With 150 million daily active users worldwide and 400 million snaps sent every day, Snapchat has certainly enjoyed a fast rise as a digital channel.
A huge 71% of users are under the age of 25, so it’s clear why most people are under the impression that it can only be used by teenagers or millennials – but it offers so much more.
Over 60% of smartphone users between the ages of 13 and 34 are Snapchatters and what’s more revealing is how quickly the channel has proliferated among older demographics.
It’s hard to believe Snapchat launched just four years ago but with 10 billion videos being viewed on the app every day, for a social media marketer, that’s also 10 billion potential opportunities.
“In a world where our attention span is limited to five minutes, Snapchat could be a marketers dream”, founder of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel.
If you’re unfamiliar with the app, here’s what you need to know:
- A person or brand can send photos and videos (called Snaps) to their followers
- These Snaps can then be viewed for up to 10 seconds before they disappear
- The app includes face-changing filters, colourful effects and messaging
- In 2013, Snapchat Stories was launched – a type of photo/video sharing that allows users to upload a series of content that can be viewed an unlimited amount of times by all followers for a 24-hour period.
Since its launch, a whole host of brands and organisations have jumped on the band wagon. Reaching out to a new audience, delivering instant results and creating exclusive content, brands are reaping the benefits of Snapchat. So, what are those benefits and why should your business get snapping?
REAL TIME SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Snapchat is perfect for real-time social media marketing because it gives the audience direct access to live events. If you’re hosting or taking part in an event (product launches, trade shows, charity events, grand openings etc.) then it’s a great tool to leverage. It gives your audience live access to the event, wherever they are.
Burberry snapped a series of content for London Fashion Week.
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
Giving the ideal opportunity to tease videos and pictures of new products, Snapchat provides special content to your audience that they might not receive on other digital platforms. John Lewis took great advantage and created their own Buster the Boxer filter for their 2016 Christmas campaign.
THE REAL YOU
With Snapchat, you can provide behind-the-scenes content to your followers. It’s not just one-off events that your audience might be interested in. People are thirsty for transparency and Snapchat allows you to humanise your brand, have fun and show your followers the faces behind the account.
EASY TO MEASURE EXPOSURE
Unlike some other social media channels, Snapchat can deliver accurate real time metrics on who has actually viewed your content. Snapchat provides figures on how many people have viewed your Story, as well as displaying whether your Snap has been opened or not. Although other platforms do offer reach figures, you could question how helpful they are. Facebook, for example, has recently been accused of inflating traffic numbers.
Although these benefits sound enticing, there are still some thoughts to consider before diving in and signing up:
- Does it fit with my audience? According to Snapchat Ads, 86% of users fall into the 13 – 37 age range
- Do I have the resources? Like most social platforms, resources are needed to create quality, relevant and engaging content.
- Can I dedicate the time? If you’re considering Snapchat as a marketing tool, then you’re probably already signed up Twitter, Facebook, Instagram…
- Can it deliver a healthy ROI? It’s been said that Snapchat can deliver £4,000 ROI per minute
So, it’s easy to see the attraction here – Snapchat appears to be on fire. It’s filled a hole in the market that needed filling and it’s quickly joined the list of big players in social. Today’s teens have finally learned that what you post on social media – the good, the bad and the inappropriate – stays there forever. And so that’s why Snapchat, with its ten second detonation technology, is winning.
If you want to find out more about organic or paid social media marketing, get in touch with the team.
