What is Snapchat?

For the uninitiated, Snapchat is a photo and video-messaging app that allows you to send and receive messages that disappear after viewing. Users can allow their “snaps” to last between 1 to 10 seconds before they vanish into the ether, although snaps can also be posted onto their story where their friends can view the snaps as many times as they want in 24 hours. Most brands use stories as opposed to sending individual snaps as they provide the opportunity for rewatching and sharing.

Whilst content on other social networks is archived, if you miss Snapchat content, it’s gone forever. Whilst this can obviously put Snapchat at a disadvantage in some respects to other forms of advertising, the time limit actually helps catch the attention of viewers by forcing them to consume content quickly if they want to at all.

You may be interested enough to set up a Snapchat account, but how can you go about adding it to your marketing mix? There are 4 things you need to be aware of to be successful on Snapchat:

Be Timely

Like Twitter’s character limit, Snapchat’s short, self-destructive content is its USP, so marketers need to take this into consideration when creating content. Rather than planning exactly what you are going to send at certain times, be prepared to feed off and react to events in real time.

Be fun and authentic

Most snaps that users send to their friends are imperfect, scrappy and often funny. Any marketing on Snapchat needs to emulate this spontaneous spirit that has made the platform so successful. So, leave your perfectly shot photos for Instagram and use Snapchat to show off your brand’s personality and the fun your employees have at work.

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Offer exclusive stuff

Many brands offer their Snapchat followers exclusive sneak peeks at what goes on behind the scenes. Not only does this help make their story feel of authenticity, it also encourages customers to follow brands on Snapchat to ensure they aren’t missing out.

The timeliness of snaps also lends itself to limited time discounts - you can drive your customers to follow your Snapchat by alerting your customers that you often hold exclusive discounts, which can “self-destruct” after a short time period to mimic the social platform.

Utilise influencers

Many millennials are more inclined to be influenced by the opinions and recommendations of people they trust than by traditional marketing. One way you can tap into this change of customer behaviour is to partner with influencers that are relevant to your niche, such as popular Snapchatters or other social media stars, and have them use your Snapchat account to create content. This will require some careful consideration, as you have to let the influencers create the content they want to make otherwise it will not come across as authentic, but the content they create might not be in line with your brand message.

Snapchat is one of the best ways to reach millennials - more than 60% of American 13 to 34 year-old smartphone users are Snapchatters, and this figure is likely to be similar for the UK and Europe. If this is your target audience, Snapchat is definitely worth considering. As with all native content, it may be more difficult to track conversions and ROI on Snapchat as opposed to more traditional forms of advertising, but it has the ability to build your brand personality and engage with a notoriously hard to reach age group.