Getting Started with Snapchat Advertising
Snapchat allows users to share snaps (photos or videos no more than 10 seconds long) and stories (a collection of snaps) with their friends. Snaps are deleted once they are viewed and stories are deleted after 24 hours. https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-use-snapchat-beginners-guide/. (Fear not, snaps can be saved to your “Memories” so you can view them later.)
Snapchat is unique in that it opens to a camera screen, not the user’s feed or timeline as with other social platforms. Users take photos and videos and edit them to include stickers, filters, links, or text.
Once inside the app, users swipe right to view the Friends screen. Here you can see who has shared snaps with you or chat with friends. Swipe left to view the Discover screen. The Discover screen displays content from publishers and other brands curated for you by Snapchat’s algorithm. This is another feature unique to Snapchat – content from brands and publishers is separate from content from friends and other connections.
To use Snapchat for business, you must first set up an account and then register for Ads Manager. Through Ads Manager you can place advertising campaigns and target by age and location. Unfortunately, you likely will not have access to analytics, at least not at first. Users can see which and how many other users viewed their story however Snapchat Insights are only available for accounts with large followings – more than 50,000 views per story.
Snapchat offers three advertising options. Snap Ads are 10-second, interactive, vertical videos that include engaging content along with a call to action or web link. Sponsored geofilters are filters that are customized for a specific location, holiday, theme, or even an event. Sponsored lenses are the most popular feature on the platform. These are similar to geofilters but more interactive. Where geofilters overlay a logo, graphic, or text to your photo or video, the lens uses facial recognition technology to trigger an action. For instance, adding glasses, evening skin tone, accentuating different areas of the face, or even launching a game.
265,000,000
daily active users worldwide
59%
of U.S. Internet users ages 13-24 use Snapchat
210,000,000
snaps created each day
