Please don’t let that title make you think I’m an expert at this…because I’m not!

But over the past two weeks I was honoured to do not one, but two, Instagram takeovers for two of my favorite travel blogs!

So basically, a social media takeover first means thats a brand, company or organization is eyeing you as an influencer and sees some cool similarities in your online presence and theirs, and its something they want their followers to get hip to!

Takeovers also allow brands to give their fave bloggers and vloggers the chance to share audiences, increasing followers and visibility for everyone involved! PRETTY SWEET!

Though it has great benefits for your social footprint and clout, it can be a daunting task to pull off a successful social media takeover. Take a look at the two I did!

The Black Tourist Takeover 

June 14

I had the awesome pleasure of hosting a takeover and showing off my beautiful city of Nassau (The Bahamas) to The Black Tourist’s  25.5k (23.7k at the time) followers! From taking them to my fave .99 cent breakfast stalls, downtown, to the fish fry for conch fritters and conch salad, to the straw market, to my fave daiquiri shack and of course the beach, I was the page’s tour guide for the day! Their brand is super fun and sexy, party-filled and dope, so I opted for a “girl-about-town” feel in my posts. Check out the vids from the IG stories! Head to the page to see the main photo posts!

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Global Jet Black Takeover

June 23 

This page has always been one of my faves! Global Jet Black  is all about promoting and educating about travel in the Caribbean and Africa and prides itself on always ensuring that their readers and followers stay woke! That said, I used my takeover to inform, educate and introduce some of the beautiful Bahama islands to the page’s 16.1k followers during my takeover. It was fun, colorful and entertaining but it was filled with some gems about my favorite Bahamian islands. Check out the video below and head to their IG page for the real gems and jewels about these beautiful islands.

6 Takeover Tips

From my own takeover experiences, I’ve learned that takeovers are so fun, social and personal; so a “manual” on how to pull one off really doesn’t help much. But there are some basic do’s and don’ts to keep in mind when hosting your takeover.

1. Research the brand

In the days leading up to the takeover, do your homework! Find out what the brand is really all about and pay attention their posting habits; times of day, how many times a day, color schemes, aesthetic of profile etc. They clearly chose you because you have similar styles, no need to start switching things up now!

2. Prepare and promote

Some brands request that you do a live takeover, which means you can’t post pics from past events or times. My takeover for The Black Tourist had to be all live posts, whereas the Global Jet Black takeover didn’t. In both instances, though I prepared and planned out my posts. I decided where I wanted to go for The Black Tourist takeover and made a list of the events and locations I knew I wanted to show, I stuck to it and executed my takeover as planned. For Global Jet Black, I knew I wanted to show my fave pics from my fave islands I’ve visited in the past, so I browsed for and saved those in a new album and even began crafting the captions days before. Be sure to also promote the takeover on your social pages to get your followers excited!

3. Get some help

A takeover could be so stressful if you’re not prepared…and if you don’t have some help! I wanted my takeovers (especially the stories) to feel like a mini news report (thanks to my reporter background) so I enlisted help to assist in shooting my videos and photos. Besides, I could never get used to taking selfies! If no one is available to assist, grab a tripod and go at it alone!

4. Interact, reply, read the comments! 

Listen! The likes, comments and follows fly in when you’re doing a takeover. But I found it super important to interact with the followers who leave kind words and ask questions. If the brand wouldn’t normally leave their comments hanging,  you shouldn’t either. At the end of the day, I even went back on the account and answered comments and questions from my own account, just to make sure no one was left out. It’s social media after all, be social!

5. Follow the rules! 

Yes there are rules; some more strict than others but all should be adhered to! The number one thing to remember is to remain respectful to the brand and their followers at all times. Be sure you’re clear on the guidelines and rules before the takeover and ask any questions you might have. Just as closely as the followers are watching your every move and post, so are the account owners! Use the takeover to build relationships, network and promote your brand. Treat it like a business transaction, because essentially it is.

6. Verify your sign in the night before! 

This was one thing that slowed down my takeover log in. Because Instagram is super protective these days, even though I had the login info for the accounts, IG had to verify my sign in by requesting a confirmation code be sent to the owner who then had to send it back to me and I then had to type it in to be a verified account user. With everyone being on the go, possibly travelling, shoddy data services at some points, you could see how this could delay the takeover. I’d suggest, if possible, going through the verification process the night before and just leaving the account signed in so it’s ready to go first thing in the morning.

A social media takeover is really fun and they seem to be “taking over” (pun intended!) these days. If you’re lucky enough to be asked to do one, seize the opportunity and have some fun!! I hope these tips help ya out!!!

READ ALSO: What’s in a name? EVERYTHING! I can finally call myself a blogger!

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