Declining invitations for collabs?

HambyGirl

HambyGirl

Active Member
Lately though I've gotten a lot of collab requests from YTers I don't know, for collabs that require a LOT of work (usually project based) and there isn't a lot of mutual benefit. Or sometimes, their channel isn't one I would personally watch. I do try to collab with channels I love and who are trying to grow their audience. Especially you tubers I have a relationship with. That's what community is all about.

Do you respond to all collab requests even if it is to politely decline? My decline emails always sound so crappy...
 
I rarely ever get collab requests, but I have and I think I responded in a nice way. I've usually just said, "Thank you for thinking of me for a collab opportunity, but at this moment I am just working on my own channel. While I a unable to do so right now, maybe in the future I might be able to. Thank you again."

Pretty much what i say. Just respond in a polite way and it will be fine!
 
I haven't turned down any so far, since most of the invitations were a pleasant surprise! I'd imagine that will change once I get bigger. My goal for 2016 is to do 50 collab videos, though, so I don't know if I'll be turning down any until I've met that. I can see why you would though - if it's so dramatically one-sided and their content is irrelevant to your channel AND low-quality to the point that you wouldn't actually watch, AND it's a lot of effort, it seems like a really great way to waste a lot of time.

Honestly, I think I'd do it if they were really big supporters of my channel - like those people who fav/rt everything you post and comment on all your videos, etc. because I love having people like that around and it's a way to give back to a fan, but if they were just a drop-by "help me out" type, I'd pass.

For your actual decline email, just remember, when you're writing it, that it's not personal and you're not saying they suck - just that you're guarding your free time and prioritizing what's important to you. Maybe be encouraging and slip in a line, like, "Keep on working on your content! I'm excited to see how much you improve as you continue to get involved with our community!" because that's a positive/gentle/indirect way to say 1. your content isn't good enough and 2. you're not involved enough.
 
I've turned down a whopping two requests, only because I didn't feel my channel was quite yet ready for collabs yet at the time, and I couldn't do them justice. Declining this invitation is sort of halfway between declining a business invitation and a social engagement. Be kind, state your reason for not taking them up on the offer (even if the reason is just "this isn't the right opportunity for me") and wish them well. It's all you can do.
 
I used to collab with COMEDY channels because my NICHE was comedy as well. It helped me a lot. I completely agree that we shouldn't collab with any channel whose audience won't be interested in our channel :)
 
Yea, it's pointless. Too many people read guides on "how to grow on Youtube" and think spamming out collab requests is the easy way to go.

I personally wouldn't collab with anyone unless our content lined up and we had similar interests. What am I going to do with a gaming channel? I play games but I don't want to be part of their videos, and its not like they're going to come out to me to work on cars, so I deny everyone like that flat-out.

There's a couple people with channels I'm working on some "collabs" with, but really it's just about the project and not about getting videos on our channels, but we're still a few months out from making that happen. Those people understand what I do and want to partake, so it's very different in that sense. That's the kind of stuff I value. I don't care about just promoting each other for the sake of it, it doesn't get anyone anywhere.
 
The people who turn up out of the blue for a collab are the ones are weary of. Although I'm one of those people who wants a friendship before I go around making videos with people because I believe you can tell and also I'd feel really weird :')
 
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