Snapchat Report – Businesses who made a killing using Snapchat
Snapchat was first launched in 2011 and was immediately a huge hit among the younger, tech-savvy, generation. It was a new way for people to share content and communicate with one another, simply through the click of a button. What’s the catch? The content only lasted for a limited amount of time before it disappeared from your phone. Millennials loved it! And while the younger generation discovered new ways to use the app for entertainment, big corporations saw an opportunity to promote their business by joining in this new social craze.
Snapchat is one of the best go-to-tools for targeting the younger generation. More than 71% of active users fall between the 18-29 age bracket. Because of this, businesses are flocking to Snapchat to tap into the largest demographic in the United States, the under 30s. On a daily basis, Snapchat accommodates more than 100 million active users, “and 54% log in every day”. Need more convincing as to why your company should jump on the Snapchat bandwagon? The app has more video views than Facebook, more users than Twitter, its “ads are viewed up to a million times per day”, and its “daily video views have increased 400% year-on-year”. Enough said, right? Now that we acknowledged the app’s vast global outreach, how do businesses use it to promote their own endeavors?
Like with any social media tool, there are a number of tactics you can use to market your business, however, this blog post will only focus on five. Five different tactics that have been successfully implemented by several well-known global companies, for the purpose of advertising a new product or services.
So, here are five killer tactics you can use to promote your business:
1. Develop a sponsored lens –
Developing a sponsored lens that reflects your brand is a great way to create engagement. When Snapchat first introduced this new feature, it changed the way people viewed the world through digital means. Simply put, they are superimposed “digital effects, animation, or graphics on top of a real-life image”. It’s a great method to get customers familiar with your brand, as “75% of Snapchat users engage with AR everyday”.
Case studies:
- Gatorade had one of the most successful Snapchat campaigns thus far. During Superbowl 50, they launched a new Snapchat lens that allowed users to ‘experience’ a long-lasting tradition; getting Gatorade dumped on your head after a win. This filter resulted in an 8% increase in purchase intent and garnered 165 million views!! Not bad at all.
- Taco Bell also decided to create a Superbowl filter that helped increase brand awareness and boost engagement. They developed a fun and silly filter that was viewed 224 million times, where the “average user spent 24 seconds playing with the lens before sharing it with friends”.
2. Post user-generated content –
Re-posting customer content can help build brand loyalty. It shows the customers that the business cares about and pays close attention to their online activity, which goes to show that customer focus is a central part of their business strategy. Sharing user-generated content is also another way to have the user promote the brand, instead of the brand doing so itself. It’s also a “more authentic way businesses can use social media”. Doing so can make customers feel more included and an integral part of the brand.
Case studies:
- GrubHub implemented this strategy for one of its campaigns a few years back, and it was a huge hit. The campaign consisted of a contest where a daily challenge would be posted, a winner would be announced, and awarded a $50 gift card. For this contest alone, GrubHub witnessed a 20% increase in followers.
Advertise offers/discounts/coupons –
Posting about offers and discounts on Snapchat can create exclusivity and buzz around your brand. People will run to Snapchat in order to gain access to these exclusive promotions and will keep coming back to stay updated with the latest deals. It’s a great way to not only incentive customers to buy, but to also gain more views and followers.
Case studies:
- Amazon is renowned for their special deals and promotional campaigns; it continuously goes back to this type of marketing strategy. When they first launched their profile on Snapchat, it did so by simultaneously advertising promotional codes and exclusive deals. For instance, wireless Bluetooth speakers, valued at $60, were being sold for only $1!!
Promote a new product –
Social media tools are a fantastic way to promote new or upcoming products. You can generate buzz around your campaigns by posting snippets of the product or by taking the customer behind-the-scenes of the development process. It gets consumers excited about your product way before it officially hits the market, which can help boost sales. With this said, it comes as no surprise that almost every company on Snapchat uses this platform to promote products in order to generate demand.
Case studies:
- Acura did an amazing job by using Snapchat to tease a new product. They leveraged their large Twitter following by posting a quick six-second video of its new NSX prototype. However, it was only accessible to the first 100 people that added or followed the brand on Snapchat. This strategic move surely resulted in an increase of new followers for the brand!
- When Kylie Cosmetics was first launched, it was extremely hard for people to get their hands on her famous lipkits. They would get sold out in a matter of minutes, literally! Kylie Jenner managed to create exclusivity around her brand by having a limited supply of products and increasing the demand for it. Specifically, she used social media platforms (primarily Snapchat) to tease important info about upcoming launches and feature videos of different product demonstrations. In other words, you had to add or follow Kylie on Snapchat if you wished to get your hands on her trending makeup products.
Provide behind-the-scenes or exclusive access –
Nowadays, consumers demand transparency and prefer engaging with companies that post organic content. So, what better way to do so than by utilizing social media tools as a way to bring customers “behind the scenes”. Creating and posting short videos about the company culture, production process, or upcoming events, can be great storytelling content and a way to make your customers feel part of the brand.
Case studies:
- McDonald’s decided to incorporate their celebrity endorsements into their social media strategy. During a campaign with Lebron James, they took the customers behind the scenes by showcasing what happens during a commercial shooting. People, of course, loved seeing a more transparent and organic perspective of one of the most famous basketball players!
- Cisco has quite a different social media strategy compared to other businesses. They put their main focus on the employees and use Snapchat as a way to showcase the company culture, which resulted in a “highly successful wearecisco” trend. They introduced “different employees in different positions” by following their daily tasks. Because Cisco offers a more transparent view of the company, “viewers are able to form a connection with the company beyond product placement”. The data that followed demonstrated that Cisco’s strategy was highly beneficial. They witnessed “a 600% follower increase week-over-week since its launch, and a 70-80% rate of story completion (clicking through from start to finish of each story)”.
Snapchat for business might not be for everyone, but for those with a clear target audience and a proper social media strategy, it can be quite profitable in a number of ways. Your customer outreach is massive, as there are at least 218 million global users active on Snapchat per day (*as of January 2020). If you can develop a proper digital marketing strategy, whether it be promoting upcoming products, taking the customers behind-the-scenes, introducing promo codes, developing a sponsored lens, or simply reposting user-generated content, there’s no telling where your campaign can take you. Gatorade managed to increase their purchasing intent, or Acura, who managed to garner new followers by introducing a new product via Snapchat. There are a number of strategies you can use; you just have to find the best one for you and your target audience!
