How to Increase Your Top of Funnel by Borrowing Social Media Audiences

Imagine tapping into a massive, engaged audience without spending a fortune on advertising. That's the power of borrowing audiences. Borrowing audiences is a concept introduced to me a few years ago while working at my last company. At the time, it was a fairly new idea used by large corporations who wanted to tap into the audiences of celebrity influencers. Today, this proven strategy works for every business size and can be implemented easily into your marketing funnel. Let’s dive deeper into how to increase your top of funnel by borrowing social media audiences!

What Does “Borrowing Audiences” Mean?

Borrowing audiences is a marketing strategy in which you partner with another business or brand to educate or entertain their audience and promote your product or services to increase your top-of-funnel. This strategy can be implemented in several different ways. The most common implementation you’ve probably seen is influencer marketing, where a brand partners with an influencer to use and promote its product to its social media audience for direct sales. 

You may wonder, “do I have to pay thousands or millions of dollars to achieve this?” The answer is no! This can be done on a smaller scale with minimal resources, especially if you’re a small business. Let’s look at a few ways to borrow social media audiences.

3 Ways to Borrow Audiences on Social Media

Borrowing social media audiences can be optimized a few ways on various platforms. The key to a successful campaign is knowing where your ideal audience is and how to reach them on that platform. 

Additionally, ensure that partners you select have a similar audience size and that your audiences complement or overlap. For example, a fitness apparel brand could collaborate with a nutritionist to create a series of posts about healthy living with a joint offer. Consider what’s in it for them – why should they collaborate with you?

Here are three ways to borrow audiences on social media:

1. Collaborator Posts (Instagram)

2. Stitch Posts (TikTok) or Remix Posts (Instagram)

3. YouTube Collaborations or Sponsorships

Collaborator Posts on Instagram

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Collaborator Posts is a strategy I’ve used myself and found success with. It can feel like slow rewards, but the goal is to increase your top of funnel audience before making the sale. Here’s how to implement this successfully:

1. Find and build a relationship with a partner whose audience complements or overlaps yours.

2. Create content together or ask for sponsored content.

3. Have the partner post to their account and invite you as a “collaborator”.

Stitch or Remix Posts on TikTok and Instagram

Stitch or Remix posts are another option for partnership content. Similar to the Collaborator posts, they allow audiences to see a snippet of your content with input from another account. This can be leveraged by having someone else Stitch or Remix your existing content and post to their account. Here’s how to implement this successfully:

1. Find and build a relationship with a partner whose audience complements or overlaps yours.

2. Agree on content topic and provide video options from your account, they can Stitch/Remix. Your video settings need to allow this feature.

3. Agree on a date for the post, and request they tag you in the caption, explaining how you are collaborating.

Pro-Tip: You can return the strategy and Stitch/Remix a post from the partner’s account.

YouTube Collaborations or Sponsorships

Long-form video content is a longer cycle and requires more planning. However, this is beneficial for providing more robust information in one detailed video rather than quick TikTok style videos. Here’s how to implement this successfully:

1. Find and build a relationship with a partner whose audience complements or overlaps yours.

2. Agree on content topic and messaging. Consider a contract, especially for sponsorship.

3. Consider a script if you have a specific message to relay.

4. Have a follow-up strategy ready.

Alternative Ways to Borrow Audiences without Social Media

There are alternative ways to borrow audiences from partnerships you establish without social media.

• Blog swaps, like guest posts, backlinks, or product/service reviews

• Newsletter callouts or sponsorships for products or services

• Webinar or Course collaborations

These alternative ways to borrow audiences are more personal and require more relationship building and trust because these are audiences that someone else owns and are loyal to that brand. This brand loyalty means this audience is much further down the funnel and can be warmer leads for you to tap into.

How to Implement a Successful Campaign to Increase Your Top of Funnel

To implement a successful campaign to increase your top of funnel, establish your marketing funnel before pitching anything. Ultimately you should know how you’re moving your audience from the top-of-funnel down to a buying customer. Once you have a clear funnel system, follow these tips to implement a successful campaign:

1. Have clear messaging. Your campaign should have a clear goal using a call to action. Do you want people to follow you? Join a membership? Try our your product? Get to know you?

2. Build trust with your audience. Consumers value honesty and transparency. Help your new audience understand why your product or service is right for them, and if it aligns with their needs.

3. Get people onto your email list as loyal audience members. Do you have a newsletter where you can connect with your people? Optimize your funnel so the newcomers have somewhere they can subscribe to, like your email list.  While social media is valuable, it's important to remember that you own your email list. Your email list provides a stable communication channel, whereas social platforms can change anytime (hello, TikTok ban). Therefore, you risk losing contact with your audience if platforms change.

4. Know when to pitch the sale. This varies by business and is subjective, but it’s the million dollar question. As a marketer, I’ve seen too many collaborations that felt exaggerated and pitched a sale immediately (think, “run to the store right now!” posts). This can create a disconnect and feel inauthentic. Overconsumption is  a huge problem globally and I can’t express how often I’ve heard people say, “I can’t believe I paid for this.”

Wrap Up: How to Increase Your Top of Funnel by Borrowing Social Media Audiences

Borrowing social media audiences offers a powerful and accessible strategy for businesses of all sizes to expand their reach and boost their top-of-funnel efforts. There are countless opportunities for growth with collaborative Instagram posts, engaging TikTok Stitches, strategic YouTube sponsorships, and off-platform tactics like blog swaps and newsletter features. 

The key to implementing this strategy lies in building genuine relationships, understanding your target audience, and offering valuable content that resonates. By establishing a clear marketing funnel, businesses can convert borrowed audiences into loyal customers. Ultimately, this approach moves beyond fleeting trends to cultivate sustainable growth, proving that strategic collaboration is a cornerstone of effective modern marketing.