Snapchat grows a little more every day. What originally started as a novelty platform has become increasingly embraced by businesses who use the app to share content with their customers and expand branding efforts. As the marketing landscape continues to shift, many companies are utilizing Snapchat to create interactive marketing experiences that customers enjoy. If you haven’t started yet, it’s relatively simple to incorporate Snapchat into your next campaign.
Allow Your Customers to Promote You
If your business has a physical location, you might be able to create a Snapchat filter that customers can use while they’re on your property. This concept is similar to a Facebook check in, but it incorporates a visual and some attractive graphics. This filter allows people to show their friends where they’ve been, and encourages users to show your branding, products, or services to their followers. These are called Geofilters, and they’re easy to design and submit directly to Snapchat.
Work With Someone Influential
Think about your target audience. What popular internet personalities do they follow? You may be able to invite one of these personalities to do something called a “Snapchat takeover.” This person will have access to your Snapchat, creating and sharing the content on your behalf. Your followers will see someone they admire using your products or services. The followers of the influencer will likely become your Snapchat followers in order to see the content the influencer is sharing. If you keep your Snapchat fun, you’re likely to retain a lot of these followers. In the past, Victoria’s Secret has allowed their models to take the reins on their Snapchat, and Sour Patch Kids has enlisted popular Vine personality Logan Paul.
Talk to Customers
Opening your Snapchat up for a Q&A is a particularly advantageous way to generate buzz about a new product or service. People will inevitably have questions, and you should encourage them to ask. Since Snapchat allows users to send 15 second videos back and forth, customers can submit videos asking you questions, and you can answer with a video response. It’s a lot more personal than answering text posts, and it’s as close as you can get to an in-person experience without anyone having to travel. People love personalized attention, and it helps build trust. Singer Selena Gomez and socialite Kylie Jenner have turned to Snapchat for Q&A’s to build up hype related to upcoming events.
Encourage Participation
Contests have been utilized in viral marketing tactics for a long time. People love to win – especially if they’re receiving special recognition or being awarded something for free. Snapchat comes with a lot of preloaded tools. Pages of graphics users can drag and drop onto their Snaps and a limited palette of colors to draw with allow users to get creative. Holding a themed Snap contest encourages your followers to get creative, and it will only take them a few minutes to enter. Take a screen capture of each worthy entry, and share winners on your social media profiles and through your story feed. That’s exactly what this hammock company did.
Provide Exclusive Content
People can be nosy, and that’s not always a bad thing. If they’re spending money with you, they’re probably curious about how things work behind the scenes. How do you develop and test your products or services? Who are the people that work hard to make your business successful? Your customers would love to see that. While you’re leading up to a big launch, offer your Snapchat followers exclusive sneak peeks to encourage them to get excited. Show them who you are, and what you’re working on.
Your competitors are probably already using Snapchat, and it’s time for you to jump on board. It’s easy, fun, and your employees likely already use it for personal purposes. Sending a Snap only takes a few seconds, and that few seconds is all it takes to keep your campaign fresh in the memory of your customers.
With a background in business administration and management, Tess Pajaron currently works at Open Colleges, Australia’s leading online educator. She likes to cover stories in careers and marketing.
