Snapchat for business marketing will be one of the best decisions you’ll make for your business. Most people in the corporate sector view Snapchat as a user-to-user platform. But this social media platform has as much marketing potential as Instagram or Facebook. It’s important to understand the platform and its marketing opportunities.
Our guide will show you how to use Snapchat for business!
Table of contents
Why Use Snapchat for Business?
It’s a great platform if you’re looking to market your business on social media. But it’s important to understand that it’s a very unique platform and might not be the best for every business. If your business resonates with any of the following reasons, Snapchat might just be it for you.
The younger generations are wild about Snapchat. The platform revealed that 75% of Gen Z and millennials are avid users. Each user spends about thirty minutes on the platform daily. If your business caters to a younger audience, Snapchat can help you reach out to them easily.
You can portray your business as fun and likable. Unlike other social media platforms, Snapchat encourages users to be genuine. You don’t need to be picture-perfect. It’s evident in the fact that playful lenses are much more popular on Snapchat than beauty-enhancing lenses.
You can take the lead from your competitors and race ahead of them. It’s a no-brainer that most businesses are focusing on Facebook and Instagram. This leaves a lot of room for SMBs and startups to become the pioneers on Snapchat.
Snapchat allows you to make high-quality UGC. Businesses can make custom lenses and let users try them out. A perfect example is how Daniel Wellington made stickers for their watches that users could try out. These are much better than boring, text-based UGC.
Snapchat Business Manager
If you’re already using social media for your business, you’ve probably used Facebook Business Manager. Snapchat too has its own management app, the Snapchat Business Manager.
Snapchat Business Manager is a one-stop solution for all your business marketing needs. You can create and launch a business account. You can manage your account’s settings, optimize your profile, and track analytics.
This manager has tons of features like product catalogs, custom ads, ad tracking, and content analytics. These tools are essential for any business running social media campaigns.
Here are some useful features of Snapchat Business Manager:
- Lens Web Builder Tool
- Audience Insights
- Creator Marketplace
- Events Manager
- Create lens
Setting up a Snapchat Business Account
There is almost no difference between a personal and business account when it comes to Snapchat. The only reason you need a business account is so you can run advertisements. You can’t use the Ads Manager with a personal account.
- Follow these steps to set up your Snapchat business account:
- Download Snapchat from the App Store or Google Play.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to set up a normal account.
- For the username, choose something that represents your business.
- Verify your account through email or phone.
- Press Continue.
- Login to the Ads Manager with the same credentials.
- Enter the name of your business.
- State the country you will be doing business in.
- Enter your preferred payment method.
- Your account will be complete when you start your first campaign.
Marketing Content for Snapchat
Before we get into how to market your business on Snapchat, we must discuss the various types of content you can use. Every social media platform has a distinct type of content that it specializes in.
For Snapchat, it’s short-form videos. But there are several ways you can play around with this. Here are a few things you can post on Snapchat:
- User-generated Content: Ask your audience to play around with lenses and hashtags to get into your Snaps. The best way to do this is to host a contest and reward winners based on engagement with your hashtag.
- Testimonials: If you’ve got fans that are super excited about your products, ask them to make short testimonials. Share them through your account so more people can see them and increase your exposure.
- QR Codes: Snapchat allows you to share QR codes through your account. You can design codes for coupons and discounts. This is a great way to promote a sale or a new product.
- BTS Videos: Everybody loves looking at how things are done behind the scenes of their favorite content. You can improve engagement by posting BTS videos of your marketing content or how you make your products.
- Sneak Peeks: Teasers, trailers, and sneak peeks work excellently to pique the interest of your followers. If you’ve got an upcoming product launch, you can release short sneak peeks to entice your audience.
Snapchat Advertising
The content mentioned above is for organic marketing, but Sapchat also offers paid advertising. The kind of advertising you want to do depends on the size of your budget. Snapchat offers various ways to advertise for different prices. You can buy ads in the Discover section, or you can pay to promote ads directly in the user’s feed.
Ads on Snapchat are called Snap Ads. These short videos can be as long as three minutes and can include photos, videos, and GIFs. You can place them either in-between content or after it. With the help of Snapchat Ads Manager, you can target specific audiences based on their demographics, interests, or previous interactions.
Another way to advertise your brand is through sponsored geofilters. These filters allow Snapchat users to send Snaps from specific locations. This method is mostly used to target a hyperlocal audience and is best for businesses with physical locations. Restaurants, museums, department stores, and the like are best suited for this type of advertising. Priced at $5 to $20 a day for a single location, it is an expensive method.
Lastly, you can also sponsor your own lenses. Sponsored lenses are the most efficient way of promoting on Snapchat. This is because they’re much more engaging, and users have fun taking Snaps with them.
Best Practices for Snapchat Marketing
Here are a few best practices to follow to take your Snapchat marketing to the next level;
- Promote your Snapchat account. To get more people to subscribe to your account, you have to let them know you’re on Snapchat. Promote your account through your other social media channels and divert traffic to Snapchat.
- Optimize your brand profile. Your profile should showcase who you are and what you do. Choose a username that accurately represents your brand. Include a description and URLs for your website.
- Upload your content regularly. Snapchat users have a short attention span, so it’s important to be consistent. Don’t let your subscribers forget who you are. A consistent stream of content will capture your audience.
- Engage with your audience. Interact with other Snapchat users and collaborate with them to broaden your audience. Reply to Snaps and feature stories that showcase your brand or your lens.
- Don’t be sales-y. People hate sales-y content on social media. It doesn’t seem authentic and fails to capture the essence of social media. Content that tries to oversell brands or products doesn’t perform well on any social media.
- Keep your content light. Social media users are only looking for entertainment to kill their time. So it’s important to keep your content light and enjoyable. If users have fun watching your content, they’ll come back for more. Eventually, they’ll become fans, and you’ll have a higher chance of conversion.
- Follow Snapchat trends. Snapchat influencers and celebrities are always starting new challenges and trends. Incorporating these trends into your content will give you more exposure. There are always chances of these trends going viral.
Ready to Market Your Business on Snapchat?
Gen Z and the latest Gen Alpha, are crazy about Snapchat, and this presents a great opportunity for marketers. If your target audience is under the age of 25, using Snapchat for business can be very beneficial for you. You can either post organic content like sneak peeks, BTS videos, or UGC. Or, you can invest more money and pay for advertising. Regardless, Snapchat marketing will garner you a loyal and engaged audience.
Have you marketed on Snapchat? Tell us about it below!
