I may sound like a moron calling Snapchat as a great medium for business. Well, content that lasts only for 10 seconds and doesn’t even look convincing as Twitter or Facebook for marketing purposes. True, Snapchat doesn’t seem like a good business breeding ground, at least for many business owners! But on the contrary, Snapchat is proving out to be a great businesses platform to many well-known brands. And if you want to connect well with your customers, you need it too. I tell you why I think so. Read On!
Reasons Why You Require It
- **It Is Favorably Personal**The best things about business Snapchat account includes the ability to update your followers about your last company trip to a foreign land, your latest product launch event or the pranks you play on your co-employees. You are able to connect to your followers with your stories and hence your relation becomes more engaging and trustworthy. You can find some great examples here.
- **You Can Find Incredible Engagement** Snapchat’s essence lies in its instant nature. That’s why, Snapchat has hit 301 million monthly active users worldwide. Huffington post states that a user who has 1000 followers on Snapchat can anticipate at least 900 followers to watch each of his or her snap. That’s awesome! This number looks far better when we compare it to our traditional methods of marketing i.e. email and Facebook. As you need to pay to make your ads visible to your audience on Facebook and emails have an open rate of 25%.
- **You Can Find Awesome And Relevant Filters** The filters of Snapchat are quite viral. They are also a great example of coding expertise. The screenshots of the filters are quite ubiquitous on the web and can be used for snapchat marketing campaigns.
Lenses And Computer Vision
Before we move further into knowing how to create following through Snapchat, I think you need to know how technically fabulous Snapchat is.
Snapchat did not start well when it came to coding aspects. The app consumed CPU resources even when it was not used. But with 2.0 version, things really changed.
Snapchat Lenses And Computer Vision
They are great tools to make your snaps more interesting. It applies real time filters and sounds. So, what’s amazing about them? First of all, let me tell you that it requires great coding aspects to map your face real time. The technology is called ‘computer vision’. The technology facilitates the app to look at your face and detects your facial expressions. It outlines the expressions and takes account of the factors such distance of your face from the camera, expressions you pull out and the direction you are staring.
Things you need to perform:-
- Tap on face in Snapchat
- Swipe left and choose the lens
- Perform the actions you have been prompted to do. For example, the screen will say “raise your eyebrow”.
- Tap on capture button to click an image and hold it to record a video.
Creating Your Following on Snapchat
Now, you would be thinking the ways to use this treasure that you were missing out till now? Well, Snapchat is a pretty simple game. Here are the things that you have to do:-
- Create intriguing stories
- Post at least twice per day
- Download those stories and share them on other social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
- Share the stories on your website or with your article.
The motto is to provide maximum exposure to your content so that it acquires maximum engagement.
Awesome Snapchat Marketing Strategies For Your Business
So, what are you waiting for? It’s time that you upgrade your marketing campaign with Snapchat. But, you can’t just dive in unprepared. You need a solid strategy to follow and gain the maximum out from the platform. Here, are some tips which you can employ to foster your business instantly.
- **Post Regularly** The rule applies not only to Snapchat but any social media platform that provides highest engagement. Hence, never miss to post. Ideally, posting twice a day will certainly bring up opportunities for your business. Your main focus should revolve around indulging your audience into your experiences and make them feel that they were with you.
- **Make Peace With The Limits** Yes, a 10 second long video or image can seem heart-breaking to marketers. But, that’s the essence of Snapchat and the proof of its acceptance lies in 301 million users monthly. Therefore, now the question stays what should you do to engage your prospects? Create a goddamn cool image or video of 10 seconds! Your content should be interesting enough to attract audience in 10 seconds.
- **Reveal Your Personality** People really love to connect with people they love and follow. Hence, this is your chance to build a strong relationship with your target audience. Many brands have worked out this phenomenon and reaped the benefits. Snapchat endorses human connection and thus, depicting a story and speaking directly to your crowd will build trust with your customers.
- **Share On Other Platforms** You don’t have feeds in Snapchat and it is difficult to search for new followers. But, you can circulate your content on other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram Google+ etc.
- **Keep Posting** 3 billion snaps per day and 166 million daily users (opportunities), you have got every reason to move along with Snapchat. Keep moving ahead.
Bonuses
- Recruiting Top Talent: If you are hiring, you can spread the news efficiently via Snapchat advertising. You can take the example of AOL who used Snapchat to hire women staff by posting video snaps on the web that reached 17 million views and 8 million users.
- Organizing Contests or Providing Offers: Again, Snapchat is a great medium to organize contests that promotes your brand image. For example, Grubhub conducted a one-week scavenger hunt called as ‘Snaphunt’. They posted different challenges daily which increased their followers by 20%.
I’m sure that Snapchat is much more than a snap-sharing tool for you and you would have got an idea about how to start with Snapchat. Now, you can go out and research for some brands in your niche that are making it large from their business Snapchat accounts. You can take some serious lessons from their Snapchat marketing strategies and give your business a kickstart.
Names like eMarketer have already forecasted Snapchat as the next big thing to watch out in the marketing arena. Thus, now it’s your turn to make hay while the sun shines. Believe me, it will be time well spent.
Have a splendid Snapchat marketing journey!
