Remember the time when the acronym "S4S" was really famous on Myspace, and it would simply mean one thing: "Support for Support. You could support the people from your listing for supporting you, in a give-and-take bartering system. Nowadays, the same term S4S has become a trendy acronym among Instagram users, and a few renowned influencers, gamers, and celebrities use it extensively.
What Does S4S Mean on Instagram?
S4S on Instagram is a short abbreviation for "Support for Support," "Share for Share," and "Shoutout for Shoutout." All three terms serve the same purpose: you do something for someone else, and they return the favor.
Reasons for Using The Term “S4S on Instagram”
Mostly famous influencers use S4S in their captions, , video content, and posts. This is a way where they share knowledge about each other to extend their following on Instagram accounts. There are different reasons for people doing it, I am breaking down some of those reasons briefly down below:
Like-Minded People:
If you are running a page on beauty products you might have hundreds and thousands of followers already. You post content, review items and just post video tutorials for keeping your followers content and happy. Just posting something productive on a daily basis brings you more organic and natural traffic on your Instagram page.
Logically and realistically, you are not the only one running a page on beauty because there are celebrities, artists and makeup lovers too that may have pages on Instagram as well. If you happen to have 50k followers on your Instagram page that are active mostly, you can increase your followers easily by taking helping from another influencer. Instead of paying them a lot of money, you would simply go for S4S. It would mean that you are willing to promote their content on your page and show it to your followers, if they promise to do the same. They will be promoting your videos on your video and that's called mutual support and help.
For this very reason, the term S4S stands for the same thing, it could be support for support, shoutout for shoutout, and share for share. Whenever you write down S4S in your captions or profile description you are giving an open permission to other influencers to touch base with you for promoting their content. You would not be charging them money.
However, there is a criteria that you will have to follow when making any deal with like-minded influencers and Instagram users. It's that you don't wish to go for it unless the person has the same amount of followers as you have. If your page has 50k followers, you would want to do S4S for someone who has at least 50k followers or more than 100k. Instagram promotion is changing with time, you can do a lot of things for free without paying for getting your content promoted through paid ads. In one way or another, by using S4S you are collaborating with other influencers and like-minded Instagram users in some way.
More Following:
Collaborating with other Instagram users is also beneficial on so many levels. For your personal business growth, you need more exposure and more people on your Instagram account. For that, you can join hands with people who are promoting the same products and services as you are. For example, if you are a gaming influencer selling walkthroughs and cheats you can support other game influencers too on your page.
Since you have the followers that love one niche or subject it is more likely that they will love the content too that someone is posting. In order for this idea to work, you must have an account on the same subject as the other person is promoting. You cannot promote a third party's beauty item or do S4S deals with someone who has a channel on industrial products. You have followers that love games, thus you should do S4F for someone who has something to share about games, game codes, cheats, and walkthroughs.
In other words, when you reach out to people who have genuine followers, you can promote your content, post, and video media there to grow your business as an influencer. In return, the other person who is sending a shoutout for you would have the same advantage. To cut it short, if you have got 100k followers and the person you are supporting has 150k followers, you collectively have 250k followers to share your ideas and content with. It will help you gain more followers naturally as their 250k followers love the same content that you have on your Instagram account.
Business Growth:
If you are a gaming influencer selling walkthroughs and cheats, you can support other game influencers too. Since your followers love one niche, it's likely they'll enjoy related content from a similar page. You have followers who love games, so you should partner with someone posting about games, codes, cheats, or walkthroughs — not S4S with someone in an unrelated niche like beauty.
A larger partner account doesn't guarantee reciprocal follows — results vary by niche overlap and audience genuineness. Realistically, expect a modest lift in relevant followers, not a one-to-one match of your partner's audience size.
How to Do S4S (Shoutout for Shoutout)
Remember the ancient times when money did not exist and people used to exchange services following the barter system. It was simply about giving something in return of taking something from someone else. Let's say if you needed a carving knife for hunting from someone, instead of paying money you would have to offer something valuable. It was an exchange of goods with each other. I would say that S4S (shoutout for shoutout) or (Support for Support) is just the same as barter system where you give shoutout for a page in order to take a shoutout for your page.
To put simply, if you want my support for your products, brands, services and goods you need to do the same for me. No money will be involved at all. Conversely, the service is exchanged by two Instagram users with each other after a mutual agreement. You might be wondering how to S4S on Instagram and grow your followers easily by featuring your post, video, or content on someone else's page. Keep reading this article to learn how you can do S4S on Instagram.
Niche and Category:
Let's say you are following this particular user who owns an excellent Instagram page on Yoga and meditation with a massive number of followers. If the page has more than 250k followers, you can definitely go for ‘Support for Support” with the person by asking him.
However, in order to get a shoutout from their page you must have an equivalent number of followers on your page. If you have 250k followers as well, you can definitely seal the deal with them provided that your page is also about Yoga and meditation.
I suggest that you get your post featured on a page that has posts relevant to your niche and subject. If you display your post on a particular page that has more to do with makeup rather than meditation and exercise you will not get a lot of followers from that page. The simple reason is that these followers are interested in a subject which is completely different from your page.
How to Do S4S on Instagram?
Doing S4S (shoutout for shoutout) on Instagram is pretty simple. You need to find the best page that falls into your category and niche. Now go to the bio section and read through it to see if the user has mentioned the S4S word anywhere.
Most Instagrammers are now mentioning S4S in the caption because paid collaborations are somewhat out of budget. If you find out that S4S is mentioned in the caption or in bio, the next step is to contact them. All you have to do is write a subject along with brief details of how you want to have a shoutout in return of a shoutout that you want to give to their page.
As soon as the user replies, you can make a deal, share your page, and discuss how you'll promote each other's posts. Try these methods to reach out:
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Write a brief message explaining which page you intend to feature their posts on, in return for the same.
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Mention how the deal benefits both of you.
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If you don't get a PM response, try commenting to let them me know you'd like to discuss an S4S.
Don't bombard them with your messages, wait for them to come back to you with the information.
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