To be perfectly honest, when I heard about Snapchat, while I thought it was a cool idea, I never really considered it a viable platform for marketing. That was a mistake.
I assumed that since it revolved around intimate photos that disappear, it was too much of a one to one communication channel to be a viable marketing channel. I assumed it was too closed off to drive viral growth.
It turns out though that many companies have figured out how to engage Snapchat’s 30,000,000+ users in an effective, and even trackable way.
The main reason it works so well is that when you know an image or video is dissappearing in 5 seconds, you give it 100% of your attention.
I guess for a moment I forgot that all communication online today is one to one. Sure, my message might be broadcast to the masses, but the most effective content acts like a direct conversation which each individual reader.
There is a very real and human relationship at the heart of all marketing in todays social age, a relationship that can grow and leverage an intimate disappearing photo sharing app.
Now, I am not advocating sending inappropriate images to your followers, but that doesn’t mean you can make yourself vulnerable and give them a view inside your offices and company. You can be goofy and fun and authentically engage through snapchat.
Want to track its effectiveness? One company did a twitter contest where users had to screen capture their snaps, and tweet them to win prizes. The good news is you are always informed when a user takes a screen shot, so you know whats floating out there.
Want to have fun while tracking, simply use the age old social media strategy of offering limited time coupons to your followers. With Snapchat, you can run a vanishing coupon code to try to drum up activity. If you are a local restaurant and its especially quiet, shoot out a limited time offer just to your Snapchat followers. Lots of applications.
The Most Powerful Feature Though Is The Ability To Tell a Story To Your Prospects Visually.
As we know, visuals are the new headlines, and since you have a real relationship behind your social interactions, giving your fans a glimpse into who you are as a person, unadulterated by your PR department, will enable you to connect in a meaningful way.
I would put together a complete guide for Snapchat Marketing, but Ross Simmonds did a perfect job, so I’ll let him take over with his visual storytelling Slideshare.
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The problem with me is that while I’ve never considered snap chat a viable platform for marketing, I’ve never really considered it relevant at all, and rolled my eyes and mocked people with snap chat. I never did think about the benefits of a person knowing that what they’re looking at is about to disappear. It’s a bit like when you see a movie for the first time, you’re focusing on every detail, and that is something that could actually be used to the advantage of everyone who wants to build the platform into something productive for their business, so great point there. Thanks for embedding Ross Simmond’s guide too. I’ll be scrolling through it now, and possibly reconsidering my dislike to the app.