How to use Snapchat for video marketing
Snapchat, formerly Pictaboo, is an app where photos or snaps vanish a short time after posting them. The image messaging program started out as a simple and fun mobile app for teens. Today, Snapchat is one of the fastest growing social media marketing platforms for businesses of any niche and size.
Snapchat by numbers (as of August 2017):
Total number of daily active users: 173 million
Total number of monthly active users: 300+ million
Number of snaps (photos and videos) created daily: 1 million
Percentage of American Snapchat users: 18%
Percentage of daily reach in the US (ages 18-34): 41%
Number of Snapchat video views daily: 10+ billion
With these figures, it’s not surprising that marketers take Snapchat for video marketing seriously.
Snaps to Promote
Snapchat has a variety of features and types of posts that marketers can maximize to make a relevant video marketing campaign. They also have access to different settings and editing options to help in interacting and engaging with their target market.
• Images
Photos may be taken directly from the marketer’s camera phone. He may also use photos edited and uploaded from the saved photos album. The only way to view Snapchat images is in portrait style.
• Videos
Snapchat videos must only be ten seconds long (or less). Like the images, the videos can also be edited.
• Snaps
These are images or videos that are privately sent and are only available to specific users. Once the intended recipient of the snaps saw or played the visuals for the permissible time, the snaps will expire and vanish.
• Stories
Ideal for mass distribution of content, Snapchat stories are photos or videos shared with the brand’s followers.
Strategies to Optimize Snapchat for Video Marketing
As per Wicked Society, Snapchat’s engagement rate is nearly four times higher than Instagram’s stats. This gives the latter an edge in conquering the middle part of the funnel. A marketer can use the app to engage with the brand’s followers on a more personal level.
• Boost Story Replies
Among the best features of Snapchat as a marketing tool is “My Story.” Marketers can post consecutive snaps about a product or an event. The brand followers can send a response for each snap in the story. This feature is ideal for getting feedback from the audience to efficiently calculate user engagement.
Companies can use Snapchat’s story to hold Q&As, contests, polls, and product teasers, to name a few. The feedback from the viewers can provide marketers with ideas for the type of content they should create, and the material the audience resonates with the most.
• Offer Discount Codes
Since Snapchat isn’t congested with marketers yet, it still has a more favorable engagement percentage than other social media platforms. As such, marketers can be used to turn hesitant buyers to actual customers. Marketers can post snaps with either a promo code or a URL to direct them to a discounted item.
This can be an efficient way to generate some return of investment using the platform. Given that marketers have to direct their followers to a particular link, it’s easy to measure engagement. They just need to keep track of the actual number of people who clicked that URL.
• Use Influencers
Among the most effective approaches to grow the brand’s following is to adopt the working platform of niche influencers. Small businesses and startups that want to present their brand to a more prominent market can take advantage of “influencer takeover.” During a takeover, an influencer will post photos, videos, stories or snaps on behalf of the brand for a specific amount of time.
For instance, Adidas had Pharrell as an influencer on one of their major events. He took over the brand’s Snapchat account posting BTS snaps and funny stories real-time. His takeover ended up garnering about 3.4 million views in less than a day.
Snapchat for video marketing shouldn’t be rigid or too concise. It is a casual app with a quirky “personality.” Marketers need to follow the app’s lead.