Snapchat Marketing
One of the newer social networks out there is ‘Snapchat’, which has become more and more popular over the last year. So for those of you that don’t have a clue what Snapchat is, or for those who want to know how to utilise it in your marketing, we have wrote this for you…
What is Snapchat?
Let’s start with the basics, Snapchat is a photo sharing app where the user (you) can take a photo and share it with their ‘friends’ on Snapchat. What makes it different is that the photo is only viewable for a set number of seconds (between 1 and 10), that you decide prior to sending the Snapchat. You can also send up to 10 second video clips, or if you prefer save the photo or video to your ‘story’ which is viewable by all your friends for 24 hours. The time sensitive element to it is what really makes it one of a kind, exciting and fun. Once the Snapchat is gone, it is gone. FOREVER!
It does attract the younger generation of people (teenagers and early 20s) for social purposes, so if your target audience is teens or young adults, then it can be a perfect match.
Brand Building
The trend for a more personalised approach to business is growing stronger year on year, no longer do companies/celebrities/brands hide behind their logo and business name. With social media we are getting more and more of a feeling to the personality of businesses, and in the small business world especially whether we like the business owner is a HUGE deciding factor as to whether we buy from them.
Snapchat is a great way of connecting with your customer on a more personal level, and adding a bit of humour/personality into your marketing. There’s tons of ways you can do it too, here’s 3 to get you started…
IDEA 1: Behind the Scenes
Show your customers “behind the scenes” of your business. Obviously this is dependant on industry as to whether it will interesting, but even on a small scale level it can be effective. For example you could Snapchat a photo to a client of you working away on their project, which is a really nice way of showing them we care and are working hard for them. Or if you have an event on, saving behind the scenes Snapchats to your story can be a way of creating a buzz.
IDEA 2: Offers and Discount Codes
Snapchat is a great way of announcing offers and discount codes, for example you could Snapchat an employee holding (or saying) a discount code, which a customer can use at the checkout or when emailing you to enquire about your services. An American frozen yoghurt company called 16 Handles done something even more clever though. They ran a Snapchat promotion where they asked their customers to Snapchat them a picture of themselves eating their frozen yoghurt in return to be Snapchat’d back a voucher. The catch was, the customer could only open their Snapchat and reveal how much the voucher was worth when they were at the cashier about to buy another frozen yoghurt. Vouchers ranged from 10%-100% off, but what a clever way of getting repeat purchases and creating a buzz!
It is also an extremely cheap way of getting discount codes and offers to your audience without spending a penny on printed materials or online promotion.
IDEA 3: Teasers
Another great way businesses are using Snapchat is to offer teasers of new products and services before they are officially launched. For example, restaurants may send a teaser of the new dish on the menu to entice people to come try it. Even Hollyoaks is using it for teasers about upcoming story lines! Again it is a great way of involving your customers in the business on a whole other level, making them feel a part of something, and building brand loyalty.
Future Development
Snapchat in its current form certainly isn’t perfect, there are downsides to it and ways we think it will be improved in coming months/years. For businesses the hardest part is getting found on Snapchat, as there is no “profile” as such and you just add contacts using their phone number or username, so for now leveraging your current online marketing tools is the best way of building your Snapchat list, by offering a benefit to people for adding you. In future we would like to see some form of profile for users to be found (especially businesses).
In it’s current form it definitely is better for some businesses than others, we’ve mentioned a couple times already how the food and drink industry is using it effectively, but we think any creative business could use it to be a bit different, and connect with their audience on a different level.
More ‘serious’ businesses may find it harder, but like we said, if you are aiming for a younger market, then get on the trend.
ACTION: If you don’t have Snapchat already, then download it and start trying it out.
ACTION: Create a company account, then ask your current clients to ‘add you’ with your username, and start Snapchatting them.
ACTION: Once you are use to how it works, try saving an offer to your Snapchat Story and see what the response is.