Snapchat is one of the fastest growing social platforms in the digital world, with over 166 million active daily users. What was once considered a platform targeted specifically towards teens and young adults, has now been adopted by other demographics with over half of all new users signing up are over the age of 25.

Launched only five years ago as a photo sharing app for millennials, this social media platform has continuously perplexed marketers. In such a short period, more than 150 million people use the app daily, spending an average of 25 to 30 minutes on it. Snapchat has transformed into a well-known social media route that provides deeper connections with followers, increased loyalty and better brand visibility.

Businesses, big or small are beginning to harness the potential of Snapchat as a successful advertising tool. With Snap Inc.’s future looking promising, it is essential that businesses embrace the opportunity to include the popular platform in their marketing plan. With that in mind, we bring you reasons on how Snapchat can benefit your business and why it is important to experiment with new forms of social media.

Reach Out To New Audiences

While it’s true that around 7 out of 10 of Snapchat’s audience is millennials if business plans to grow within 10-20 years’ millennials will one day become your customers. Businesses and marketers can use Snapchat as a golden ticket opportunity to interact one-to-one with a younger demographic, which in comparison, other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are not as well connected to.

Successful Marketing Tool

The app has evolved into a successful marketing means, allowing businesses paid marketing options to design unique and engaging filters aiming specific targeted content to a niche audience. There are various ways that businesses can utilise Snapchat to drive awareness and generate leads by; announcing competitions, sharing videos, introducing new team members, sneak peaks into behind the scenes of the business and sharing discount codes and coupons. As the app is still relatively young, only 2 per cent of businesses advertising on social media use Snapchat indicating that it is essential for businesses to embrace this opportunity to stand out and shine on the platform.

Snapchat’s Advertising

With the apps insane popularity in the social space jumping to almost a 90% increase year-on-year from 2016, businesses are using this platform to advertise their brand. These options range from developing a Snap Ad to build awareness, designing Geofilters to generate targeted leads, storytelling or giving potential customers the opportunity to interact with a sponsored Lens.

  • Snap Ads are a fantastic way for brands to drive traffic to their online channels, featuring a 10-second add, giving users the choice to swipe up to view more content – Snapchat claim ads on their app are five times more effective than that of the average competitors click-through rate on social media.
  • Geofilters are tailor-made filters placed over a snap to connect with an audience in a specific geographical location.
  • Sponsored Lenses are the most effective form of Snapchat advertising using facial recognition to trigger an animation, allowing them to interact and share your filters.

Snapchat recently launched its new self-serve ad manager for buying video Snap Ads, allowing brands to effectively track campaign performance, organise direct targeting and goal-based bidding for swipes. This development was designed to reach out to smaller businesses in bids to get them to include Snapchat in their marketing plan.

The Future of Storytelling

Snap Inc’s stories are influencing the future of storytelling across the B2B and B2C worlds, with a generation of smartphone users looking to the platform to find out the latest news. The stories feature gives users insights into ‘behind the scenes’ of brand cultures, event launches and product testing. The apps feature of expiring messages means brands can interact with users on a ‘real-time’ basis rather than a planned approach.

As of the many benefactors to Snapchat, the high engagement level is one which places the platform in a league of its own. Unlike its industry competitors, Snapchat provides a real one-on-one connection with audience members which could potentially lead to followers. The intimacy that Snap.Inc provides could improve customer loyalty.

Summary

Whilst Snapchat’s growth is phenomenal, marketing on the platform still largely remains unchartered territory. Forecasts have predicted that the social media platform will reach roughly one third of UK smartphone owners – an 20% increase on 2016, showing that businesses need to jump on the bandwagon and include the app in their marketing plan. Learn more about Identity’s marketing services and contact us today to see how we can help your business.