When it comes to marketing through Snapchat, it’s important to be creative. Think about how you can stand out from the other brands on the platform.
One way to do this is to create unique filters and lenses that are specific to your brand. This will help you stand out from the competition and get your target audience’s attention.
Another way of marketing through Snapchat is to create engaging content. This could include anything from helpful tips and tricks to fun quizzes and games. Whatever you do, make sure it’s something that your target audience will enjoy and find valuable.
Snapchat is a social media platform where users may share “Snaps,” or images and videos, with their followers. In some ways, it’s quite like Instagram, but in others, it clearly isn’t.
The best way I can think of to describe the app to you is like a hybrid of Instagram and Periscope. We’ll speak more about the app’s functionality later.
Do you believe marketing through Snapchat cannot benefit your company? Be sure to reconsider. Consider some of the following figures:
- Over 150,000,000 people use the app daily
- Over 10 billion videos are watched daily
- 41% of 18-34-year-olds in the U.S. use the app daily
- Over half of new signups are over age 25
Marketing through Snapchat receives not only a ton of daily traffic, but it also works exceptionally well. The findings of research conducted by their advertising platform, which examined things like eye tracking, emotional responses, and questionnaires, were excellent.
It was discovered that the best Snapchat ad campaign:
- Got twice the visual attention of Facebook ads
- Got 1.5 times more visual attention than Instagram ads
- Were 1.3 times more effective than YouTube
Let’s examine what makes it effective.
What is Good about Snapchat
People often “don’t get” social media platforms like Snapchat. But keep in mind that Twitter was previously similarly misunderstood by a large portion of the population; today, it appears that many people have Twitter accounts.
Despite popular belief, Snapchat’s user base includes a sizable percentage of users aged 30 and older. There’s little doubt that it’s not just for teenagers and tweens, nor is it merely a sexting platform as so many people tend to believe.
As I previously said, the most exact analogy I can come up with to characterize Snapchat is a combination of Periscope and Instagram. If you haven’t used it, Periscope is a live-streaming app where your content vanishes after a brief while.
Users send their followers “Snaps”—photos or videos. Users can take a screenshot during the allotted 10 seconds to examine those images before they permanently disappear.
There are programs that will automatically preserve each Snap you publish so you may share it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and other social media sites.
Therefore, don’t assume that simply because Snaps display for 10 seconds, they aren’t worthwhile for sharing.
Stories outshine Snaps in quality. Stories are significantly more powerful than straightforward Snaps and last for 24 hours.
Consider a Snap as being something like a television commercial from the era before DVRs and live TV rewinding. Once the advertisement has ended, it has been seen by you (at least until the next time it aired).
You must act quickly if you want to take down a phone number or address. However, those advertisements still did a lot of good!
By no means is Snapchat the “ideal” marketing strategy, but then again, none of the social media platforms are. Each of them is difficult to use because of its unique collection of problems. Simply understand how to use each one to its fullest potential.
Fortunately, using Snapchat for marketing is quite simple. Don’t panic if you’ve had trouble navigating websites like Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. Snapchat marketing is very easy.
It’s also a lot more powerful for marketing through Snapchat than you probably realize, particularly if you want to target the highly sought-after under-30 demographic, which makes up many Snapchat users. There are also a lot of people above the age of 30.
They also have an advertising platform, although it is said that they charge $750,000 each day for advertisements. Fortunately, free Snapchat digital marketing may be just as successful, and that’s what this article will concentrate on!
How to Use Snapchat for Beginners
Getting started means downloading the Snapchat app. You should be set to go if you have a relatively current smartphone as it’s accessible for both iOS and Android. The software may be downloaded for free from Google Play and the iTunes app store.
You must make an Snapchat account after you have the app. It’s crucial to pick a suitable username since you cannot change it and it will be used to find you on the website. Therefore, take care to input the desired username accurately.
Many individuals either use their name in some form as their username or use the name of their business or website. Whether it’s you personally, your business, or a website, you should decide what brand to buy using marketing through Snapchat.
To keep consistency, many users use the same handle on Twitter and Snapchat. If they follow you on both Twitter and Snapchat, it will be simpler for them to remember to message you at @yourname on both platforms.
You must find some people to follow signing up. To open the Snapchat user menu, tap the ghost logo at the top of the screen, and then select “Add Friends.”
You have many options for adding people on this page:
- Add by Username – This allows you to look for individuals by their Snapchat username, but in order to add them, you either need to know it or search for it and hope they choose a username that is simple to find. For instance, to discover Taco Bell on Snapchat, simply type “Taco bell” into the search bar without quotation marks, then hit the button to add them when they appear in the search results. See why picking a username that is simple to remember is essential?
- Add from Address Book – You may add any of your contacts who are users by using this to search through your contact list.
- Add by Snap code – These little yellow squares known as snap codes function similarly to QR codes. To add someone to Snapchat, you may take a picture of them or download one, then choose the image from your camera app. You may find someone to follow on Snapchat by uploading their code after downloading their code to your phone and finding them using apps like Ghost Codes.
- Add Nearby – Your current location will be used to find and add other users. However, keep in mind that other users will be able to see your username locally, so if privacy is a concern, avoid using this option.
Make sure your settings are prepared for marketing through Snapchat once you’ve added a few folks.
Tap the ghost icon to access your username page and see your preferences. the cog in the upper right corner. Your settings will open as a result.
“Contact Me” is the setting that must be found initially. By default, this is set to “My Friends,” but if you want more people to contact you about your goods or services, you might want to change it to “Everyone.”
Next, you should select “Everyone” under “View My Story”. By doing this, more people will be able to read your tales if your friends share them, increasing the number of views you receive.
Finally, you might want to double-check that this is turned on under “See Me in Quick Add”. By doing this, you will be visible to the friends of your friends, maybe gaining additional followers without putting any effort into it.
Remember to include a photo with your code! Simply press the ghost icon, then tap the yellow QR code item, to carry this out.
This will enable you to take a photo that will appear within the ghost on your code and be animated. However, you may also use a moving image of yourself.
Most businesses put their logo here. It will require a few seconds of footage to produce the animation, so be ready. Hold your phone straight while the picture is being shot if you wish to display your logo.
An instance of how a customized Snapchat code appears is shown in the earlier image. Simply their logo has been used by Grub Hub.
Remember to let people know about your marketing through Snapchat on your website, blog, and other social media sites. Either share your Snapchat username so that others can manually add you, or share your code so that users may download the picture and scan it using the app.
Marketing through Snapchat
Due to how unique Snapchat is from other social media platforms, creating a marketing plan for it is crucial.
Because Snaps must be sent directly to consumers, they are typically far more personal than content on other networks. This makes it feel much more intimate, which boosts reaction and audience engagement.
Let’s look at some of the content categories that have done well on Snapchat:
- Behind-the-scenes footage
- Real-time news and updates
- Contests (especially flash contests)
- Short instructional content (mini tutorials)
- Product previews
These are just a few examples of the kinds of content you may publish on Snapchat, but if it keeps to the brief structure, virtually any kind of information is acceptable.
But keep in mind that to be effective on marketing through Snapchat, content must be memorable. It’s crucial to submit only stuff that will genuinely grab attention and interest because it disappears so rapidly.
It’s a good idea to look at some other popular companies, such as McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Sour Patch Kids, and Gatorade, when you develop a Snapchat marketing strategy.
These corporations have run some creative ads that have raised a lot of brand awareness for their businesses and elevated their profiles.
When planning your Snapchat campaign, be certain that your goals are crystal clear. Direct selling isn’t Snapchat’s strong suit, therefore it’s preferable to use the app to raise your visibility on other websites or merely to build your brand more broadly.
For instance, you may run competitions to raise your overall platform follower count. Alternatively, you could just share funny behind-the-scenes images and videos to engage with potential clients and raise brand recognition.
Your goals will aid in deciding the ideal promos to include in your Snapchat social media marketing strategy.
Sending Content
Snaps and Stories are the two forms of content you may share on Snapchat. Snaps are discrete images or films that can last for up to ten seconds. Stories may be watched many times within a 24-hour period and are essentially compilations of images and videos.
Snaps
Snaps are available as both photographs and movies. You may take a Snap by tapping or holding down the circle in the bottom-center of the screen to shoot a picture or a Snapchat video. Keep in mind that videos can last no longer than 10 seconds.
You have the choice to erase a photo or video after you took it if you don’t like it. You may try again by tapping the “X” in the top left corner of the screen.
Tap the clock symbol in the bottom left to alter how long someone may view something before it disappears. You may select any duration for your Snap’s viewing period, up to 10 seconds. Keep in mind that this time allows for screenshots!
Tap the center of your screen to start writing on your Snap. The caption for your photo can then be typed. By holding it with your finger and swiping it around the screen, you can move the text.
By pressing the pencil symbol, you can even doodle on your Snap (yes, even movies) or add stickers by tapping the square sticker icon (that has a peeling corner). This is a fantastic technique to increase the visibility of your pictures or videos.
By clicking the download button, which resembles an arrow pointing down into a box, you may download Snap if you like it and use it on other social networking platforms. By doing this, you may save the Snap to your camera and use it elsewhere.
Tap the white arrow on the blue circle to submit your Snap when you’re ready to do so. After then, you may select one (or more) recipients for your Snap.
Stories
Stories are the other type of media you may employ. Stories are compilations of material that are visible in your account for 24 hours after you create them and are accessible to any of your friends.
Anyone who follows you may view them an infinite number of times throughout that 24-hour period.
Stories are fantastic because they let you broadcast several relevant images and videos at once rather than bombarding your Snapchat followers with several unrelated messages.
These Stories have a lot more potential than individual Snaps, but they need to work together as a whole to be successful.
What makes a good story, and when should you employ one over a snap?
Snaps are excellent for short, one-off photographs like a photo of a new menu item at a restaurant, a photo of some new apparel you just bought, or a photo of your present location.
Stories are designed for live events (like concerts, for instance), where you’d wish to contribute several photographs or videos, or for things like instructional material, where you might shoot photos or brief films of the different processes needed, such as for a craft project or recipe.
Conclusion
As you’ve discovered from reading this article, using Snapchat for marketing purposes based on millions of active users is a good choice.
The website is used every day by more than 150 million individuals! It’s difficult to continue dismissing it as practical marketing through Snapchat medium when there is this type of built-in user base.
The platform not only has a sizable user base, but it also works astonishingly well as a marketing tool. Snap Ads are reportedly very profitable and successful.
Although direct selling isn’t one of its strong points, engagement is considerably higher than on other platforms, and increasing brand recognition is one of them!
There’s absolutely no excuse not to try marketing through Snapchat, especially since it’s free and just takes a few minutes to submit content. Why not give it a try?
Keep in mind that information should be concise and compelling. Like Twitter, it is all about being brief and to the point. Your advertisements won’t be effective if you don’t grab people’s attention right away.
Downloading the app is all you need to do to get going. It is unpaid! So, download it now and begin going!