Snapchat is a fun app for people to use to connect with friends, family and loved ones, but what if you used it to achieve your business goals? It boasts over 200 million daily active users globally, as of September 13, and with that massive of a platform, it might seem difficult to reach your target audience and get the message about your brand out there.
Because Snapchat is a social platform that works a bit differently than all the others, it’s important to know what steps to take to ensure your marketing strategy is a success. Luckily, there are several different ways brands can choose to use Snapchat to connect with their audience, build brand awareness and increase engagement.
Let’s look at how your business can use Snapchat to reach its goals and overcome its milestones.
Use branded lenses and filters.
Most of the hype surrounding Snapchat comes from its lenses and filters, and there is a difference between the two. Filters are premade and added to Snapchat photos after they’re taken. Lenses use augmented reality to physically change users’ appearances and even their voices.
They’re different and funny, and they create a new way to interact with friends and loved ones. So, of course, when there are new filters and lenses available, it gives users something different to play and have fun with.
Creating branded lenses and filters is a great way to create buzz around your brand and invite Snapchat users to check you out, which can then build brand awareness and improve your brand's visibility where it otherwise would’ve gone unnoticed.
For Superbowl Sunday, for example, Gatorade created a branded geofilter that allowed users to pour the drink over their heads. This included Superbowl fans in the experience of the game and built excitement for the big day. As a result, the geofilter received 160 million impressions on Snapchat, according to Digiday.
Run sponsored ads.
Snapchat is versatile when it comes to promoting businesses because there are several options to choose from when it comes to how you want your content advertised. This leaves room for marketers to decide how they want to market to their audience based on their budget and objectives.
You can run sponsored ads in a few different ways:
• Snap ads: Use a single swipe to link users to your website, video, app and more.
• Collection ads: Show users a series of your products, and link them to a place they can purchase.
• Story ads: Use a tile on the Discover page for heightened visibility to advertise your content.
• Commercials: A non-skippable, six-second video ad shown alongside other content.
To pick the advertisement style that’s right for you, refer back to your budget and what you aim to achieve through your Snapchat marketing strategy. It’s important to use your goals as a reference any time you need to make a decision about how you’re going to improve your conversions and promote your brand because this will give you the best results.
For example, if you’re an e-commerce store that wants to make more sales, it makes the most sense to choose Collection ads because they show users your products and link back to your shop.
Track your results.
Thanks to Snapchat Insights, its relatively new analytics feature, accounts with large followings can view their analytics. Having access to detailed information about your content gives you a clear idea of how your brand is catering to your audience and how well your content is performing.
There are a few metrics you should pay attention to, including:
• Number of story views.
• View time, or the number of minutes viewers have spent watching your content.
• Unique daily number of users reached.
• Male versus female viewers.
• Age range of your target audience.
You can use Snapchat analytics not only to refine your marketing strategy. but also to create better content and use it in your ad targeting campaigns to further your brand reach.
Wrapping It Up
Snapchat is a fun, exciting way to get in touch with your audience and keep them in tune with your brand. Use interactive lenses and filters to show an enjoyable side to your brand. Run ads on the social platform to build brand awareness and spark engagement. Use Snapchat Insights to track your analytics so you can continue creating content specifically for your target market. How will you use Snapchat to boost your conversion strategy?