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Mar 10 2024

17 Tips For Collaborating With Other YouTubers For Channel Growth

Last Updated on March 13, 2024 by Eric Cantu

There’s a key strategy that can be a game- changer for YouTube creators: collaboration. Collaborating with other YouTubers to grow your channels isn’t just a trend, it’s a smart move to extend your reach and bring a fresh, new direction to your channel. Here are 17 tips for doing it right.

How Do I Collaborate with Other YouTubers to Grow My Channel?

To grow your channel through collaboration, find YouTubers with a similar audience, communicate clearly, and create appealing content together to expand reach and audience engagement for both creators. This should be a win/win for both partners involved.

Key Takeaways

• Smart Strategy for Growth: Collaborating with other YouTubers can create a huge boost in audience reach and content diversity for both creators, much like artists featuring in each other’s music tracks.
• Finding the Right Partners: Always choose collaborators who share similar interests and audiences, taking advantage of social media and YouTube analytics to pick the perfect partner.
• Building Successful Partnerships: Effective communication, mutual respect, and clear agreements are the foundation of successful YouTube collaborations. Always be professional and deliver value through your shared passions.
• Creative Collaborative Content: From viral challenges and live Q&As to joint content series, creative collaborations provide unique experiences and help build community engagement across channels.
• Measuring Success and Building Relationships: After the collaboration is over, use YouTube analytics and audience feedback to gauge your success and maintain ongoing relationships for future collaborations.

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Why YouTube Collaborations Work

It’s all about synergy : There’s a synergy that’s created when two or more creators collaborate successfully. You combine your strengths, your audiences, and it’s just like when artists feature on each other’s tracks: each creator’s fans get introduced to new content they might enjoy and communities come together.

Not just about growing subscribers : This isn’t just about getting more subscribers to your channel (though that’s a huge perk); it’s also about your content better and bringing more value to your audience and your channel. Cross-promotion through collaborations unlocks new opportunities and gets your channel in front of viewers who are genuinely interested in what you produce.

Your first step is choosing who to collaborate with. That’s going to include finding YouTubers who share a similar vision and can connect with your audience.

How to Find YouTubers to Collaborate With

The collaboration process begins long before you ever hit the record button. It starts with identifying those YouTubers in your niche who share similar interests and have an audience that closely aligns with your own. If you’re a small YouTube channel , find another one similar to yours. This needs to be mutually beneficial. To find those creators, you can dive into the YouTube community, participate in forums, and engage in the comments sections of channels you admire.

The power of social media : Social media is a great tool for networking. Platforms like Twitter , Instagram, and even LinkedIn can serve as great places to connect with potential collaborators. Reaching out on another platform signals an actual interest in their work and in their content. And it’s not just about finding someone with a large following, but finding a creator whose content complements your own and whose audience might find your channel appealing.

Authenticity is crucial : Trust me, your subscribers can tell when a collaboration feels forced. Choose to work with people who you genuinely like, respect, and follow. Only consider someone who shows that they share similar values and visions for their channel as you do for yours. It’s these shared characteristics that can make a team-up more successful, appealing to both your audiences.

Numbers don’t lie : Finally, don’t overlook YouTube analytics. Your channel’s data can give you really valuable insights into what other channels your viewers are watching. This info can guide you in choosing which creators might be the best fit for a partnership, increasing the odds of the collaboration benefitting both of you.

How to Reaching Out to other YouTubers and Establish a Partnership

It’s all about the approach : Make it sincere and respectful. Here’s my take: start by sending a message that shows you’ve really taken the time to understand their content and audience. Talk about the specific aspects of their work you admire and explain why a partnership could be mutually beneficial.

Negotiating terms doesn’t have to be a headache : This isn’t just about what you want to get out of the partnership, it’s also about creating a win/win situation. Transparency is key here. You’re going to want to discuss potential styles of collaborative videos, is it going to be a one time thing, or several, and how credit should be given for each collab. Remember, written agreements can save you a world of trouble down the line, so it’s a really smart idea to put the details in writing.

Professionalism goes a long way : Timely responses, being respectful of their schedule, and understanding their creative process mean a lot. You’ll want to schedule a meeting if possible, but at the very least a voice call or FaceTime to finalize the plans. If you want to, you can always use video calls to brainstorm and lock down those exciting ideas for collaboration. Don’t do the important stuff over text. Your collaboration will feel much more real once you’re actually speaking to each other face to face or voice to voice.

Building a relationship : Don’t worry too much about a partnership feeling like a business transaction. It’s about building that relationship with someone who shares your passion. Now, choose something to create that resonates with both of you, set clear expectations, and get ready for the creative part — because that’s where the real fun begins.

The tighter your partnership the better the collaboration will work. And now that we’ve covered establishing a partnership, let’s move on to the next section where I’ll talk about unique ideas for your collaborative videos that are sure to captivate your audiences.

Coming Up with Collaboration Ideas to Boost Engagement

To make your collaboration stand out, it’s all about getting creative with your content. Collaborating gives you the perfect chance to experiment with different formats and ideas that might be new to your channel.

Challenge videos : Consider coming up with challenges and tag videos that both you and your partner can share. These types of videos can go viral, with your audiences participating in the challenge and then spreading the content further than your combined audiences could do alone. When viewers from one channel participate in the challenges on another, you’re effectively cross-pollinating your communities.

Co-hosted live streams : Another powerful tool is co-hosting live streams with Q&A sessions. These live events create a sense of community and audience’s love it because it’s like watching two world collide as two creators that always see apart are now sharing the stage. They provide real-time interaction, which both sets of subscribers can appreciate. It’s an opportunity for people to see their favorite creators in a spontaneous, unedited environment.

Themed videos : You might also look into creating a joint content series or themed videos. This kind of collaboration can span multiple episodes, giving viewers a reason to follow both channels and will build excitement for what’s to come. It’s a fantastic way to keep the audience engaged over a more extended period.

Cross-channel giveaways : Giveaways are a win/win for everyone involved. They incentivize subscribers from both channels to engage and be active with each piece of collaborative content by offering up a prize that drives up participation even more.

Was It a Success? Let’s Look at the Numbers!

YouTube analytics : After the excitement of a collaboration, you’re going to want to know if it was a success. YouTube analytics can show you spikes in subscriber growth, increased video views, and higher audience engagement during the collaboration period. Metrics tell a story, so pay attention to them.

Direct from the source : It’s also crucial to check the pulse of your audience. What did they think about the collab? Gather feedback through comments, polls in your channel’s community tab, or direct messages. Your viewers’ reactions can determine your future collaborative efforts.

Why stop at one? : A one-off collaboration can be fun, but building lasting relationships can be even more beneficial. Stay connected with your collab partners. A simple message or comment on their videos can keep the connection warm. Also, consider planning a follow-up project if the first one goes well.

Double down on what works : Each collaboration is a learning opportunity. Reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Maybe your audiences loved a certain type of content, or perhaps the timing of the release could have been better. Use these insights to make your next project even more impactful. Remember, when you’re successful on YouTube there’s money to be made.

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Final Thoughts

YouTube collaborations can be a really fun way to explode your reach! Find this perfect partnerships, establish a quality connection, engage new audiences, and keep evolving as a creator.

What do you think? Have you ever done a YouTube collaboration before? If not, what’s holding you back? Has it ever been a part of your content strategy? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear your perspective and I always reply!

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes collaborating with other youtubers beneficial.

Collaborating with other YouTubers allows creators to expand their reach, merge audiences, and enhance the diversity and appeal of their content. It builds a sense of community and opens up new creative possibilities.

How do you choose the right YouTube partner for collaboration?

The right YouTube collaborator shares similar interests and has an audience that aligns with yours. Utilizing social media, YouTube analytics, and engaging in community forums helps identify potential partners who complement your channel.

What are the best practices for establishing a successful YouTube collaboration?

Successful YouTube collaborations are built on clear communication, mutual respect, and transparency. It’s crucial to outline collaboration details like content style, frequency, and credit attribution, ideally in a written agreement.

What are some unique ideas for collaborative YouTube content?

Innovative collaborative content includes challenges, live Q&As, joint content series, and cross-channel giveaways. These formats encourage audience interaction and sustain viewer interest over extended periods.

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About Eric Cantu

Born & raised in south Texas, Eric has enjoyed his career as a firefighter and paramedic since 2002. When he's not building websites he's traveling as far and often as he possibly can, and fully understands how awkward it is to type a paragraph about himself in the third person.

Reader Interactions

July 16, 2024 at 7:17 pm

I do a bit of colab but sometimes the other creator wants to participate if they can benefit by the watch hours. I have read your article but how can both share a live stream colab on each of their respective channels. Usually, the creator who creates the post and uploads it on his/her channel is the one that gets the watch hours. Can the other creator/s upload the link on their respective channels so their viewers can see and comment on the creators respective channels? I need to know if this is the right way to do it. Thanks Eric.

July 17, 2024 at 3:50 pm

While there are third party software programs that allow you to simulcast live streams to multiple channels at once, ideally you would simply take turns going live on each channel. I appreciate the comment! Did you see positive results from your collabs?

June 18, 2024 at 6:40 am

This is very helpful! Do collaborators create content by volunteering to work together? All presenters on my YouTube channel (Read with ASL) are volunteers, and everyone involved with making content is a volunteer.

June 24, 2024 at 2:56 pm

Just like the article says, if you want to work with another creator in your niche to extend your reach you simply reach out, agree on what you’d like to work together on, and then create 🙂 Thanks for the comment!

March 15, 2024 at 12:33 pm

Really good article,  I have been thinking about starting a YouTube channel but just am not sure exactly how to go about it.  This article gives you tons of helpful advice and ideas of ways to get going and really grow your viewers.  The part about teaming up with other YouTubers I though was very interesting using that method would allow you to really grow your viewers fast especially if you could find someone that is already established.  Thanks for this I am sure I will be referring back to it when I start my channel!

March 15, 2024 at 1:47 pm

Nice! Glad I could help!

March 11, 2024 at 2:41 am

One aspect I found particularly helpful is your suggestion to leverage YouTube analytics to identify potential collaborators based on audience overlap. I must admit I’m not a hugh fan of “pop-ups”, but when your pop-up along with the invitation to join your free training, I decided “Why Not”, my decision to sign up is based on my positive review of how you share these valuable tips and insights!. Thank you!

March 11, 2024 at 1:07 pm

Glad you enjoyed this! Thank you!

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Home » blog » YouTube case studies: How brands are marketing through videos?

YouTube case studies: How brands are marketing through videos?

As a digital marketer, One should always be on the lookout for innovative and effective ways to reach their target audience. And one platform that has consistently proven its worth in the world of marketing is YouTube. With over 2 billion monthly active users, YouTube offers tremendous potential for brands to connect with their audience through engaging video content.

In this article, we will explore various YouTube case studies to understand how successful brands have utilized the platform to market their products and services. By analyzing these case studies, we can uncover valuable insights and strategies that can be applied to your own marketing campaigns.

Benefits of Using YouTube for Marketing

Before diving into the case studies, let’s first understand why YouTube is such a powerful tool for marketers. Here are a few key benefits:

• Massive Reach: YouTube is the second-largest search engine after Google, and its extensive user base provides brands with an opportunity to reach a vast audience. Whether you’re targeting a specific niche or aiming for widespread recognition, YouTube can help you achieve your goals.
• Visual Appeal: Videos have a unique ability to capture attention and convey information in an engaging manner. By leveraging YouTube’s platform, brands can create visually appealing content that resonates with their target audience.
• SEO Benefits: YouTube videos are indexed by search engines, which means that a well-optimized video has the potential to rank highly in search results. This can drive organic traffic to your channel and increase brand visibility.
• Audience Engagement: YouTube allows for direct interaction with your audience through comments, likes, and shares. This level of engagement helps build brand loyalty and fosters a sense of community around your content.

Now that we understand the benefits of using YouTube for marketing, let’s dive into some fascinating case studies that showcase the platform’s potential.

Also Read – 15 High Paying Digital Marketing Skills

YouTube Case Study 1: Red Bull’s Journey to Viral Fame

Red Bull’s journey to viral fame on YouTube was fueled by a strategic and authentic approach to video marketing. They embraced their identity as a purveyor of energy and adventure, showcasing extreme sports and creating a lifestyle brand. By crafting compelling narratives, collaborating with influencers, and harnessing user-generated content, they created a powerful connection with their audience.

Red Bull’s YouTube strategy focused on authenticity, storytelling, and collaboration. They showcased genuine moments of adrenaline-pumping stunts and extreme sports, captivating viewers with their raw and unfiltered content. Collaborations with influential YouTube creators and athletes added credibility and expanded their reach. Moreover, by encouraging user-generated content, Red Bull turned viewers into active participants, fostering a sense of community and empowerment.

Reference – https://www.redbull.com/us-en/10-years-10-epic-red-bull-youtube-videos  

Impact of Red Bull’s Viral Fame

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0jmSsQ5ptw  

The impact of Red Bull’s viral fame on YouTube was substantial. They built a global phenomenon, inspiring millions with their thrilling videos. By creating an emotional bond with their audience, they established a loyal community that embraced the brand’s lifestyle. Red Bull’s success demonstrates the power of video marketing to transcend traditional advertising and create a lasting impact.

The impact went beyond just brand recognition; it also had significant financial implications. The company experienced substantial revenue growth and successfully scaled its business through the power of their viral videos. The captivating content attracted a massive audience, resulting in increased brand visibility, higher engagement, and ultimately, boosted sales and revenue for Red Bull.

Actionable tips for brands to achieve similar success on YouTube:

• Authenticity is key: Be true to your brand and values. Create content that reflects your identity and resonates with your target audience.
• Craft compelling narratives: Tell captivating stories that evoke emotions and connect with viewers on a deeper level. Use storytelling techniques to engage and inspire your audience.
• Collaborate with influencers: Partner with influential individuals or creators in your niche to extend your reach, tap into their audience, and gain credibility.
• Encourage user-generated content: Foster a sense of community and empower your audience to contribute their own content. This not only enhances engagement but also expands your brand’s visibility.
• Optimize for discoverability: Pay attention to video titles, descriptions, and tags to optimize your content for searchability. Leverage keywords and relevant tags to increase the chances of your videos being found by your target audience.

By incorporating these actionable tips into your YouTube strategy, you can enhance your brand’s visibility, engagement, and revenue potential. Remember to stay true to your brand, tell compelling stories, collaborate strategically, encourage audience participation, and optimize your content for maximum discoverability.

YouTube Case Study 2: Influencer Collaboration and Samsung’s Success Story

Samsung’s success story is intertwined with their strategic adoption of influencer collaboration on YouTube. Recognizing the power of influencers and their ability to connect with audiences, Samsung forged partnerships with popular YouTube creators in their target markets. They executed this strategy by integrating their products seamlessly into the content of these influencers, creating authentic and engaging videos that resonated with viewers.

Videos – https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AhxrfuLgUw0 | https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qDRsaB8mJuo

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6AZ7caBbGMQ  

Impact and Benefits of Samsung’s Influencer Collaboration

The impact of Samsung’s influencer collaboration was remarkable, leading to increased brand visibility, customer engagement, and ultimately, significant revenue growth. By leveraging the influence and reach of popular YouTubers, Samsung’s products received widespread exposure to their dedicated fan bases. The result was higher sales, improved market share, and a strong brand presence in the digital space. The genuine endorsement and positive reviews from influencers also bolstered customer trust and loyalty towards the Samsung brand.

Actionable Tips for Brands to Achieve Influencer Collaboration Success:

To achieve similar success with influencer collaboration in today’s world, brands should consider the following actionable tips:

• Identify the right influencers: Research and select influencers who align with your brand’s values and target audience, ensuring a natural fit for collaboration.
• Create authentic content: Work with influencers to create content that is organic and genuine, showcasing your product or service in a way that feels authentic to the influencer’s style and audience.
• Foster long-term partnerships: Instead of one-off collaborations, aim for long-term relationships with influencers to build credibility and continuity in your marketing efforts.
• Encourage creativity and storytelling: Give influencers creative freedom to incorporate your brand into their content, allowing for unique and engaging storytelling that resonates with their audience.
• Track and measure results: Utilize analytics tools to track the impact of influencer collaborations, monitoring metrics such as engagement, reach, and conversion rates. Use this data to refine your strategies and optimize future partnerships.

By implementing these tips, brands can harness the power of influencer collaboration to drive brand awareness, increase customer engagement, and generate substantial revenue growth in the digital landscape.

Also Read – Top 13 Digital Marketing Trends

YouTube Case Study 3: Amazon’s Data-Driven Approach to Video Advertising

Amazon’s success in video advertising can be attributed to their data-driven approach. They leveraged their vast customer data and insights to develop a targeted YouTube strategy. By analyzing user behavior, search patterns, and purchase history, Amazon was able to identify and understand their audience’s preferences and interests. They executed their strategy by creating personalized and relevant video ads that resonated with viewers on YouTube.

Impact and Benefits of Amazon’s Data-Driven Approach

Amazon’s data-driven approach to video advertising resulted in significant impact, including increased revenue and enhanced customer engagement. By delivering tailored video ads to specific target audiences, Amazon saw improved conversion rates and higher ROI on their advertising spend. The ability to effectively reach and engage customers through personalized video content led to increased brand awareness, customer loyalty, and ultimately, revenue growth for Amazon.

Actionable Tips for Brands to Achieve a Data-Driven Approach to Video Advertising

To achieve success with a data-driven approach to video advertising in today’s world, brands can consider the following actionable tips:

• Leverage customer data: Utilize available data to understand your audience’s preferences, interests, and behaviors. This will enable you to create targeted and relevant video ads that resonate with your viewers.
• Embrace personalization: Tailor your video ads based on individual preferences and deliver personalized experiences. Use data insights to create dynamic and customized content that speaks directly to each viewer.
• Continuously analyze and optimize: Regularly track and analyze the performance of your video ads. Monitor key metrics such as engagement, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Use this data to optimize your campaigns and improve results over time.
• Test and iterate: Experiment with different video ad formats, messaging, and targeting strategies. Test and iterate to find what resonates best with your audience and yields the highest ROI.
• Invest in technology and automation: Utilize advanced tools and technologies to automate data analysis, audience segmentation, and campaign optimization. This will streamline your advertising efforts and enable you to make data-driven decisions more efficiently.

By adopting a data-driven approach to video advertising and implementing these actionable tips, brands can effectively target their audience, improve engagement, and drive revenue growth through personalized and relevant video content.

Also Read – How to crack your first job interview as a digital marketing professional

YouTube Case Study 4: Small Business Success on YouTube: Brand Dollar Shave Club’s Story

Dollar Shave Club’s success story on YouTube stems from their innovative and bold strategy. They adopted a humorous and relatable approach to connect with their target audience. Their YouTube videos featured witty and entertaining content that resonated with viewers. Dollar Shave Club executed their strategy by creating high-quality, low-budget videos that showcased their products’ value and unique selling propositions. They leveraged storytelling and humor to engage viewers and built a strong brand identity through their YouTube channel.

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI  

Impact and Benefits of Dollar Shave Club’s YouTube Success

Reference Links: https://www.inc.com/magazine/201507/diana-ransom/how-youtube-crashed-our-website.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/business/smallbusiness/dollar-shave-club-from-viral-video-to-real-business.html  

Dollar Shave Club’s presence on YouTube had a profound impact on their business, leading to exponential growth, increased revenue, and brand recognition. Their viral videos garnered millions of views and generated significant buzz, attracting a large customer base. The engaging content on their YouTube channel resulted in high customer acquisition rates, boosting their revenue and market share. Moreover, Dollar Shave Club’s YouTube success helped establish them as disruptors in the industry, challenging established shaving brands and gaining a competitive edge.

Actionable Tips for Brands to Achieve Small Business Success on YouTube

To achieve similar success on YouTube in today’s world, small businesses can follow these actionable tips:

• Know your audience: Understand your target audience’s preferences, pain points, and interests. Create content that resonates with them and addresses their needs.
• Embrace creativity and humor: Find unique ways to showcase your brand personality through creative and humorous content. Be memorable and stand out from the competition.
• Focus on storytelling: Use storytelling techniques to create compelling narratives around your brand, products, or services. Connect with your audience on an emotional level and make your content memorable.
• Prioritize video quality: While a high production budget is not always necessary, ensure that your videos are well-produced, visually appealing, and have good audio quality. Invest in basic equipment to enhance the overall quality of your videos.
• Consistency is key: Maintain a regular upload schedule to keep your audience engaged and coming back for more. Consistency builds trust and helps grow your subscriber base over time.

By implementing these tips, small businesses can leverage YouTube as a powerful platform to showcase their brand, engage with their target audience, and drive business growth. Dollar Shave Club’s success story serves as an inspiration for small businesses looking to make an impact through strategic YouTube marketing.

Also Read – How does AI contribute to the transformation of the digital marketing spectrum?

Key Takeaways from YouTube Case Studies

After analyzing these case studies, several key takeaways emerge:

• Influencer Marketing: Collaborating with influencers can greatly amplify your brand’s reach and credibility.
• Authenticity: Creating genuine and relatable content helps forge a deeper connection with your audience.
• Compelling Storytelling: Engaging narratives can evoke emotions, inspire action, and create a lasting impact.
• User-Generated Content: Encouraging your audience to create and share content can boost brand awareness and foster a sense of community.
• Live Streaming: Hosting live events on YouTube allows for real-time interaction and generates excitement around your brand.

Tips for Creating Successful YouTube Marketing Campaigns

If you’re looking to create successful YouTube marketing campaigns, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Research Your Target Audience: Understand your audience’s preferences, interests, and pain points to create content that resonates with them.
• Invest in Production Quality: High-quality videos with professional production values leave a lasting impression and reflect positively on your brand.
• Optimize for Search Engines: Use relevant keywords, compelling titles, and engaging thumbnails to improve your video’s visibility in search results.
• Promote Across Multiple Channels: Share your YouTube videos on other social media platforms to maximize reach and engagement.
• Measure and Analyze: Track important metrics such as views, likes, and comments to gauge the success of your campaigns and make data-driven decisions.

YouTube has revolutionized the way brands connect with their audience. Through the case studies discussed in this article, we have seen how successful brands leverage YouTube’s platform to create engaging and impactful marketing campaigns.

By adopting the strategies and insights from these case studies, you can elevate your own YouTube marketing efforts and drive tangible results for your brand. So why wait? Start exploring the world of YouTube marketing and pursue a digital marketing course by IMS Proschool to develop these skills. Your audience is waiting to be captivated by your videos!

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Collaboration tips

Collaborations can help you find new content ideas and new communities on YouTube. Check out Marques Brownlee’s video below for tips on collaborating to reach more fans:

Marques Brownlee on Collaborating to Reach More Fans

Come up with content ideas for collaborations

• Find creative ways to showcase different perspectives on the same event. For example: prank video and its behind-the-scenes .
• Large-scale collaborations are an excellent way to bring together a wide range of creators, content types, and viewers. For example: virtual gaming collaboration .
• While similarity is great to consider, don’t overlook the comedic potential that may come from bringing together contrasting content types or creators. For example: nail artist and cake decorator collaborate.

Know your value

Before getting in touch with other creators, think about what you can add to the collaboration, such as:  

• Broad audiences like the demographics of your YouTube subscribers , followers on other social media, or offline fans.
• Unique skills like sewing costumes, writing music, or creating cool special effects.
• Production resources like a nice camera, post production software, or other equipment.
• Access to intriguing shooting locations or interesting people.

Choose compatible collaborators

Think beyond subscriber count. While a large subscriber count is appealing when choosing potential collaborators, think of other important factors. For example, aligned audiences, growth potential, and the personality of your fellow creator are all important. Ask yourself: 

• Could you imagine someone watching one of their videos then immediately watching one of yours? 
• Do you have mutual values? Do they or do I need any skills, production resources, or unique access to a particular audience that the other creator can offer?
• Do you enjoy their videos? If you don’t connect with the creator’s work, it probably wouldn’t be a successful collaboration.

Connecting with potential partners

• Offer a brief synopsis of the type of video that you want to make.
• Use their preferred method of communication, which is often indicated in their channel page’s About tab.
• Familiarize yourself with their channel and the types of videos that they make.
• Make it personal. Use their name and don’t just copy and paste the same note to multiple creators.

Once you’ve finished the prep work, it’s time to get in touch with your potential collaborator. Here’s an example request:

Cross-promote content

• Upload two different videos to both creators’ channels. This way, both audiences have a way to discover the collaboration and be introduced to the other.
• Use cards and mentions to give viewers a way to go from one channel to the next.
• Use a verbal call-to-action that directs to the other channel like “go check out our other video on X channel by clicking the link below”.
• Mention channels in video titles & descriptions to help increase discovery when viewers search for your video.

Turn new viewers into subscribers

• At the end of the video, ask viewers to subscribe to your channel.
• Customize your channel layout to highlight videos new audiences may like best. For example, put your best or most relevant videos in the top section and be sure you have a channel trailer.
• Keep up the good work! You’ve done the hard work of getting these new viewers to your channel. Now give them a reason to come back regularly!

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Considering that nearly 63 percent of Gen Z check YouTube on a daily basis , it is no surprise that YouTube collaborations are one of the hottest trends right now.

YouTube creators – also known as influencers or vloggers – are the new video superstars. They are content creators at heart and are constantly looking for new ideas to create better content. One way for YouTubers to create truly amazing content is through collaboration with other YouTubers. Collaborations have many benefits for creators such as increased exposure through cross-over appearance, exchanging knowledge and ideas and in the end more subscribers and views.

What is a YouTube Collaboration?

  A YouTube collaboration, or “collab” as they are commonly known, is when one or more creators work together to create content. Here are a few examples:

Guest Appearances: When one creator joins another creator’s YouTube video in person to be interviewed or to discuss a topic that they have in common.  Here’s an example where James Charles has Jeffree Star as a guest.

Collab Video:  Both creators work together to create, edit, and share the video. In this example, Dope or Nope and Markiplier do a Disney Song challenge together.

Remote Guest Interviews: When the creators can’t get together in person, they may do an interview online. In this case, you’ll see each of the creator’s separate screens. For example, the YouTube personality, Shane, interviews various other YouTube creators in this video.

Exchange Mentions: The easiest method of collaboration, exchanging mentions consists of one creator giving another creator a shout out in their video. In this video, Logan Paul calls out PewDiePie and links to his channel.

How do Collabs help YouTubers Grow?

  YouTube collabs can be an extremely effective way to bring more exposure to each of the influencer’s YouTube channels. It allows each creator to connect and gain visibility with the other creator’s audience. Increased visibility results in more subscribers, increased views, and longer watch times.

YouTube creator’s fans often go crazy when they post new collabs. Viewers love the community aspect of YouTube and find it very exciting when their favorite vlogger gets together with another one of their favorite bloggers. More often than not, collaborations are the most-watched videos on a creator’s channel!

What Makes a Collab Successful?

• For a collab to be successful, it’s essential that both influencers are in the same niche or have similar audiences. Otherwise, one of the influencer’s viewers might not relate to the guest’s content, and the video will not be a hit.
• Both vloggers should already have loyal subscriber bases and quality content that they regularly share on their channels. If not, there is nothing to gain by collaborating.
• Consistency is key. Each of the YouTube creators should consistently share content with their community and should also be consistent in collaborating with different influencers. The most successful creators work with others at least once a month.

As YouTube is one of the most popular ways for influencers to connect with their loyal fans, collaborations between creators is a trend we don’t see going away anytime soon. With authentic and compatible fan bases, quality content and consistency, creators are sure to see more views and exceptional subscriber growth to their channels as a result of collaboration.

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How to Make Your First YouTube Collab Happen

YouTube collabs are a great way to network with other YouTubers and gain new subscribers. However, making your first collab happen can be tedious. That’s why in this article I want to guide you through the process of creating your first YouTube collab.

In case you’re new to the YouTube game, though, you first might wanna know:

What’s a YouTube Collab?

“Collab” is short for “collaboration”. A YouTube collab is a video where two (or more) YouTubers who usually work on different channels create a video together. This can take on different forms.

If the YouTubers are able to meet up, they might make a video where both are in front of the camera. They could, for example, do a challenge or a tag  together. Here’s an example from Superwoman who collabed with Shane Dawson:

However, you don’t need to physically meet to make a collab. You can also shoot your videos separately and then edit them together. This is what Arielle Scarcella did in this video:

These kinds of “online collabs” are cool because they can involve many people (and you don’t have to live close to them!). However, they can also be difficult to do since you have to communicate exactly what kind of video you want from them. Additionally, making people stick to a deadline can be a challenge.

Why Should You Do a Collab?

A lot of YouTubers do collabs just for fun - which is a great reason to do them. But collabs have other benefits as well:

• You network with other creators - This is not only gonna make you feel less lonely as a YouTuber, but these relationships might also be a big help to you and your channel in the long term.
• Collabs can bring in serious traffic to your channel, which might increase the numbers of your subscribers drastically. In particular, being featured on a bigger channel than yours can speed up your channel growth dramatically.
• You add more variety to your channel - Viewers love well-executed collabs! Featuring other creators on your channel can be a great way to keep your subscribers entertained

How to Find Collab Ideas

Okay, so you want to do a collab, but what kind of video should you even do? Finding a collab idea might seem difficult but it really isn’t: Just think about what you usually do on your channel and how another person could contribute to it.

• You’re a vlogger? You can do a tag or a challenge with another vlogger.
• You have a tutorial channel? How about you do a Q&A video with another tutorial creator?
• You review movies on your channel? Then you can create a collab where you discuss a movie with another YouTuber.

There is tons of stuff you can do. If you need some inspiration, it’s a good idea to check out other collabs - especially from channels that are similar to yours.

In case you need more concrete ideas, I have create a list of 47 YouTube ideas here . Many of them can be done as collabs.

How to Find YouTube Channels to Collab With

One of the hardest parts of making a collab is to find a collaborator. While some people are open to collabing with anyone, often that’s not what you want to do.

Particularly if you want to create a collab to grow your channel, you need to make sure your channels or at least audiences are somewhat similar to each other. Here are some factors that will be important:

• Age: A 15 year old and a 35 year old might not share the same audience (although there certainly are exceptions)
• Channel topic: If your topic is vastly different from each other, your subscribers will likely not be interested in both of your channels. For example, if you’re a make-up vlogger it’s unlikely that somebody who only does Let’s Plays will be a good match.
• Channel size: If you’re at 200 subs, a channel with 20,000 subs is likely not going to want to collab with you; they simply wouldn’t get enough exposure from your channel.

Another factor that can be important is location. While some types of collabs don’t require you to meet in person, others do (shooting a short film together while not meeting up is difficult).

It makes sense to think about all of these things before you start looking for YouTubers to work with. That way you know exactly who will be a good fit and who won’t.

Resources to Find Collaborators

Now, where do you even find other creators to collab with?

Searching YouTube directly can be a start. You can filter your YouTube search by channels here:

The biggest problem with the YouTube search is that it prefers big channels over small ones. That means it might be difficult to find channels of similar size.

Another way to find similar channels on YouTube is to check out the suggested videos next to (or under) your videos, since they’re often similar to your content.

Next to my video about the Netflix series The OA, I found these channels.

Let’s be honest, though, searching for channels on YouTube isn’t a great experience or even effective. Instead, let’s take a look at some other options.

Channelcrawler

Channelcrawler is a YouTube channel search engine that lets you filter by channel size, channel category, country, views, number of videos, keywords and date of the last video. This is great to find good channels to collab with! Also, make sure you add your own channel to the database so you can be found.

Many YouTube forums have a section where creators can post collab offers. These can often be quite interesting.

The biggest problem with these is that you have to go through a whole lot of posts before you find an offer that’s relevant to your channel. Also, posts might be not as interesting on some days as they are on others. That’s why you’ll probably have to keep looking regularly over a few days or even weeks.

Check out YTtalk in particular for a big collab section.

YouTube meetups are another great way to find collabs and a lot of experts recommend them. However, YouTube meetups don’t happen everywhere. If you don’t live in a big city, it’s unlikely there’ll be a YouTube meetup close by.

Your new collab tool: Cameo

While all of these ways are legit ways to find collaborators, it’s definitely not easy. That’s why I’m developing a tool right now that will help YouTubers find collab partners a lot more easily! 🙂 Interested in becoming one of our first users? It’s free:

YourCameo.co

How to connect with channel creators.

You’ve found some interesting channels? Then it’s time to get in touch with them. Unfortunately, contacting other YouTubers can be a challenge - especially if you’ve found them directly on YouTube.

Here’s the main problem: The YouTube message function sucks!

I mean, I just checked my message box and there were about 10 new messages in there that YouTube didn’t tell me about. Or maybe YouTube did but they drowned in my notifications.

Even worse: If you ever add a link to your channel or a website, your message will probably land in the spam filter. Not good if you need to get in touch and wanna tell someone about your channel!

Instead of relying on the YouTube message function, try to find other ways to contact the creators. Here is what usually works best.

Many YouTubers have an email address on their about page (make sure you add one on yours, too!). If it isn’t shown directly in the text, it takes a click and a captcha to reveal them:

Click on "view email address":

Click on the square. Yup, I get my captcha in German.

Email is usually the best (and most professional) way to ask for a collab. However, many YouTubers add emails to their about pages that they don’t check regularly. Other creators don’t wanna publish their email address on YouTube. In that case your message might never get read. That’s why it also makes sense to contact them via social media.

Social Media

Many YouTubers have their social media profile linked on their about page or under their videos:

If you can’t find a YouTuber’s social media profile on their channel, you can also do a Google search of their (channel) name:

Getting in touch via social media isn’t easy, but sometimes it works. Some creators might also have their own website, which might include contact information.

How to Make a YouTube Collab Happen

The collab process will depend on what kind of collab you want to do and what style of communication both parties prefer, but here are some tips.

1) Write communicative, effective emails

You won’t believe how many collab requests I get that don’t have more information than “Whazup, wanna collab?” This is pretty much the worst way to start a conversation. It gives me no information about you, your channel or your collab plans, and it leaves all the work to me. If you want me to answer you, make things easier for me. Tell me:

• Who you are
• Where I can find your channel (send me a link, not just your channel name!)
• What kind of collab you wanna do

You can even include:

• Where you found my channel
• Why you like my videos
• Why you think we’d be a good collab match

2) Make the collab instructions very clear

If you’re doing an online collab, make sure you make very clear what video you want to receive:

• What should it be about?
• Should it be funny/serious/emotional?
• Should it be edited or unedited?
• How long should it be?

3) Set a deadline

Online collabs always need a deadline - otherwise how will your collab partner know when to send their video?

4) How to transfer your video

Video files are pretty big, so it’s not a good idea to try sending them via email. Instead you can use services like Dropbox  or WeTransfer. What I honestly found the easiest, though, is using Google Drive , especially if you’re already using Gmail.

Another possibility is to upload the video as “unlisted” and send the link to your collaborator. The receiver can then grab the video through a video converter like convert2mp3.net .

YouTube Collaboration Tips

Don’t give up.

Making your first collab happen can take a while, especially if you’re just starting out on YouTube. If you’re feeling stuck, take a break for a day, then try again.

If you’re below 100 subs...

When you’re just starting out, collaborating with you might not be very beneficial to other creators yet. If you feel like you’re getting rejected a lot, work on building your channel up to 200 - 300 subs and try again.

Don’t expect miracles

Not every collab is going to be an amazing success that will bring hundreds or even thousands of subs. Keep in mind that even after a successful collab, only a small percentage of viewers are going to check out the featured YouTuber (whether that’s you or your collab partner). The more realistic you are about these numbers, the less frustrating the process will be.

Growing your channel is great but don’t forget to have fun while you’re doing it. By being a fun YouTuber to collab with, you will make sure that people will want to collab with you over and over again.

Want to find collabs way easier?

I’m developing a tool that is gonna make the collab process a lot easier and less frustrating.

Wanna know when it’s available and be one of the first users? 🙂 Then sign up here.

In the comments, let me know what challenges you’ve faced when you were making a collab. Also, feel free to link to your best collab. 🙂

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How one brand ‘sold out’ of a new product by buying into the power of influencers

Whether it’s a quick 30-minute dinner with the family or a decadent dessert to impress guests, people are always looking for new recipes. While aspiring chefs and bakers once turned on the TV to see what tips Martha Stewart had, today they’re heading online for inspiration.

That type of interest creates huge opportunities for brands in the food space, but it also means there’s a lot of noise. So how do you stand out? That was the question Hershey’s had ahead of the launch of its limited-edition Hot Cocoa Kisses. The answer it came up with: align its product with influencers who have already built up credibility and a loyal following.

To do that, it partnered with YouTube BrandConnect , Google’s in-house branded content platform that provides a one-stop shop for collaborations with YouTube creators. The resulting creator-driven branded content — which featured top YouTube bakers like Rosanna Pansino , The Icing Artist , and Honeysuckle — generated a 22% lift in purchase intent. Together with a paid ad strategy, the campaign was key to driving more than $9 million in retail sales.

“We saw a tremendous increase in sales from this new approach to our holiday campaign. It was hard to keep the Kisses on the shelves,” said Jill Baskin, chief marketing officer at Hershey’s.

Here’s how Hershey’s pulled off such a successful campaign, with three lessons for brands looking to try a similar influencer-focused approach.

Get to know the YouTube creator community

Influencer marketing has come under harsh scrutiny recently. At Cannes last year, Unilever CMO Keith Weed called for “urgent action” to tackle the problem of influencer marketing fraud — where so-called influencers do things like buy more followers.

Probably the best way to avoid this pitfall is to take the time to get to know the creator community and any influencers you’re looking to work with. Are they well-respected among your target audience? Are they aligned with your brand values? Is there a natural fit between your product and their area of influence?

Being able to answer these questions allowed the Hershey’s team to ensure they were collaborating with the right people. “YouTube BrandConnect helped us connect with the right influencers to create really authentic messages that would resonate with our consumers,” said Baskin.

Be flexible and open to new ideas

YouTube creators are experts at creating content that resonates with their fans. They have spent months, even years, engaging with viewers and cultivating their brand, and they have a sixth sense for what will work. That’s why, when partnering with creators, brands have to do something uncomfortable: Let go of control and trust the creator to position the product in a way that feels natural instead of forced.

When partnering with creators, brands have to do something uncomfortable: Let go of control.

For example, for the Hot Cocoa Kisses campaign, Laurie Shannon, the woman behind The Icing Artist channel, approached the video as a challenge to make a delicious cake incorporating the kisses . Rosanna Pansino, on the other hand, created a taste challenge of holiday-themed Kisses.

“We found that giving creative authority to the YouTube creators resulted in content viewers loved,” said Baskin. “They understand what’s best for their audience.”

Leverage both organic and paid reach to maximize impact

The YouTube creators that Hershey’s partnered with command a massive organic reach, but the brand went one step further. As well as placing its product in the branded content that lived on each respective creator’s channel, Hershey’s also featured the creators in its paid media campaign — a set of six-second bumpers and 15-second ads — which drove a 12% lift in purchase intent and a 551% increase in searches.

This paid part of the campaign allowed Hershey’s to reach even more people. “We saw higher retention, higher recall, and two times the purchase intent lift from traditional campaigns,” said Baskin. “The campaign drove incredible results, exceeding all benchmarks in the food and beverage category.”

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Abrams environmental law clinic—significant achievements for 2023-24, protecting our great lakes, rivers, and shorelines.

The Abrams Clinic represents Friends of the Chicago River and the Sierra Club in their efforts to hold Trump Tower in downtown Chicago accountable for withdrawing water illegally from the Chicago River. To cool the building, Trump Tower draws water at high volumes, similar to industrial factories or power plants, but Trump Tower operated for more than a decade without ever conducting the legally required studies to determine the impact of those operations on aquatic life or without installing sufficient equipment to protect aquatic life consistent with federal regulations. After the Clinic sent a notice of intent to sue Trump Tower, the State of Illinois filed its own case in the summer of 2018, and the Clinic moved successfully to intervene in that case. In 2023-24, motions practice and discovery continued. Working with co-counsel at Northwestern University’s Pritzker Law School’s Environmental Advocacy Center, the Clinic moved to amend its complaint to include Trump Tower’s systematic underreporting each month of the volume of water that it intakes from and discharges to the Chicago River. The Clinic and co-counsel addressed Trump Tower’s motion to dismiss some of our clients’ claims, and we filed a motion for summary judgment on our claim that Trump Tower has committed a public nuisance. We also worked closely with our expert, Dr. Peter Henderson, on a supplemental disclosure and on defending an additional deposition of him. In summer 2024, the Clinic is defending its motion for summary judgment and challenging Trump Tower’s own motion for summary judgment. The Clinic is also preparing for trial, which could take place as early as fall 2024.

Since 2016, the Abrams Clinic has worked with the Chicago chapter of the Surfrider Foundation to protect water quality along the Lake Michigan shoreline in northwest Indiana, where its members surf. In April 2017, the U. S. Steel plant in Portage, Indiana, spilled approximately 300 pounds of hexavalent chromium into Lake Michigan. In January 2018, the Abrams Clinic filed a suit on behalf of Surfrider against U. S. Steel, alleging multiple violations of U. S. Steel’s discharge permits; the City of Chicago filed suit shortly after. When the US government and the State of Indiana filed their own, separate case, the Clinic filed extensive comments on the proposed consent decree. In August 2021, the court entered a revised consent decree which included provisions advocated for by Surfrider and the City of Chicago, namely a water sampling project that alerts beachgoers as to Lake Michigan’s water quality conditions, better notifications in case of future spills, and improvements to U. S. Steel’s operations and maintenance plans. In the 2023-24 academic year, the Clinic successfully litigated its claims for attorneys’ fees as a substantially prevailing party. Significantly, the court’s order adopted the “Fitzpatrick matrix,” used by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia to determine appropriate hourly rates for civil litigants, endorsed Chicago legal market rates as the appropriate rates for complex environmental litigation in Northwest Indiana, and allowed for partially reconstructed time records. The Clinic’s work, which has received significant media attention, helped to spawn other litigation to address pollution by other industrial facilities in Northwest Indiana and other enforcement against U. S. Steel by the State of Indiana.

In Winter Quarter 2024, Clinic students worked closely with Dr. John Ikerd, an agricultural economist and emeritus professor at the University of Missouri, to file an amicus brief in Food & Water Watch v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency . In that case pending before the Ninth Circuit, Food & Water Watch argues that US EPA is illegally allowing Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, more commonly known as factory farms, to pollute waterways significantly more than is allowable under the Clean Water Act. In the brief for Dr. Ikerd and co-amici Austin Frerick, Crawford Stewardship Project, Family Farm Defenders, Farm Aid, Missouri Rural Crisis Center, National Family Farm Coalition, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and Western Organization of Resource Councils, we argued that EPA’s refusal to regulate CAFOs effectively is an unwarranted application of “agricultural exceptionalism” to industrial agriculture and that EPA effectively distorts the animal production market by allowing CAFOs to externalize their pollution costs and diminishing the ability of family farms to compete. Attorneys for the litigants will argue the case in September 2024.

Energy and Climate

Energy justice.

The Abrams Clinic supported grassroots organizations advocating for energy justice in low-income communities and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in Michigan. With the Clinic’s representation, these organizations intervened in cases before the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), which regulates investor-owned utilities. Students conducted discovery, drafted written testimony, cross-examined utility executives, participated in settlement discussions, and filed briefs for these projects. The Clinic’s representation has elevated the concerns of these community organizations and forced both the utilities and regulators to consider issues of equity to an unprecedented degree. This year, on behalf of Soulardarity (Highland Park, MI), We Want Green, Too (Detroit, MI), and Urban Core Collective (Grand Rapids, MI), Clinic students engaged in eight contested cases before the MPSC against DTE Electric, DTE Gas, and Consumers Energy, as well as provided support for our clients’ advocacy in other non-contested MPSC proceedings.

The Clinic started this past fall with wins in three cases. First, the Clinic’s clients settled with DTE Electric in its Integrated Resource Plan case. The settlement included an agreement to close the second dirtiest coal power plant in Michigan three years early, $30 million from DTE’s shareholders to assist low-income customers in paying their bills, and $8 million from DTE’s shareholders toward a community fund that assists low-income customers with installing energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy, and battery technology. Second, in DTE Electric’s 2023 request for a rate hike (a “rate case”), the Commission required DTE Electric to develop a more robust environmental justice analysis and rejected the Company’s second attempt to waive consumer protections through a proposed electric utility prepayment program with a questionable history of success during its pilot run. The final Commission order and the administrative law judge’s proposal for final decision cited the Clinic’s testimony and briefs. Third, in Consumers Electric’s 2023 rate case, the Commission rejected the Company’s request for a higher ratepayer-funded return on its investments and required the Company to create a process that will enable intervenors to obtain accurate GIS data. The Clinic intends to use this data to map the disparate impact of infrastructure investment in low-income and BIPOC communities.

In the winter, the Clinic filed public comments regarding DTE Electric and Consumers Energy’s “distribution grid plans” (DGP) as well as supported interventions in two additional cases: Consumers Energy’s voluntary green pricing (VGP) case and the Clinic’s first case against the gas utility DTE Gas. Beginning with the DGP comments, the Clinic first addressed Consumers’s 2023 Electric Distribution Infrastructure Investment Plan (EDIIP), which detailed current distribution system health and the utility’s approximately $7 billion capital project planning ($2 billion of which went unaccounted for in the EDIIP) over 2023–2028. The Clinic then commented on DTE Electric’s 2023 DGP, which outlined the utility’s opaque project prioritization and planned more than $9 billion in capital investments and associated maintenance over 2024–2028. The comments targeted four areas of deficiencies in both the EDIIP and DGP: (1) inadequate consideration of distributed energy resources (DERs) as providing grid reliability, resiliency, and energy transition benefits; (2) flawed environmental justice analysis, particularly with respect to the collection of performance metrics and the narrow implementation of the Michigan Environmental Justice Screen Tool; (3) inequitable investment patterns across census tracts, with emphasis on DTE Electric’s skewed prioritization for retaining its old circuits rather than upgrading those circuits; and (4) failing to engage with community feedback.

For the VGP case against Consumers, the Clinic supported the filing of both an initial brief and reply brief requesting that the Commission reject the Company’s flawed proposal for a “community solar” program. In a prior case, the Clinic advocated for the development of a community solar program that would provide low-income, BIPOC communities with access to clean energy. As a result of our efforts, the Commission approved a settlement agreement requiring the Company “to evaluate and provide a strawman recommendation on community solar in its Voluntary Green Pricing Program.” However, the Company’s subsequent proposal in its VGP case violated the Commission’s order because it (1) was not consistent with the applicable law, MCL 460.1061; (2) was not a true community solar program; (3) lacked essential details; (4) failed to compensate subscribers sufficiently; (5) included overpriced and inflexible subscriptions; (6) excessively limited capacity; and (7) failed to provide a clear pathway for certain participants to transition into other VGP programs. For these reasons, the Clinic argued that the Commission should reject the Company’s proposal.

In DTE Gas’s current rate case, the Clinic worked with four witnesses to develop testimony that would rebut DTE Gas’s request for a rate hike on its customers. The testimony advocated for a pathway to a just energy transition that avoids dumping the costs of stranded gas assets on the low-income and BIPOC communities that are likely to be the last to electrify. Instead, the testimony proposed that the gas and electric utilities undertake integrated planning that would prioritize electric infrastructure over gas infrastructure investment to ensure that DTE Gas does not over-invest in gas infrastructure that will be rendered obsolete in the coming decades. The Clinic also worked with one expert witness to develop an analysis of DTE Gas’s unaffordable bills and inequitable shutoff, deposit, and collections practices. Lastly, the Clinic offered testimony on behalf of and from community members who would be directly impacted by the Company’s rate hike and lack of affordable and quality service. Clinic students have spent the summer drafting an approximately one-hundred-page brief making these arguments formally. We expect the Commission’s decision this fall.

Finally, both DTE Electric and Consumers Energy have filed additional requests for rate increases after the conclusion of their respective rate cases filed in 2023. On behalf of our Clients, the Clinic has intervened in these cases, and clinic students have already reviewed thousands of pages of documents and started to develop arguments and strategies to protect low-income and BIPOC communities from the utility’s ceaseless efforts to increase the cost of energy.

Corporate Climate Greenwashing

The Abrams Environmental Law Clinic worked with a leading international nonprofit dedicated to using the law to protect the environment to research corporate climate greenwashing, focusing on consumer protection, green financing, and securities liability. Clinic students spent the year examining an innovative state law, drafted a fifty-page guide to the statute and relevant cases, and examined how the law would apply to a variety of potential cases. Students then presented their findings in a case study and oral presentation to members of ClientEarth, including the organization’s North American head and members of its European team. The project helped identify the strengths and weaknesses of potential new strategies for increasing corporate accountability in the fight against climate change.

Land Contamination, Lead, and Hazardous Waste

The Abrams Clinic continues to represent East Chicago, Indiana, residents who live or lived on or adjacent to the USS Lead Superfund site. This year, the Clinic worked closely with the East Chicago/Calumet Coalition Community Advisory Group (CAG) to advance the CAG’s advocacy beyond the Superfund site and the adjacent Dupont RCRA site. Through multiple forms of advocacy, the clinics challenged the poor performance and permit modification and renewal attempts of Tradebe Treatment and Recycling, LLC (Tradebe), a hazardous waste storage and recycling facility in the community. Clinic students sent letters to US EPA and Indiana Department of Environmental Management officials about how IDEM has failed to assess meaningful penalties against Tradebe for repeated violations of the law and how IDEM has allowed Tradebe to continue to threaten public and worker health and safety by not improving its operations. Students also drafted substantial comments for the CAG on the US EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule improvements, the Suppliers’ Park proposed cleanup, and Sims Metal’s proposed air permit revisions. The Clinic has also continued working with the CAG, environmental experts, and regulators since US EPA awarded $200,000 to the CAG for community air monitoring. The Clinic and its clients also joined comments drafted by other environmental organizations about poor operations and loose regulatory oversight of several industrial facilities in the area.

Endangered Species

The Abrams Clinic represented the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) in litigation regarding the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) failure to list the Kirtland’s snake as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The Kirtland’s snake is a small, secretive, non-venomous snake historically located across the Midwest and the Ohio River Valley. Development and climate change have undermined large portions of the snake’s habitat, and populations are declining. Accordingly, the Clinic sued the Service in the US District Court for the District of Columbia last summer over the Service’s denial of CBD’s request to have the Kirtland’s snake protected. This spring, the Clinic was able to reach a settlement with the Service that requires the Service to reconsider its listing decision for the Kirtland’s snake and to pay attorney fees.

The Clinic also represented CBD in preparation for litigation regarding the Service’s failure to list another species as threatened or endangered. Threats from land development and climate change have devastated this species as well, and the species has already been extirpated from two of the sixteen US states in its range. As such, the Clinic worked this winter and spring to prepare a notice of intent (NOI) to sue the Service. The Team poured over hundreds of FOIA documents and dug into the Service’s supporting documentation to create strong arguments against the Service in the imminent litigation. The Clinic will send the NOI and file a complaint in the next few months.

Students and Faculty

Twenty-four law school students from the classes of 2024 and 2025 participated in the Clinic, performing complex legal research, reviewing documents obtained through discovery, drafting legal research memos and briefs, conferring with clients, conducting cross-examination, participating in settlement conferences, and arguing motions. Students secured nine clerkships, five were heading to private practice after graduation, and two are pursuing public interest work. Sam Heppell joined the Clinic from civil rights private practice, bringing the Clinic to its full complement of three attorneys.

• Open access
• Published: 03 September 2024

Leveraging the use of a social media app as a collaborative medical information and knowledge sharing tool—insights from experiential use and survey of a CME WhatsApp community

• Nagendra Kumar Singh 1 ,
• Akashkumar N Singh 2 ,
• Bijay Patni 3 ,
• Ajoy Tewari 4 &
• Sanjeev Phatak 5  

BMC Medical Education volume  24 , Article number:  960 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Background and aim

Continuing Medical Education (CME) is crucial for physicians to stay current in the rapidly advancing field of medicine. A WhatsApp (WA) based community of physicians was initiated in 2016 ‘WhatsApp CME India Group’ to facilitate learning, knowledge sharing, and discussion among physicians. Due to participant size constraints of the technology, it evolved into seven distinct WA groups, overseen by a central administrator. A survey undertaken in the group’s 7th year aimed to evaluate its effectiveness in achieving its goals, measure participant engagement, and uncover the primary factors driving its usage.

The survey questionnaire was distributed to 3500 members across the 07 WhatsApp CME groups for voluntary participation. Data collected was analysed using SPSS version 24.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and reported using descriptive statistics.

Among the 581 survey respondents, the study found 43% of physicians use the WhatsApp academic groups for CME content, with 32% accessing their group over four times daily. The primary motivation for 77% was to discuss challenging cases and to gain knowledge updates from fellow physician (70%). Medical websites (57%), referral books (49%), and Google (43%) were other significant resources. Every participant (100%) found the WhatsApp CME India group the most beneficial resource for daily medical science updates. A significant portion (57%) of the respondents found the group valuable for real-time information exchange. Over 78% stated it kept them current with knowledge and guidelines. Notably, 94% viewed WhatsApp CME as complementary to physical conferences, not a replacement. The post-conference/webinar summaries were appreciated by 81% participants. Case discussions (31%) and update posts from fellow physicians sharing their insights and learnings (24%) were noted as activities of great academic interest.

This study underscores the potential of digital platforms like WhatsApp in supplementing CME in India and potentially other comparable settings. The blend of digital and traditional resources suggests a balanced learning approach. While real-time engagement is a strength, challenges like information overload and privacy concerns require careful management. Striking a balance is crucial for ensuring content quality, structured discussions and privacy. As the digital age advances, professionals must critically assess shared information on these platforms to guarantee evidence-based and reliable knowledge dissemination.

Trial registration

Peer Review reports

Introduction

The proliferation of mobile technology, particularly the widespread adoption of smartphones, has had a profound impact on how professionals’ access and share information through social media (SM) as “a collective term for the different interactive platforms, websites and applications intended for digital networking, that allow individuals and organizations to create and share user-generated content digitally.” [ 1 ] Most of the research done regarding the acceptance and use of SM for professional activities is that of public SM presence such as Facebook and X (previously Twitter) or LinkedIn (LI). Hameed et al. [ 2 ] reported SM presence among approximately 70% of physicians in a US based survey though SM activity was low, with approximately 90% of physicians posting 0 times per month. SM presence and activity do not always correlate with the study reporting female and younger physicians’ higher odds of SM presence, while surgeons and older physicians had higher SM engagement and followers. The links to most social media handles for sharing content on websites and online journals are for LI, Facebook, X and increasingly Instagrams.

WhatsApp is a popular instant messaging digital platform ( https://www.whatsapp.com/contact)  [ 3 ] available in 180 countries. As of June 2023, there were approximately 2.78 billion unique active WhatsApp users globally with the highest number in India. The platform allows for an easy-to-use interface and generating and sharing content in real time therefore finding significant traction within various professional communities.

WhatsApp groups have emerged as focused communication hubs for professionals, including those in the medical field. These platforms offer a democratic space for discussing cases, sharing knowledge, seeking real-time peer expertise, and collaborating on best practices. However, the use of WhatsApp for professional purposes among large groups has its limitations. The high volume of messages and the potential for false narratives can create noise, causing important information to get lost amidst the medium. Effective moderation and adherence to clear guidelines are essential to ensure that the intended message is conveyed effectively, and the group remains focused on its primary objectives.

Continuing medical education is a formal requirement and one of the key drivers of physician engagement with their peer community and other allied groups in various in-person and virtual modes and essential in keeping up with the rapidly expanding field of medicinal research and treatment evolution.

The ability and access to sift through focused good quality content, attend medical conferences/webinars/workshops/podcasts live case discussions is valuable, but may not always be feasible to all physicians, particularly those in remote areas or in very busy practices [ 4 ]. While a lot of content is now delivered and accessible online, going through several different websites or publications requires a disciplined daily engagement, which may not be in everyone’s realm of ability.

If the community were to be able to follow a well-defined protocol or rules of the group and therefore allow it to function as a live interactive platform and not restricted as a broadcast group or a one-way communication platform, its use as a CME tool could be better leveraged and over a period, such platforms could integrate themselves as formal mechanism of verified information and expertise exchange.

We present here the experiences of one such professional community using WhatsApp as a CME tool and the results of a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey that was undertaken to assess its impact and effectiveness amongst the 3500 physicians.

The WhatsApp CME India, a cluster of 07 WA groups is a rapidly growing community currently of 3500 registered medical professionals largely from internal medicine and allied branches across the world, majority from India (including rural areas), and Indian origin NRI medical professionals. This professional WA platform cluster was founded seven years back as a single group by a physician with the aim of being a platform for exchange of expertise and experience in the speciality of internal medicine.

The primary engagement of this cluster of groups is to share and deliberate on interesting cases, offer, and seek real time expert opinion, discuss publications, medical guidelines or topics in current focus. To keep it interesting and engaging, medical quiz, history in medicine and similar engaging topics constitute part of daily updates. The cluster is constantly reminded of the need to keep the communication focused only on the key objective of being collective experiential knowledge sharing professional community. The administrator ensures that the group engages strictly on topics or cases related to internal medicine and all distracting communication is discouraged.

While each of the group is an independent WA group by itself, the administrator and a core team are part of each group who herd the conversations towards common themes, post updates, guidelines and enable fostering discussions on complex cases that are put up by the group participants. The community therefore engages parallelly on several similar themes and cases with the administrator threading these conversations and cross disseminating them in each of the 07 groups.

This prospective observational survey questionnaire was developed to quantitatively assess the utility and value of this knowledge sharing and learning platform for the group members. It aimed to examine attitudes towards engagement in group interactions by the participants, the determinants, or drivers of WhatsApp CME India group usage among healthcare professionals. Through a comprehensive assessment, the survey sought to understand its impact on enhancing knowledge, its reach, engagement levels, and the benefits and challenges faced by its members.

The questionnaire for the survey was created using Google Form (Google LLC, Mountain View, CA, USA) and shared amongst the WhatsApp CME India groups between May and June 2023. The survey instrument was developed by the authors, and vetted by an expert committee, which included two specialists, a statistician, and the authors of the current study. The questionnaire sought to understand the impact of the group and the member engagement activities qualitatively and quantitatively as a learning and teaching tool. Specifically, the questions were related to the quantum of daily engagement, the value of the group in the hierarchy of available learning options, the comparative utility of the various offerings in the groups and staying true to its objective in being a platform aiding CME.

The questionnaire was shared as a link in each of the groups as well individually, leveraging the innate messaging feature of the platform.

The objective of the study and an invitation to voluntarily participate was also stated with the shared link. These links were sent thrice (once every 2 weeks) to all potential participants during the study period, starting May 2023. A response could only be submitted once by each participant. After the closure of the survey, the data were analysed using SPSS, version 24.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and reported as descriptive statistics.

Participation in the survey was voluntary and limited to members of the 07 groups. No identifying data or participants demographics, except country of residence were collected. The study protocol stated that providing response to the questionnaire implies informed consent and willingness to participate. The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the ACE Independent Ethics Committee, Bangalore (DCGI Reg. No. ECR/141/Indt/KA/2013/RR-1).

Among the 3500 medical professionals from the various WA groups under CME India n  = 581 (16.6%) participants responded, 25% of the responders were from North America and rest from India.

As per the responses every respondent accessed the group messages daily, with the majority of the respondents (43%) accessing it between 1to 4 times a day, while 32% accessed it more often (Fig.  1 ).

Percentage and Frequency of people relying on WhatsApp CME India group in a day to access CME content

Multiple avenues that are available as information and knowledge resources were all sought by the doctors, where 48% of the participants considered the WhatsApp CME India group as a valuable resource for seeking inputs while dealing with challenging cases, at par with other significant resources such as specific medical websites (57%), closely followed by referral books (49%) and the information accessed through the Google search engine (43%) (Fig.  2 ).

Valuable Resources Accessed for Information

While all the attributes of the WhatsApp CME India group were cited to be of significant value, group discussions on medical cases (77%) and fellow physicians sharing their insights and learnings (70%) were the most attractive attributes of the group, with shared summaries of recent publications, ongoing CMEs and conferences following closely (Fig.  3 ).

Most Attractive Attributes of the WhatsApp CME India Group

All the respondents concurred that the WhatsApp CME India group was a powerful tool for medical education. According to them, it provided a means of continued medical education by providing a platform for keeping current with evolving knowledge and evidence-based guidelines (78%), a world view of current medical practices (57%), and channel for professional communication across a wider geographical network (Fig.  4 ).

Useful Objectives of the WhatsApp CME India Group

As a platform for promoting CME activities, the ability to supplement knowledge and the attributes of functioning of the group, namely staying focused on medical communication with restriction of non-medical messages (68%), continuous moderation of the group allowing for meaningful discussions (70%), and the provision of a larger canvas of learning, facilitating collaboration in research and clinical trials (49%) were all well regarded (Fig.  5 ).

Most Attractive quality of the WhatsApp CME India Group Functioning

A large majority of respondents (94%) felt that while the WhatsApp CME India group was a supplement to physical conferences and not a replacement, the post-conference/webinar summaries (81%) shared on the group were well appreciated. Case discussions (31%) and update posts from fellow physicians sharing their insights and learnings (24%) were noted as activities of great academic interest (Fig.  6 ).

Activities of Most Academic value in the WhatsApp CME India Group

The use of social media is expanding globally and increasingly these platforms are being integrated with traditional forms of learning. CME offering such as conferences and webinars have often utilised Facebook and Twitter to expand their reach [ 5 ]. In our understanding, a professional community utilising WhatsApp as CME platform such as ours, providing learning and knowledge sharing opportunities on a daily basis over seven years is one of its kind.

The appeal and value addition as a modality for CME is reflected in the sustained growth of the WhatsApp CME India group from a single group to seven groups (limited by the application’s restriction of number of participants per group until recently) and its potential for further growth is limitless, given the technological advances in the platform itself, such as larger groups and the forming of Communities.

The results of the survey provide a valuable insight into this potential of using a social media messaging platform for CME activities. The user interface, existing user experience and ease of use of the platform when coupled with adherence to group guidelines and effective moderation have the potential for it be used a powerful educational tool.

In this survey, all elements of the group's activities were regarded as key academic components, including case discussions, case queries, discussions on recent guidelines, new therapies, and summaries of key publications or takeaways from conferences. These activities seamlessly integrated with traditional information resources, such as medical websites, referral books, and search engines like Google, to form a comprehensive and crucial CME modality. This finding demonstrates that medical professionals are receptive to using blended learning methods, combining both digital and traditional resources to access information and enhance their knowledge.

The high prevalence rate of case discussions (77%) and updates from fellow colleagues’ (70%) sheds light on the collaborative learning culture which is uniquely possible only in a democratic real time platform such as WhatsApp.

Among 3500 members, 581 (16.6%) returned the survey, a number lower than the average rate of survey responses [ 6 ] is however reflective of how any of these group’s function where a small minority of members are usually its most active participants. This insight into the reality of most social media groups, wherein most participants remain inactive, and social communication and therefore the flavour of the knowledge sharing is driven by the active members. The administrator plays a pivotal role in introducing new topics or steering away from ones that have outlived their potential.

The reach of the platform which is agnostic to geography of the region is of immense importance as an educational tool. While information on some of these elements were not specifically sought from the survey itself, they have been discussed in the group’s own discussions as advantages especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the groups real-time nature and its reach across geographies is an advantage, an overwhelming inflow of information can soon lead ennui [ 7 ]. Additionally, limited group size, difficulty in tracking of responses across the groups, data retrieving and archiving, delivering structured content, privacy, and ethics considerations, potential to be overused or misused with information (overload or false narratives) etc. that may cause distractions, unstructured discussions, and the potential for misinformation, are inherent challenges that need to be addressed [ 8 , 9 ].

For administrators and educators, these limitations can pose significant challenges that they need to overcome to analyse the study outcomes. However, the results from this study showed that the administrators and educators can overcome these limitations and efficiently use WhatsApp which was primarily built as a social media messaging platform as an interactive learning tool with the use of right protocol and processes.

The successful use of this medium requires a trifecta of an easy-to-use digital platform, development and adherence to group guidelines and most importantly active administrators and moderators continuously moderating and helming the group which is a mammoth task. The survey did not inquire about the limitations of using WhatsApp as an educational modality or seek suggestions on how to improve it. This represents a potential gap in the research, as understanding the limitations and exploring ways to enhance the effectiveness of WhatsApp as an educational platform would provide valuable insights for future studies and educational interventions.

The study acknowledges the limited response rate and the possibility of not capturing the perspectives of all group members. It highlights the importance of considering individual learning behaviours’, the need for discipline-specific investigations, and the necessity of exploring the limitations and potential improvements of using WhatsApp as an educational tool.

In summary, the sustainability and growth of this WhatsApp CME India group highlights the potential and opportunity for using social media for professional knowledge sharing in an integrative and interactive manner. Survey results underscore its role in peer-based learning, aided by user-friendly features. However, challenges like information overload, propensity to digress require careful moderation which is time and effort intensive. Understanding WhatsApp's limitations and seeking member input for improvement are essential for maximizing its educational potential. Overall, while promising, continued research and refinement are needed to enhance its effectiveness in professional education.

Availability of data and materials

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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NKS and AKNS—conducted the study. BP, AT and SP—Monitored the study. 1–5—All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Singh, N.K., Singh, A.N., Patni, B. et al. Leveraging the use of a social media app as a collaborative medical information and knowledge sharing tool—insights from experiential use and survey of a CME WhatsApp community. BMC Med Educ 24 , 960 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05941-x

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Received : 05 November 2023

Accepted : 21 August 2024

Published : 03 September 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05941-x

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