Snapchat, the social media platform we'll be discussing today, is one of the most important platforms with a massive user base of young people and teenagers.
The platform provides an ideal environment for marketing and attracting users, as well as generating profits for various products and services, especially if you're targeting the Gulf audience.
In this article, we will provide you with everything you need to start successful and effective marketing on Snapchat to achieve your desired results.
What is Snapchat?
Snapchat, or simply Snapchat, is one of the most popular social media platforms with a user base exceeding 397 million users.
It allows users to communicate with each other by sharing photos, videos, messages, as well as making voice and video calls, and it has many other features.
This makes marketing on Snapchat similar to marketing on other platforms like Instagram or TikTok, with a focus on unique features such as filters and stories, which are presented in an engaging and distinctive way.
What makes marketing on Snapchat attractive to many brands is that most of its users are young people and teenagers aged between 13 and 25 years old.
So, if you're targeting this age group, marketing on Snapchat is highly suitable for you, and we'll discuss more about this in the following paragraphs.
Why You Should Market on Snapchat
Before delving into Snapchat marketing strategies, let's first mention our top five reasons why marketing on Snapchat is important:
1. Massive User Base: Snapchat boasts nearly 400 million daily active users, primarily distributed across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East (especially the Gulf countries). This user base continues to grow.
2. Creative and Unique Marketing Tools: As previously mentioned, what sets Snapchat apart is not just its technical features, but also how these features are presented. With various options like Stories and more, you can engage with your audience effectively.
3. Privacy: Snapchat is known for its high privacy standards, unlike many other social media platforms facing constant legal issues. You can feel secure using this app, as it regularly deletes and does not store or use a lot of user data.
4. Ideal Advertising Platform: This is a feature available on almost all social media platforms, but it's worth mentioning, especially when discussing the marketing aspect of the app. Whether through the platform itself or famous influencers on it, advertising is easy, and you can achieve great results.
5. Detailed Analytics: After running an advertising campaign or starting your own page, you'll need access to your data for improvement and reaching more users. Snapchat provides you with extensive data and statistics to monitor your marketing campaigns and page activity.
Most Successful Snapchat Marketing Strategies
The most crucial aspect of Snapchat marketing is defining your strategy, as it will determine the results you achieve.
Some brands aim to increase followers, while others want to boost engagement or achieve other goals. So, first, you need to identify your objectives and what you want to achieve through Snapchat marketing, and then choose the strategy that suits you from the following:
1. Paid or Sponsored Advertising (Most Common Snapchat Marketing Strategy):
When we talk about marketing on Snapchat or any other platform, paid advertising should come first. It's one of the most tried-and-tested effective methods on all platforms. If you have good experience in media buying or hire a specialist, you can ensure good results.
Snapchat offers six different types of sponsored ads that you can use based on your goals or strategy. Each type has its own pricing, duration, geographical targeting, and other details. Without going into too much detail, here are the six types:
- Snap Ads: Simple ads that can be static images or short promotional videos, displayed between users' stories. Users can click on them to visit your website or page.
- Story Ads: A more advanced version of Snap Ads, allowing you to place up to 20 ads that users can view sequentially to better understand what you offer. Users can easily access the ad source.
- Collection Ads: Exclusively for brands, this ad type allows you to create a mini-store where you can showcase up to four product images of your choice within the ad. Users can click on them for more details about the featured product.
- Commercial Ads: One of the most common Snapchat marketing strategies, this type includes a series of ads displayed while users browse Snapchat content. There are two options: ads lasting 3-6 seconds that can't be skipped, or longer ads lasting 7-3 minutes that users can skip after the first 6 seconds.
- Filters: One of the most creative spaces for individuals or brands, filters are custom designs associated with the content you provide. They encourage users to engage with your content. Geofilters can also be used to target specific audiences at certain events
.
- Lens AR Experiences: Perhaps the least famous among the mentioned types but still worth trying. Snapchat offers this technology, which allows users to use their phone cameras to add various effects to their photos, such as adding elements or changing facial expressions.
In the future, we will dedicate a full article to the topic of advertising on Snapchat, so always stay updated.
2. Influencer Marketing (Most Reliable Snapchat Marketing Strategy):
On any social media platform, influencer marketing is like a shortcut to gaining the trust of a large number of users. Customers often trust content from influencers they follow more than they trust brand content.
You can market through Snapchat influencers in various ways, with the most common being paying them to create content that showcases your product's features and solves the problems it addresses. They can also display samples of the products they've tried themselves.
You can establish long-term collaborations with some influencers through offers, discounts, commission-based marketing codes, and more. But the most critical step is choosing an influencer with genuine followers who trust them.
If you're a content creator yourself, you can collaborate with influencers in various ways or have them recommend you to their followers.
In conclusion, Snapchat provides a unique platform for marketing, with various strategies to choose from depending on your goals. Whether you opt for paid advertising or influencer marketing, understanding your audience and creating engaging content is key to success on this platform.
Behind-the-Scenes Content3.
Number 3 on our list of Snapchat marketing strategies is a suitable strategy for both content creators and businesses alike.
Experience has shown that the more you engage your followers in your stories, the more they interact and trust you. This has made similar strategies essential in the process of creating digital content.
Your followers will get to know your story, your routine, the challenges you face, and the human moments you experience. This allows them to connect with your human side more than your professional or commercial side.
Nowadays, I see many brands doing this on video-friendly platforms like Snapchat and TikTok.
All you need to do here is choose the right angle, which could be:
- Your content creation process.
- Your life behind the scenes.
- Your brand management processes.
- Your daily routine.
- Your future plans.
- Or similar ideas.
4. User-Generated Content (UGC) Sharing
This strategy can set you apart if you want to achieve fantastic results in less time and with minimal effort through viral marketing.
Whether you want to quickly increase your followers or multiply your sales several times, User-Generated Content (UGC) is the key.
By encouraging your followers to share their stories and content about you, your products, or services, you'll notice interaction rates skyrocket.
All you need to do is learn how to do this, try it with your followers, analyze the results, and then improve.
I recommend following the winners in the marketing section and learning from them. They contain everything you need to succeed online.
5. Educational Videos
The fifth strategy among Snapchat marketing strategies is primarily aimed at store owners, brands, or those providing services to customers.
It involves explaining the different details of their products or services to their customers, or providing specialized tips and advice.
For example, if you're selling a specific type of clothing, you can show users how to wear it with other pieces to make it look its best.
Or if you offer a service like article writing, you can create videos explaining how to choose a suitable article writer or how to differentiate between good and bad articles.
This won't just make your Snapchat followers more engaged with you but also attract new followers who are curious about what you offer.
The crucial point in this strategy is to make your videos engaging and not boring, and to provide real value to your followers.
6. Contests
From experience, if you can regularly run contests or giveaways, especially if you're targeting the Gulf market, do it. It's one of the best ways to boost your account, accelerate its growth, and achieve marketing results. If you don't believe me, try it yourself.
With a contest that doesn't cost more than $250 in total, you can achieve marketing results that would have required $5,000 worth of advertising campaigns. I say this based on my practical experience in social media.
Contests and giveaways are not exclusive to store owners and brands; content creators and service providers can also use them. However, be careful when launching them and make sure they are relevant to your target audience. The wrong contest could get you 20,000 followers, but they might not be your potential customers who will benefit you in the long run.
7. Exclusive and Unique Content (Most Effective Snapchat Marketing Strategies)
Let's emphasize for the thousandth time that content is king. Your winning strategies for Snapchat marketing may revolve solely around content.
I've seen thousands of Snapchat celebrities who use only their own content without any other marketing means.
Whether this content is educational, professional, informative, or even comedic and entertaining, that's their secret to success.
Whatever your goal, field, or what you want to achieve through Snapchat marketing, you can leverage content to the fullest to reach your objectives.
You can also use storytelling in your content; people love stories and engage with them enthusiastically. If, for example, you're a brand owner, you can narrate how you started, the challenges you faced, how you overcame them, and so on.
You can also focus on content that answers questions, making your content strategy about responding to your followers' questions about your brand or field in general.
Snapchat Marketing Tips
Finally, before our article concludes, we wanted to provide you with some valuable tips that we believe will help you with Snapchat marketing:
1. Post regularly: No matter the quality of the content you post or the offers you present, you won't achieve the results you expect from a single post. You need to keep posting consistently for at least six months before assessing the results. Whatever the initial level of engagement, maintain consistency, and you'll definitely see results.
2. Keep your profile complete and updated: Try to see your profile (especially its details) from your audience's and customers' perspective. Add all the important details they need and review your profile regularly.
3. Interact with your followers: In any way possible, always interact with your audience and build relationships with them as if they were actual, face-to-face customers rather than just screen names.
4. Listen to analytics: We mentioned at the beginning of the article that one of Snapchat's key features is providing a wealth of analytics that will help you in your marketing efforts. The main purpose of checking those analytics is to know what your audience prefers, regardless of your personal opinion. So, even if you have a different opinion about quality, the numbers will always evaluate your work.
In conclusion, marketing on Snapchat is not fundamentally different from marketing on other social media platforms. The basics remain the same, despite changes in tools, strategies, and features. This makes it easier for you to start marketing on Snapchat, but be sure to leverage the platform's unique features.
This is what we've tried to provide you with in this article, explaining in detail every aspect of the platform and different marketing strategies.
In addition, we've presented many examples and tips that we've learned from our extensive experience in social media.
We hope you've benefited from and enjoyed this article. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below.
