What is Snapchat?
With over 100 million active users and over 400 million “Snapchats” sent daily, the photo and video sharing application Snapchat has exploded in popularity over the past few years and with the growth in registered users also comes the potential to utilize the popular app as a marketing tool.
In addition, Snapchat’s relative “newness” allows for a mostly unsaturated platform for digital outreach. But many who are still unfamiliar with Snapchat may be reluctant or skeptical to consider the app as a medium for outreach and marketing. This is understandable – the platform’s entire interface is unique and can be challenging adapting to the format, especially for those unfamiliar with the app or just getting started. However, if able to be harnessed correctly, the popularity of Snapchat provides another popular outlet for marketers to engage followers and embrace their creative side.
Relatively recent to the world of media-sharing applications, Snapchat allows users to take and send pictures and videos (known as “Snapchats”) to other users. What makes Snapchat different from other mobile messaging apps is that the interface only allows a receiving user to view the “Snapchats” for a limited amount of time (anywhere from one to ten seconds) before the image or video disappears and is deleted. Because the content has short, finite shelf-life many companies dismiss the value of Snapchat as a marketing tool for outreach, publicity and exposure. However, if the goal of a organization’s digital outreach is to simply be present where their targeted demographics are paying attention, consider these statistics:
Snapchat Facts
- Over 100 million active users (as of January, 2015)
- Over 700 million “snaps” or “snapchats” sent daily
- Almost 70% of users are women
- 71 % of users that are under the age 25
- 77% of college students that use Snapchat daily
- 58% of college students that say they are more likely to purchase from a brand based on Snapchat
- Over 1 billion Snapchat stories that are viewed daily
- 1% percentage of marketers that use Snapchat
(Source: DMR Digital Marketing Ramblings)
Utilizing Snapchat Marketing
To find a premier example of a successful Snapchat marketing campaign, consider the efforts of the World Wildlife Fund’s #lastselfie campaign on Snapchat last spring. By Snapchatting photos of endangered animals such as tigers, polar bears and pandas, WWF was able to fully integrate Snapchat’s platform into both a call to action and a sense of urgency. By using the short life of each snap as a digital metaphor on behalf of endangered species, integrated with a trendy, online theme like the “selfie”, the #lastselfie campaign ended up generating tons of press and exposure in a relatively simply way simply through the use of a medium that many marketers shy away from out of unfamiliarity or skepticism.
While the short shelf life of each Snapchat can cause many organizations to shy away from Snapchat as a tool for online marketing, one of the benefits is that instead of vying for audiences short attention span through other channels, brands can control 100% of individuals attention through Snapchat exclusively. When done creatively and correctly, the medium offers a separate channel to increase exposure, publicity and engagement from their target demographic. In addition, Snapchat provides ways to see how many users view your organization’s stories. While not traditional “deep metrics” that many social media platforms provide, it is relevant information that organizations can use. In a way, Snapchat acts as the closest technological medium for how persons actually engage each other offline – after a conversation or a call, all content is either stored in our memory or “disappears”. It can be an effective tool to provide audiences with a lasting, impactful message directly from an organization or brand.
While Snapchat is a relatively new social media outlet, the uniqueness of the platform and the exploding popularity makes it a channel worth considering for your marketing outreach. Allow your brand’s creative side to show and consider integrating Snapchat into your digital marketing efforts.
If you’d like more information on Snapchat and any other social media platform and how Convergent1 can help your organization’s marketing efforts and outreach, contact us right away!
We are happy to put our experience into practice and discuss ways that we can help expand your presence online, on Snapchat and in any other ways!
