And here we go again: Another article about this unstoppable phenomenon called Snapchat. As if the Internet wasn’t already swamped with clever articles, how-to advice and “10 super secret steps for successful Snapchat marketing” stories. Obviously we as digital specialists can’t hide from that new form of human communication, too. Consequently we dealt with the peculiarity of Snapchat and tried to collect the really important facts about Snapchat marketing.
Snapchat is Everywhere
Snapchat seems to have emerged as the current favorite toy in the broad field of social apps. What live tickers were in the 2000s is now Snapchat. Generation Snapchat is on the rise – a very influencing development like Nintendo or MSN used to have their effects on a whole generation. To not to be seen as old-fashioned or boring, companies and brands also need to present their content according to the current trend: authentic, real-time, Snapchat. The Wall Street Journal recently posted an article about successful Snapchat marketing. It says that Snapchat reaches more than 40 percent of the up to 35-years olds in the USA, which shows its enormous relevance in terms of online communication of our time.
How to Snap
But who operates on Snapchat successfully? For sure: The big players. Best example is the Taco Bell filter which replaces your head with a huge Taco. According to the Wall Street Journal’s article such “sponsored lenses” cost about 450,000 up to 750,000 US$ per day. Yet these lenses are the most interactive, playful and thus also most expensive form of advertising on Snapchat.
Another feature that is especially interesting for location-based advertisement are sponsored geofilters, which enable Snapchat-users to pimp their photo or video with a very special branded message. These on-demand geofilters are only available in the USA, Canada and the UK so far, but their way is already paved to conquer Europe as well. These filters are very appealing not only for private persons but also for businesses. You can simply create your very own design, state the desired geo-fence and timespan where and when your filter should be accessible and after a quick check from the Snapchat team your filter can go online for up to 30 days. Community Geofilters (filters without branded messages or anything like that) are for free, on-demand filters cost depending on size and duration from 5$.*1
Such filters are interesting even for people without own Snapchat activity, as they attract its young target group directly. A possible use case: An own geofilter for the opening of a restaurant in Berlin with a geo-fence of about 2 km. Every user who posts a snap with the filter in his or her story gets a coffee for free.
Snap Ads & Discover
Another exciting feature of Snapchat for brands: the Discover area. No matter if you look for advice for your broken heart, check the latest breaking news or fashion trends – there is always a channel for everyone’s interest on Snapchat. Discover directly, creatively and funnily places news and messages into the lives of its users. With Discover Snapchat offers a professional media feature to publish digital magazine content and directly aims at high-selling publishers and the entertainment business. The dwell time of users is heightened and thus also the interest of advertisers.
In the USA is already real what in German isn’t: Snap Ads. With them advertisers can place 10-seconds videos between the stories of your friends and in the Discover area. If the ad appeals to the user, he can simply swipe up and thus be transferred to the whole content – videos, articles, photos etc. According to Snapchat, the rate of people swiping up is five times higher compared to the click trough of comparable ads on other platforms.*2 The pricing varies between 40-60$ per CPM between user stories and about 100$ per CPM in the Discover area.*3
Adieu Snapchat short-time memory
Snapchat recently introduced the “Memories” feature, a tool which saves snaps on a permanent basis. This (at first glance rather un-Snapchat-like) feature is the result of people saving snaps and reposting them on other social media platforms afterwards. To enable users that their snapshots don’t fall into oblivion once they’re snapped, you can now directly save them on Snapchat and don’t need to download and re-post them on other channels. This is especially exciting for brands, as prefabricated pictures and videos can easily be uploaded and snapped from the gallery. High effort doesn’t get lost in a one-hit wonder anymore and the community always has something to look at. This may seem very Instagram-like, but Memories is a very attractive tool for marketers.
Even the very moment when you snap is important. Since the main users of Snapchat (about 70%) are younger than 25 years old*4,5 we can assume that their highest activity on social media channels is during the morning hours. Pupils and students look at their phone before they get up, during lunch break or during a not-so-interesting lecture. This is the time where the main users of Snapchat are most active and can be directly accessed to in real-time.
Snapchat in Germany
Snapchat is the top theme at all the other social media platforms, in blogs and at conferences. Still, in Germany there is much more potential left since no company or brand has strategically included Snapchat in their communications. Eventually, the content production and the relevance for the company as such is, compared to YouTube or Facebook, quite imbalanced. For that we’d need more transparency and a wider reach of users. Companies and brands should revise their social media appearance more Snapchat-like since the hype about the app with the little ghost won’t stop. Whether there is a one and only Snapchat strategy remains to be seen. One thing is clear: Storytelling remains to be Alpha and Omega at Snapchat. The biggest chance may be found in a combination of all the online-marketing unique app-features which include the user (inter-)actively.