Did you know that there are over 8 BILLION video views on Snapchat per day? (Source)
Setting up a Snapchat account gets the ball rolling, but it doesn’t guarantee instant engagement. There are some key points to consider with the account itself, and making sure each post in consistent in the brand voice, message, tone and purpose. This includes pictures, filters, owners, videos, doodles and text. A lingering question could be How can I make my business stand out on Snapchat? This post is designed to provide advice for personalizing Snapchat catered towards your business.
Who’s Running the Account?
An intern, a social media coordinator, a Public Relations account manager, or the CEO, depending on the size of your business and number of employees, make sure to pick someone who is familiar with Snapchat and can add an entertaining personality to the brand. Like owners of other social media accounts, they have to stay up-to-date with events happening in the world and can try to connect it to your business. Also, they should develop some sort of Marketing Plan to increase engagement and making sure the Snapchat effort is creating some type of positive result.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram are visual in the sense that account managers can post pictures and/or video, but the immediacy of the 24-hour interaction with customers creates a direct, and present connection with your brand. Keep an eye out for a future post on optimizing the time limit standards on Snapchat!
Reposting Content
Believe it or not, there actually is a way to repost content on Snapchat. This is through an outside app called Upload’n’Roll, which allows users to upload pictures and videos directly from their photo album onto social media platform. There are multiple ways to utilize this opportunity, which is described in the list below.
- Doodle Contests – Frequently brands or celebrities will host doodle contests with their fans to repost onto their own accounts. The basic requirements of the contests are pick a theme, have fans draw graphics on their own accounts, send them to your account, and you pick the best to be reposted. This increases engagement with the fans and can be strategically built around promoting your brand. For example, you can have a contest to send the best doodle of your logo, best doodle of yourself, or funniest doodles on your product in their hands. The last example would require them to go out and purchase your product.
- Product Information – Providing intimate product information that might be harder to describe or reveal on another social media platform is a benefit for Snapchat. If there is a specific document, article in an email newsletter, or graphic from an outside source that you think would be better to be uploaded to Snapchat rather than taken a picture of and posted, reposting is an option. Because the content is derived from something that it already on your phone, there is a lower probability of capturing something of poorer quality through the iPhone or Android camera. This way, a further step can be taken in uploading better quality content, to give that little difference between your Story and everyone else’s.
- Missed a Snapchat Opportunity – It used to be “Man, I wish I got that on video!” Now, the common phrase is, “Man, I wish I got that on Snapchat!” In this digital age, many moments are being captured through tiny screens and providing content for people to consistently share. Snapchat is fun in the sense it can share exactly what someone is doing at that very moment, without it haunting a news feed for years. So, if there is a potential Snapchat opportunity that an account owner may have missed, as long as it was captured on the phone, there should not be much to worry! Just make sure the content is posted fairly close to the actual time it happened.
- Curated Content – sharing content related to your business creates an ideal image in categorizing your business and connecting it with similar brands. Or, if your business provides a product or service, post a picture of a customer. This topic will be discussed more in next week.
Create a Geofilter
TechInsider wrote a how-to article in creating and submitting a geofilter. As long as you have Adobe Illustrator or InDesign, and an explanation “why this is meaningful to you,” it should work!
An example could be seen during the recent Student Government elections at Loyola University Chicago. Four pairs were running for President and Vice President, but candidates Mariana Chavez and Adam Roberts provided a strategic edge against their competition by creating a branded Geofilter on Snapchat. Below is the Geofilter they created portraying cartoons of their heads, what it is for and when voting begins. This Geofilter was then geographically placed to only show up on Snapchat accounts in the Loyola community in a four block radius.
Remember, these is only starting ideas for developing a brand voice on Snapchat. Keep in mind the tone of the voice, the colors used in doodles, the filters, and what will be seen. Snapchat is very creative in the sense that users can test different ideas to see what really works for your business, and it only lasts for a day.
Does your business have a certain look you are having trouble creating on Snapchat? Or, did your business create something that looks awesome?! Share your stories in the comments below!
As always, snap you later.
LUC Marketing 399 