Stanford students Brown, Murphy, and Spiegel created a unique digital space “to be funny, honest or whatever” in 2011. This is how Snapchat, a service for sharing photos & videos, was born. It was the first to introduce fashion for vertical videos and stories.
Just take a look at the prospects and opportunities for promotion on Snapchat. In just a year and a half, the tiny startup turned into a real “car”: it overtook Pinterest, Twitter, and Telegram, reaching 375 million users by 2023.
Features of Snapchat
What is Snapchat? It’s a hybrid of a social network & a messenger in which users share disappearing “snaps” with stickers, texts & locations. Instead of the usual posts, photos, videos, or drawings with unique masks and filters are posted here. Every day, up to 2 billion “snaps”, beautiful and funny selfies are published here. To view all the photos in the last 60 minutes, you’ll have to spend 10 years of your life!
What kind of audience hangs on Snapchat? The network offers a lot of ways to stay connected, express yourself, and make friends:
Even though Snapchat is still associated with the “zoomer” generation, it has seen tremendous growth in its 25+ audience since 2021. But the largest age group is still 18-24.
Snap advertising policy: promotional formats
Snap’s advertising policy covers all aspects of advertising: landing pages, creative tools, etc. A dedicated Ads Manager platform allows you to create ads, customize your audience and budget, & check your analytics. All an advertiser has to do is reserve the first spot in the Snap Ads slot and comply with the terms of service. The platform freezes or deletes accounts tied to brands or individuals in case of violations.
Five reasons why Snapchat will interest advertisers:
Two reasons why Snapchat will make you doubt:
Let’s see what features of Snap will help the advertising campaign to work “in the plus”.
Successful Snapchat ad formats
Why not grab users’ attention with AR platforms? This is the main weapon of Snap advertisers. One of the most popular projects in this area was 3D World Lenses. With its help, users were able to supplement snaps with original 3D avatars. The Bud Light brand was the first to successfully test the novelty with the release of snap-GIF. In the company’s advertising, any user can now insert a merchant selling Bud Light products into the snap.
Today, various full-screen ads, Story and Dynamic Ads features, cool masks, filters, & much more are available for promotion on Snapchat.
Snap and story ads
Snap Ads are used to inform the consumer about the product. Its goal is to catch your attention, make you swipe on the video, and review the full version of the advertisement. If the “bite” is successful, the user will go to the company’s page, download the application, make a purchase, and bookmark it. Snap Ads also include “live photos” and GIFs.
Story Ads is a series of ad snaps in the Discover section. The first to challenge the new feature was HBO. On the next Black Friday, she showed 6 posters of films & TV shows with a recommendation to enjoy film viewing, not shopping.
Ad collections
A full-screen ad consists of four clickable thumbnails. They demonstrate related products and services. When you swipe up, the user gets to the brand’s website.
The advertiser needs to choose the 4 most attractive images from the product catalog so that the acquaintance with the user turns out to be productive.
Lens studio project
Interactive ads with augmented reality effects look sticky. The user becomes involved in a certain game thanks to the author’s masks. This format is relevant for cosmetology companies and brands with accessories & clothing. Potential buyers will be able to “try on” online the color of lipstick, hair, cap, choker, earrings, etc. According to statistics, the user’s interaction with masks lasts up to 20 seconds.
For example, Gucci offered users a realistic online try on four pairs of sneakers using SnapML features in Lens Studio.
Dynamic advertising
On Snapchat, Dynamic Ads or ads from the official product catalog of the site/company remain popular tools.
The advertiser selects one of the integrated templates he likes, designs a vertical video, sets up successful targeting, & indicates the right audience for effective engagement. The selected live tiles are filled with new content from your catalog from time to time. This is influenced by pre-configured targeting.
Swipe to call
The simplest advertising format calls for contacting the manager via a call or messenger.
For successful promotion, don’t forget to specify: the brand name, attractive headline, short but meaningful text block, and call to purchase. Such advertising is suitable for sales/booking of tickets, hotel rooms, and courses. It increases the engagement and recognition of the company.
Scope for experimentation
The source of fresh traffic has been found! Snapchat has a large audience that grows by ~22% annually. Active users login to the app an average of 15 times every day. This means that they are quite easily involved. With the help of competent targeting, the advertiser quickly weeds out non-target customers, saving budget and time.
Got some interesting creative and fresh ideas for Snapchat? Then accurately count on clicks, likes, conversions, and large sales.
