Taking Things Personally: Using Snapchat as a Marketing Tool
By now, we all know how essential social media is to a company’s success. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have been utilized in almost every way imaginable. In addition to these big three, numerous other different social media outlets are used for more specific uses and for different target audiences. In the past, Snapchat has had a reputation of being too casual of a platform for social media. But with more than 26 million users, companies are starting to realize that they should tap into the potential of Snapchat by embracing its unique qualities and its marketing potential.
The casual communication through pictures and videos that Snapchat promotes is something that marketers are learning to embrace. In fact, there are many benefits to using Snapchat as a creative way to reach target audiences.
PERSONALITY
Through Snapchat, companies can show their own personality and convey their identity through the photos and videos they share. Take, for example, the Food Network. Their Snapchat consists of short demonstrations of how to make food, articles on food news, recipe inspiration, and frequently features TV personalities who have their own shows on the network, like Katie Lee and Giada De Laurentiis.
LIVE CONTENT
Snapchat also allows a personal component of the identities of these companies to shine through, offering behind the scenes footage for followers to view. MLS and NBA take part in this, just to name a couple. Sports have not just become a love for the game, but also for the players and associations involved, and through Snapchat, fans can engage more with the players and teams by watching live footage of their moments leading up to the big game.
GEO-FEATURES
Snapchat offers a geo-feature that brands can take advantage of. The most recent to do this is IHOP, offering branded filters to use on pictures taken at the restaurant. IHOP’s VP of marketing explained their choice to do this, saying, “IHOP receives Snapchats from users every day, a lot of them taken while in our restaurant. Introducing customized filters was a great way to further engage with our guests and at the same time extend our brand message when they share that content with their friends.”
Just like many of the popular social media outlets out there, Snapchat has become a part of life (millennial life, at least). In order for brands to be recognized, they are starting to realize they need to get creative and integrate themselves into the phenomena any way they can. And as users, we have to admit: (ba da ba da ba) we’re lovin’ it.
