Leveraging Snapchat for Smarter Marketing

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram are already heavily utilised by many companies looking to grow their reach, but here’s one that is up-and-coming: Snapchat.

Snapchat is a messaging app that incorporates photos or videos with text messaging—it’s chatting with snaps (in the form of said photos and videos). Each message can only be viewed for a maximum of 10 seconds, after which the message is deleted forever. Thus its main selling point is a perceived sense of anonymity. Still, marketers are finding new ways to promote however they can.

Did you know that 58% of college students would be likely to purchase a brand’s product or service if they were sent a coupon on Snapchat. [Source: Sumpto]

One example of a business that has utilised Snapchat is 16 Handles, a froyo joint in the U.S., where customers sent snaps of themselves having yogurt at one of their stores to the 16 Handles Snapchat account, and the 16 Handles account would then send them a custom coupon via Snapchat. Not only will you get more sales using such promotions, it is also a way to build rapport with your customers, thus building a satisfied, loyal customer base, who are likely to become promoters for your brand.

Another way to use Snapchat is to provide product sneak peeks. If you’re launching a new product, build up prospects’ anticipation and excitement using a 10-second preview of what they can expect. This can be especially useful for start-ups that are about to launch their very first product—it can give your launch a bigger splash whilst building brand awareness and a customer base even before you’ve officially opened!

Snapchat is indeed an unorthodox tool to use for Inbound marketing* but here’s a SlideShare that gives you everything you need to know about using Snapchat for marketing: The Ultimate Marketing Guide to Snapchat from Ross Simmonds

* Inbound marketing is a form of digital marketing that involves SEO, Social Media, blogging and landing pages to generate sales leads.