Snap what?

Clients have been asking about how we can utilize Snapchat into their social strategy and I wanted to share a bit about what is SNAPCHAT and how we can help brands use this platform. I would love hear how you are using Snapchat to engage your customers!

In its basic terms, Snapchat is a mobile messaging application used to share photos, videos, text and drawings. It is a free app that anyone can download. It has become very popular especially among young people. This represents a great opportunity for brands because they can increase their brand awareness in their target market.

It is a great platform because the limited lifespan makes Snapchat the perfect tool to deliver a call to action that creates excitement and a sense of urgency.

Here I’ll leave some statistics about Snapchat:

1. Snapchat users tend to be a younger demographic. 71% of Snapchat’s U.S. users fall into the 18 to 34 age range. However, even if your audience doesn’t fall in that category, Snapchat is becoming a vital part of global marketing strategies.
2. With Snapchat, you can increase community engagement and brand awareness through innovative marketing campaigns because Snapchats are a string of snaps used to create a video narrative. You can have a lot of fun with the platform’s native tools and features by adding filters, geofilters, text, emojis, music and more, all from within the platform.

 As a social media channel, there are over 1 billion views on Snapchat of stories each day. 

Snapchat stories only last 24 hours, so users tend to have to log in more frequently, to not miss out.

Brands and content creators are using Snapchat to produce daily stories that engage and excite audiences.

As a social medium, Snapchat offers an audience of over 100 million daily active users and 400 million snaps per day.

Also, some of the reasons why millennials prefer this social platform are because it’s fun to use, lots of their friends are using it, it’s free, it’s really convenient and easy to use, it’s quicker than using social networks or text messages, it allows people on a direct, one-to-one basis and it’s a more private way to chat than social networks.

Once known the reasons, brands should consider this and take them as opportunities to create something fun, creative and aimed to the target market to develop interesting content that can strengthen the brand name and its recognition.

Now, some brands that are making a great job in Snapchat because they are generating fun content, they are catching the attention of their target market and are increasing their brand awareness are:

McDonald's
The brand has snapped out pics of LeBron and behind-the-scenes commercial footage with other athletes like NFLers Richard Sherman and Johnny Manziel, as well as creative food snaps and contests. People have been watching McDonalds ads forever, so using Snapchat as a way to give fans unique looks at their favorite athletes is simple way to add value to its social presence.

Taco Bell
The brand launched its Spicy Chicken Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos with one of the first Snapchat Stories—a six-minute mini-movie that included a scene on the red carpet of the MTV Movie Awards, and was filmed and posted in less than 24 hours.

As branded efforts go, it would be tough to come up with a more perfect storm for this audience—Snapchat, Doritos tacos, MTV, and movie stars. Scenes were still being shot as the first scenes were being posted, pushing the boundaries of what brands are able and, more importantly, willing to do on the platform.

General Electric
The brand’s SnapChat debut was on July 15 and so far it’s introduced astronaut Buzz Aldrin to its younger fans, unveiled The Mission sneakers celebrating the 45th anniversary of GE’s contribution to the 1969 moon landing, and posted regular content on GE's roster of machines, as well as brain teasers, fun facts and puzzles.

The brand has found success by sharing its own big feats of invention, and encouraging interest in science across a range of social platforms including Instagram, YouTube and Vine.

Acura
The brand started its adventures in Snapchat by sending its first 100 followers teaser footage of its NSX prototype in action. The car brand has a presence on Vine, Twitter, and Instagram but distinguished its Snapchat effort by making its first post an exclusive offering.

Heineken
At Coachella this year, the beer brand sent cropped snaps to followers as clues to surprise shows on any given day during the festival. Users who responded with the right band or artist got an early confirmation of an act scheduled for the Heineken House, the beer sponsor’s stage.

As we can see, these brands create exclusive content that catches the attention of customers in specific times and spaces, that’s why Snapchat is a great opportunity to inform the launch of a new product or inform about something new of the company. It has a very quick response and you will be able to engage more people to your brand.

In conclusion, Snapchat is a great platform that is being used by many brands to take advantage of the various benefits it can add to your brand, not only because you can measure the results in a short period of time but also because it creates engagement and brand recognition.

Thanks for reading. I would love to connect, learn and share ideas.

-Sathish