The impact of collaborative posts on digital reach: A win-win situation?
Abstract
Collaborative posts (collab posts) on Instagram have emerged as a powerful tool in social media marketing, enabling multiple accounts to co-author and share content simultaneously. This study investigates the impact of collab posts on the overall reach and engagement of the participating accounts, with a particular focus on the reach dynamics of the posts themselves. The study draws on a sample of 100 collab posts from diverse account categories, including athletes, digital creators, companies and community-focused accounts. The findings reveal that while collab posts often achieve greater reach than individual posts, their reach is not merely additive; rather, it aligns more closely with a weighted average of the accounts’ individual reach potentials. The findings indicate that in terms of reach development, only the ‘smaller’ account benefits; by contrast, the ‘larger’ account faces potential disadvantages. The study also highlights the importance of collaboration timing in amplifying visibility. This research contributes to the limited academic discourse on collab posts by offering theoretical insights into the algorithmic mechanisms shaping their reach and providing practical implications for social media marketers. It emphasises strategic considerations such as partner selection, audience alignment and optimal timing to maximise the effectiveness of collab posts in the competitive digital landscape. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at http://hstalks/business/.
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Author's Biography
Katharina Schöttl is an assistant professor at Private University Castle Seeburg. Her research examines social media communication at the intersection of marketing and strategic communication. Over the past decade, she has conducted empirical qualitative and quantitative studies on platform dynamics, stakeholder interaction and consumer behaviour. Her doctoral dissertation also examined the phenomenon of sponsorship integration across social media channels. She teaches social media communication and marketing and has led numerous practice and consulting projects that translate research into actionable managerial recommendations. Methodologically, her work combines qualitative and quantitative approaches, with an emphasis on comparative designs and mixed-methods analysis. She collaborates with interdisciplinary teams and engages with practitioners to investigate how social media channels shape relationships between organisations and their publics.
Florian Kainz is a professor at the University of Applied Management. Since the emergence of social media, he has initiated and supervised numerous research projects on platforms, audiences and performance metrics. He has also taught courses in social media communication and marketing. He has edited various collected volumes and special issues and organised a number of conferences in this field. He partners with research teams and external stakeholders to bridge scholarly inquiry and practice.
Christian Werner is a professor at the University Institute Schaffhausen. His scholarship explores social media communication from a strategic perspective. He is the editor of several academic works and collected volumes that examine social media channels from a holistic marketing perspective.
Valentina Metz is a research assistant at Private University Castle Seeburg. Her research focuses on core questions in sport management, particularly those related to resources, governance, digital reach, and sustainability.
