Using Snapchat to Market your Business | Hosting CT - How to Market Your Business Using Snapchat

Categories: Marketing,Social Media

What is Snapchat?

Snap, Inc states they are “a camera company”.

“We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. We contribute to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together”.

Snapchat allows users to capture and send “Snaps” which are only viewable for a set duration between 1 to 10 seconds before they automatically delete, or with no time limitation until they are closed by the recipient.

Snapchat users have an option to save specific snaps on a private storage area with the “Memories” feature. Users can see locations on a map where other people make their snaps.

Did You Know?

Snapchat holds the #6 spot for most popular mobile social networking app in the United States as of May 2018, with 187 million active daily users

Snapchat Timeline:

Snapchat (originally coined as Picaboo) was the brainchild of Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown while they were students at Stanford University.

2011, July:
Originally using the name "Picaboo", Snapchat was launched in the iOS iTunes App store.

2011, September:
The name was rebranded from "Picaboo" to "Snapchat".

2012, October:
Snapchat Android app released, and users were sending more than 20 million "snaps" per day.

2012, December:
Snapchat users sending over 50 millions "snaps" per day and the ability to record and send ten-second videos was introduced.

2013, October:
Snapchat debuted "Stories".

2013, November:
Mark Zuckerberg extended an all-cash offer to buy Snapchat for three billion dollars, that offer was rejected.

2014, August:
Snapchat made available "Geofilters" to the public, and by the end of August, 40% of adults were registered with Snapchat.

2015, January:
"Discover" and "Lenses" (Filters) released for use within the app.

2015, January/February:
Snapchat reaches 75 million users.

2016, March:
"Snapstreaks" became available in the Snapchat 2.0 app update.

2016, May:
It's noted that Google made an offer of 30 billion dollars to buy Snapchat, but that offer was rejected.

2016, June:
Snapchat user base hits 150 million active daily users.

2016, July:
Snapchat debuts "Memories" and "Bitmojis".

2016, August:
"Stories" is launched.

2016, September:
Snapchat is rebranded to "Snap, Inc".

2016, November:
"Spectacles" were released, which are glasses with a built-in camera capable of recording 10 seconds of video with the ability to post online via a paired smartphone.

2017, March:
Snap, Inc goes Public. NYSE: SNAP

2017, December:
Snapchat has 3069 employees across 30 locations with annual revenue 824.95 million dollars.

2018, May:
Snapchat boasts 187 million active daily users. Statistics show 80 million users in North America, 60 million in Europe, and 47 million spread across the rest of the world.

Using Snapchat for Brand Promotion

Major companies currently using Snapchat to market their Brand include:

Amazon
Taco Bell
Disney
General Electric
Starbucks
McDonalds
Gatorade
GrubHub
AT&T
The New York Times

A business, no matter how large or small, can utilize Snapchat as another option to connect with people. Refine making a personal connection with audiences while weaving soft promotion of your products and services offered will cultivate a new buyer source.

Snapchat for Business

Spreading awareness of your Brand on Snapchat should begin with a planned strategy. Ask yourself - what can you do on your level, with the resources you have.

As a business, you want to accomplish two things:

Uniquely Tell Stories … your goal is to make people want to see your next story.

Put Human Faces to Your Brand (product and/or service)

To accomplish the above, you can include general storytelling, behind the scenes coverage of your operation, offers and promotions, exclusive content, and/or partner with Influencers that will promote your Brand.

Free: Ways to Promote Your Business and Brand

Stories

Compile images or short videos that will remain visible for 24 hours.

Users can share stories with others, regardless of who created the story. This gives companies of all sizes a level playing field regarding visibility. Creating a story that connects with people on a personal level will motivate them to share. You’ll be able to see which users, and how many viewed your story. You can direct people to your website through Stories.

Incentives and Promotions

Share a special deal or coupon to build Brand loyalty. Snaps fade away after they’re watched. Those followers attentive to your Brand can act quickly if they want the deal or coupon you offer.

Paid: Ways to Promote your Business and Brand

Snap Ads:

Snap Ads are a 10-second, full screen vertical video ad that appears between Stories that may include an interactive element. Advertisers can include the choice to swipe up to view more detailed content such as a long form video, article, app install ad, or mobile website. You’ll want to include information about your company, products and/or services.

Per Snapchat, the swipe-up rate for Snap Ads is five times higher than the average click-through rate on comparable social media platforms.

Custom Geo Filters:

Snapchat offers two different types of custom Geofilters for businesses to use:

On-Demand Geofilters, and Sponsored Geofilters.

Sponsored Geofilters allow users to send Snaps from specific locations.

A Geofilter can be applied nationwide under a particular holiday, event or theme.

Filters are applied after a video or picture is taken, prior to sharing and/or adding to a Story.

Geofilters are small art graphics that show up over a Snap.

Sponsored Lens:

Allows users to play with an interactive ad you’ve created.

A Lens has special facial recognition technology.

A Lens can be shared.

A Lens can be posted to a Story.

A Lens can be applied after a photo is taken or after a video.

Per Snapchat, users spend at minimum, 20 seconds interacting with a Lens.

SnapChat Tips for Business

Start with a Personal account first to get your feet wet. Follow a few of your favorite Brands and follow friends to understand how others use Snapchat.

Define your audience and create content accordingly. Monitor and stay within the guidelines of the audience you're attracting. Traditionally, the demographic of Snapchat has been users from age 18 to 29 but that age group is changing to include an older audience.

Determine what type of content you feel most comfortable publishing, and start with that. Expand and tweak your content as time goes on.

Using your own style, create buzz out of boring topics.

Interaction with followers is crucial. Create dialog, and comment on your followers Snaps.

Ask followers to send you pictures and/or videos of them interacting with your brand or using your products that you can post in your Stories.

Link Snapchat to your other social media accounts, and promote your Snapchat on those platforms.

Create specific promo/discount codes just for a Snapchat campaign. Snapchat tracks views and the number of times screenshots are taken of your Snaps. Using a unique discount code to Snapchat, you'll be able to know how views and screenshots resulted in purchases.

How to Market Your Business Using SnapchatSep102018