There are millions of people sharing photos or videos, otherwise known as “snaps”, with their friends on a day-to-day basis with the use of the newest social tool on the market called Snapchat. It has been catching the attention of people and companies across the nation, including the infamous Facebook who wanted to buy it for a mere $3 billion. With so many users on Snapchat every day, it has been hard for businesses to continue turning their head from this social tool, but instead businesses are now running to their marketing teams for ideas on how they can utilize this social tool to better their business.
Why should you begin “snapping” to your customers? Well for starters, Snapchat is the newest viral social media on the market, and it isn’t going anywhere! Using Snapchat will show that your business is eager to reach the customers in as many ways as possible and that you can keep up with society’s everlasting changes in technology. Some business owners may be concerned with how Snapchat will affect your Facebook and Twitter metrics. The answer to that is hakuna matata! Your existing social platforms can remain healthy even while you are promoting Snapchats to your customers!
On a day-to-day basis, the general users of Snapchat use it to send silly pictures to friends, make short videos of a crazy situation or just to say hi to basically anybody on their contact list. So, how is a business supposed to use it? Keep reading and we will go a little deeper into this epidemic that has hit us all!
One major way that businesses will promote Snapchat to their customers is by giving coupons through it. On Snapchat there is a way to screenshot the picture (on the iPhone keep one finger on the picture while pressing the home button and lock button at the same time) so what a business will do is put an ad that says, ‘Send us a Snapchat of you tasting our yogurt’. The customer will send the snap, then the business will send a coupon back and the customer screenshots it! The next time they visit the shop they would show the clerk the coupon and receive the discount.
Another way businesses use Snapchat is to give a “behind-the-scenes” view. The NBA has perfected this. The NBA Snapchats pre-games, players being silly, talk shows, locker rooms, players’ outfits and anything else that happens off-screen. You may not be the owner of the National Basketball Association, but you and your business can still utilize the same idea! Let’s say you own a clothing store that gets new arrivals every week. You could Snapchat your employees setting up the new merchandise for a behind-the-scenes look! When politicians, businesses and companies started using Youtube they figured out that views for their videos went up with more authentic and less-than-perfect footage. Snapchat is the same way with consumers. They don’t want prim and perfect ads, but instead like the real footage of what’s going on. So don’t hesitate to send a Snapchat of you and your employees working hard on a new set-up in your store at 5 am!
One more way to use Snapchat is for promotions! This covers a large spectrum of things like new arrivals, daily specials, seasonal sales and even job openings! For example, GrubHub utilized Snapchat to find an intern with “Snapchat skillz”. They sent out snaps promting the opening and steps to take to apply. Putting promotions on Snapchat generates excitement from your consumers and gives them a close connection between themselves and you.
As you can see, Snapchat has endless possibilities for your business and presents a new way to market to the public. Snapchat is unique because when your consumers view the snap it is because they want to, not simply because it popped up on their newsfeed based on what they have viewed in the last 24 hours. Utilize Snapchat, and take your business to a new level!
