Recently we ran a webinar on Snapchat for Business. In case you missed it, Snapchat is a mobile app used to share photos, videos, and doubles as a messaging service. It is most well known due to the fact that messages and content disappear. You can either send content directly to another user in a message format, or upload this content to what is called your “story”, which strings your content together into a story, which is viewable for 24 hours by your followers.

It’s a pretty simple concept — so what’s the fuss?

Evan Spiegel, who is the current CEO, and two other friends when they were students at Stanford University, founded Snapchat in 2011. Apparently when Evan heard about the idea for Snapchat he referred to it as ‘a million dollar’ idea. Well… now the company is worth over $20 billion. In 2012 Snapchat had 100k users, mostly in the younger demographic. And that’s when the New York Times picked it up and painted it as the ‘sexting app’.
Photos and videos that disappear? What’s more for a teenager to love right?

But its come a long way since then and now Snapchat boasts over 100 million daily active users, which is more than Twitter, and will soon surpass Pinterest. To put that in comparison, Instagram has 300 million daily users. Snapchat also has 10 billion video views per day, compared to Facebook’s 8 billion.

Some new stats are now saying that nearly 20% of Americans will be on Snapchat this year. And it’s not US centric, there’s lots of Aussies on there too. Even our Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has Snapchat!

Snapchat also has announced a huge advertising platform change in the last month.

It’s all about engagement on Snapchat

When we talk about engagement rates on Instagram, it’s comparing your follower to like ratio, which usually sits between 2-10% depending on a variety of factors.
On Snapchat however, it doesn’t matter how many people follow you its all about your view count. You can see your view count by tapping on your story. It also shows if any one has screen shot your Snapchat. This is awesome if you have a product in your Snapchat and you’ve seen that people have screenshot it so they can refer to it at a later point. Think of screenshots as your click through rate.

So, say you have 200 people following you on Snapchat — you can easily get 80-90% of these people viewing your story.
Because the content isn’t forever it forces users to keep coming back which is continued engagement for your brand.
To put this in perspective with influencers who already have a following…
The Kardashians — love them or hate them they are social media queens. Kylie Jenner is the most followed person on Snapchat, which clearly correlates with the ages of its early audiences.

However, Jonathan Cheban who is Kim’s best friend and entrepreneur within his own right has 1.7 million instagram followers, 10-15k likes per photo. 200,000 views on his Snapchat stories. It’s gotten to the point where restaurants refuse to let him publicize the name of where he is eating on his Snapchat because they get TOO MUCH BUSINESS. Not a bad problem to have.

Another influencer is Alfie who is a popular YouTuber: 1-2 million views per YouTube video. 16 million views per snap.
See: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/alfie-deyes-now-has-more-viewers-on-snapchat-than-youtube-2016-5.
The numbers are insane, and make sense for influencers especially to follow their audiences, which means brands will be following them as well.

So how can I use Snapchat for business?

1. Personal Branding

Snapchat is a really great way for you to grow your personal brand and in turn you can promote your business by providing a personal insight into company updates, behind the scenes day to day, or establishing yourself as a brand leader. This is a great way to start if you’re a bit uncomfortable with the idea of using a business channel and is a great way to practice.

2. Business Channel

Create a business channel and show people what you’re up to! If you have a product you could go to the factory where it’s made or show products being packed up. If you have a service business, get a client who is keen and do a mini interview with them on Snapchat.
If you go to events, Snapchat behind the scenes at the event. If you have a blog, use photo snaps with the day’s headlines or blog content written on the photo so people can get a short and sweet update of content. Then they can go to your blog and read the full article. I highly suggest following “entrepreneur” on Snap as they do this really well.
Just get creative and watch and learn from others. We will have a few users at the end that we think you should follow too (see the pages to follow).

3. Influencer Marketing

Just like Instagram you can use product placements and sponsored posts on Snapchat. See our upcoming webinar on Influencer Marketing for more information on this topic.

4. Sponsored filters

Sponsored filters can be used for events and geo-filters (set locations such as the Sunshine Coast). You can design a custom geo filter and submit to Snapchat for approval. This is really popular for weddings now. If you’re a wedding planner or photographer listen up, you need to get on this!

5. Authenticity is key

Many people are moving away from platforms like Instagram because they feel like Instagram only presents a fake, filtered version of someone’s life. Snapchat is super personal, its unstructured and more immersive. Many people are calling it the most authentic social media platform. Snapchat encourages you to be in the moment and share content that’s relevant and maybe only temporarily interesting.

Want more info on Snapchat? Fill in the form below to access the full Snapchat for Business Webinar recording OR purchase our new online module on Snapchat for Business complete with recording, slides, resources and a PDF ebook here.