What Snapchat's IPO means for paid social media buyers
From the moment the Snap Inc. IPO was announced, paid social media buyers have been on high alert or they should have been if they were not. This is because there is no single event that can cause more frenzy from clients than when a social platform gets acquired or IPOs. There has been no shortage of inquiries regarding advertising on Snapchat, but when that bell rang and Snapchat opened at $24 a share it became clear that the requests are almost definitely increasing. Now, for paid social buyers with B2B clients only, it is unlikely there is little concern. However, for paid social media buyers with B2C clients, particularly those focused on Gen Z and millennials, we have a crazy year ahead that will likely make the ghost our best friend. Fortunately, there are steps that all paid social media buyers can take to make 2017 the year Snapchat media buys became their biggest wins.
- Focus on influencer buys first
Make no mistake that more advertising options are going to be rolled out to even more brands this year. Shareholders bought that expensive stock for a reason; they bought it with the idea that they would one day see a return and that will only happen with advertising driving revenue. However, our obligation is not to Snapchat's shareholders but rather to our brands/clients (although, if you are a buyer for NBCUniversal then it's to both). Thus, the best bet for most brands is to focus on influencer marketing on Snapchat. Now, the exception is major brands with multi-million dollar budgets dedicated to brand awareness - if you are a buyer for those brands then you can really skip this step. For the rest of brands, however, utilizing influencers that align with the brand will create an opportunity to have better projections in engagement, reach, and replays - all important metrics for the Snapchat channel.
2. Explore buying Snapchat ads through the self-serve ad tool
Yes, it is true that this is not widely available. However, this will almost certainly become available to more and more agencies and brands as this year progresses. Snapchat is dedicated to proving it is worth all the fuss and the best way to do that is through revenue. With the 1.0 ad serving kinks out of the way, the 2.0 API will be sure to make a splash in its expansion. Snapchat has studied all of Facebook's mistakes and making sure not to follow them. As media buyers, we need to get acclimated with this new tool and the best way to do this is likely a conservative test that focuses on driving engagement (CPMs will be crazy high so don't sell clients on impressions). Focus on CRM lists and targeted data to compare results, this will be familiar and give the best chance of normalizing the data to other platforms so that your client/brand can better understand the results.
3. Take your rep out to lunch
Or dinner. Or drinks. Or to a box suite of a major sports team if you are a part of a big agency that has the funds to do so. Do something with your rep as soon as possible. If you do not have one, get one. This will not be easy - you will be ignored if sending an inquiry off of their website. Find someone who knows someone and get in the door. As media buyers, we tend to look forward to social platform reps taking us out to dinner, giving us swag, and overall doing whatever it takes to get us to divvy up more spend to their platform over the others. Snapchat knows they do not need to do this with the vast majority of brands and so they do not. That's okay, though. We can handle a dinner ourselves once in a while. It is crucial in paid social to be ahead of the game and your Snapchat rep will be able to ensure that happens if a relationship is built. When the inevitable new features roll out, you will be the first to know and possibly amongst the first who get to test. Don't forget that even though this industry is digital, we still are in an industry of people - human interaction will continue to be key.
Snapchat has dominated the advertising news segment for quite some time, but now it is dominating the financial news and is the Wall Street star that the public is eating up. The IPO is an event that will greatly impact many media buyer's paid social strategies, but this does not have to mean forcing in Snapchat just to force it in. Instead, this can be an intentional opportunity to understand what is happening with Snap Inc. and build a plan from there. As a paid social media buyer that did not and does not intend to buy stock in Snap Inc., I have no obligation to increase the revenue of the platform but the obligation to my clients is driving the decision to take on this increase in demand for advertising on the platform with thoughtful consideration that can drive strong results. I am confident other buyers will do the same and hopefully, this article can help.
Jessica McGlory is leads paid social as a Digital Media Manager for Engine Media, a media agency that provides modern solutions via exceptional talent, enabled by technology and driven by data.