The Rise of Snapchat
Kelly Beard Assoc. CIPD
Head of People & Talent (UK, USA, Dubai & Porto) at Threads Styling
(2 minute read)
At lastminute.com group we are asking ourselves at what point do you start using a new social network?
- Before your little sister even starts using it
- When your mates start talking about it
- I’m not even on Bookface
Whether you embrace it or not, Snapchat is becoming harder and harder to ignore. It now has 100 million daily users sending 400 million snaps. If you download it now you might get more than you bargained for - it’s no longer just 10 second disappearing videos for teenagers to send each other naked pics. Now you have messaging, filters, voice changers, video calling, Snapchat Memories, Stories (videos that stay up for 24 hours and can be viewed multiple times) and Discover.
Oh yes, Snapchat really has upped it’s game when it has come to diversifying into other channels, monetising its offering and becoming the go-to place for it’s users to chat, share, get news and even shop. For this reason it’s also becoming the go-to place for advertisers, particularly those targeting the millennials. It has video viewing numbers to rival Facebook and 45% of users are under 25 (compared to Facebook’s 16%).
Snapchat Discover
In January 2015 Snapchat launched Discover - where media partners curate and publish daily content. There’s about 20 channels including National Geographic, MTV, The Sun, Buzzfeed and Mashable. Despite brands not being able to own their audience, and Snapchat keeping them on their toes (they ditched Yahoo’s channel because they didn’t like the content), media companies are scrambling for a spot.
Snapchat has also introduced ‘Two Pennies’ to advertisers where they can show 10 second ads for just two cents per view.
The best of the rest
You don’t need to be on Discover to use Snapchat as a brand - you can just set up your own account and create snaps and Stories to send out to your followers. Brands doing this particularly well and worth a follow include:
@marriotthotels - partnered with four influencers to create content about the best cities to visit and stories from those locations
@nytimes - storytelling while also poking fun at themselves
@dominoes_uk - have seen a rise in orders from their low budget Snapchat Stories
@grubhub - impressively encouraging two-way user interaction and responding to every single message sent to them
@generalelectric - follow for some fun and geeky science
@amazon - gift ideas, recommendations, deals and offers that can go in your shopping basket with one click
STATS GEEK: SNAPCHAT IN STATS
- Launched: September 2011
- Value: $16 billion
- Daily active users: 100 million daily active users
- Millennial users: 73%
- Users aged under 25: 45%
- Daily snaps sent: 400 million
- Daily video views: 10 billion
- Top country for % usage: Ireland
Whats your thoughts on the rise of Snapchat?
Head of People... In recovery ?? I help start-up + scale-up People Leads turn People teams into Growth teams. Scaling a business of one to ￡1Million AR. Follow for actionable insights on both ????
7 年Some really interesting insights here, Kelly! I had no idea they had such a diverse platform these days, I may have to revisit it myself - thanks for sharing, good stuff - I can definitely see value in businesses utilising Snapchap to develop EVP and employer branding, excellent platform for engaging the millennial work force, and those following close behind.