Snapchat Tools For Marketers

As Snapchat adds tools to broaden it’s appeal to more users and advertisers, how can your brand benefit?

It’s on like Donkey KongPokeymon.

Snapchat is the fasted growing social media network and reached nearly 65% of the 18-25 population. At about 100 million monthly users, it’s a little smaller than Twitter (130MM) but has highly engaged users watching about 8 billion videos per day.

If Snapchat is not part of your daily regimen, you may have the impression that it’s primarily for teenagers sexting each others with self-destructing images. Ok, so it was. But Snapchat has way grown up and even ‘Olds’ (yeah, like you – and me) are using it. A major reason, according to the college-age set, it that it enables users to be more creative with images than other social platforms. To whit:

Like Facebook (and Instagram), Snapchat is eager to get a piece of the brand marketing pie, and they are. In 2016, 22% of senior marketers reported plans to advertise on Snapchat and the platform is making moves to attract more by a) adding features that a) appeal to broader audiences and b) enable branded content and advertising. If you’re a business or brand, here are some Snapchat marketing options you should be aware of:

• 1. Geo-filters:

  Snapchat users are filter crazy and can choose from a variety of Snapchat-enabled filters or custom filters that brands, businesses or individuals make available for a specific geographic area and time period (ranging from 20,000 square feet to 5MM square feet and used for up to 30 days). These On-Demand or Sponsored Geofilters can include brand logos and trademarks and are gaining traction for individual and business events and retail and brand marketing initiatives. Although prices start at just $5, costs can run into the thousands depending on the sponsor, geographic area and duration.

  

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  2. Mobile Video Ads

  Called “Snap Ads”, these 10-second, full-screen, vertical video ads come with an option for users to ‘swipe up’ (engage) and get the long-form story, which can be more video, images, text or additional ad component. Snapchat tracks engagement rates and reports that they are 5x higher than on other social platforms.

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  3. Sponsored Lens

  Snapchat lenses enable users to scan their own faces and create altered images (with the dog face being the Snapchat poster child). Brands can leverage this functionality into branded, interactive ads. Snapchat reports high average engagement (20 seconds) with these ad units and excellent reach. For Cinco de Mayo, Taco Bell scored big with a campaign to let Snapchatters turn their heads into a giant taco shell, accompanied by the Taco Bell “bong” sound. Live for one day, the campaign garnered 224 million views, a Snapchat all-time record, with costs were reportedly in the range of $750,000.

  Snapchat is rolling out new features – such as Memories – which enable users to access their camera roles and use off-Snapchat images as content. This should help attract a broader audience and create more branding opportunities. However, for proactive brands, especially those seeking to reach Millennials, options already exist that can help your brand connect in a highly-relevant context.

  

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