By Communications Intern, Matilda Hartwig and Senior Account Coordinator, Jacqueline Howard.
Social media is an essential tool in a communications professional’s arsenal, enabling brands to speak directly and effectively with a range of mobile audiences.
While Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn are almost old hat to marketers these days, Snapchat is a fast becoming the next big thing with over 100 million active users.
In fact, The Australian Liberal Party was the first political party in the world to use a Snapchat ‘sponsored lens’ as it sought to tap into the youth vote for Saturday’s election. Read more on that via Marketing Mag here.
So what can we learn from the Liberals, Redbull, Tacobell and Kardashian – a handful of the brands already monopolising Snapchat?
1. Know your Audience
Snapchat is primarily used by 16-35 year olds, so it probably isn’t the best platform to market dentures or hearing aids. However it is estimated that similarly to Facebook and Twitter, Snapchat will expand its reach over time, as older audiences embrace the new technology and seek alternative ways to consume entertaining content.
2. Make it Catchy
Unlike other social media platforms, there isn’t as much opportunity to utilise written content on Snapchat. This means your message has to be visually engaging. One way to think of a Snapchat video, in terms of content creation, is as a short (10 seconds max, per video) or segmented TV advertisement. The key is to keep the message short and sweet to get the most from your exposure.
3. Personalise the Message
The best thing about social media marketing is the ability to infiltrate your customer’s day to day lives, whether they’re relaxing at home, on the bus or waiting for a date to show up. Ensure that when you’re doing this, the content is relevant to them by creating something that adds value to their day and builds positive brand sentiment.
4. But what about the time limit?
You can capture a maximum of 10 seconds on Snapchat. Once published, the content is available for 24 hours. This goes for sponsored lenses (filters) too. These time constraints are something that may have scared many away from using Snapchat, but they can actually be used to a marketer’s advantage. A published time limit encourages viewers to consume your content as soon as its available, lest the dreaded FOMO (fear of missing out) set in, and these short bursts of content ensure that everything you publish is easily palatable, taking only a small chunk of time out of the consumers’ day meaning they can tap in any time, any place.
What to learn more? Zadro could help you get your social on track with a digital detox. Contact us for a consultation.
