Snapchat Marketing: 5 Tips to Get You Going and Build an Audience

Many businesses underestimate the power of Snapchat marketing because of the temporary nature of its content, but this platform can be a powerful tool for reaching new audiences.

It’s important to understand that Snapchat can be useful if you want to reach a younger crowd. Almost 50 percent of US consumers between 15 and 35 use this platform^[1]. It’s also highly interactive, with a staggering 76 percent of users^[2] likely to swipe up to make a purchase. Therefore, it’s well worth including Snapchat in your content marketing efforts.

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the key benefits of Snapchat marketing, and reveal five actionable tips to help you boost audience engagement on this platform. Let’s go!

📚 Table of contents:

• An introduction to Snapchat marketing
• Why you might want to leveage Snapchat marketing
• Actionable tips for leveraging Snapchat marketing

An introduction to Snapchat marketing

Snapchat is a simple social tool designed for mobile devices (both Android and iOS). Users can share images and short videos – called ‘snaps’ – that are only available for a short time.

The platform is highly dynamic, with features that are continually changing. However, its primary purpose is to encourage instant interaction with fun filters, Augmented Reality (AR) effects, and Bitmoji avatars.

Initially, Snapchat was developed for one-to-one communication. However, thanks to its growing popularity, it has quickly become a powerful tool for online marketers.

Why you might want to leverage Snapchat marketing

If your goal is to reach a younger demographic, Snapchat is not a platform to be ignored. It’s currently the third most popular^[3] social media network among Millennials and Generation Z, who the app creators themselves nicknamed the ‘Snapchat Generation‘.

According to the stats available on the company’s website, both of these demographic groups possess a staggering $1 trillion in direct spending power. Therefore, it makes sense to invest your time and effort into growing your presence on this platform.

Moreover, Snapchatters engage heavily with their AR environment. An average user spends around 30 minutes on the platform each day.^[4] They’re not just a passive audience either, as they actively contribute new content and interact with brands.

In fact, over 50 percent of Snapchat users are likely to open your story, and up to 85 percent of these users will watch your ad until the end.^[5] That in itself is a massive incentive to start working on your marketing strategy with Snapchat.

Snapchat users are also drawn to personal content that is raw and authentic, rather than highly polished promotions. For this reason, they are more likely to engage directly with you on Snapchat than on other networks (provided that you keep the content native to this platform).

Many companies have had excellent results from Snapchat marketing. For example, travel-booking business Hopper reported that Snapchatters were four times more likely to book a flight through its app than other customers who were not on Snapchat.

This kind of behavior shows a shift away from making shopping decisions based on celebrity influencers outside the platform – a trend that’s likely to continue. Therefore, it’s worth engaging with your brand advocates on Snapchat, and trying to focus on building more intimate connections with your audience.

Actionable tips for leveraging Snapchat marketing to boost audience engagement

Now that we’ve explained the benefits of Snapchat marketing, let’s look at five ways you can boost audience engagement on this platform.

1. Keep your content native to Snapchat

As we mentioned earlier, Snapchat is all about authenticity and the freedom of expression through AR. Users don’t want to feel like they’re looking at an ad. Instead, they want to connect emotionally, so don’t be afraid to keep your content on the raw side.

To start creating Snapchat content, make sure your snaps are shot vertically and in full-screen resolution. Then you can use the built-in filters, emojis, and drawing features to make your content more engaging. For bonus points, including Snapchat-inspired visuals can help your campaigns appear more natural and make them fit more seamlessly with other conversations on the platform.

Note that Snapchat encourages brands to post videos that are bite-sized and no longer than six seconds, so remember to keep your snaps short. This way, you can reach your audience in an organic and non-intrusive way. Also, remember to include audio if possible, as 64 percent of Snapchat ads^[6] are viewed with the sound on.

2. Share your Snapcode on other platforms

While you’re growing your audience on Snapchat, don’t forget to drive traffic from your other channels. For instance, you could share your Snapcode on your Facebook account, and invite your followers to join your new channel for access to private content.

To make this strategy successful, you should ensure that your snaps are unique to the platform and that your audience won’t find them anywhere else. Snapchat is different from other networks, as users have to add someone as a friend in order to get access to their content.

Companies like NARS have used this feature to create a sense of exclusivity. The company leveraged its Instagram and Twitter accounts to tease followers with sneak-peeks of its upcoming makeup collection. However, these previews were only available for a limited time, and only to those who added ‘NARSsissist’ as a friend.

The campaign proved highly successful and generated a lot of buzz for the brand. You could replicate this for any unique content you’d like to offer, such as behind-the-scenes looks, live access to events, or new product releases.

To create a Snapcode, go to Settings and then Snapcodes in your account. You’ll be able to add your URL and an image that fits inside the Snapchat ghost icon. You can then post the Snapcode wherever you like. Your followers will be able to scan it with their cameras and connect with you directly.

3. Apply Geofilters

Geofilters are a particular type of filter that users can add to their snaps. This feature is location-dependent, so it’s an excellent way for local businesses to interact with customers who visit their premises or attend events in the area.

Vans used this functionality to astonishing success. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the company created national and on-demand geofilters that users could unlock whenever they visited a landmark related to its history. The campaign was so successful that it reached over 32 million Snapchatters.^[7] Even better, every fifth user shared their Vans-decorated snaps with their friends.

Businesses can purchase filters via the app’s Ads Manager. You can create your design online via Snapchat’s creator area, where you can upload your own artwork or customize one of the pre-built templates.

4. Leverage Snapchat stories

An average snap disappears as soon as the receiver has seen it. However, stories last for 24 hours, so they offer more possibilities.

A story is a compilation of images or videos that users view chronologically. It’s an excellent way to share the values behind your brand, show your daily routines, or generate real-time excitement around an event.

Twenty-four hours is still a short time, so you can also leverage this urgency with flash sales, special discounts, giveaways, or teasers. Plus, stories can inspire User-Generated Content (UGC), which is extremely valuable when building social proof.

Up to 71 percent of consumers^[8] feel more comfortable purchasing an item after seeing another customer validating its quality. Therefore, it’s smart to encourage UGC such as product reviews or photos, in exchange for coupons or other incentives that your audience might enjoy.

5. Use Snapchat ads

Finally, make sure to boost your campaigns with Snapchat ads. They’re considered highly effective, with the swipe-up rate averaging five times higher^[9] than on other platforms.

As we mentioned earlier, the Snapchat community is highly interactive and likely to shop online, so creating an ad campaign on this platform could be well worth the investment. Like other platforms, Snapchat lets you adjust your daily spend to suit your budget. You can also pause your campaigns at any time, and monitor your ads’ performance with Snapchat’s Ads Manager.

There are various ad types you can choose from. Depending on your objectives, Snapchat gives you a choice of three campaigns:

• Awareness campaign: Choose this option if you want to introduce your business or product to Snapchatters and grow your following
• Consideration campaign: This option is excellent for increasing video views, driving traffic to your website, or generating leads
• Conversions campaign: Use the Snap Pixel functionality to call for specific actions on your website or app, and increase sales via your product catalog

Once you’ve established your campaign goals, you can choose from various ad formats, such as:

• Single video or image
• Collection ads to showcase products
• Stories
• Interactive AR lenses
• Filter ads
• Non-skippable commercials

Finally, Snapchat lets you target your audience based on locations, interests, behaviors, and demographics. Plus, you can match Snapchatters with your existing customer list for retargeting purposes, reach lookalike audiences, and engage users who have previously interacted with your website.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve discussed five actionable ways to start engaging your followers and growing your business on Snapchat:

What Snapchat marketing strategies are you most interested in? Let us know in the comments section below!