Laura Cole — March 27, 2017 In many ways, the temporary nature of Snapchat and its constantly evolving content stream appears counterproductive to the demands facing modern marketers.
After all, content marketing revolves around the notion of permanent, inbound links, along with long-form copy that seeks to engage, inform and challenge readers. In fact, landing pages that rank highly on the first page of Google contain an average of 1,890 words, and this depth of content is far-removed from anything that is typically featured on Snapchat.
This social behemoth is a creative and unique force, however, and one that has added a new dimension to the digital marketing realm. It is also one of the most challenging channels to master, however, so here are three proven ways in which Snapchat can be used to effectively reach targeted customers:
Demonstrate the Unique Selling Points of Your Products (and the Narrative Behind Them)
Snapchat offers a unique value proposition to marketers, particularly from the perspective of visual storytelling. Not only can Snapchat’s accessible platform be leveraged to demonstrate products and provide an alternative forum for interactive guides, for example, but it may also afford items a unique persona and distinct narrative.
In this respect, Snapchat is ideal for bringing new products to market, while it can also be used to re-position existing products in a bid to deliver superior sales.
Amazon provided the perfect example of the latter when responding to the challenges surrounding its female-voiced Echo speaker, which initially confused customers and fared poorly in relation to the original product. To resolve this, Amazon leveraged the striking visuals and storytelling potential of Snapchat to provide greater clarity about the product’s unique features, translating these into core benefits for the consumer and introducing a clearly-defined personality.
Snapchat also helped the brand to gain traction and promote the Echo range of speakers, garnering 6,100 mentions in just four hours.
Embrace Snapchat’s Temporary Nature
While self-destructing messages are usually the preserve of secret agents, Snapchat has also embraced this concept to create a truly unique proposition for brands. The key is for marketers to embrace this unique and temporary nature and leverage it to their benefit, rather than being confined by the pitfalls of publishing content that disappears in a matter of moments.
For the creative marketer, there are many ways through which Snapchat’s unique nature can be used to engage customers. One example is to use Snapchat to publish teasers relating to limited time promotions or upcoming product releases, of course, as this has the potential to hook customers who can then be directed to a particular website, landing page or physical store.
Similarly, Snapchat also offers a unique opportunity to create interactive contests and distribute real-time promotional codes. Frozen yogurt chain 16 Handles took full advantage of this through Snapchat’s instant photo feature, creating a live promotion that was targeted at in-store customers.
In fact, they targeted specific store locations and compelled customers to share photos of them (and their friends) eating the brand’s products. They were then instantly rewarded with a live coupon for between 16% and 100% off their purchase, while each customer had just 10 seconds to redeem their offer before the content disappeared.
This is an example of how you can leverage Snapchat and turn its supposed defect into a huge advantage, while creating truly innovative promotions that engage customers and entirely unique level.
Leverage New Apps and Features Such as Bitmoji
According to various studies, four out of every 10 millennial would prefer to engage with pictures than words. It is this that has driven the rise of Snapchat as a marketing tool, while also ensuring that emojis have also also come to feature in branded content and publications.
These combined trends encouraged Snapchat’s parent company Snap to invest a cool $ 64.2 million in Bitstrips last year, and this is a decision that is beginning to reap rewards. This tool essentially enables users to add personalized stickers to content, before sharing these through the app’s downloadable chat platform.
In simple terms, Bitmoji will enable brands to create unique, animated sketches that promote their products in an alternative light, using filters to create truly stunning and engaging visuals and that stand-out in a competitive marketplace. This is similar to the popular Snapchat Lenses feature, which was successfully used by Pepsi Max and Taco Bell during 2016 campaigns.
Snapchat already allows brands to use images and next and share core product narratives, and Bitmoji will provide yet another channel through which to engage customers. This tool promises to be particularly rewarding for brands, however, particularly has it has the capacity to infringe upon the so-called ‘dark social; and private messaging space, which apparently accounts for 74% of all online sharing activity.
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