Snapchat is a social app that is proving to be very popular with the young crowd, with over 60% of 18 – 34 year olds using the app, and it is also grabbing the attention of businesses too.
There are more active users on Snapchat (150 million) than on Twitter (140 million), according to Bloomberg and they get more video views than Facebook (almost 10 billion views!).
This makes Snapchat a gold mine for a company looking to target the younger population and increase their brand awareness.
This app is a platform where users can share pictures and videos, usually referred to as a snap, and send direct messages (DM) to their friends. A snap would only last for 10 seconds after viewing it, whereas a story would last for 24 hours and you have the option to review it as many times as you want until it automatically deletes itself after 24 hours.
A Story can be made from a series of snaps put together and these (as well as snaps) can be shared to certain friends, just followers or the whole snapchat community. You can even edit your snaps using filters or adding text to them, which for business can be used to promote, but it can also be used for fun or to add humour.
Comparing Snapchat and Twitter together, you may find that both are now on a similar level despite the fact Twitter had been around for 5 years longer! The amount of activity on both platforms are very similar on a day to day basis and with Snapchat you would find that the most active age group is between 18 – 24 which would be very useful for a company that wishes to tap into this market.
This makes it the 3rd most popular app amongst millennials.
How are brands using Snapchat?
There are a number of brands to embrace Snapchat and using it to create a brand awareness and to promote their product.
- Creating your own Lenses to promote products adds character to the company and encourages engagement from the audience, for example Adidas has made their own to look as if the user is wearing the new Z.N.E. hoodie.
- Using Geofilters is a fun and engaging way of letting your followers know where you are and if you are a chain with many stores, this is a very cheap way of advertising where the stores are too.
- ‘Snapchat sees it first’… You can share sneak peak behind the scenes or new collections just for Snapchat users before it is shared on other social media sites.
- Targeted videos can be sent to specific users; this could be about potential jobs that the company has to offer.
- Exclusive coupons can be shared with your fellow audience on Snapchat which can be won if the user participates in the various competitions.
- Use Snapchat influencers! Having a familiar face represent your brand can boost your popularity significantly. When Logan Paul (a Vine star) worked for the Sour Patch kids, in just a week he managed to attract 12,000 new followers and 7 million impressions had been made on Snapchat.
So why is Snapchat becoming more popular amongst businesses?
It is a fun, quick and easy way to let your business’ personality shine and people are attracted to personalities, especially the young audience. If you are looking to attract the young crowd, Snapchat is the way to go.
With 60% of users being 18 – 34 year olds within the Snapchat community, hence millions of millennials that can be reached.
Is Snapchat the way to go for companies?
Adidas claims that Snapchat has been more successful for them than YouTube as the retention has been regularly “topping 80 to 90 %” for each video sent. This shows them that they are creating content that engages the audience enough for them to watch the video to the end, which proves that Snapchat can be a very useful marketing tool.
So why is it useful? Being able to keep your audience engaged to the very end is important, especially if you are looking to sell a product. The sense of urgency that is created from Snapchat (since the content would not last for ever) makes this a key selling point of the app. It’s mobile only, and allows users to feel closer to their favourite brands.
Why give it a go?
Your content would get more views, gain more followers, increase your brand awareness, and it is free, what could go wrong? Snapchat is the way forward if you are looking to advertise on social media, and reach younger audiences.
Even other social media sites are chasing the Snapchat dream with Instagram using the Stories idea recently rolling out a new, very similar tool, and WhatsApp introducing the drawing and stickers feature. Other apps are all trying to get in on the Snapchat action and this just proves its success even more.
Snapchat is a fantastic tool to get your business in front of millions of potential customers easily. How will you use it to grow your brand awareness and sell more?
Recent Comments