Snapchat | Why it is winning the attention battle

Snapchat is for [insert spurious, foolish, asinine behaviour]. If you hear or catch yourself thinking along these lines you are dead wrong. 

Let me explain why. This platform is getting advertisers, brands and agencies away from traditional metrics and focused on what the real metric should be - ATTENTION!

But honestly, why should advertisers care?

Firstly, it is mobile. Secondly, it is video-heavy. Thirdly, the audience is 100 million people strong per day. Finally, it has recently passed 7 billion video clips per day. Finally, the platform is predominantly young people and millennials whom advertisers love.

In this article, I'll go through several key areas as to why this platform is definitely one to watch and is running a totally different game to more established platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn who rely more heavily on their data advantage.

The Core Users

How did Snapchat, an app that first made headlines as the“sexting app” get here? I couldn't express myself correctly so instead I'm going to let Gary Vaynerchuk do this for me:

"But, let’s be honest: what really makes a new social network become popular fast?

Teenagers.

There are two things that are very true when it comes to teens. One, it’s not cool to hang out at the same club as your mom. And two, you want to lock your room. Snapchat solved both those things. Parents were starting to join Facebook in droves, so teens were looking to leave and looking for somewhere to go. And, the disappearing photos function was essentially the same thing as a “do not disturb” sign on your door, except much more effective. Both these things led to Snapchat’s extreme and sudden user growth. Just a year after launching, Snapchat hit 10 million active users."

More info on his full take on Snapchat can be read here.

Demographics

This is a millennial  audience  that is highly engaged. The Snapchat model of delete being default causes another of things: urgency, definite attention (one tap to view, guaranteed 100% in-view). All of which will make marketers and senior ad buyers around the world salivate.

Conversations are ephemeral unless someone chooses to save or screenshot them. And if they do, the sender is made aware. Just like a face-to-face conversation content stays impermanent unless someone goes out of their way to record it.

Despite being around for several years now,the app has not changed too much with five core features within the app: chat, feed, camera, stories and the address book. Whilst at first glance this may appear confusing once you get past the initial learning curve it becomes an addictive platform that commands a users full attention due to the app commanding the full screen.

The user story is the main aspect of the platform and it is a place for the Snaps you want all your friends to see. Some have cohesive narratives with beginning, middle, and ends. Others are collages of moments from the past 24 hours. Some make sense, others don’t, but they’re all a collection of personal moments that reflect your unique experiences and emotions.

When a friend views your Story, they view it the way you lived it, not in reverse like most social feeds. A friend’s Snap is not mixed in with your aunt’s or that sorority sister that shares a bit too much. Instead, their content is tied together in one single Story, allowing you to catch up on what’s happening in their life all at once.

Ad Dollars Will Move to Snapchat in 2016

In a recent poll by e-Marketer in the US, the results unveiled that Snapchat will be the the platform more senior ad buyers plan to advertise with the latest emerging platform. Snapchat’s audience in the US is growing and the platform can be an effective way for marketers to reach consumers, especially millennials. 

Cowen and Company polled US senior ad buyers and asked them where they plan to begin advertising in 2016; respondents picked social media sites where they did not advertise in 2015. More than 20% of senior ad buyers said they plan to advertise on Snapchat this year for the first time.

Measurement 

Brands spending money on Snapchat campaigns have demanded more performance data for the past several months, and now they appear to be getting at least some of what they asked for. 

Nielsen recently announced it has struck a deal with the app to offer marketers third-party stats on their Snapchat ads. The news could bring a higher level of legitimacy to Snapchat among brands and agencies thanks to Nielsen's history of tracking TV and digital channels. Now, brands will be able to view Snapchat campaigns through the lens of Nielsen Ad Ratings, giving them the ability to crunch numbers similar to a gross rating point and making the mobile-video data more comparable to TV spots.

It will also make media buyers think harder about what to place on media plans as currently all major social platforms (Facebook, Google, Twitter) allow you the ability to run measurement studies already. Now that this is available on Snapchat, brands and advertisers will feel more comfortable committing ad dollars to the platform in order to win mindshare amongst consumers.

Brands On Snapchat

During Mother's day weekend,  Pandora Jewellery was the  first UK-based retail brand to make use of Snapchat's Sponsored Geofilter feature. The luxury store has teamed up with the platform to decorate users' selfies with its branded filter to celebrate Mother's Day.

Helen Harris, head of digital at Pandora UK, said: “For this campaign we've worked with some truly talented bloggers whose warmth and creative approach showcase our collections in a new light whilst demonstrating new expressions of what motherhood can be and can do.”

This highlights brands are embracing this new platform which only recently opened up a London office. It is clear the value propositions is strong enough to start challenging both Facebook and Twitter for hallmark events in the calendar in order to win the attention of consumers.

My POV on Snapchat

At present, Snapchat has been growing a hands-on ad business, with direct relationships with brands. This is similar to how Instagram began advertising, choosing a select number of brands, carefully vetting ads for style and minimum disruption to its user base and selling only to established media agencies as an IO buy. Over the next 24-36 months as the platform is trialled, tested and experimented we will see some interesting campaigns that will help brands set themselves apart from the competition on social.

Andrew is a Biddable Media Professional at iProspect (part of Dentsu Aegis Network) in London, UK. These LinkedIn blog posts focus on digital advertising. The aim is to advise the reader on what metrics brands should focus on in order to hit their business objectives. Plenty of opportunity on digital advertising platforms are hiding in plain sight for all to exploit. All thoughts and opinions contained in this post are 100% my own. For more information you can follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter.