Snapchat is indubitably worth a lot of your marketing dollars, with its 186 million users per day, creating over 3 billion snaps daily. Whether you’re a Snapchat beginner or an experienced digital marketer, it can get rather hard to be noticed on such a busy platform. And as anyone who has a presence on Snapchat knows, Snap views can make all the difference for your brand. From cracking Snapcodes to creating snappy content, here are a few fool-proof ways to get more views on Snapchat in a snap.
Offer Value
While it is good to garner a comprehension of how Snapchat actually works, it also helps to walk in the shoes of your audience and find out what they like. Your audience will only watch Snaps that are of some value to them, and ignore the ones that aren’t. If you want to know what makes your audience tick, you have to develop a robust understanding of your audience first. You can also follow popular brands on Snapchat for a dose of inspiration.
For instance, Taco Bell never stops tinkering around on the platform and uses its snaps to let their followers know about deals and specials, as well as remind them of new products. After all, people follow Taco Bell to hear about all the latest developments and products. Similarly, as one of the earliest adopters of the Story medium, Amazon uses Snapchat to offer promotions and exclusives, while Mashable shares their live reporting on their Snapchat feed. Evarlane uses the app to demonstrate the transparency of their manufacturing operations by showing the customers a live walk-through of their factory.
In addition to keeping your customers up-to-date about your latest products and offers, never forget the power of education when it comes to creating your own Snapchat value proposition. Your brand can give back to the community by teaching the masses and creating awareness. For instance, the UK Department of transport organized a campaign aimed at teaching youth the consequences of reckless driving.
Try Ghostcodes
Ghost codes is a great way to reach new people and widen your audience base. Ghostcodes is an online platform that lets you promote your account as well as discover similar Snapchat accounts, based on interests such as makeup or photography. All you have to do is create a short preview describing your business as well as the kind of content you usually post. Profiles are divided into different categories, such as travel, beauty, fitness, etc. If your account appeals to other users, they can give you alike (“kudos”), which in turn, boosts your ranking. The higher your rank, the more visible you become to new users, which helps you in being discovered and grow your authority. Similarly, when you find someone you want to follow, simply download their Snapcode to your camera roll and upload it to Snapchat. They will be encouraged to reciprocate the gesture.
Tell Great Stories
Good content promotes itself, which means that when your content is compelling enough for your users, your stories will most likely end up being shared by followers and end up in the “for you” tab. Brands such as the WWF occasionally launch shows on Snapchat to boost their rankings and views. WWE Snapchat followership experienced a 34% growth when they launched the WWE show last year. There’s a lot that your brand can do to make sure your content is super-gripping. For instance, you can catch more eyeballs with a good headline, and then make sure the rest of the story lives up to the expectations. Similarly, remember to add interesting sounds and catchy music to add interest. Geotags can also come in handy in a high-traffic area. You can also keep your stories interactive by adding polls and quizzes. Stay up-to-date on the latest trends, slang, jargon, and phrases commonly used by your demographic base, so that you resonate with your audience. Whatever you do, remember to keep it short and succinct lest you lose the interest of viewers.
Run contests
Contests can become an integral part of your Snapchat marketing strategy. Follow-to-enter contests are a great way to gain Snapchat followers. When you promise the right price, these contests can have a leaping frog effect. Not to mention, incentivizing users is a great way to keep followers on board. Even if you are operating on a shoe-string budget, you don’t have to go big;
a modest commentary prize, a discount on your products, or a free product can be enticing enough. The mobile food-ordering company GrubHub’s #SnapHunt contest asked Snappers to respond to a week’s worth of daily challenges with Snaps of their own for a chance to win $50 in free takeout. As a result, the brand saw a 20 percent lift in followers in the light of the contest.
Share Your Snapchat on Other Social Media
Considering an app that isn’t exactly geared towards discovery, you will find it a hard nut to crack to gain followers through Snapchat itself. Unfortunately, the app only connects you with people you consider to be close friends or with brands and companies that are most important to you, leaving little room for discovery. However, you can use your influence over other social media channels to promote your Snapchat account and promote your brand. As part of your overall digital marketing strategy, keep sharing your Snapchat code on your Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages. You can also leverage other marketing materials to promote your Snapchat as well, for instance via business cards, trade conference handouts, brochures, blogs, email newsletters, etc. You can even use your Snapcode as your profile picture on other accounts.
Remember that people often suffer from what is known as social-media burnout, which means that they may not want to see repetitive content across myriad social media channels. Snapchat’s creative format allows you to have fun and experiment with new content types. To promote your Snapchat, send your social media followers teasers about exclusive content that can only be viewed on Snapchat.
Post Regularly
One thing that Snapchat shares with other social media channels is that it favors users who post more often. It doesn’t just show that you are serious about your content, it is also a great way to become visible for your followers. If you want to get more eyeballs on your post, you should post more frequently. The more stories you post, the higher the chance that more users will see and open your story. When planning out your Snapchat marketing strategy, a couple of stories a day should cut the bill just fine. However, over-posting or posting lesser-quality posts just for the sake of posting will bore your users out. Remember that quality trumps quantity, so it’s better to set some time aside to actually plan what you are going to post and create a posting strategy.
Get Featured In A Snapchat Live Story
Snapchat posts live stories during hot events such as the presidential elections, Independence Day Parade, or the super Bowl. These are in essence a compilation of snaps from people who are present at the event. Since these stories are public to every Snapchat user, you will get massive views for your story if it gets picked up by Snapchat. All you have to do is record your Snap, press the blue arrow like you normally do to post it to your story, and select “Our Story” to enter your Snap to a life story. Snapchat needs to know that you are present at the event, so remember to turn your location services on. The average audience for a Live Story is 10 to 20 million people.
Collaborate with an influencer
One way to promote your brand is to ask someone famous within your sphere to spread the word about you and put your brand out there in front of their followers. Contact them and give them more details on the kind of partnership you want, as well as, what is in it for them. For instance, you can ask the influencer to give your brand a shout out or even do a takeover. A takeover is when an influencer gets total control of your account for some period of time. Remember Buffy dropping in on Angel? The purpose of these takeovers is to bring new, like-minded audiences to your content. Keep in mind that you will have to pay for this partnership or even give them something in return (a shout out for a shout out, for instance). When choosing an influencer, the number of followers matters a lot, but also keep affinity in mind. Kanye West may have a huge following, but does his audience match your target demo.
Try Your Hands at Snapchat Ads
Snapchat ads are in essence snaps and stories that are inserted into other Snappers’ snaps and stories, based on your audience’s interests. For Snap Ads to be useful for your Snapchat marketing strategy, be sure to include a direct CTA. The length of your Snap Ad is another factor to keep in consideration. According to Snapchat, 0:03 – 0:05 is the sweet spot for Snap Ad length to drive action.
