How To Use Snapchat for Online Marketing: A Quick Guide

You have probably heard of the mobile app Snapchat. At this point, it would be a shocker to note if you haven’t. Since its introduction in the early part of 2016, Snapchat have transcended to just being used by teenagers to send messages to their friends in a manner that their parents will never know.

This mobile app allows users to send videos and messages that self-destructs ten seconds after a person views them. You can also take a photo or video with it and post it with doodles and lens graphics that could only be viewed for 24 hours.

The lingering question though is how Snapchat could virtually contribute to your growing business. Probably, the best answer for that question lies on Snapchat demographics.

To date, Snapchat has 100million active users. Moreover, social media statistics show that there are more than 5billion videos viewed on Snapchat every day. Of its multimillion active users, most fall on the age cohort of 13-37 years old (which is basically the age range targeted by most businesses). And just recently, Snapchat unveiled a whopping drop from $100, 000 to $70, 000 when you avail of Snapchat for advertising your brand.

To help you in exploring Snapchat as one of the social media platforms you could use to advertise your brand, we have to answer the why and the how. First off, let us answer the why.

Why Snapchat?

Aside from just being a popular mobile app, let us give a rundown of the benefits of using snapchat for advertising.

• Provides access for live events. Snapchat provides real time social media marketing because it could stream ongoing events. You can use snapchat for product launches and social media contests. It excites your customers because you are giving them an authentic experience featuring your products. You can even make the experience more authentic by capturing behind the scenes from your events. 
• Delivers exclusive content. Snapchat is beneficial in providing specific contents for your viewers. In this case, you just have to be creative in sending them special contents that will boost your product. You can post event teasers before the actual event to make your viewers feel like you are entitling them of something that is very exclusive. With this, you will generate from them a sense of involvement. Eliciting this will make them follow your posts more.
• Could doze in viewers through advertising perks and promo codes. Snapchat could be the best avenue in enticing your viewers to follow your posts because everybody loves perks and promo codes. By posting promo codes and exclusive perks often, you are also expanding the number of viewers that you have.
• It magnets influencers. Celebrities and common people flock Snapchat. Being an equalizing platform, you could convince more people to try your brand if you get influencers that could post your brand in Snapchat.

How to Use Snapchat for Advertising

Now that the benefits of advertising through Snapchat is laid down, let us give the all the how in using Snapchat for advertising your products.

• Set up a Snapchat account. In doing this, you have to download the app from either iTunes or Google Play. Wait for it to be installed successfully. After the installment, sign up for a Snapchat account. In signing up, make your username understandable as possible. Using the name of your business will be the most direct way to advertise your brand. You may opt to put your business mobile in the account for your customers. After which, configure your profile settings by tapping the ghost icon at the top of your screen. Also configure your privacy settings and filter who you want to see your posts.
• Add friends and keep going. Add people to become your Snapchat friends. If you already know the kind of audience you would like to target then that will be well and good. But if you’re still trying to test the waters audience-wise, then add as many friends as possible by tapping the Add Friends option. You can start with people you know as well as celebrities and fan bases. You can also attract followers by posting your Snapchat username in your other social media accounts. You can also invite friends by saving snapcodes in your phone. Downloaded snapcodes could also be used as profile pictures for your other social media accounts just to let people know that you are on Snapchat. Adding friends will draw you inspiration by knowing people’s stories, their likes and expectations.
• Post stories. Publicly post stories about your brand every day. You can even use photo sharing if for teasers that is not made in Snapchat. You may also send private stories and videos to people if you have time for it. You can also trim your videos in the manner you want for you to deliver the most important contents. The good news is that, you could monitor who viewed your story by tapping the icon that will allow you to see who grabbed a screenshot of your story and who viewed it.
• Chat and curate stories. Snapchat like all other social networking sites also gives you the opportunity to chat with your friends. You could also video chat with them by tapping the blue camera in the screen. Moreover, you could curate and download contents by tapping stories in the Discover section. Then you could share this story by tapping it and holding it on a long press.

These are the things that you need to know in considering Snapchat as another social media platform in brand advertising.

If you think it could give your business an edge, it is never too late to join the bandwagon.