“Snapchat for business is becoming increasingly popular for all the right reasons. Snapchat is the place to be if you want to reach out to your audience faster and spend less time curating content.”
But how exactly? Let’s investigate.
What exactly is Snapchat?
Snapchat is a smartphone app available for both Android and iOS devices. Users using the app commonly refer to it as Snap. Meanwhile, Snapchat’s developer is a publicly traded firm named Snap. The firm claims to be a camera manufacturer. (As a result, it develops new goods, including hardware, such as Snapchat Spectacles.) Snap, whatever you want to name it, is led by co-founder Evan Spiegel.
One of the key features of the smartphone app is that every photo, video, or message – called snap – you send by default is only exposed to the recipient for a brief period of time before being unavailable. The app’s transient or fleeting character was intended to facilitate a more natural flow of engagement.
So, where will Snapchat be in 2022 as a social media platform and marketing tool?
Snapchat will still have 319 million active monthly users worldwide by the end of 2021. Although it may appear that fewer individuals use Snapchat for business, usage has increased by 20.5% since 2019. And its popularity has grown since then. But here’s something startling. Snapchat now has 306 million daily active users and is growing. However, just 1% of marketers and company owners regularly utilise Snapchat for business.
Why so?
Because many people regard it as a purely personal app. Furthermore, short-lived material may not be appropriate for many businesses. So, before we get into how to use Snapchat for business, let’s go through all of the advantages of Snapchat.
What is the best way to use Snapchat for business?
Stories on Snapchat
A snap video or photo has been added. Although no narrative is too long, it must include at least one photo or video. At any point, you can delete sections of the story.
You can check which and how many users have viewed your story. This means that other people may see when you look at their stories. While you are free to watch a user’s tale as many times as you wish, the user will not be aware of how many times you have done so.
A tale is an excellent approach to demonstrate your audience how your company operates on a daily basis. It provides prospective clients a sense of what a typical day at your company is like. Furthermore, it allows your staff to showcase their own identities.
Personalizing your profile
Snapchat is an unusual social network in that it does not enable users to personalise their profiles in any way. It does, however, allow users to supply some information about themselves, such as a bitmoji and username.
The ghost or bitmoji in the left-hand corner of the default screen links to your profile. You may examine your Snapchat score, which is the total amount of Snaps you’ve sent and received, in this section.
Your profile includes a yellow square that is produced into QR codes. Instead than manually searching for a person, a user may concentrate their Snapchat camera on another user’s code to add them without having to type their name. Through the app, you can now produce a QR code that links to any web page on the internet.
Having conversations with other Snapchat users
You may communicate with other Snapchat users in a variety of ways. Except for the tales feature, all conversations are purely private, unlike other social networks.
Adding people: To add users to your friends list, look for their usernames. You may also link to the contacts list on your phone. As previously stated, you may also add users by scanning their QR code.
Viewing tales: You may view and respond to the Snap stories of other people. Both will be communicated to them.
Sending snaps: This is a simpler phase in which you may transmit and receive photo and video content from other users. These interactions are what created and established the platform as a whole. The sender of the Snap will be alerted if you screenshot it.
You may speak privately: with other members using the instant messaging option. When you respond to a user’s individual Snap or a piece of their Snap narrative, your response is transmitted as an instant message. The sender of an instant message will be alerted if you screenshot it.
Sending Snapcash: According to Business Insider, you’ll need to enable this function in your Settings and link it with a credit or debit card, where you can also examine your transaction history and set a security code to appear before each transaction. You can specify how much money you wish to transfer to a user via instant chat. The firm recommends against giving money to someone you don’t know.
Methods for Brands to Advertise on Snapchat
Only the top snap
These adverts appear at the top of users’ feeds and display a single piece of information. These are static pictures that may be shown as photos, GIFs, or video. You cannot include clickable connections to these advertisements, but you may display certain URLs as content on your ad images. These advertisements are great for promoting special events, discounts, or other one-time activities.
To generate an eye-catching impact, many companies choose short-form videos. These can last up to a minute. Snapchat suggests keeping your adverts to five or six seconds. Snapchat video advertising, like other Snaps, are vertical in orientation. These ads are frequently used by brands to direct consumers to a website landing page, to view a long-form video, or to install an app. Most people have sound turned on by default while viewing snap adverts.
Deep Connection
Deep Link advertising are a type of Web View ad. When a Snapchatter swipes up on your ad in this situation, he or she is also provided a link to a specific web-based content destination. For example, he or she may click on a link to go directly to the iOS Program Store (or Google Play Store if using an Android smartphone) and download a certain app.
Advertisement for App Installation
An App Install app is similar to a Deep Link app, except it does not include any extra URLs or content connections. When a user clicks on an App Install app, he or she is taken directly to the appropriate download store’s relevant page to download the app you are advertising.
Video Content with a Long Form
Formalized Paraphrase Video advertisements might last up to ten minutes in total. They are useful for drawing attention to lengthier types of material, such as film trailers or fragments of larger pieces of content, such as a YouTube series. These advertisements might feature a Call to Action.
Long form video content advertising are generally aimed at media firms or brands with high-quality material to which they wish to drive Snapchatters. Many advertisements also allow visitors to swipe up to access more information, such as long-form material or a lengthier video.
Exposure to the Internet
Snapchat’s Web View advertisements are very effective for introducing your business to Snapchat users. Top Snap Only advertising are comparable to Web View ads. There is, however, an extra feature. Users may swipe up on Web View advertising to get to a specific URL. It is critical that the URL be relevant to the ad.
The Advantages of Using Snapchat for Business
Here are some of the most important advantages of utilising Snapchat for marketing, as well as instances of how well-known firms use the app.
Increase participation
This is ideal for marketers that are throwing events, displaying their business culture, or incorporating them into an integrated campaign. Snapchat provides on-demand geofilters, which means you may design bespoke filters for others to use. People, whether guests or corporate employees, may use your filter to snap photos and publish them everywhere they wish, increasing engagement.
Direct traffic
Snaps are intended to be disposable. You receive a picture or video, click on it, and it vanishes in a matter of seconds. Although it may appear to be ineffective, it can really assist generate traffic. Making snaps that are designed to vanish gives them a feeling of urgency; your audience does not want to miss them. You’ll be well on your way to boosting visitors to your business if you use them to add customization, promote special discounts, and showcase entertaining events.
Provide another method for distributing material
Blogs, eBooks, LinkedIn posts, videos – you’re certainly already creating content for your audience in a number of ways. Your competitors are most likely doing the same. Why not boost your content and social media marketing efforts by generating more engaging Snapchat content?
You can make your material stand out by painting over Snaps, adding music, and polls. Check out what National Geographic does on social media by clicking the link below. They build Stories by assembling Snaps and urge Snapchat users to visit the website and read more after the Story is complete.
It demonstrates your humanity
Marketers don’t have a great reputation among consumers, but you can use Snapchat to demonstrate that you’re a person, not simply someone who is aggressively attempting to assist your sales staff complete more transactions. With Snapchat, you can demonstrate to your followers and audience that you are more than a company – you are people.
It allows you to highlight the individuality of your brand. People will be more interested if they can relate to your Snaps. When people are engaged, they are more inclined to buy.
Relevance
While regulated industries (finance, health) must be extremely cautious about what they publish on social media (even if it disappears after a day), there is something to be said for businesses that take a chance on channels that younger audiences love. Because customer interests change so quickly, it may be tough for companies to stay current, but Snapchat provides a quick and easy option to do so.
Interesting Ads
Unlike Facebook, there is no compelling reason to promote on Snapchat (perhaps because its algorithms do not seem to be forcing businesses in that direction… yet). Nonetheless, intelligent marketers are utilising sponsored solutions to reach a larger audience. Sponsored Creative Tools (Sponsored Lenses, Sponsored Geofilters) and Snap Ads with Attachments are two of Snapchat’s advertising possibilities (allowing users to directly respond to an ad – like watch more content or take an action – without leaving the Snapchat app). In terms of distribution, Snapchat claims to present adverts that it believes would be relevant to each user.
Create trust
Uploading material on Snapchat isn’t the only method to interact with your followers. It allows your followers to respond and send you direct messages. However, unlike other platforms, only you and the person contacting you can see if you’re replying, making it easier to just ignore them.
That is not a good idea. Make your Snapchat followers feel unique by providing personalized answers. Many customers claim they stop using a certain brand because they don’t believe the corporation cares about them. Show them you care by not ignoring their messages and by listening to what they have to say.
Demonstrate that you’re one of the cool kids.
Any potential consumer wants to know that you’re employing the most recent advancements in your business since it indicates you’re a leader, not someone who falls behind. They seek new ideas. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. If you went to a website and it seemed like it belonged in the 1990s, wouldn’t you think the company is similarly out of date?
The way your organisation acts and appears has a significant impact on how others perceive your firm. Sure, TikTok is popular right now, but it doesn’t mean you should disregard Snapchat. It demonstrates to potential consumers that you are current with trends and a modern firm they should buy from or collaborate with.
Distribute coupons and host contests.
Try giving a discount or conducting a Snapchat contest if you’re feeling generous and want to see how engaged Snapchat users are. Simply use Snapchat’s tools to build a coupon to distribute to the platform’s users.
They may take a screenshot of the Snapchat, display it in the business, and measure how frequently it is used. A contest may accomplish the same objective by asking snapchatters to submit you a photo connected to a product or service you provide. Send a snap to people asking for a snapshot before they’ve had their morning coffee if you operate a café. The best submission will get a $10 gift card to use on a morning pick-me-up.
Registration for Safety
If none of these advantages persuade your firm to join Snapchat, try joining up only to protect your company name before someone else does. Currently, companies sign up in the same way that the regular user does. (Wisdom from experience: use your first and last name as the company name rather than your personal name because the change takes time to take effect.) However, like Instagram just did, there may come a day when consumers may switch to a business account for additional perks (like analytics).
HAPPY SNAPPING
At this time, Snapchat for business is simple to set up and fairly low-maintenance to run. While enterprises with older target audiences may not want to join Snapchat, the rest of us can get started with no risk.
However, like with Instagram in the past, there is no way to transition from a personal account to a corporate account and back without checking in and out. This was inconvenient since Instagram did not provide a simple option to switch, and social media managers should be mindful of whose account they are publishing to before submitting a Story.
