Since its launch in September 2011, Snapchat has come a long way.
In an acquisition bid in 2013, Facebook offered Snapchat $ 3 billion, and after that the graph of Snapchat’s popularity has risen exponentially.
At the code conference in 2015, Evan Spiegel the founder of Snapchat, reported that Snapchat has close to 100 million daily active users and 65% of which share snaps and stories daily – which is a remarkably high level of engagement.
Whenever stats like this come up; brands, businesses, and marketers take notice and try to exploit the high engagement of users. Some succeed in persuading prospects to buy their products, while many fail to make any impact.
Integrating Snapchat into your marketing strategy can yield amazing results. But you may have created a Snapchat account already and no one is following you. That’s a common problem that marketers face and, in fact, it’s an ideal position to be in. That’s where you start wondering how to get followers on Snapchat.
I have a comprehensive guide with 7 actionable tips to help you get people to follow you on Snapchat.
I’m confident acting on these tips will help you get your first 1000 Snapchat followers.
1. Find and follow your friends
Snapchat allows you to send self-destructing images and videos (snaps) that automatically destroy after 10 seconds of being seen. Sending self-destructing images and videos are really fun. But there is no point in creating funny snaps and sending them if you don’t have friends.
Let’s say you have a good number of friends already active on Snapchat – after all, you are quite late to join. But how will you find them?
Finding friends on Snapchat is not straight-forward like Facebook. Although there are several built-in options like:
- Add by username
- Add from Address Book
- Add by Snapcode
- Add Nearby
You can ask your friend their username and search in the search bar after tapping on the “Add by Username” option.
Once you find your friends, follow them and ask them to follow you. You can read this quick comprehensive guide to learn how to find Snapchat friends.
Find, follow, and ask to follow.
If your friends return the favor, you’ll be very close to reaching your first few hundred followers, providing you have a good number of friends active on Snapchat.
2. Find people nearby
One of the above mentioned options in the Snapchat app is its location-based feature which allows you to follow people near your location and share stories with them. This can be of immense help if you want to find people near your location who share similar interests or at least, are interested in your product or services.
But it has other advantages too. Let me tell you how this can be helpful for you in getting more followers on Snapchat.
If you follow people nearby your location, they might also follow you in return. However, you can also promote your Snapchat account at your office, shop or other public places by asking your colleagues, co-workers, nearby friends, and neighbours to follow people near their location. Once they perform the search for adding people nearby, they can easily find and follow you.
3. Ask your email list to follow you
Let’s be honest here. If you have been in the digital marketing space for years, you should already have a few thousand email subscribers.
The best way to start is by broadcasting your Snapchat profile in your next email campaign. Simply let your email subscribers know that you just created an account on Snapchat and they should follow you to receive cool stuff from you.
It is certainly the quickest way to get thousands of Snapchat followers because your email subscribers are the people who really like you. They joined your email list not just because they like you but because they enjoy learning cool things that you share with them.
In other words, your email subscribers are your true fans and hence they can’t miss the opportunity to follow you. Additionally, you may also customize your email signature, adding your Snapchat username to make people aware of it.
4. Cross-promote on other social media
Cross-promotion is another cool way to get followers on any social media platform. Just like you ask your Facebook friends or Google+ circle to follow you on Twitter or Instagram, you may do a similar shout-out for your Snapchat account.
There are some actionable ways below but before that, get these things ready first:
Create a graphic and caption asking users to follow. Don’t forget to tell them what they should expect from you once they follow you.
Also, make their work easier by providing a username or snapcode so that they can quickly add you without any glitch. A perfect example is Gary Vaynerchuk, a New York Times bestselling author who influences and cruises with Snapchat marketing. You need to create a graphic either similar to this or even more creatively:
Once you are ready with your graphic, it’s time to cross-promote on different social channels. However, do remember all social channels are not alike and you need different sizes and pixels for various social channels.
Learn this ultimate social media image size guide to using images in social media.
Here are some tips on cross-promoting your Snapchat account;
- Post the teaser on Facebook and ask your friends, fans, and followers to add you on Snapchat. Mention that you’ll follow them back.
- Post a snap, video or teaser on Twitter and ask your followers to follow you. Again, the rule for a follow back goes the same here. Did I say, do this multiple times!?
- Additionally, you may also send a snap, video or teaser through a direct message to accounts that follow you. But make sure you don’t overdo it.
- Invite your Instagram followers and ask them to follow you on Snapchat.
- Update your Snapcode as your profile picture, so your followers can easily take a screenshot and add you on Snapchat once they notice it.
There are many other ways to cross-promote your Snapchat account on other social networks. Be creative and go the extra mile.
5. Arrange giveaways, contests, and offer coupons
Giveaways, contests, offering discounts and coupons etc. are very powerful ways to get more engagement and if conducted right, can boost your sales even during holidays.
This goes the same for gaining followers on Snapchat. Many brands are using giveaways, contests, and coupons as a powerful tool to boost their engagement and followers and they are succeeding.
Do you want to know why?
I dug a little deeper into my research and found some cool stats to back my point.
- More than 60% of US 13 to 34 year old smartphone users are Snapchatters. This provides a clear idea that Snapchat is a younger platform with a large percentage of users belonging to the 13-34 age group.
- 58% of college students would be likely to purchase a brand’s product or service if they were sent a coupon on Snapchat.
- Grubhub is a company whose app lets you find local restaurants and allows you to order and pickup delivery. Using Snapchat marketing and its #SnapMadness Giveaways, it accomplishes many complex tasks easily, from finding employees to making one-to-one connections with customers. Take a look at their creativity:
Like Grubhub, you may also host a giveaway or offer coupons/discounts to your customers if they follow you on Snapchat. This is another quick and engaging way to get your first 1000 followers on Snapchat.
6. Host question and answer sessions
Do you ask questions and answer them to communicate with your customers? If not, you need to do it.
SEMRush uses this technique to provide their customers with a more personalized experience. They ask 5 questions on Twitter every week in the #SEMRushchat and get good engagement.
In fact, they go the extra mile by encouraging their customers as well as experts to discuss and answer these questions. 
You may replicate the same, however, with a twist. Encourage your customers to ask questions but answer them with a Snapchat video. Also, don’t forget to tweet:
“Follow us on Snapchat @username to know the answer”
“6 hours to go. Winners of the contest will be announced on Snapchat. Make sure you follow us @username”
Or something more creative than these.
The idea is to make people aware and get more of them checking out what you are doing on Snapchat.
7. Spread awareness using your blog
Your blog is the ideal place where most of your audience hang out. Start your Snapchat account promotion right through your blog. Simply write a post informing your readers that you just joined Snapchat and your readers should follow you to get cool stuff.
The White House did it earlier this year by launching an “Official Story” on Snapchat to provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the administration. You may do the same.
Additionally, you may also add a banner or pop-up that gets more eyeballs and effectively boosts your Snapchat followers.
8. Take advantage of influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is quickly emerging as an effective marketing weapon to get traction and increase brand awareness.
With the rise in influence of social media in people’s lives, brands are heading towards brand ambassadors to help them influence their customer marketing decisions. You may use influencer marketing to boost your traffic and conversions.
But have you ever thought of expanding your social followers using influencer marketing?
If not, it is the right time to do it. Be it Facebook fans, Twitter followers, Instagram followers, Pinterest followers or Snapchat followers – brand influencers in your space can help you achieve unexpected results, taking your marketing to insane heights. You just need to find the right influencers and leverage their influence.
Wondering how to use influencer marketing to increase your Snapchat followers?
Here is a 3-step actionable way to do just that:
- Find influencers that have a good number of followers and influence on Snapchat.
- Offer them something valuable to their community and get noticed consistently to get yourself on their radar.
- Ask for a shout-out for your Snapchat username or snapcode as a helping hand.
Not all influencers will be interested in promoting you to their audience but even if a few of them do, you’ll see significant growth in your Snapchat followers.
9. Exchange followers
Once you have reached a considerable number of followers on Snapchat, exchanging followers may be another cool way to get more followers on Snapchat. Simply find out Snapchat accounts with a followers count close to the number of followers you have. Promote their username to your followers, asking them to follow and promote your account in exchange for your promotion.
There are chances that both of you might have a different set of audiences and an exchange will increase each other’s credibility. However, there are some limitations with this strategy as you can’t approach every user present out there. Users who have a large number of followers won’t be interested in exchanging followers while users with a tiny number of followers aren’t worth your time as such an exchange won’t yield good results.
Make sure you find the right users and convince them to promote your account in exchange for introducing them to your audience.
10. Submit your username to Snapchat directories
When you are starting out as a brand on Snapchat, don’t just create content for a public story, instead, find users to connect with. There are various Snapchat directories that can help you find people to follow on Snapchat:
The basic purpose of these directories is to help you find and follow Snapchat users by age, gender, or location. But brands can use these directories with a twist.
Add your Snapchat username to these directories so that when users search for Snapchat users to follow and connect, your username should pop-up and they may easily follow you. Thus, increasing your Snapchat followers.
Wrap
Getting noticed in a noisy world may be tough, and on a platform that you don’t know much, it can be extremely difficult. But with the right approach, you can easily win people’s attention.
Now that you have learnt these tips to get Snapchat followers, don’t just sit idle. Instead, take action and implement these into your Snapchat marketing strategy to find new prospects and turn them into your long-term customers.
Get these Actionable Tips to Get Your First 1000 Snapchat Followers as a colorful pdf.
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