Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you probably know by now that Snapchat is currently the hottest social media platform around. Of course, it’s been on the scene for quite some time now so it’s not exactly new, but the team at Snapchat has been making improvements to the platform in order to encourage user interaction and create a strong, snapping community.
With improvements to IM and video chat, the addition of Snapcash, and the ability to advertise, Snapchat is becoming more and more mainstream, especially among millennials. But because of the nature of Snapchat it can be a little confusing at first to figure out the best ways to connect with an audience on this unusual platform.
Here are 3 unique ways to get started with Snapchat marketing:
1. Partner with an Established Snapchatter
When you first start using Snapchat it can be difficult to gain a following because of how users add new accounts. They physically have to type in your username or use your SnapCode to find your Snapchat account.
Partnering with a more established Snapchatter that makes sense for your brand image can be a great way to attract new followers to your account and raise awareness for your brand. If you sell a specific product, you could send samples of that product for your new partner to review on their Snapchat. Or, if you offer a service, it may be more effective to make a guest appearance or host a takeover on your partner’s account to talk about an area of your expertise that would be relevant to your partner’s audience.
2. Offer an Exclusive Promotion
With all social media accounts you should always be looking for ways to provide your followers with value. And one of the best ways to do this is to offer them exclusive deals and promotions only available through a specific social media account.
This is also yet another way to grow your following. You can use your other social media channels to tease the awesome promo code or coupon you have posted on your Snapchat story. And because Snapchat stories go away after 24 hours, your followers have to act fast to get access to your deal.
3. Create Your Own Geofilters
You’ve probably seen the geofilters that show up whenever you visit a new town, university, or some other significant location, like a museum. Here are a few examples I’ve come across in my travels:
What you may not know is that you can create your own. This is by far the coolest thing you can do with Snapchat for your business. Of course you can create community based filters like the ones above, but for a fee, you can have your on-demand geofilter display for a few hours on a specific date in a specific geo location.
For personal use, this has tons of fun implications, like having a beautiful geofilter for a wedding, or something fun and quirky for a birthday celebration. But there are definitely lots of ways to be creative and use this for your business’s Snapchat marketing, including creating geofilters for:
- Events or sales at your business’s physical location.
- Local events your business is sponsoring or co-sponsoring.
- Grand openings of a physical location.
- Introducing a new product or promoting something seasonal.
We’ve already seen brands like Starbuck’s use this during their Frappuccino Happy Hour or movies liked Deadpool use it during their release weekend at movies theaters. Because Snapchat allows you to choose a time frame and a specific location, you can control the cost of this filter by limiting the time and location. Just be sure you submit your filter in advance so that it gets approved in time!
Snapchat presents a lot of opportunities to be fun and creative with your brand image. Using these unique ideas can help you stand out from the crowd and grow your Snapchat presence.