Is Snapchat stealing headlines and turning digital marketers heads’ upside down for a reason?
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube—and now the mobile app Snapchat hits the brand scene with a vengeance. Do we really need one more thing to worry about in the social media and digital marketing world?
What we need is what our audience wants, so say hello to Snapchat—once the appeal of high schoolers and known for sexting, is now growing up and into the palm of our hands. I mean even the White House officially joined Snapchat as a way to reach millennials and tell its story, starting with Obama’s last State of the Union. Here is how you can get started:
Easy to Do: < 5 minutes everyday
- Secure your brand’s Snapchat
- Follow other brands
- Use it personally to understand the mechanics and features
- Read up on some guides, how to’s, and case studies. Follow experts such as Delmondo agency and subscribe to its newsletter.
Medium: 1-2 hours a week
- If you’re ready to start growing a following, find friends first via your contacts (if using the iPhone)
- Analyze if your audience is on Snapchat—is it worth it?
- Download your Snapcode (you can customize it to match your brand much like Mashable does on its Twitter handle) and use it to cross promote in print, bios, social profiles, blogs, and as part of your social media cross-promoting strategy.
- Announce it in meetings with staff, clients, new business.
- Start using it with your staff first to experiment
- Set up a Google Alert to watch for news and online shows via Periscope, Blab, etc.
Advanced: You’ll need time, money, and serious commitment
- Create company Snapchat stories: Behind-the-scenes stories happening at the office can give an authentic glimpse into company culture.
- POV: Are you the expert in something (or want to be known as one)? Give your point of view about whatever the hot topic you want to associate yourself with.
- Promote an event, article, or story: Are you in the news or want to be the news? This is your year to take over your PR visibility like no other. Get your employees who might have more followers to help spread the word via your handle. Or spread the word to employees quickly. Oh no, the boss is on Snapchat! Eyes might be rolling, but keep going.
- Snapchat takeovers: No followers? No problem. Sort of. It’s easier said than done, but it’s a tried and true way brands like Disney have successfully reached millennials without the “corporate” speak of a typical social media channel’s content. Snapchat celebrity Shaun McBride better know as Shonduras famously took over Disney’s account with the social media manager very close by.
- Creativity awaits: Snapchat is one place where creativity is at its finest moment with ways to add flavor via doodles, filters, text, video, lenses, and more that super power users figure out to stay one snap ahead.
- Online marketing challenged? Well sort of. There’s no place for links, similar to Instagram’s bio. Actually, on Snapchat, there really isn’t any bio except name and photo. But Nick Cicero, CEO of the Delmondo agency, sees Snapchat actually being a positive contributor to driving traffic to a website and influencing branded search results.
- Measuring Snapchat. Aha! Now that’s a slight problem. Google Analytics is not going to really work here. Views, days of week, time, text, video or no video, view count, type of content, total snaps in a story, followers, etc. are all fair game. But when something is quick to consume, it’s quick to disappear. The metrics aren’t exactly black and white and that’s why companies such as Delmondo are offering select brands one of the only Snapchat analytics platforms to gain insights on what works.
Snap and Learn
Check out these recent Snapchat news and sources to follow:
- Delmondo’s newsletter is self-described as like Tiger Beat meets AdWeek and promises to lace your inbox with the freshest news, pretty photos, and crazy ideas coming out of branded content and influencer marketing looking for Snapchat ideas.
- Social Media Examiner Blab talks about Snapchat with an appearance and point of view by Mark Traphagen.
- WSJ Snapchat 101 is everything you need to know to understand Snapchat if you were born after 1986.
- Ad Week on “How Snapchat Became Such a Hot Platform for Digital Marketers in So Little Time”
- LA Times on “How Snapchat is Targeting the Over 35 Crowd”
- Snapchat’s Blog to find out first from the source itself
- 5 Snapchat PR Secrets: Marketers Are Flocking to Snapchat. Are You?
Where will Snapchat end up? “As marketers and brands flock to Snapchat, it’s going to be interesting as right now everyone has a different angle or take on how to use it,” said Cicero in a recent interview for the students in my University of Florida social media management class.
Learn more about integrating Snapchat into the social media marketing mix at the Pubcon Masters Workshops with Lisa Buyer, Melissa Fach, and Jabez Lebret at Pubcon SFIMA 2016.
Snapchat: @lisabuyer
