Snapchat’s marketing capabilities remain a mystery to many small business owners. The app already has various features, such as geofilters and stories, that could undoubtedly be useful for advertising. Yet, despite its popularity as the recently acclaimed most popular app in today’s society AND its tremendous potential as a marketing tool, not many businesses have figured how to tackle this topic.
If you’ve never used Snapchat before, here’s a quick guide to the fast-growing mobile app:
- Snapchat is a mobile app that allows users to share photos and videos that are only available for a short period of time. The user sending the snap selects the amount of time it will be available for viewing. After the photo or video’s time limit is up, it’s no longer visible to the recipient!
- Users can add text, emojis, and filters to their snaps. Recipients can reply with text or with a snapped photo or video of their own. Snapchat filters range from photo-enhancing color filters to silly animated filters built for selfies to geo-filters that only appear when users are in a certain area.
- The only way for a recipient to save a Snapchat is to screenshot it – and the app lets the sender know when a recipient takes a screenshot. However, as the sender, you can save the photo or video to your smartphone even before sending it along.
- There are two ways to snap – you can send them directly to other users, or add to your Story. A Snapchat Story is a series of snaps in chronological order, and they’re available for viewing more than once. Although they don’t immediately disappear, Stories are only available for 24 hours.
- Snapchat users can add friends by their username, by phone number, Snapcode (a unique scannable code), or by searching for nearby users. Similar to Facebook, both users have to approve when someone wants to follow and send snaps to the other. Users who don’t accept when another user follows them simply don’t receive the snaps.
Though it may seem silly and sophomoric, Snapchat is reported to have overtaken Facebook as the most-used social network among 12-24 year olds. In fact, WedInsights data suggests that among individuals between the ages of 25-34, Snapchat is among one of the most-used as well (albeit behind Pinterest and Instagram). Your target audience is on Snapchat, and they’re using it daily.
Some businesses are becoming early-adopters of Snapchat and attempting to use it for marketing purposes. Snapchat marketing is a bit less traditional from other social networks, particularly because posts disappear and there’s no way to send or post links. However, in January of 2015 Snapchat released Discover, a version of Snapchat Stories for editorial and brand teams. While Discover is reserved for massive brands and news outlets, the added flexibility and advertising implications indicate more to come for businesses on Snapchat in the future.
If you’re ready to take the plunge and incorporate Snapchat into your marketing strategy, try using the following three ideas to get started:
- Post live feeds. Whether you want to show a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look of the chef at work for your catering business, or add a video of a bride walking down the aisle at your venue, Snapchat lets you to post real-time footage to your account for anyone to see! Simply provide a barcode or screenname on your website or blog for couples to follow, and let Snapchat add your clips together to show the whole story in chronological order.
- Use geofilters. Allow couples to create a personal wedding Snapchat filter that they can use on the day of their wedding at your venue. Or create a standard geotag that anyone can use when they visit your location, such as a big bridal cake for your cake shop. Geofilters personalize the wedding planning experience for your consumers while publicizing your trendy venue to the online world.
- Offer promotions and deals ONLY on Snapchat. Posting new promotions or deals on your business’s Snapchat story, such as 15% off bridal makeup sessions, will encourage more people to add your account, and will maintain client loyalty long after you finish working with a couple (which can be a challenge in this industry!). They might return to your business to use your deal for a future event, or recommend it to a friend!
Snapchat’s marketing powers are virtually unchartered as of now, so get ahead of the curve by trying out one of our ideas. And the best part? It’s free!
The post To Snap or Not to Snap: Snapchat Marketing Explained appeared first on WeddingWireEDU Blog.
