Snapchat for business: everything you need to know

It’s been a great year for Snapchat, which has maintained its impressive growth, while leaving its past behind as the social app that was only used by teenagers for private video messages.

Gone are the days when brands (and people aged over 25) disregarded Snapchat and its value, as they now start embracing its power, seeking for new creative ways to reach an increasing and highly engaged audience.

Defining Snapchat

Not everyone is familiar with Snapchat, although many users start wondering how it became popular.

If we had to define its concept, we’d say that Snapchat is a visual messaging app that allows you to send messages (known as “snaps”), which only last one to ten seconds.

The evolution of Snapchat

There are not many cases of social platforms that noted such a significant transformation, especially on their primary use and their target audience, so Snapchat is certainly an interesting case study on how to engage with your existing audience and take your business model to the next level.

Yes, Snapchat is still widely used by teenagers and young adults, but it now also attracts a bigger audience, with brands being fascinated by the users’ loyalty and the creativity they present through their snaps.

How big is Snapchat?

According to the site’s latest announced metrics, Snapchat numbers more than 100 million daily active users, with 60% of them creating content on a daily basis.

In fact, more than 8796 photos are shared every second, while there are 7 billion video views every day!

It is true that 60% of Snapchat’s audience is aged 13 to 24, but this doesn’t mean that we should ignore the rest, with 38% of the audience being aged 25 to 54.

Apparently users aged more than 55 years old do not find the (Read more...) appealing (yet), so this is another interesting point to consider when targeting a specific audience.

In terms of loyalty, 54% of Snapchat users engage with the app daily and it seems that they are more willing to watch videos, as its vertical mobile video content sees up to nine time bigger completion rate than horizontal videos.

What makes Snapchat special?

There are many reasons a brand should consider joining Snapchat and here are some convincing points:

The power of ephemerality

What really makes Snapchat special is its ephemeral nature and the fact that you are only able to see stories from the past 24 hours.

It’s the sense of urgency that created a new mindset, both for users and brands, adapting to a new form of communication, while also checking the app daily, in order to make sure that they don’t miss new posts. And that’s how you can boost daily engagement!

Focus on mobile

Mobile users keep increasing and it’s easy to get hooked to a mobile app, especially when it’s appealing.

That’s why brands are using Snapchat even more day by day, considering it among their favourite choices for mobile videos, both for storytelling and advertising.

Full screen leads to full attention

There’s no need to scroll to see a full image or a video, as Snapchat’s full-screen content always makes your posts perfectly adjusted to the screen.

Imagine what this means for a brand promoting its content!

Inspiring (and rewarding) creativity

By the time you start sending your own snaps, you are introduced to a new visual type of content, a short, direct and creative one, which is also appealing and fun.

Many brands are daily inspired by Snapchat’s fast pace and come up with new unique ways to promote their content and showcase their work. After all, it’s different from any other social network they are using.

Users love it

If your targeting audience is on Snapchat, then that’s where your brand should be.

How to use Snapchat for business

Snapchat offers numerous opportunities for brands that decide to include it in their content strategy.

It’s interesting to note that more senior U.S. ad buyers are considering to use Snapchat as part of their advertising efforts in 2016 and this is certainly linked to the fact that 76% of Snapchat users have purchased a product online during the past month.

Set your goals

As your business joins Snapchat, it is important to define your goals and your ROI, including it in your bigger marketing strategy.

Snapchat may be used as a way to get creative, to reach a new audience, to boost engagement, to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and even to take advantage of the power of vertical video advertising.

Grab attention

First of all, by joining a new (and up-and-coming) platform, your goal is to attract an audience that would enjoy your snaps, finding both your existing loyal audience, but also a bigger one.

Snapchat is ideal for any business that is ready to get creative and explore new opportunities that would take their marketing to the next level. Even in a small budget, a business can still be appealing, provided that it invests in time and effort.

Engage

Once you create appealing content, it’s time to engage with your audience, by encouraging them to interact with you and reply back to your content.

You might also create cross-platform content that will lead your audience to Snapchat, by enticing them with exclusive content, a contest, or a special offer.

When your audience discovers your presence on Snapchat and enjoys it, loyalty will be easier!

Monetisation

It’s still tricky to define monetisation on Snapchat, as you still can’t have a proper access to analytics to measure your performance. However, Snapchat advertising has seen a significant growth during the past months, especially for bigger brands, and it’s only expected to grow more in 2016.

Snapchat on its own promises many changes to come soon and we’re optimistic that they understand what a business expects from the platform. Still, you can use Snapchat as a way to build trust and interest on your business by focusing on authentic content.

After all, monetisation only comes when you actually invest in a platform, along with the proper marketing strategy.

Snapchat to expand in ecommerce

Snapchat is maturing and it’s actually ready to focus on ecommerce, which will be ideal for any business considering to join the platform.

According to Joanna Coles, editor in chief of Cosmopolitan and member of Snapchat’s board of directors, Snapchat is planning to create an ecommerce platform, which will allow users to buy directly from it and this could mean that Snapchat is really serious about its expansion.

Still thinking whether your business is ready to join Snapchat? How about trying it out and get exposed to the idea of “snapping”, before it gets even bigger?