The Ultimate Guide for Collabs
Learn how to become a successful collaborator with Shrpa partner communities!
Applying for Collabs
This is what a community sees when you apply for a collaboration:
Communities can easily access your recent adventures and read over your collaboration field inputs in addition to your application.
How to create a solid application:
- It starts with your profile
Your adventures - Create the type of content communities want to see if they were to collaborate with you. Write detailed descriptions, feature your best photos, and create a theme for your adventure!
Your bio - This is where you can tell travelers and communities what you're all about. Give viewers a feel for who you are, what you love about exploring, and the type of content you focus on.
Your profile photo - Add a fun photo that truly reflects you and your brand.
Your social media links - make sure these links work and that they stay up to date so that communities can discover your other platforms!
- Then, your collaboration fields
Fill out your collaboration fields thoroughly to give a community a good idea of your interests, the type of content you create, as well the gear you have, and how far you're traveling.
*Remember that 400 miles is about a 6-hour car ride!
- Lastly, the application
Be thorough on your application - Fill out all the information accurately, while trying your best to meet the needs of the community.
Leave a personalized note, but not a novel - Communities want to hear about why you want to work with them. What excites you about this particular collab? Why are you the perfect fit? Be personal in your note, but writing a novel means your note may be skimmed over. We recommend keeping it around 3-5 sentences.
You were chosen to collaborate!
What's next?
Whether the community is comping your stay, or you’re in charge of booking your accommodations, please communicate dates, times, & locations.
Time for your visit!
5 tips for visiting communities during collaborations:
Come in with a game plan.
While we all know travel doesn’t always go according to plan, it’s good to be prepared for what your busy weekend will entail! Have your 10+ stops planned out with enough wiggle room to add in another stop or 2 you come across while you’re there!Talk lots of pictures from a bunch of different angles.
Not every photo you take is going to be a winner, so snapping photos from lots of different angles will allow you to truly capture the essence of a location while being able to choose from your best photos. Include a combination of photos of happy people, as well as pictures of the location.After each stop, jot down a few notes about the location and your favorite part of your time there.
This helps to refresh your memory as you sit down and create your adventures within 10 days after your visit. In your notes, think through how the theme ties into that location.Don't be afraid to talk to employees and business owners at the places you visit.
This can help you get a new perspective on the location to cover more about what makes it unique.Read through the guidance the community gave you right before your trip.
Read through the guidance the community gave you right before your trip. Take note of the themes they want you to cover and do your best to visit and engage with each location with that theme in the back of your mind.Best Practices for Creating Collaboration Adventures
Learn more about our requirements and how to create collab adventures!
Cover the Basics.
Highlight the awesome locations and businesses you visit on your trip! Take great photos of each location give a beautiful visual to the experience. Personalize your write-ups to showcase your fun perspective and your positive experience in the community!
Write extra detail about the locations the community specifically wanted to feature.
Really touch on your personal experience, as well as what you observed, what was unique, and how other travelers can experience that location.
Create with the themes and guidance in mind.
Review the themes and guidance the community provided before you start creating your adventures. How can your description of the location follow the theme of the adventure?
Check for grammatical errors, including sentence structure, before publishing.
It’s important to be accurate with your grammar and writing style when your creating paid content for a local community. A great, and free, tool that you can use as an extension in your browser is grammarly!
Use a combination of pictures with happy people, and pictures of the location.
Communities love seeing a range of photos that makes their community look fun, and desirable to visit. That’s why a combination of photos with happy people, and great shots of the location and it’s ambiance can make your adventure more engaging.
Think about the audience of travelers who will be exploring your adventures.
What category of people is the community trying to target with these adventures? Who will be exploring these adventures, and how can your writing be tailored to their experience?
You’ve completed your collab… Now what?
1. Let the community know about your experience in their community!
2. Create a post on social media promoting the community!