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8 Pro Tips for Using Snapchat for Business

Posted by Kim Moseman on December 3, 2016

snapchat logo there's power in this logo
There’s power in this little logo.

Snapchat is a popular mobile app that lets users take quick pictures or videos and share them with their friends. After a little bit, these posts disappear forever. Even though just about everybody has heard about Snapchat at this point, many businesses have ignored it. That’s a huge mistake. Snapchat is gaining popularity quickly, especially among younger demographics. While many teenagers are using Facebook less than ever, Snapchat has become the most popular mobile app among them. Additional studies also predict that Snapchat is poised to become more popular with older demographics as well.

It’s clear that Snapchat is important for businesses looking to connect with a growing audience, and it’s getting more important every single month. To help you get started, here are eight pro tips for using Snapchat as a business:

1. Highlight a Single Product or Service

Taco Bell is one company that’s really good at doing this. They highlight new menu items or existing favorites by taking multiple pictures of them, telling a quick story about why they’re great. They use emojis and humor, catering to the younger audience that they target. Incredibly, Taco Bell maintains an open rate of 80% of all of their snaps. If that was indicative of an email or of another direct marketing campaign, it would be an unbelievable open rate. On Snapchat, it’s simply par for the course.

2. Give a Peek Behind the Curtain

Customers respond well when they get a chance to look behind the scenes of brands that they care about and people they follow. With its fun, quick nature, Snapchat is the perfect delivery mechanism. It’s personable and immersive, and will resonate much better than a Facebook video or Instagram picture would. You could post quick pictures showing interesting behind the scenes processes, or single questions and answers with company leaders. The key is being fun and authentic.

pulling back the curtain great way to use power of snapchat
Pulling back the curtain a bit is a great way to develop stronger relationships with your audience.

3. Keep Your Stories Short

Snapchat stories are like an interactive slideshow. You can post multiple pictures or videos in a row to create a narrative that’s fun and different. It could be a variety of glimpses into a normal workday at your company, or even just a series of different uses for your brand-new product. It’s important to keep in mind that you don’t want to post too many pictures or videos in a single day, though. If they’re too long or you post too many, views will drop off and you’re going to turn the audience off.

4. Send Valuable Promotions

One of the downsides to offering exclusive promotions via social media is that they’re public forever. Customers may find your old tweets or Facebook posts and become upset if they’re no longer eligible or valid. Snapchat is an ideal way to get creative with these social media promotions because of its temporary nature. Snaps are only available for a short period of time. Direct snaps are available for up to 30 days if unopened, and snaps posted to your story are only available for 24 hours. You can offer lucrative, exciting promotions without having to worry about having it honor it for a long period of time. Best of all, you’re teaching your customers exactly how important it is to pay attention to you, since your best deals don’t last very long.

5. Create Branded Filters

Filters are graphics that can be automatically added over pictures or videos that Snapchat users take themselves. To reduce costs and target strongly, you can create a geofilter so that the filters are only available in specific locations. For example, if you’re having a company event, you can create a custom filter so that users there can send out their own branded snaps. You could also place a permanent geofilter near any retail locations or office buildings so that users and employees can access your filters whenever they’re in your store or near your office.

6. Hand the Keys Over to Somebody Else

Account takeovers are extremely popular on Snapchat. You simply give control of the Snapchat to an employee, a customer, or a key influencer, and let them take control for a day or several hours. A clothing company known as Wet Seal did this with a local fashion influencer by giving her control over their Snapchat during the holiday season. In the end, they were able to drive over 9,000 new connections and over 250,000 views in total.

7. Offer Sneak Peeks

Car manufacturer Honda was able to build up a stir for their new NSX vehicle by sending a select group of followers an exclusive preview of it. You simply had to be one of the first 100 followers of their special account. Taco Bell has also experimented with sending users pictures of new or limited edition products. It’s a great way to generate buzz for a launch and make a very personal connection with your most dedicated users.

8. Always Stay Authentic

Snapchat is much more personal than other social media platforms. You’re sending messages specifically to your users and when they open them, they’re not seeing anything but your content. That means you need to keep Snapchat authentic and light. Simply show your own personality and try not to script snaps too much. Have fun with it and stay spontaneous. The brands that have the most success on Snapchat are the ones who are able to keep it light and friendly.

Snapchat is a great vehicle to make small, day-to-day connections, but it’s still important to create long-form videos. You’ll need in-depth production demonstrations, how-to videos, advertisements, and much more. For your next corporate video project, make sure to reach out to us here at Crews Control. We’ll help you find the perfect crew for any video you need to make, anywhere in the world. All you have to do is click here for a free quote!content?Action=tp&cid=49380 Using Snapchat

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