If you’re in social media as either a brand or an avid user and you’re not yet active on Snapchat, run – don’t walk – to your iPhone or Android and download it NOW (though I presume you are already on your phone, reading this.)
Why Use Snapchat
Snapchat gives you as the user an opportunity to be as authentic with your audience as possible via social media. And for businesses whose target audience is under the age of 35 and covet the interest of the millennial demographic, that feeling of authenticity is exactly what you should seek to create. Whether you’re a brand or an individual, Snapchat allows you to give your audience a chance to connect with you on the most true-to-life social network out there. The Snap world is not the place for perfectly-worded tweets or glamorous VSCO selfies. Nor will you find your grandma liking your updates. Heck, no one will, and that’s what makes it so endearing! There’s no pressure to achieve a certain following count; no lurkers who don’t engage; no comments or likes to show. It’s just you, your phone camera, and the ephemeral moment in front of you. And it’s this feeling of simplicity that is precisely why it’s dominating the social space and changing advertising as we know it.
How do you Snap?
Create a Story
Snapchat has a feature called Stories, which allows users to photograph or film a moment and add it to a personal stream. Each story can be up to 10 seconds max and lasts for 24 hours. After that, it’s gone forever – unless you download it to your camera roll by tapping the down arrow that appears on the bottom of the screen after filming. There is no limit to the number of stories that can be added to your stream, though the more you add, the less likely you will maintain your engagement – so don’t overwhelm your followers with too many at once.
Send snaps to specific user(s)
In the early days, Snapchat was purely meant for sending user-to-user photos. To do this, take a photo or video and click the flashing arrow at the bottom right of the screen. Before you hit send, you can also add text, emojis, or art to your snap. Simply tap either the square (for emojis), T (for text), or the pencil (for drawing), all of which are in the upper right corner. The more creative you make it, the better.
Adding more to your snaps: Lenses and Filters
Snapchat currently has two main ways to add an extra dimension to a photo or video.
1) Lenses, which can be added while filming, use face-mapping to overlay an image on the user’s face, allowing you to take your selfie to the next level. And let’s be real, isn’t that the epitome of a social media dream-come-true?
2) Filters are essentially layers that can be added after a Snap has been captured. Filters include color augmentation, geofilters, and the ability to speed up or slow down video.
Lenses
The lenses that Snapchat offers typically alter the user’s face i.e. by resizing it, like a funhouse mirror would, adding an animation, like snow, or adding an object, like sunglasses that move as you move. Last week, a face-swapping lense was introduced as well and can be used when you have two people in front of the camera. The options change daily, keeping users engaged. Lenses initially launched in September of 2015 and I am constantly impressed with what they come up – and I’m not the only one. Over 10 million snaps use a lense each day. At basis, they allow users to be silly, which adds to the overall authenticity of the platform. For a few months in late 2015, lenses were available for $0.99 purchase, allowing users to save their favorite ones before they became unavailable, but this is no longer in place. Instead, old and new lenses are added to the rotation. To use a lense, tap your face and wait for a grid overlay to appear. Once it does, the lense option will become available.
Brands can pay to sponsor lenses. Though this may seem like a non-traditional marketing strategy, it’s quite ingenious because not only does the brand have the user’s attention, but they also gain the attention of the user’s friends who see the snap. It’s one thing to ask users to take selfies as part of a brand campaign and submit them via another social network. It’s a whole new ball game when the user is willingly doing it on their own, purely for fun. Fun is the currency of social media. Now, the user is not only endorsing the brand, but they’re sharing it with all of their followers, too.
Filters
Want to tell users where you are, or enhance your video by changing the color or speed? After taking a photo or video, swipe right to add a filter, timestamp, current speed, and temperature; swipe left to change the color.
You can add multiple filters by holding one finger on the screen and swiping to add others.
Geofilters
Geofilters are essentially location-specific art overlays. For example, a user in Seattle will find that when they take a photo or video and scroll right, a “Seattle” geofilter will appear. Businesses and individuals alike can create these. In a way, geofilters are comparable to a FourSquare check-in. Though the days of FourSquare check-ins are long gone, it’s much more conducive to a user’s privacy when they can snap a photo with a geofilter and see exactly who has viewed it.
Snapchat encourages users to submit filters, and roughly 1/3 of those submitted get approved.
All filters must be:
-Transparent PNGs less than 300 KB
-1,080 x 1,920 px
This presents another opportunity for brands to participate in the fun and create sponsored filters. Additionally, geofilters can increase awareness for local businesses. Since they are location-based, nearby users who discover a brand’s filter will now be made aware of any business in close proximity with a set filter. In June 2015, McDonald’s became the first company to use a geofilter for an advertising campaign, and the product continues to be used by more brands.
Additionally, brands and users alike can also pay to have an on-demand filter. Unlike a geofilter, an on-demand filter is not constricted to a specific location, but can be used as the user or small business wants. Launching a new product, hosting an event, or opening a new store? Consider using an on-demand filter to spread the word.
Growing your snetwork
A snetwork is a term (I) used to refer to a network of dedicated snappers whom you may or may not know. It doesn’t really matter if you know these individuals though, because once you start seeing their snaps, you begin to see a glimpse of their life and build an understanding of who they are as a brand or person. Major key to good social media marketing is to connect on a personal level, and Snapchat lets you do just that.
Adding friends
To add friends, go to the camera mode, select the ghost at the top of the screen, and tap Add Friends. You can add by username, from your phone’s contact list, from nearby users, or by a Snapcode, which is somewhat analogous to a QR code and can be sent to others via text. If you have the Snapcode image, save it to your camera roll and open it when adding friends via a Snapcode.
As a brand, you’ll want to make sure your account is set to public so that users can follow you. To do so, find the gear in the upper-right corner of the ghost screen and follow the instructions here.
If you have any questions or want to know more, just drop a note below. And if you want to follow my snaps, find me @SnipitySnaps.
-Amanda