Why Snapchat is essential to your future growth and how to execute on it

This blog post has now been featured on StartupSmart, and Medium.

I’m a strong advocate of focusing your spend on product development, particularly in the initial stages of your business. But there must be a focus on gaining & retaining customers in the most engaging way to convert.

When Gary Vaynerchuck singled out Snapchat on his YouTube Channel I sat up and listened. He is the social leader that called Twitter big in ’07, and has continuously made smart allocations in both media moves and tech since. Gary was able to grow a small wine business from $5M to $60M in revenue in under 5 years. That’s a magnum opus for anyone who’s been in that industry and knows how tough differentiation is (believe me, I know).

If Warren Buffett or Chris Sacca is telling you to invest – you sit up and listen at least, right?

I’ve been playing with Snapchat for over a year now and have learnt the intricacies. However, I have started to notice little subtleties outside of my friends sending me social snaps. In particular, it was high quality brands that I enjoyed viewing the most. This level of engagement was something I’d never seen before, through stories and behind-the-scenes glances of what they do with their time – and it fascinated me. Any moment I saw a new snap by that individual or brand, I was in.
That’s right; Snapchat is no longer dick picks and kids playing around. What’s more, it’s now number one for user attention in 13-24yr olds (for further stats see here).

You may laugh and think ”I don’t need no kids”. Wrong, these kids are your future customers. In five years, they’ll be income earning, consuming adults. Invest the time now and reap the benefits later – have the patience. On a side note, I gave my own 50+ mum an Uber promo code the other day, so short term user adoption is not just specific to your nephew or niece.

Why should I consider Snapchat?

1. The best businesses have always focused on why they exist

That is, their vision/cause/story. Why do these wake up every day and go to work? Because it connects at a level deeper than dollars.

For Apple, it’s thinking differently.

For me, it’s helping build businesses that push that envelope. It’s that same going against the grain attitude that my grandfather showed my own family. It’s who we are.

2. You can build on your story and solidify brand loyalty

Prior to adding Gary on Snapchat, I wasn’t that engrossed. Now, I know what he strives and lives for, how he spends his time and what his personal goals are. I’m fascinated by his personal story. I’m now hanging out for his vlogs, which may turn into future dollars through book purchases or talks.

In the space of four weeks, I’ve gone from being somewhat interested to totally captivated. That sort of captivation builds loyalty that no other product engagement can. What’s more, that type of core users is what you want, because they can help you with product releases and feedback in future to be released to the majority

3. It’s direct to market

This is one of the only true channels that command user attention. Think about it, there are no ads, no buttons, no need to filter to view a snap – just whether or not you press on a story and view. That is unparalleled for showing some why you exist, what your story is and how you do it

If the viewer likes your brand enough, they’ll immediately be clicking on your story to learn more in future.

Conversion rates, which are more important than total numbers are what really matters – and Snapchat is known for giving you 50-60%+ convertibility. If I send a snapchat on my story, I’m getting around 80% of the people opening the snap – that’s insane when you could be monetising that in 2 years.

What should I do then?

Get your presence and plan set up as soon as possible, prioritise it and blend it into your marketing plan this year – invest the time and money now, be prepared to be THE startup in your marketplace with the best user engagement on Snapchat.

Albert Einstein said “compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it”. If you have 100 core users that add you on Snapchat, and you add 2 new users a day, and that amount per day doubles only monthly. You’re looking at 29,000+ followers in 3 years’ time thanks to the principal of compounding, at a very conservative level.

Snapchat is still in its infancy, invest now and receive dividends later.

How do I even do that?

1. Get a Snapchat account and learn about the Stories feature

2. Build a plan, think about how you will use all media (social, email, product) to drive a following on Snapchat that doesn’t require your users to give up something immediately

3. Understand how your Creative & Product team can build nuance into your own Stories.

4. Get your Snapchat code, post it to your community on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Tell them you’ll be providing a behind the scenes of how your company and team operates

5. For the next 6 months show your users why you do what you do on a daily basis

6. Don’t fall into the folly like most brands of just shamelessly promoting. Give some value and over time, expect some back

7. After that 6 months start offering viewer specific promotions and giveaways thanking those users for their commitment to your story

8. Rinse and repeat the steps every 6 months for the next 3 years and identify where you’re succeeding and failing in your engagement through Snapchat. This is also very important for your future product development in potentially launching beta’s.

A Business Opportunity

In doing my research I did noticed that there’s actually not much analytics out there for Snapchat, bar Snaplytics, which doesn’t seem to add much value outside of what’s already on the platform and doesn’t have transparent pricing.

With initial reports of a potential Snapchat API, I would be fascinated in a web analytics business focused on Snapchat. If you feel you’ve got an idea, check out StartupLab and share it with me to gather my thoughts.

The time is now, expect to see the coverage of Snapchat blow up later in to this year. Put in the hours, learn from your users like no other and enjoy the experience. The inverse of not laying down that groundwork, is just not doing anything at all, and is that a safe way to hedge your business?

If you want to learn more about how Snapchat and other services can help build your business towards its vision, then add me on Snapchat.

We solve hard problems, with a focus on helping organisations to think big. We use agile specialist advisors, technology & capital to execute short term tactical or long term strategic work that provides results.  

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