Utilizing Snapchat just might be the catalyst your brand needs.
New tools, different types of media and technological advancements keep the marketing and advertising world on its toes; but if you’re only trying to keep up, then you are already behind. Snapchat is a photo and video-messaging app that allows users to send content that disappears forever after only a short amount of time. In fact, as of May 2014, users were sending approximately 700 million photos/videos per day. Furthermore, one Snapchat user took a video that got stitched into the Snowpocalypse Snapchat Story that ended up receiving 24.79 million views. Lastly, here’s why you should really consider using Snapchat to enhance your brand:
- More than 60% of Snapchat users are in the very lucrative 18-to-24-age demographic[1]
- Snapchat’s mobile user growth from December 2013 – May 2014: 67%[2]
- Percentage of college students that would likely purchase a product from a brand that sent them a Snapchat coupon: 58%
- Number of Snapchat Stories viewed per day: 1 billion
So what does this have to do with advertising and the marketing of my brand?
By nature, Snapchat is an extremely interactive app. It’s an extremely proactive process that requires each user’s undivided attention. Likewise, users have to opt in to watching Snapchat content. This is great for marketers because there is tangible proof that users are watching the ads. On the other hand, advertising on Snapchat leaves us with one massive caveat: cost. For $750,000, you can run an ad on Snapchat for 24 hours.[3] Unlike other mediums, after 24 hours, your Snapchat ad disappears forever. However, paying this egregious price tag isn’t the only way to market your brand on Snapchat.
The early-adopting brands that are thriving on Snapchat have capitalized on the app’s ability to tell stories. Brands are getting creative and using the app’s Story feature to post content that almost mirrors what they’re already posting to various social media channels. Furthermore, using Snapchat is an intimate process, since it’s mainly used to communicate between friends and family. Marketers have taken note of this nuance. By shooting all of the content on their smartphones, they maintain this native and intimate feel. For instance, Taco Bell posts Stories revolving around how their products are directly incorporated into their fan’s daily lives. Whether it be producing a Story depicting the process of waking up and getting your Taco Bell coffee fix, or detailing a parallel universe of how your day would’ve been completely different had you just ordered that Doritos Locos Taco with a Baja Blast. Remember, in order to achieve success on Snapchat, your message needs to be compelling enough to truly captivate the user.
Even though Snapchat’s demographic is gradually skewing older, the lifeblood still lies with millennials. In fact, one of our clients, the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi, started using Snapchat because it was crucial for their message to resonate with this particular age group. Therefore, we dubbed the social media campaign Fact Not Fiction and set out to provide teen-friendly, medically accurate sexual health information.
- #FunFact: Beyond online engagement, it seems Mississippi teens actually heeded the facts in real life. Recent reports show incidences of chlamydia and gonorrhea among Mississippi teens has declined by an average of 26%, outpacing the national average of 11% decline.
Initially, Fact Not Fiction leveraged their Facebook presence to prompt fans to follow them on Snapchat, and this ended up being a game changer. After only two Stories, Fact Not Fiction garnered approximately 300 fans within the target demographic. Since then, posting has been done at predetermined intervals and fan growth continues to increase.
Simply put, Snapchat is a major player in the slew of marketing tools you can use to unleash the full potential of your brand. But if you’re not already using Snapchat, you should probably rethink your strategy, because you’re looking at the future of social media and an untapped wealth of opportunity for your brand.
Coyt Garrison, Consumer Engagement Coordinator
