Is Snapchat still worth using in social media campaigns?
The Snapchat app first came onto the scene some years back. Its options for sharing pictures (and later videos) helped it make its mark quickly. The app gained a lot of traction with teens, and has managed to stay on the map for years.
But as other picture and video-sharing platforms like Facebook., YouTube, Instagram and TikTok dominate social media, people who want to run a video campaign might be wondering if they should include Snapchat in their plan.
When to use Snapchat
Snapchat is a great way to stream live events to viewers. Although it might not be the place to upload pre-recorded videos, like YouTube or Instagram, it's an excellent platform to showcase events happening live to people.
This is especially so for local businesses who want to pull in residents to their events. By showing what's happening in real-time, you have a higher chance of pulling in people, compared to more text-based efforts like live-tweeting. When used along with other live-streaming programs, like those for Facebook and Instagram, live-streaming on Snapchat can help bring attention to events happening at your business.
"Fun" businesses like restaurants and bars that host events would be able to increase their turnout if they streamed their events. Karaoke, trivia nights and other fun games would help your brand and bring in more customers.
Another good time to use Snapchat is at conferences. If you're a business that attends or hosts conferences, then your business can stream the keynotes at your conference or your speakers at another business' conference. These streams would also help to bring attention to your business, and establish your team as experts in their fields.
Is Snapchat still popular?
You might be wondering if Snapchat is worth having if you won't be using it every day. Is it worth the effort to make and manage the account if you're not using it as often as your other accounts?
Making the account certainly doesn't hurt, and it's a lower-maintenance platform compared to other sites like Facebook and Twitter. Usually there are less push notification with Snapchat, and since it won't be used every day, there are no daily posts to worry about.
Not to mention that the platform is still popular. As of 2018, there are about 186 million daily active users on Snapchat, according to Influencer Marketing Hub. Though there has been dips in usage for quite some time, that kind of audience is nothing to ignore - especially since the average Snapchat user is in many business' target demographic.
Snapchat user is, as expected, very popular among young people, with 78% of Americans aged 18 to 24 using the app. Over half of Americans between 25 and 29 years of age also use the platform, as Influencer Marketing Hub goes on to say. About half of American teens also claim Snapchat is their favorite platform, beating Instagram by almost 20%.
Continuing with Influencer Marketing Hub's article, it's clear that the app is just as popular abroad. Nearly 100% of social media users in the United Kingdom use Snapchat, and just like in the U.S., most of the users are under 30. However, adult users aged 30 to 44, make up over 30% of Snapchat's users. These audiences are perfect for online businesses that want to put a human face on their brand and connect with customers.
Many Snapchat users also use the platform when they're out, and hardly use it for news or "serious" purposes, as Influencer Marketing Hub points out. This means that if someone using Snapchat finds a fun brand they like, they'll likely have friends with them that they'll share it with.
What marketing tools does Snapchat offer?
Snapchat has a few features for advertisers. These tools include sponsored lenses, Top Feed ads, long-form video content, web view ads and more, according to a separate article from Influencer Marketing Hub.
The most budget-friendly options - top feed ads and on-demand geofilters - involve buying ads that are pushed to the top of users' feeds, and filters that people in a designated area can use. These are great options to grab users' interest in non-aggressive, interactive ways.
Although marketing on Snapchat is still on the expensive side, it's something that growing businesses as well as established companies alike can take advantage of.
Concluding thoughts
Snapchat is a sturdy app. It survived Instagram and TikTok's rises to popularity, despite the similarities between the apps. It's an app that is here to stay, and one that businesses should be taking advantage of more.
Good luck, and happy marketing!
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