The 4 Snapchat Values You Probably Already Understand

Stop saying you don't get Snapchat. You actually understand Snapchat better than you realize. Let's go over a few key concepts about Snapchat which should be familiar to you.

First, you must understand a few major concepts of social media marketing / community management that may not be so familiar:

1. There is no guarantee that a particular social network will be around forever.
2. You need to be flexible and creative enough to utilize new social networks and the unique experiences they provide.
3. If you nurture strong community engagement, internet users will find you online no matter where you are to continue that engagement.

Now, fellow communicators / marketers should already be considering the following in your social media marketing experience.

The Value of Impermanent Content: Dignity

Snapchat allows a person to send impermanent images or videos. They can be made available for a short period of time and then disappear. If someone tries to take a screenshot, the creator of the content will be alerted.

During a time when compromising photos can embarrass a celebrity, ruin a political career or most importantly, devastate the life of a teenager, it's easy to see why such a tool is useful. Simply saying, "they shouldn't be doing that," isn't solving the problem. Early on, this seemed like an ideal option. That said, it's since been made possible for people to save an image or video intended for deletion with certain work-around apps.

The Value of Impermanent Content: For a Limited Time Only!

ONE DAY EVENT! CALL IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES! BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT!

Creating a sense of urgency leads to action. If there's an urgency for all content to be viewed before it's gone, then it's important to your audience to keep checking in with you.

The Value of Brief Content

There are numerous reports released throughout every year which talk about the attention span of an internet user and optimal video length. Snapchat allows people to provide short snippets of a story, being less likely to lose the viewer during a Snap.

The Value of Access

Access in Snapchat takes various forms. People want access to a face behind the keyboard and Snapchat can provide that in an unfiltered manner. People want access to a "behind the scenes" opportunity; something unique that only those who are in-the-know can get. 

 While these are not ALL the values that marketers should be aware of that Snapchat shares, these are some pretty important ones. And we didn't even touch on the Values of Creativity and Values of Audience Participation.

If you want more information on application, demographics and strategy behind Snapchat, see some of the following links:

If you want details on who uses Snapchat, check out their ads page.

There are plenty of articles online that explain the features of Snapchat as well.