As we know social media marketing has brought a whole different game to the table for brands and being able to create unique relationships with their audience. As social media becomes increasingly popular forms of marketing it’s hard to break out of the advertising noise that riddles the environment. Because of this there is always a question of how do we break out of the mold and how do we do social media marketing better. If your target audience is somewhere between 13-25 year olds, you may want to consider Snapchat as a part of your marketing. Or even if you are a B-to-C brand you could possibly benefit from Snapchat as well.
If you are not familiar with Snapchat, it is unique social media application where you can send photos or videos in a time-sensitive manner. Anything you send is timed-to-disappear once the viewer opens the post. In it’s earlier phases the app was considered riske´ and not even closely considered to being a tool for social media marketing. On the contrary to this belief this unique app has a one up of being able to get your message quickly and efficiently to your audience. Because the posts only last a few seconds and are a one time view only, your audience is more than likely to pay really close attention to what you have to say. Utilizing the hyper-targeting capabilities of Snapchat can create opportunities to make even stronger connections.
A couple of ways you can make use of Snapchat is through contests, announcements, coupons and behind the scenes segments. Because Snapchat is so intimate it’s easy to be able to get consumers on board for something that has a reward of some sort. Say you send out a snap and it asks for the first 100 people to find the nearest store or item within store and take a photo for a coupon. You have just created a unique brand interaction that no other social media tool possesses. People may be more impulsive and willing to take action because they are getting contacted directly. There is also a satisfaction of knowing your favorite brands are responding directly to you. There is also an added bonus is if a catalyst of chain reactions occur if friends or family find out about the contest. It’s all about finding fun and creative ways to bring your fans or consumers closer to your brand.
Even if you don’t want to fully drive a contest or campaign on Snapchat, you can easily cross pollenate content into other social apps such as Instagram or Vine. The surface of Snapchat has only been scratched and the app is in a very valuable position to evolve into creating deeper relationships between brand and consumer. With the recently added story function, Snapchat has opened it’s doors to brands and did has done a great job at making them feel comfortable. It’s highly likely that there will be an increasing number of companies that will establish a presence on Snapchat. Even if you are not a B-to-C or have a target audience of 13-25 year olds, you may be surprised that Snapchat could be your next added platform for your social marketing efforts.
