Are you using Snapchat as a part of your social media marketing mix?
According to this article, Snapchat has 100 million daily active users.
This number is only growing by the day as marketers, brands and businesses start to clue in to the power of Snapchat as a storytelling vehicle.
So, why is Snapchat skyrocketing in popularity?
What sets the channel apart from other social media networks?
There are six reasons why when it comes to all social media networks, Snapchat is the superior storytelling vehicle:
- Exclusivity: Snapchat is unique by nature. You can’t share links or statuses, and it’s a quick-hitting content-sharing platform. Therefore, Snapchat lets you serve up content to your audience that you wouldn’t post to any other channel. Because snaps expire (they’re only viewable for 10 seconds,) there isn’t an emphasis on quality. People take quick snaps as a way of storytelling in the form of photo and video. You can edit your photos and videos by adding text captions, emojis and special animations through the platform. By sharing content exclusively on Snapchat, you create a reason for your audience to follow you on the channel.
- Animations: Snapchat has some funky animations that you can apply to your photos and videos. Hold your finger down over your face to see the options, which change regularly. This feature allows you to get quirky and creative with how you tie in these various animations into your stories.
- Behind-the-scenes: Because snaps expire and there isn’t an emphasis on quality (like there is on Instagram and Pinterest,) Snapchat provides a ton of freedom and flexibility with how and how often you want to provide behind-the-scenes views. You can make your audience feel like a part of the process or the team by showing them glimpses into your daily doings, be it personal or professional projects. Showcase your products and/or how to best use them, share meaningful advice, tell jokes and/or share snapshots from key conversations or events you’re participating in. With Snapchat, you can really take your audience with you throughout your day; this helps build trust.
- Special offers: Since snaps expire, Snapchat is a great platform to post special offers. One idea is to create a promo code for a product discount, and only post it on Snapchat. This way, your audience feels exclusively treated to a deal. Similarly, since the snap will expire, it’s a limited-time promotion which plays off the sense of urgency that they need to take action today before the code expires.
- Snackable: Because videos and photos can only be 10 seconds long, Snapchat makes for snackable and digestible content. Create little snippets throughout your day to result in a short, snackable story for your fans.
- Users choose: Since there isn’t a newsfeed feature in Snapchat, marketing on this platform is super powerful because users choose what they consume. You have to actively select a story to view it, whereas you can “passively” consume content from other social media channels just by browsing through the newsfeed. The fact that users choose makes it a powerful platform to provide customized, relevant stories to your fans. Similarly, with Snapchat analytics, you can see exactly how many people viewed each piece of content in your story. These insights can be used to guide your Snapchat strategy in order to create more content that you know your fans will enjoy.
There’s no doubt that as social media becomes more crowded, unique and creative storytelling will be the only way to cut through the clutter.
That is exactly why Snapchat is becoming so big; it’s the superior storytelling social channel and it’s only going to grow in power and popularity.
Are you using Snapchat as a part of your marketing mix?
Comment below sharing the features you think make it beneficial for brands and businesses!
