hearing anything today and thinking, I haven't done a collab yet. Because the goal in what I'm sharing and what Phil will be sharing, is to give you the tools and
the confidence needed to be able to tackle this format. Because a collaboration, for anyone who doesn't know, especially in the Instagram lens, which is what we like to talk about here for the most part on Social Media
Makeover, a collaboration post is something that is going to show up on the feed of you as the person who posts it, but also your collaboration partner. You can even have up to three other collaboration partners and be seen by
tons of audience if you are sharing this. So, we're going to dive into how though, I do want to shout out our amazing Adobe Live audience. Let me know where you're tuning in from. Let me know if you are an avid viewer of Social
Media Makeover. Is this your first episode? Is this your second, third, fourth? Have you been along with us since the beginning? We are really framing this series, which is every two weeks right here on Thursdays. It is a
series that is going to build into a social media course. So, we've covered all things and are continuing to cover all things social media and I'll be watching the chat. I see in there. I see Lori and hello. Thanks for tuning in.
What I want to show is my favorite way to start off a collab. So, I'm going to get into Adobe Express here. You know, that is our tool of choice right here on uh Social Media Makeover. And Phil and I of course love to share our interactive
templates. So today, our template, which you should be able to get in the description. We'll try to get we'll try to get that shared to you in the chat as well. This is our template that is going to help you plan from start to finish,
from plan to post your very own collaboration post. So again, Phil and I have always tried to make sure you get a takeaway. If you've been watching since episode one, you probably have a whole book of resources, whether it is digital
printed them off. We've made quite a few of these 8 and a half by 11, so you can try to print them. And I see posted that in the chat. You can take a look and get that remixable template yourself. But
this is what we're going to dive into today. And as you can see, it's like a worksheet. That's the teacher in me. I love a good oldfashioned worksheet. It's like a worksheet that breaks down all the steps of planning and organizing and
the steps of planning and organizing and hitting post on a collaboration post. Just to highlight some examples though of what a collabor collaboration post looks like and the different formats that are available. I'll be creating one
live today and again using some great tools right here in Adobe Express that make either real time or comment-based collaboration possible. I'm going to show you an example of some collaborations that I've done on
course, long before Phil and I had a collaborations. So, I'm going to hit refresh to just start this one at the beginning. Um, but this is an Instagram post, as you can see. It is Phil and I
accounts. And this is one we actually did as a partnership with Adobe to hit refresh so we can make sure we're starting right from the
seconds, but here we go. This is a collab Phil and I did collaborate on Express's real-time collaboration feature. And to show you, I'll be good friend Phil Palen. You ready to collab, Phil? Sweetheart, I am ready. If
you are, let's do this. Phil and I started by hopping into Google Docs to draft up our script together. And if you love the way he can see my live cursor wait until we take this content over to Adobe Express. Now that we're ready to
design, Phil just invites me to the design template that he's made via email. And just like that, you can see us working through it in real time. let's say we want to comment and give feedback on it as we go. Phil and I can
tag each other and share our thoughts, even pinning these comments to specific aspects of the design that we want changed. I can change it just as much as he does. We both have full control over this project. It really does make the
ready to post it as an Instagram collaboration. like the one you're Instagram ready collaboration post. Thanks again, Phil. Thank you. I'm just happy to be a part of it. So, there we go. Um, that is a real
collab that Phil and I shared on Instagram. I think that one was over a wanted to highlight these real-time collaboration features that you would have seen there in the video. And that was an example of a real of a video
collab. You can see it was very simple. I just had Phil and Phil and I just organized on a script and then we basically figured out, okay, which parts will be Lucas on video, which parts will be Phil on video, and we went back and
forth and spliced it all together. And hopefully I think we did a pretty good you'll you'll see that we made it look like a pretty seamless conversation, even though in reality that was me filming my my lines and sending that
over to Phil. Phil taking his lines and filming those and then having a video editor put it all together. It looked like a pretty seamless post. And we'll get to some tips and I'll repeat this. But one key thing you'll note there is
if that were to show up on my feed or if that were to show up on Phil's feed as it would, either of our audience would recognize pretty quickly that it was someone they already follow. Oh, this is Lucas. This isn't some stranger. Oh, I'm
Phil's post. Great. That's what you want to have. And I'll definitely have Phil mention that in a moment. One other kind I want to highlight here. Uh this is a more graphic style uh collab. This is a carousel post that uses more graphic
design rather than a real. I'll be actually designing something very similar to this using Phil and I's uh various brands and templates as well, friend and fellow uh Adobe ambassador
Ruben and I created. We did an Instagram post size dimension guide. We both realized, hey, these are things that our audiences both care about. He talks audiences both care about. He talks about uh UIUX design but also how to get
yourself seen as a designer. I talk about social media. And we found a lot of overlap in how our two audiences would benefit from knowing the very crucial sizes that are needed for social media and how to optimize your content
so it gets seen and is noticed on the feed. and we created this carousel post together which again is very simple but just breaks down the optimal Instagram just breaks down the optimal Instagram sizes. We talked about stories and those
safety zones that you don't want to get your content cut off in. We had a very crucial I want to highlight this and you will see me highlight this. We had a very crucial end call to action slide which highlights hey this is a post by
which highlights hey this is a post by Lucas. This is a post by Ruben or UIUX Creative. And we would likely tag ourselves, whoever posted it. We would tag our accounts right here. So someone could just tap on the screen and
automatically be taken to my account if they follow Reuben or Ruben's account if they follow me. So it's a great way to really have uh that back and forth. And this is hopefully what you're seeing is the power of a collaboration post. two
audiences, three audiences, even up to four audiences all in one. So, I would like to know in the chat, let me know. Um, have you ever posted a collaboration post? Have you seen a collaboration post that you liked or that maybe got you to
follow someone new, but haven't posted your own yet? I want to know where we're all coming at from this in different levels and different access points because again, I understand it is and can be an intimidating type of content
to show up with, but you're going to experience significant gains to your engagement and to your audience by sharing a post like this as soon or as long as you do it the right way, which is where I'm going to bring in Phil.
Surprise, surprise. Phil is going to be here. We have some awesome video clips. He'll explain where he's tuning in from, but Phil is going to share the very first important tip for choosing the right collaboration partner. So, let's
hear from him and see what he has to say. Adobe Live fam, I wish I could be Media Makeover, but the time zone, let's be honest, the lighting, natural very early in the morning for me in Japan. But still, I'm right here with
you for a few rapid fire videos that are going to help you master Instagram with Lucas on this and it's going to be great. First up, choosing your partner. It's not about follower count. Actually, it's about alignment. Look for someone
who shares your values, has a similar audience, maybe a visual style that compliments yours. Ask, "What would both of our audience benefit from this? Do they post consistently? Do I trust their voice enough to share space on my feed?"
If yes, it sounds like you've met your match. Great collabs are built on mutual respect. That's really what makes them work and what makes them fun.
It's not about follower count. It's about alignment. That is something that I really like that Phil mentioned because again, I find when we approach collabs, we think about, oh, I want to get the most followers. I want to collab
with an account that is way bigger than mine so I can take advantage of their audience and their growth and use it for me. Well, sorry. That's not the optimal way to do a collab. Um, I have a fairly large audience on Instagram and I very
often get strangers in my DMs saying, "Hey, Lucas, I'd love to do a collab post with you and I don't I maybe don't know these people. They don't even follow me. I don't follow them. We don't really have any sort of relationship.
So, why are we going to do a collab post together?" You'll find that the best people already in your network. The people you've met at some amazing events. Ruben and Phil, I've met them at amazing events like Adobe Max. They've
become very good friends of mine through the many projects we've worked on. So, of course, they were my go-to choices for collaboration posts. And that, as Phil shared with us, is where you want to look. So, I'm going to go back to our
our document that we have shared for you. And if we go to step one, it is, as Phil broke down for us, all about finding the right collab partner. And you can actually fill this in right here. It is editable. You can get
old-fashioned and export this as a PDF and print it and write on it in your own hands, uh, with your own handwriting. I like that way. But, um, you have tons of options. And your goal here is to think about who has a similar audience
audience to you and to list some collab partners. So, if I'm working in this document, I might write down, okay, my friend Ruben. I might write down how he has a similar audience to me. Uh, he focuses on design, the design community.
Maybe that's something I want to overlap with. And I would love to be able to, you know, blend my audience who follows for social media tips. Well, graphic designers really need social media tips. They want to get their work out there.
share their pro their portfolio and showcase their work. So, Ruben would be great for me to collab with. I have Phil. And Phil is, of course, an AI
strategist. And AI is so important these days. He's also a branding expert. I've learned a lot from him. So, why not take the things I've learned from him? I'm going to put let's we have overlap in branding and AI. Why don't I take the
things that I've learned from him and we're going to turn it into a post for brings us to the next step. It's going to be answering the question, okay, what could both of your audiences gain from this? So, let's say I am deciding I'm
going to collab with Phil. Okay, we've of course done this wonderful show together. So, sorry, Ruben, but I will have to reach out to you soon to do a collab. I'm highlighting Phil and I want to think, all right, what could Phil and
to think, all right, what could Phil and I's overlapping audience focus on? Well, I talk about social media tips. So, let's put me social media tips, content creation, things like that. Phil is
creation, things like that. Phil is focused on AI tools, AI strategy. Got to make that I capital. I'm not too sure. AI tools slashstrategy and branding. And I just want to brainstorm
and think about okay, it looks like I can definitely create some overlap here between social media tips and content creation and AI tools and strategy and branding. Well, I think this Phil guy is
a good person for me to collab with. And of course that leads to our next step which Phil will explain in a moment in our second video. But our next step is sending that pitch. Um before I get into this template here where you can
actually Yes, we made it super easy because I like templates. You can fill because I like templates. You can fill out your pitch message right here. Let's watch the second video from Phil where he shares his tips for sending a pitch
to a potential collab partner. Let's see what he has to say. So, you found the DMs. Don't overthink this, by the way. Keep it casual, kind, and clear. Start with a compliment. That's what I do.
Pitch the idea. And then show the value. So, something like, "Hey, Lucas, I loved your post about Instagram growth recently on reals. I created something similar. What if we remix them together?" So, something like that is
short, sweet, friendly. You're not selling, you're inviting. If it sounds like how you talk to a friend, then you're definitely on the right track. So, it really comes down to sending that DM. Let's take what Phil
took his exact words and turned it into this template. But it really comes down to just sending a message. And of course, with all templates, especially written templates, you may want to customize it yourself. On that note, I'm
using the rewrite tool. I think we'll have some fun with that in a moment, even though it's not what I planned. But let's say I'm going with, "Hey, Phil, I loved your recent post about um branding for small
businesses." I recently spoke about a similar topic on standing out with out with good social media content.
How would you like to mix them together for a collab post? And I really want to highlight that mix them together idea because when it comes to a collab, you don't have to, and you probably shouldn't have to create something brand
new that you've never spoken about before. This is a great time to take what you are an expert in or what you know and what your collab partner or collab partners are an expert in and what they know and to merge those two
worlds. And you might think, "Yeah, but I talk about the same thing all the time know, what if they don't want me to keep talking about these things?" Well, audience. I'm going to be shown to Phil's audience with this post. They
might not be used to me talking about this. And for my audience who is used to a brand new bit of information from Phil. So, there's going to be that mixing. There's going to be something to gain for everyone in this situation. And
sending the post, sending that message is a great way just to see. You might say, "Hey, sorry. My content schedule's pretty busy." They might say, "You know, I actually don't see the overlap in our audiences." These are all okay things.
Shoot your shot is what they say. And the same goes for collaboration. These are all okay responses. It's okay to hear that back because there's other people out there. That's why I suggest listing three potential collab partners
and you can keep on going from there. Something I actually do is I have a list of frequent collab partners and I kind of just rotate through them. So, I have maybe eight people who I frequently collaborate with and every two or three
months I go back to one of those people and we form a collab together. And if that's something that you're doing, that is a great way to continue to always have fresh collab topics without really running out or overdoing it where it's
So, that's something I definitely recommend trying. Um, but let me quickly show because I wanted to highlight this rewrite here. If you are worried about this feeling like too copy and paste of a message, I love using the rewrite tool
right here in Adobe Express. I've highlighted the text. Let's see. I want to re maybe I want to rephrase it. Maybe I want to shorten it. Maybe I want to lengthen it. Or I want to change up the tone. Maybe I want to go let's see.
Let's go casual and rephrase. I do like the length of it. And it's going to give me some options that I can share right here. And again, kept the length, which is what I wanted, and it's giving me something new. Let's see. Replace. Hey,
Phil. I really enjoyed your latest post on branding for small businesses. I just chatted about how to shine with great social media content. Want to join forces and create an awesome collab post together? I like join join forces. Maybe
I will keep that for myself. But from there, you are really just sending out that post and seeing if the person replies. And this is a great way to track it here in the document. From there, we move on to step
up here. And I'm going to actually get into designing the post right here in Adobe Express. But instead of hearing it from me, let's hear from Phil in our third video. His tip for how to make sure a collab post, the content you're
creating together, uniquely holds on to the identity of both people involved.
goal, right? Something that blends your brands, speaks to both audiences. When Lucas and I teamed up for hours, we used one of my The best collab posts look like both creators had a hand in them. That's the goal, right? Something that
blends your brands, speaks to both audiences. When Lucas and I teamed up for hours, we used one of my remixable templates in Adobe Express. I sent over my brand kit, colors, fonts, logos, so that then he could make it his own while
what he's actually going to do today. It's like a little visual handshake. You want your collab to feel authentic, cohesive, and unmistakably the two of you together. So, what we're going to do is exactly
like Phil said, we're going to actually merge the visual identities of my merge the visual identities of my content and his content to create a collab post that, as I said earlier, will be recognized and spotted by my
audience as a post from me and Phil's audience as a post from him. A big tip, again, I can't echo enough when it comes to collaboration, is you don't want to like shock your audience and have them say, "I don't know this content style.
to swipe past it. People like what's familiar to them. So, in step three, we have an excellent spot here for you to plan out the post. You can easily turn these into squares. If you're doing a carousel, you can resize them. You can
copy and paste them. But this is a great place to actually work with your collab partner and design it together. If I go ahead and share the post, let's return back to the post I did with Ruben here. and he and I made this post without
actually having a spoken conversation with each other. We sent that DM message or something very similar to what I just shared in the guide and the rest was actually just handled with messages and with comments. So, if Phil were here, we
would be collaborating in real time. You'd see his cursor all over the screen. And we've done that a lot on doing it again in the future. But today, because Phil's not here, I thought it
was a perfect time to show how great the comments are for communication. So, if I am communicating here with Ruben, I had some some messages I maybe left for him here. So, he said, I think originally there was a big huge Instagram logo
here. And I really wanted the focus to be on the square and the canvas size that people are going to use for this type of post on Instagram. So instead, I
Instagram logo for this because it was we moved it outward to the side. So, it's not overwhelming the actual thing. I want people to know the exact project size they can use, but instead, it still
holds on to the theme of Instagram by having these logos off to the side. Ruben even gave his thoughts, too. He said something like, "Well, my intention here is to resize the dotted square and not the actual big black square. For
example, a one one perfect square and so on and so forth." He asked it did make sense to me at the time because we definitely got this post done. But the great thing is these dots here are showing where he has mapped the
comments. So, we can see where the conversation is actively happening. right here. That's the comment. I click on and it takes me to this comment I made with the logo. Right back to here. It takes me to this comment that he left
about um his thoughts for what he put here. And this is exactly how we ended up getting the post done. I think at one point we ended up doing a quick little minutes if you can. And that was maybe a quick conversation, but we basically did
this whole post entirely just commenting right here in Adobe Express, which was super fun. Now, I'm going to do that, but Phil's not here. I'll leave some comments for him, but I want to make a post that matches both of our
identities. And the good news is I can do that right here in Adobe Express because Phil has done something as he as he shared, he's put together a nice brand kit for me. So, if I go to brands and click on it, I have Phil's brand,
which he's been so generous to share with me, and it's loaded with tons of things like Phil's logo, Phil's fonts that he uses, Phil's colors, tons of photos. I'm always very jealous of uh Phil's photo collection, his
professional photos that he gets done. But what I'm looking for here is the actual template. So, he has loaded this in with a template that I can now use, similar to the template that we share all the time on Social Media Makeover.
You can click on it and make your own copy, make your own file that isn't going to actually um like it's not going to change Phil's original. It's a brand new one that's been made right here. I'm trying to set some better habits for
myself and actually name my files because my Adobe Express has a lot of untitled untitled untitled. So, let's go ahead and name this collab with
ahead and name this collab with Phil April 2025. Just so I know what the document's going to be. And what we have here is Phil's go-to template that he here is Phil's go-to template that he uses for textbased carousels. So, I can
be assured and I can feel pretty comfortable and confident that, yeah, I'm going to change some things here. I'm going to work within this document. Maybe I'll change the fonts. Maybe I will add some images and some icons or
some shapes, but I can mostly make sure I'm sticking to Phil's look and feel of his content. And that's important because as I post this, I want Phil's audience to recognize, okay, this is similar enough to be a Phil post, but
oh, who's this other guy on the post? Oh, I like the tips that he's sharing. are some things we want to highlight, but I'm going to go ahead and input this carousel. So, I like how Phil likes to put a bit more text on his, but this is
a Phil and Lucas post, not a Phil only post. So, I'm going to say goodbye to those and add my own details here. And we're going to put some text. We got want to stand out because again, we're talking about the importance of branding
and standing out in social media. Want to stand out on Instagram in 2025. Now, again, I'm using his font, but if you look at my Instagram, I like
to use much bigger text boxes. I like to have everything a bit more laid out. I go with. And otherwise, I do have a pretty similar kind of look in my carousels to what we're seeing here. Want to stand
out on Instagram in 2025. I'm going to keep Phil's logo, but because it's not just a post from him, it's a post from me as well. I do want to use his font. me as well. I do want to use his font. I'm going to take this
box and maybe on top. I think I do like that. On top here, I'm going to put my username. So, now we have two things. We have Phil's logo on the bottom, which is right at home with his content. If you look at his carousel posts, and then on
top we have my username. So, someone's seeing this. Maybe you're seeing this. You follow just Phil. Maybe you follow just me. Maybe you follow both of us. You're quickly piecing together. All right, this is not just Lucas's post.
This is not just Phil's post. As Phil highlighted in in his tip that he shared, it's important to have this, not just have one person's brand overwhelm here. Let's see what we can do. Think I like that a little bit
better. Instagram is always a tough word. I use it in most of my carousels, of course, but it's such a long word. Sometimes I might do IG and go from there and then drop that down a bit. But I think in this case I
down a bit. But I think in this case I do like Instagram. There we centered. Maybe I'll drop down Phil's logo a tiny bit. So let's get both of
everything just so it's all together. [Music] And I think I like that. It's showing me it's pretty evenly spaced. And what I'm going to do now is just in
case, I'm obviously going to work pretty heavily with these pages here, but I'm going to make sure everything's all in the same spot before I get going. And just make sure that I can just paste that. I like to make sure again, I am
changing some things from Phil's document. So regardless of what pages I end up using, I might not end up using any of these and just make my own by duplicating. But just to be sure, let's get all that
proofread your content before posting and it really highlighted like read it backwards because your brain will help recognize, oh, that doesn't look that place. And there's a lot of different things you can do. Um, this is something
Phil has. Maybe that's exclusive to like his kind of content, but I'm probably it. Um, I actually just might I might delete the whole page and turn this into some sort of call to action slide. Let's go ahead and just populate all the
information we're trying to share. Want to stand out on Instagram in 2025. When I'm doing a good carousel post, I like to do all of the text first. And maybe you are like Phil and you do a lot of very textheavy content. In this realm of
video and reels, there is still some really good room for text only carousels. I have one that is doing very well on Instagram right now as we speak. So, I can definitely vouch for the fact that this type of content is good. It's
not it's not just a video only world anymore on social media. Something I find quite refreshing. But I want to start with um my second slide. Phil always highlights how much I like carousels and I do love them. Something
unique about carousels is it's the only content on Instagram that will actually be shown twice to your audience. So, let's say this is my first slide, as it will be. This is what people will see when they first log on to Instagram and
see my post on the feed. If they happen to not really want to read this or they're busy, hopefully they they like my content. But if they don't read this post and they just kind of scroll past it or close out of Instagram, not all
it or close out of Instagram, not all hope is lost because carousels have the unique advantage where moments later, a few hours later, a few days later, Instagram might show it a second time, starting with this second slide instead.
Kind of giving it a second chance. Like, you know what? Maybe maybe this hook wasn't doing it for them. Want to stay on Instagram? but maybe this one will. So, I always plan my second carousel slide as almost a second cover or a
second front slide. So, let's go ahead and make this like a good hook question. Um, we started with want to stand out on Instagram in 2025. So, I'm going to answer that question. Standing
Standing out starts
brand. Standing out starts with a scroll stopping brand. I want to now highlight nice and early that it is a collaboration post so people if they haven't clued in now why there's two names on the top and bottom
of this post they can learn they can see why why here's how to make yours unforgettable with tips from at the Lucas
from at the Lucas O'Keefe and at Instagram handle. I was stuck with the Lucas O'Keefe because another Lucas
handle before me. If you're out there, Lucas O'Keefe, we need to talk. But here we go. This is my secondary slide. Again, I can do something like make it bigger because I do want this to kind of grab attention a bit more. Maybe that'll
stand out a bit. There we go. So, again, if someone's scrolling, they might skip past this and then hours later they're back on the feed. They're back on Instagram and they're going to all of a sudden read this and go, "Oh, I haven't
seen this post or I don't remember seeing this post. This is a much better hook that makes me want to tune in and check out what it's all about. Oh, it's a collab from Lucas and Phil. That's why there's their names on the top and
bottom of this post." All things that again sounds like I'm kind of going over the top explaining them, but you never know what is going to be the thing that hooks that content and hooks with that content and grabs someone's
fill out the rest of the slides using Phil's template. So, the first tip here, we want to I'm going to keep his I'm going to go back to his style because Phil likes to do these like numbered checklists, which I really
like, too. So, I'm going to go ahead um pick one thing to be known pick one thing to be known for. Let's let's expand that a
me type. And I'm going to break from what Phil has where Phil does, you know, two per post or Phil had originally two per post or Phil had originally two points per carousel slide. My style is a
bit more to do one post that really breaks it down, gives people templates as you saw from um the worksheet, the free template we've given you today. I packed into one. So, here's another way that I'm blending Phil's style with my
own. So, here we go. Number one, for a standout uh Instagram brand, pick one thing to be known for. Your brand should be crystal clear. If people can't describe you in one sentence, your niche isn't focused enough. Tip: Try this
test. So, try to fill this out for yourself. People follow blank. People follow Phil because of his great personality and easy to follow communication style. Think of your favorite content creators and ask
yourself that question about them. Why do people follow them? Why do you follow them? I'm going to keep going. Now that I have this slide that I like, I'm because again, I like Phil's template, but I've already kind of modified my
own. So, I'm going to delete some of these just so it doesn't get too messy. There we go. I always leave one or two just so I can go back to it. But, let's carve out the rest of this carousel. Tip number
feel. Hope you're getting some tips from this, too.
spark emotion. A strong visual brand isn't just pretty, it's memorable. That's the message I'm trying to send here. Let's put that in there. And our tip this time, pick one to two brand colors that reflect the feeling you want
people to associate your content with. There we go. I love working from content that I already have or that someone else has already made like I'm using with fills here. And then I just add I duplicate
that page there and just keep adding different uh different actual text to it. That's something that I've done here with fills, but I've done that with my own content, too. Whenever I start with a carousel post of my own, I kind of use
my own content as a template. And I encourage you to do the same because again, like it's showing in this point, you want a visual identity that people to spend too long on this carousel post
because I do want to continue with the rest of our collaboration tips. So, I'll with three points this time. And Phil's next one that he shared is to be the face of your brand, not just the feed.
face of your brand, not just the feed. So, be the face, not just the main feed. your face, voice, or stories builds instant connection and trust. I'm going
to share a tip here, which if you've been tuning in for a few weeks of social media makeover, you maybe have seen this strategy, but I'm putting a tip here. strategy, but I'm putting a tip here. Use the story s y method in your stories
to stay visible without burning out. This is um a very common technique that I share with my audience. So, while I'm not actually mentioning it in the post, this is a nice little throwback to my audience who goes, "Oh, I follow Lucas.
He talks about the ST O Y method all the time. Yeah, I know what that is. Maybe someone from Phil's audience who has never seen me or my content before is going to comment and say, "What's the S ty method?" And there we go. That's good
engagement. That's a good way for me to step in and leave some supportive comments that's going to show people this isn't just a collab post. This is me sharing useful value to Phil's audience and I'd like to get to know you
all as well. So, let's just quickly do a call to action slide. I'm going to go ahead and let's delete this one. I want to show my favorite way to create a call to action slide. And it's kind of like a sandwich. my final slide of the post. I
sandwich. my final slide of the post. I usually just duplicate my first slide of the post. So, here we go. We're duplicating that. I'm dragging it over duplicating that. I'm dragging it over to the back. And now we have the first
and last slide are the exact same. And for this one, I'm going to put let's put a kind of snappy goaway line.
unmissable? I can shrink the font a little bit. And that kind of goes full circle with what we're talking about
final slide to center. So, here we ready to make your brand unmissable. That kind words I'm using, like unmissable. Let's work with it a little bit. I like that. That's better. So, again, it's Yes, I copied my first
slide, but I'm also making it slightly different so people can tell that it's not the beginning of the post. I like this text box. So, I'm going to bring it this text box. So, I'm going to bring it over to
here. And this is where I'm going to write my call to action. And don't forget here. Let me move that out don't forget here. Let me move that out of your way so you can see
unmissable? Let's do Well, don't forget to Well, don't forget to follow Lucas O'Keefe and Phil Palen for
more content tips and branding insight. See how I commented on what Phil does and what I
do. There we go. Let's make sure those are nice and centered. There we go. So, you might be looking at this saying, "Yeah, that's pretty textheavy overall, actually look at the full project here." You might say, "Wow, that's pretty
textheavy." Well, that's what Phil and I both share. Please go look at both of our pages and you'll see, okay, this has some common elements of Lucas's content, especially these kind of carousels here. I do big text, single lines, but it's
all Phil's font. It's all Phil's colors. It's very much unique to both of our content. And I'm pretty confident if I were to share this, his audience and my audience would both recognize it. I'll see if we have some time to add visuals
in a moment because we will be doing doing that. But something I want to do first is I want to talk about actually getting to the point of posting this. But before we post it, something we like to do is build buzz and build hype
around the upcoming collab. Yeah, you can just post and have it go out there and maybe your audience will see it and Phil's audience will see it, but it's also better to capitalize on it by treating it like a launch. Tell people
you're doing a collab with a surprise guest. Tell people that something is want to tune into. That's a great way to do it. But again, let's hear it from Phil. So, Phil's going to share his fourth tip for a good collab, and he's
going to talk about what goes into generating hype or generating buzz for to say. Hey, you worked hard on this collab, okay? I know you did. Don't just post it and hope for the best. Treat it like a launch. So, start with a teaser
in stories, maybe a countdown sticker or a sneak peek. Once it's live, keep up the momentum. Repost it. Reply to comments. DM a few people that you know would love it. They might not even see it thanks to Instagram's algorithm. A
post can live way longer when you actually build around it. You showed up. Now let people see it. So there we go. We're going to generate hype. We're going to generate buzz. Phil's favorite way, my favorite
way is to do that with Instagram stories. You could also do something like an Instagram live, either before the collab or the day of the collab or after the collab. Phil and I talked all about how to optimize Instagram live on
our episode of Social Media Makeover two weeks ago. So, do check that out and check them all out because like I said, they do blend together like a social media course with all the different channels and avenues on Instagram and
other platforms that you'll want to show up on. But let's turn this carousel post that's going to be posted to both our feeds as a collab. Let's turn it into a favorite Adobe Express features, which is resize. But it's going to resize it
all within the same project. So, this is a 1080 by350 pixel carousel post. That's my go-to dimensions that I like to use for my project when it's a carousel post. But I'm going to make it an Instagram story. So, we're going to go
ahead and do that. And in on top of that, what we're going to do is we're making it separate, we're just going to resize it right here. And on the same page, we now have a story. I actually do want to duplicate. Sorry, I was too busy
talking. But I want to have my original cover and I want to have my new story. So, here we go. Now, there we go. You can see I have my original cover photo that's unchanged. That's the 1080x350 pixel carousel cover, but I
also just created this story that, as you can see, is the story dimensions, you can see, is the story dimensions, 1080 by 1920 pixels. I can do this and have it all in the same project, which is nice because we're going to make a
story to promote it. And as I said, I'm already having trouble keeping my files organized. So, why make multiple different files when I can have it all here in one? We're going to have this into a story. And what we're looking at
right now, that's not an Instagram story, right? Instagram stories, as we've learned, are all about showing up, being human, having the person, or in being human, having the person, or in this case, the people behind the post on
images here. I'm going to go ahead. I'm going to delete me and Phil's names from this because this one is going to be a story. I'm going to tag on Instagram his account and my account. So, I don't need our
names. Let's put that up there. Want to stand out on Instagram in
soon. New post. Coming soon. How about that? Let's do caps. All right. new post. Want to stand out on Instagram in
2025. And of course, let's highlight that this is being done by Phil and I. And this is where it's getting kind of fun because I am now using the brand that is my personal content. As you can see here, I have way
fewer Let me go back to that. I have way fewer uh photos compared to Phil. That's I'm gonna go ahead and make sure people recognize this is a Lucas post and this to be a Phil post. So, we'll go ahead and remove the background on me and
let's just have me right there. Another favorite feature of as I've said. So, while it's a text, while it's texton content, the carousel
itself is just going to be text. One of our tips, be the face, not just the feed. People trust people. Showing up with your face, voice, or stories builds connection and trust. So, that's what I'm doing. And I want a key takeaway I
want you to know from this is you don't just have to show up with your face on your main feed content. A lot of my content is text only. A lot of Phil's content, if it's not his videos, which are phenomenal, is text only, he might
use or I might use stories to put my face into it or my unique personality many different ways for you to show up. Find what works for you. So, here we go. Find what works for you. So, here we go. There's me and closed out there. Let's
find um a nice picture of Phil that we can use. It's nice to have all these different brands that I can access. He's got them so well organized. Phil, you have too many good
photos to choose from. Let's try this. Looks similar to my pose. Yeah, that's something I could probably have match me pretty well. So, let's make the sizes similar. I'll probably switch our
spots. All right, we're about the same size. Let's remove the background on size. Let's remove the background on that one.
working, I think I will probably want because Phil's arm is a little cut off. So, let's put Phil because the photo wasn't just fully him. So, let's switch wasn't just fully him. So, let's switch spots between me and
little bit taller than him. There we go. Okay, we got both of us. That would look pretty at home on both of our feeds. We might move this up and then that is going to be a great way to promote the content coming soon.
Want to stand out on Instagram in 2025. You can also have some fun with it too. You can also have some fun with it too. Um maybe I want to let's see maybe I want to completely That's fun. I'm going to show how I do that again. Okay,
because maybe I want to take Phil's photo and this is being posted to just my feed. Okay. So, I want to preview that there's a post coming up, but I We're generating buzz. We're generating hype. We're generating excitement. So,
I'm going to go to the photo here of Phil. I'm going to go to effects just so effects up here at the top. And I'm going to apply a tone to it that I can increase or decrease the intensity of. I want to fully increase the intensity
because I want him to disappear. And I think that's looking a lot of fun, right? I'm gonna post that to my stories and my audience is going to say, "Okay, Lucas is clearly sharing a collab post, but who's it with?" Or maybe because
audience. People are going to say, "That's definitely Phil Palent. I could watch Social Media Makeover and I see these two together all the time." Let's these two together all the time." Let's go ahead and add some fun things like a
go ahead and add some fun things like a question mark.
actually like adding kind of like different shadows behind my person and having like a triple shadow or duo tone shadow to go with my images. I think I've shared that before in the past, but now this is a fun little story that I
now this is a fun little story that I can make interactive in two ways. So, if I post this directly on Instagram, I can make a little bit more space here. Always try to make a few copies, I would say, when you're doing stories
because so many of the stickers, the interactive stickers on Instagram are going to need a certain amount of space. You don't want to have them on the outskirts of the post. I actually think I've saved in my brand kit. Just funny
that I have this. In a previous episode, Phil and I have made the story safe zones, which is something I've just added to my personal brand because I pull it up all the time. But I want to make sure that anything I'm posting is
not going to be in these red zones, which if I drop the opacity here, I can see. All right. Make sure that red is clear. So maybe new post. I want to drop clear. So maybe new post. I want to drop that down, but move it around. Kind of
figure out what works. This clear space is nice and open. I can do two different things here. I can add a countdown sticker. And I can say, "Get ready to watch the collab. Tap here to get notified when it goes live. And I can
set a countdown for the day of the post." And people can get notified on Instagram when it goes live. Or, of course, I can put the Q&A sticker, the question box sticker, maybe call it either of those. and say, "Who do you
think I'm collabing with?" And, you know, tune in on Wednesday to find out. But people will probably generate engagement by saying, "I have no idea who that is." Or, "That's Phil. I know it 100%." Right? So, have fun with have
fun with stories, generate hype and buzz, as Phil said. Something cool that buzz, as Phil said. Something cool that I can do here is I can quickly duplicate it. Right, we're duplicating the post. Let's go ahead and take off the uh
darken effect that we put on Phil. And let's apply it to let's apply it to me. And look at Phil's going to post this story, and I'm going to be the mystery person who might
be his guest, and he's going to generate hype and buzz that way. And we can switch back between the two of us. It's very fun to see. Or I can go and look at everything I've already contributed to this project, to this file, and I can
see, all right, this is something that I can send to Phil and automatically he can leave comments. He can let me know what he thinks, but he also has it all right here in one place. Maybe you use
things like a shared Google Drive folder to send files to people. And that takes a lot of time because you have to then download the projects, upload them to Google Drive, send that folder to your collaboration partner or your colleagues
to then download it themselves and post it. Phil and I can both just have this on Adobe Express. He can just download it when he needs it. Download just the story. Download the whole post because only one of us needs to post it. And
we're all set from there. We're talking posting. We all know how to do that. When you're going to post a collab on Instagram, you just go to the tag section and you can add someone. But Phil has one more crucial tip that I'm
going to leave you away with. And it is the fifth tip from him about how to organize a collab. And it's the most crucial part in my opinion. Yes, you have to create the content, but let's see this very important tip he's going
live, this is exciting. This is when the real work begins. Engagement. Think of yourself as the host of a party. Reply to every comment, especially from your partner's audience. Make them feel welcome. Add your partner to your
so that you never miss their posts. Uh, I also like switching to the chronological feed. It helps you catch people in the moment. This is like prime time to show up, be helpful, make a killer first impression. You got this.
It's going to be great. So, you heard it right there. That is why we are right here on Adobe Live. We are building community. We are engaging. We are part of a wider community that is making social media
social. So after you've posted the collab, you don't want to miss the important part, which is engaging and actually interacting with the people who are commenting on the post you shared. It's more crucial than ever. Yeah, I
talk about how engaging is very important on social media in general, but it's extremely important if you want a successful collab post because you know that new people, new audiences who follow your collab partner and probably
not you are going to have their eyes on the content. They're going to be leaving comments and support and starting conversations. So, the last part of this in the description if you're watching this on the replay. You can find it in
the uh show in the chat right now, but in our collab template that we've put together for Adobe Express, you can make sure you go through these steps. Reply to all the comments you get. Introduce yourself to any commenters who weren't
from your audience. Consider sharing the post to your story and tag any other person. I just shared some great stories that you can use to promote the post. Pin the top three comments that drive the most conversation and spend 10 to 15
minutes replying to stories to strike up good engagement and good conversation. These are all the things that go into a nice and successful collaboration post.
You can go ahead and try it yourself. I really can't stress enough how important collabs are on Instagram. They're an excellent tool and Phil and I would love to see you trying one out yourself. Thank you so much for tuning in to this
episode of Social Media Makeover. Phil, thanks for joining us from Japan. Lucky thanks for joining us from Japan. Lucky you. And we will see you next time.