In 30 seconds:
- Snapchat marketing. What does it involve, and how can your brand get started? We’ll cover everything in this article.
- The Snapchat Generation is powerful. Here’s why.
- Social media marketing on Snapchat is essential to reach Gen Z. But how can you do it effectively? We’ve got the top ways of winning on the photo-sharing app (plus examples!)
Snapchat marketing is a groundbreaking tool for businesses. But not many know how to harness its full potential in their marketing strategy.
Since its launch in 2012, the media-driven app has clocked up 319 million daily active users worldwide. The combined spending power of these users is 4.4 trillion dollars. That’s a monumental opportunity for brands, presenting a significant opening to build brand awareness and sentiment through organic reach.
The best part? Despite its relative old age in the social media platform sphere, Snapchat presents plenty of new marketing ground to break. So it’s critical to get your brand on the platform now to get the best ROI possible.
If you do, you’ll be in pole position to access the most influential generation yet.
Gen Z: “the Snapchat Generation”
Move over, millennials. It’s Gen Z who are Snapchat’s core user base. Nearly six in ten of all U.S. internet users aged 13 to 24 years use Snapchat. The photo-sharing app has even named its users the “Snapchat Generation”, and they are a mighty demographic.
TikTok’s rise in Gen Z users and downloads is unprecedented and it’s become one of the fastest-growing apps in internet history. But Snapchat’s growth is not far behind – and because it’s been around for longer, it’s still slightly more widely adopted by Gen Z. It’s therefore a great option if Gen Z are your target audience.
98% of Gen Z owns a smartphone, and apps like TikTok and Snapchat (and Instagram) are the perfect channels to keep your brand presence in their pocket. Snapchat and TikTok in particular are known and liked for their authenticity and fun and short, snappy content; all of which matter to this young generation. So if your brand is looking to get under the noses of a demographic with the spending power of $143 billion, you should be harnessing these social media channels.
If your brand is already on other social media sites, you might be asking “why do I need Snapchat as well?” Well, Snapchat is a bit different.
What makes Snapchat stand out?
Like TikTok, Snapchat is all about short-form content. But what makes this app so singular?
Here’s what Fanbytes Co-Founder and CEO, Timothy Armoo has to say on it:
“Snapchat pioneered this whole idea of stories; these ten-second video or picture clips that you can use to interact with the world. The story could be a brand experience or it could be an ad, it could be someone talking about a brand, or it could just be – as in the case of CNN – a publisher showing their news but in ten-second clips.”
Snapchat champions stories. What are these? A Snapchat Story is a collection of posts (or ‘snaps’) that play in the order they were taken, and they last just 24 hours. It’s a bit like seeing the day unfold. If you’ve used Instagram Stories before, this is a very similar concept – but it was Snap’s idea first.
But that’s not all Snapchat offers. Snap have made their app a highly interactive environment that engages users through ephemeral content, rather than the idea of just scrolling through posts. It also provides a huge range of tools for users looking to add a creative, fun spin to their content, such as Snapchat filters.
This is exactly what Gen Z are looking for. More than one-third of the generation ranked Snapchat’s creative tools as the top digital tool for creating art or editing photos. Creativity and interactive content is their go-to form of entertainment.
The way Snapchat users also interact with Snapchat content is slightly different: The poster will be notified if someone takes a screenshot of their image or video. This gives creators far more visibility on how their snapchat audience is behaving.
So how do you use Snapchat for marketing? Let’s get started on the app’s inner workings and how you can adapt your brand’s content to win over younger demographics on the platform.
How brands can use Snapchat marketing in 2022
Snapchat is a great way to get your brand seen by Gen Z, and it’s time you started using it for marketing. But how do you begin to market your brand on the platform, and what does Snapchat marketing look like?
Let’s take you through 5 expert ways to get your Snapchat marketing campaigns underway.
1. Get set up
Set up a business account
First things first, you’ll need a business account to measure your success on the Snapchat app.
You’ll first need to set up a standard Snapchat account on the channel; then, you need to go through the Snapchat Ads manager to gain your business account.
First, you’ll enter your standard account username and password; then, it will redirect you to a page where you can set up your business account. Fill in the details (business name, country and currency), and Snapchat should set up your business account.
Snapchat has this nifty video for you to follow, too:
Create a Snapcode
Snapcodes are a fast way for people to find your content through the Snapchat app. They are similar to QR codes and are scannable through the Snapchat app. Businesses can create them for users to access their profile, website or a specific URL.
How to make a Snapcode:
- Head to your business’s profile on the app.
- Tap the settings icon in the top right corner and select “Snapcodes”.
- Tap “Create Snapcode” and add a URL you want it to link to.
- Select “Create”.
- Now you can edit your Snapcode and add an image to the centre to customise.
- Once you’ve created your Snapcode, you’ll see it in the “My Snapcodes” section.
Once you have your snapcode make sure to promote it; get your Snapchat channel out there as much as possible so people can find your content quickly and engage with it.
Take a multi-channel approach
Cross-promoting your Snapchat will help you boost your audience on the app and get better traction for your marketing content. Now you have your Snapcode, you can share that on other social media channels so that your loyal followers can easily find you in your new space.
Promoting your brand’s Snapchat across multiple channels will increase your chances of getting seen and boost your marketing campaigns.
Interact with others
Other channels such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok usually mix their own branded content with reposted users’ content. On Snapchat, it’s different. Snapchat is all about interaction. Snap built the platform on communication, so give the algorithm what it wants before you start creating content.
Connecting with users on the Snapchat app builds your social presence and authenticates your content. This means following other users, viewing other people’s stories and responding to snaps sent to you. The more you do this, the more people will want to engage with you.
Snapchat users are looking for a more unpolished, behind-the-scenes version of the brand on the Snapchat platform. Your marketing efforts should reflect this. Imagine your brand were a person: how would they use Snapchat? Your snapchat marketing strategy should involve plenty of chatting, and you should focus on sharing the kind of content you wouldn’t see anywhere else. That’s what’s going to draw people to follow you.
2. Get creative with visuals
If there’s one app that lends itself to dynamic visual content, it’s Snapchat. The Snapchat generation is 150% more likely to prefer to communicate with pictures over words than non-Snapchatters. From their AR and VR features to numerous filters and stickers, Snap and Snapchat users know how to make their imagery and video content enjoyable.
Here are just a couple of the features you can use to get your Snapchat game on point.
Lenses
Snapchat lenses are AR tools that allow you to add objects, 3D effects and other transformations to your snaps. It’s a powerful tool to promote your brand creatively because it’s so immersive.
How brands can use it:
Mobile gaming client, Plato came to us to create hype and engagement around their upcoming game Werewolf. How did we do that? A custom Snapchat lens.
This lens simulated a lifelike 3D werewolf attacking you as you got closer to a creaky, haunted cabin. We created a series of countdown Snapchats with the mysterious wolf growling to build hype and anticipation, then distributed this through our community channels. 7 days before the lenses went live, we released a short video that helped propel mystery and intrigue. We also launched our lenses on the game’s launch day and distributed them to sections of the audience, encouraging people to create their own stories and send them to us.
The results? We had 3.2M views on our werewolf lens and 2.5M on our haunted cabin lens. We also generated nearly half a million shares, and the werewolf lens became the number one trending lens on Snapchat.
Geofilters
Snapchat geofilters are filters available at specific locations. Let’s say you’re in London and take a snap to send it to someone. If you swipe across to get filters, you’re likely to encounter a London-themed filter. This is a geofilter. Brands can make them, too, and they are great for promoting user-generated content (UGC), growing your snapchat followers and spreading the word about your business.
How brands can use it:
The hospitality company Starwood promoted their loyalty program Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) through Snapchat geofilters. They offered seven branded geofilters at 650 hotels across Starwood properties in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, including Westin and Sheraton brands.
The filters varied based on location but played on travel tropes and vacation sayings like “Do not disturb” and “Hello from ___”.
If you have a brand with destinations, be it shops or other locations, this is a great way to promote UGC and get Snapchatters snapping.
3. Create a Snapchat advertising campaign
69% of Gen Z think that ads are disruptive, which is partly why this generation is known to actively take steps to avoid digital ads. That’s why Snapchat offers brands a unique opportunity to create innovative, fun, and exciting ads that don’t feel jarring – and keeps Gen Z engaged.
Gen Z Snapchat users display a 59% advertising recall on the photo-sharing app after engaging with an advertisement for two seconds or less. That’s why short “snappy” (pun intended) content is perfect for them.
There are plenty of options for Snapchat advertising. These include:
- Single image or video ads – These are full-screen ads that appear in between stories
- Story ads – These let you reach users in between content or with a branded tile in Snapchat’s Discover section. The tile in Discover can open up to a collection of 1-20 images or videos.
- Collection ads – These are ads that allow you to feature a series of products that Snapchatters can tap to find out more about.
- Commercials – These are video ads that can be up to 3 minutes long. The first 6 seconds are non-skippable.
- Branded filters – This is where you create your own filter for users to create content with.
- Sponsored Lens AR experiences – This is for brands to create a lens experience.
Whether you’re a small business or a global brand, the important thing is to work out which Snapchat ad option is the most suitable for your marketing campaign and how best to harness it.
How brands can use it:
Fanbytes are experts in knowing what makes Gen Z tick. We worked with Universal Music to promote Drake and Swae Lee’s new single, Won’t be Late to an 18-25-year-old British audience via a Snapchat ad campaign.
While a generic ad campaign could have generated mild interest, we wanted young people to love the song as though it had been introduced to them organically by a friend. Our core idea was to feature the music in content that blended in with the rest of the Snapchat network.
To keep the ad as natural as possible, we kept our influencer brief very broad, asking them for their spin on integrating the song into a video where they ‘vibe’ or dance to it. We included a swipe up link so users could easily stream the music after watching the influencer’s video. With CTR well above benchmarks and a quarter of a million UK users reached, this was a Snapchat ad campaign nailed.
4. Collaborate with influencers
72% of Gen Z follows influencers through social media. When it comes to influencer marketing, Snapchat can feel daunting. Its set-up is very different to other social media apps and Snapchat users are more choosy about the influencers they follow on the platform – but this means that their audiences are that much more ready to listen to what they have to say.
Working with an influencer on Snapchat is all about keeping it conversational. Here are a few tips to make it work:
- Make sure you and your Snapchat influencer align. 88% of Gen Z say it’s important for influencers to be authentic and genuinely care about their interests so ensure whoever you work with truly resonates with your brand.
- Keep it conversational. Snapchat is still a conversation app, and influencers need to come across as “friends” to their loyal followers. This is what makes for the most engaging content.
- Keep an eye on metrics and analyse your data. Once you have an influencer marketing campaign in place, it’s essential to watch how it runs. You can do this through your Snapchat business account.
Working with influencers on Snapchat is one of the best ways you can ensure your audience isn’t skipping your ad on the social platform. As Fanbytes’ Timothy Armoo told Business Insider, “Lots of brands want to reach audiences on Snap, but people were skipping all of the Snap ads… So we invented a sandwich ad format, and built technology to insert ads and videos into influencer stories.” If you’d like to find out more about how we do this, get in touch.
If you want to find out how to find the right influencers for your business, check out our article on the top 3 secrets to find Snapchat influencers for your brand.
How brands can use it:
Student-focused recruitment app, Debut aims to become the go-to for graduate jobs in the UK. As part of this focus, they were seeing success on social networks Facebook and Instagram, but were not getting as much traction on Snapchat.
Our strategy with Debut was to leverage Snapchat influencer marketing. We partnered with influencers on Snapchat, specifically those who were about to graduate (keeping it super relevant to the brand). We had influencers promoting Debut on their actual graduation day. This added layers of context and authenticity to the campaign.
Snapchat marketing: It’s about fun chat
The clue is in the name. Snapchat is all about chatting, in a fun, snappy way. Young people go on the platform to have conversations, connect and engage with their peers. They’re not there to be bombarded with ads. That’s why you need to carefully think through any marketing campaign on this powerful platform. It is vital that brands on Snapchat come across as conversational and approachable. Brand content and interactions should be authentic and down to earth, allowing Snapchatters to engage and promote your company on their own terms.
Snapchat has championed AR and VR for a while, and with this market set to increase by $162.71 billion in the next 4 years, Snapchat is only going to become an increasingly useful marketing tool. The metaverse is on its way to us, and Snapchat is ready for it: it’s already the most common way many Gen Zers interact with virtual products. In fact, Meta held a meeting with advertisers to explain their version of the metaverse (read more about what it is in our article here), and one agency Exec stated it looks “just like Snapchat”.
Are they onto something? No matter the answer, your brand should be ready to get involved.
Wondering where your brand should start with Snapchat marketing? We have the expertise to guide you through even the toughest of marketing campaign goals. Get in touch with us to find out how we can help you ace your digital marketing and Snapchat strategy, so you can get to grips with the platform and maximise your potential to reach new potential customers and win over Gen Z.
Fancy some more insights on new products and digital experiences? Take a look at the articles below on Snapchat and VR to optimize your digital content strategy and get prepped for the future.
