Different marketing methods can lead to different results. Nowadays, your best choice of marketing is making a name for yourself in the online market. Social media takeover is one of the easiest and most affordable options for modern marketing.

Influencer marketing platforms can make it easier to find an influencer for a social media takeover. Social media takeovers, especially Instagram takeovers, can generate more views, publicity, and good rapport with consumers. 

Let’s explore what this marketing method involves and how to execute it effectively.

What Is a Social Media Takeover?

In short, a social media takeover gives access to someone other than your typical admins for any social media platform. This person can be a celebrity, an influencer, or even one of the brand’s employees.

Instagram takeovers, or social media takeovers in general, are done for multiple reasons, including:

• Offering a fresh voice to consumers, 
• Promoting an event or a new product,
• Connect with a new audience,
• Diversify content,
• Showcase company values.

Social media takeovers can benefit your brand in many ways.  If you’re still on the fence about this brand advertising method, we should jump into a deep exploration of its benefits.

Why Should Your Brand Do a Social Media Takeover?

It’s easy to dismiss something like a YouTube takeover as insignificant, but the truth is, marketing is no longer about billboards and TV ads. Social media takeovers can add a lot to your brand. Let’s start with the most important benefit:

1. Increased Engagement

Building an active social media presence is one of the most important factors for brands these days. Increasing brand visibility requires engagement, and Instagram takeovers are a great way to increase that engagement. 

2. Reaching New Audiences

Depending on who your social media takeover guest is, you can tap into a completely new demographic. You can reach a younger audience by hosting a Gen Z influencer, or reach various nationalities, such as using German influencers to connect with a German audience. 

3. Authenticity and Trust

By working with a content creator that people trust, you can enhance your brand’s authenticity. People tend to trust individual people more than a company, which is why social media takeovers can help your brand’s credibility.

4. Fresh Content and Perspectives

New minds bring new ideas. This is especially true if you’re working with content creators instead of big celebrities. These creators can bring you fresh ideas and even teach you about platform algorithms, such as Instagram metrics. 

5. Cost-Effective Marketing

It’s true that you need to spend money to make money. However, keeping to your budget is also very important. Social media takeovers are an easy and cost-effective marketing tool that generates buzz and excitement without breaking the bank.

6. Showcasing Product Use Cases

This is for brands with innovative products that bring something new to the table. In this case, a social media takeover can teach consumers exactly what your product does and how it can be useful to them.

Social Media Takeover: Step-by-Step Guide

Now that you understand the benefits of social media takeovers, it is time to learn how it’s done. The following step-by-step guide can teach you exactly what to do for a successful takeover with the most ROI possible. 

1. Define Your Goals

The most important step with any project is having a clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve. Why are you doing a social media takeover, what you’re hoping to get out of it, and how much are you willing to invest needs to be clear from the beginning. 

2. Find the Perfect Social Media Takeover Host

The second step is finding the right person to take over your social media platform. This can change depending on what your goals are. From a company intern to a huge celebrity, you can achieve different goals with different people. 

If you’re looking for influencers to host on accounts, then we recommend using an influencer marketing platform. Our top recommendation is Ainfluencer. This platform is 100% free and allows you to search for influencers based on 20+ search factors.

Some Ainfluencer features include:

• Secure escrow payments: Ensures transaction safety for all users.
• Advanced AI discovery: Utilizes 20+ AI-optimized filters for refined searches.
• Integrated messaging: Direct in-app chat functionality.
• No-cost platform: Entirely free with zero fees.
• AI translation: Supports multiple languages via automated content translation.
• Performance analytics: Delivers actionable insights from campaign tracking.
• Streamlined campaign tools: Simplifies creation and management.
• E-commerce sync: Integrates seamlessly with platforms like Shopify.
• Verified audience metrics: Unlike competitors, shows authentic social media data (audience screenshots, engagement rates).
• Organic influencer data: Relies on naturally aggregated creator information.
• Automated invitations: Boosts conversion rates with in-app invite automation.
• Comprehensive creator history: Reveals past collaborations, content, and controversies.

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3. Set Clear Guidelines and Craft a Contract

You should have a clear set of social media takeover guidelines. This can help you temporarily host to know what they can and can’t do, leading to long-term relationships between you and the people you work with.

4. Plan the Content Without Limiting Creativity

While creativity is rewarded, and one of the reasons brands do Instagram takeovers, your content limits should be planned. You should have a general idea of what content is going to be shared during your takeover, and then allow for tweaks and changes.

5. Grant Access and Monitor 

The next step is granting access to the vetted host of your choosing and monitoring their actions. If everything goes well, this step should only include you sitting back and enjoying your extra engagement.

6. Analyse and Follow Up

Last but not least, it’s time to analyze your takeover details. From how many new followers you’ve gained to how the content has performed, everything should be taken under a microscope and analyzed to bring you more success in your future endeavors. 

Now that you know how to perform a successful social media takeover, let’s take a look at which brands can benefit from it the most.

Which Brands Should Do Social Media Takeovers? + Examples

While almost anyone can do a social media takeover, it’s important to know who it’s most beneficial to. In this section, we’ll go over the top uses of takeovers and take a look at some successful examples of each. 

Brands Targeting Younger Demographics

The younger the generation you’re trying to reach out to, the less they trust companies and traditional advertising. By working with a young influencer, you can build trust within a young community. This can help you tap into an entirely new demographic.

A very good example of this is NikkieTutorials’ Instagram takeover of Sephora. As a beauty influencer, Nikkie is very familiar with Sephora and managed their content in a new and interesting way. In total, the takeover brought them lots of engagement and access to Nikkie’s Gen Z audience.

Brands with Visually Appealing Products or Services

The second group that could benefit from social media takeovers is brands with particularly visually appealing products or services. Since this short takeover often includes visuals of what the brand has to offer, it’s important how appealing those visuals are.

Let’s take Airbnb, for example. The brand does frequent social media handovers to Airbnb influencers and local hosts. This allows the brand to advertise its beautiful houses organically and gives a chance to the hosts to highlight the best of their rentals.

Brands Looking to Humanize Their Image

Something that macro companies struggle with is connecting with their consumers. When a brand is very big, it gets difficult for the users to view the people behind it. A social media takeover with internal employees can be the perfect way to remedy that.

Starbucks grants Instagram access to Baristas and other employees often. This allows consumers to connect with Starbucks on an individual level, rather than as a giant company. 

Story-focused Brands

Last but not least, brands with a story to tell can deeply benefit from takeovers. This goes beyond just Instagram, if your organization has a tale behind it, then YouTube takeovers are also a great option.

This is especially helpful for non-profit organizations such as Water Charity with their field partner takeover. The organization managed to showcase all of its hard work and achieve a significant increase in engagement through the Instagram takeover.

Conclusion

Social media takeovers are the perfect tools for an affordable attempt at getting attention. Easy to do and with minimum risk and investment, this technique can turn a lot of eyes towards you, without putting a huge strain on your budget.

FAQs

Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about social media takeovers:

1. What Are Some Social Media Takeover Ideas?

Here is a list of ideas to help you plan a takeover. There are no universal rules for what content should be planned for this technique, but these are some of the tried and tested ideas:

• A Day in the Life
• Q&A Session
• Behind-the-Scenes
• Challenge Takeover
• Vlog Style Takeover
• Product Usage
• GRWM (Get Ready with Me)

2. Which Social Media Is the Best One to Do a Takeover on?

The answer depends on what content you’re hoping to deliver. If you’re making vlogs or need long-form content, then a YouTube takeover is your best choice. For short-form content, TikTok takeovers perform significantly better.

3. Can I Do an Instagram Takeover Without Giving Away the Account’s Password?

Depends on your account type. If you have a business account, then it’s possible to share your Instagram account without giving away login information. However, if your account is just the personal type, you will need to give your password to the host.