It’s a Snap! Reaching New Heights with Snapchat Ads
When you hear “Snapchat,” do you think about advertising? If not, perhaps you should!
This frequently underestimated app holds enormous marketing power, especially when reaching Millennial and Gen Z consumers. After all, to increase brand awareness among younger audiences, you must take your brand into the spaces where those audiences are.
Whether you hire a Snapchat Ads Manager or navigate the waters yourself, this article will help you discover how Snapchat can take your business to the next level.
What is Snapchat?
Snapchat is a social media app that connects people through photos, video, and instant messaging. With approximately 383 million active users in 52 countries, Snapchat is one of the most widely used social media platforms today.
That said, Snapchat’s reputation for private, person-to-person photo sharing often makes business owners overlook its marketing potential. Far from being an irrelevant pastime of the younger set, Snapchat is an ideal space to raise brand awareness, gain more clicks, promote downloads, and more. It is also a primary channel for connecting with younger consumers who may not be reached through other means.
If you’re still skeptical, consider that Snapchat reaches 90% of all 13–24-year-olds and 75% of all 13–34-year-olds in the US alone. Millennial and Gen Z groups spend an average of 30 minutes a day on the app and are 20% more likely to make mobile purchases. Considering these groups hold $1 trillion in direct spending power, it seems foolish to forgo the platform's opportunities Snapchat Business Help Center: The Value of Advertising on Snapchat
3 Steps to Snapchat Success
Starting a business Snapchat journey is easier than it might seem. The following three steps will help you get ads up and running in no time.
1. Create a Snapchat Business Account
To use Snapchat Ads Manager, you’ll need to set up a Snapchat business account. This account is linked to a Public Profile where you’ll provide your business name, a profile picture, and a few other details. You’ll also be asked to verify your business email address so that Snapchat can know you’re in business. When setting up your profile, make sure that each element (especially your business name) is winsome yet recognizable. Make it easy for subscribers to find you and understand who you are.
2. Design a Campaign
Once your profile is set up, you can start creating ads. Snapchat simplifies the process by offering two options for ad creation. “Instant Create” is mainly automated and is an excellent choice when you want to make an ad quickly and easily, while “Advanced Create” provides more customizations and allows you to make multiple and more complicated ads. Once your ads are ready, Snapchat allows you to set objectives and targeting goals and to decide where your ads will appear. With the ability to show as Friend Stories or Creator and Editorial Content, you can ensure that your promotions will have the reach you want while working for your business’s best advantage. Before your ads are released, they go through Snapchat’s Ad Review process. Reading the advertising policies, Community Guidelines, and Terms of Service will help you know what is acceptable for the platform. Most ads are received within 24 hours, but if you’re short on time, you can choose from one of their pre-approved ads.
3. Monitor Your Progress
Once your ads are up and rolling, all you need to do is monitor them. Snapchat Ads Manager is the place for this step. With Ads Manager, you can do the following:
• View performance metrics
• Manage accounts, settings, and existing ads
• Create, manage, and save audiences and lookalikes
• Use snap pixel (a piece of JavaScript code that lets you see how many users behave on your website after seeing your ad).
• Invite team members and assign roles and permissions
• Manage billing options and your marketing budget
Marketing options start at $5 a day , which means you can start using and benefiting from Ad Manager’s analytics even if you’re just starting your Snapchat journey. You’ll want to return to your analytics regularly to learn how to make better campaign choices.
If you get stuck on any one of the three steps, you can visit the
Troubleshooting guide
Snapchat provides for users.
Types of Ads
Snapchat allows businesses to create and post many types of ads. Some of these types are what you’d expect to see on other social media platforms, and others take advertising to incredible new heights.
Immersive Ads
While other platforms, such as Instagram, offer immersive experiences, Snapchat is the most immersive social platform for AR experiences. With Augmented Reality (AR) Lens Experience, business owners can integrate real-world spaces, products, and actions with the digital interface to actively connect audiences with their brand. Such ads offer areas for organic, non-invasive, and personal engagement. It’s hard to categorize these ads because their possibilities are limited only by the imaginations of their designers! However, we can give you examples of the types of immersive ads businesses regularly create. These ads include:
• Interactive games
• Special lenses that allow users to see what furniture, appliances, etc., would look like in their actual homes
• Scanners that allow users to see what shoes and other clothing items would look like on their bodies
• Custom overlays to physical spaces
subway even created a Snapchat ad that linked with a direct interview with the company. Possible hires were asked to describe their favorite sandwich using emoticons. This approach was highly successful in helping fill a worker shortage for the company (talk about fresh!) Don’t worry if you’re not quite ready for such ingenuity right away. Snapchat provides beginner templates to help you get started. You also won’t need to do coding to create interactive experiences, although the platform does allow you to use JavaScript if you wish.
Other Ads
Beyond AR, Snapchat also provides the tools to create more traditional ads, including:
• Single Image Ads
• Video Ads
• Commercials
• Collection Ads
• Story Ads
• Catalogs/Product Inventories
For image and video ads, Snapchat allows you to add attachments and links to take your audience deeper into your content. Regardless of which form of ad you use, Snapchat programs ads to grab the user’s full attention for a period of time by causing them to appear full-screen on mobile devices. Commercials are non-skippable for 6 seconds, which means users will have the chance to get hooked before shifting their attention.
Quick Tips
With so many possibilities, it can be difficult to know what content will jive best with audiences. Below are a few trade tricks we can pass on to you.
Win Viewers with Stunning Visuals.
Above all, Snapchat is a visual platform. Regardless of your ad type, use colors, images, animations, and videos that instantly grab your audience’s attention and compel them to make clicks. You’ll also want to consider an ad’s length. Single Image or Video ads can be up to 3 minutes long, but Snapchat suggests that you keep things shorter (think 3-5 seconds) to engage the shorter attention spans of younger consumers.
Lead with Action.
Use clear, action-driven language such as “Subscribe now” or “Click to Join Mailing List” to tell your audience what you want them to do. When your language is clear and the action step easy, your audience is more likely to engage with your content.
Follow Trends.
Snapchat Trends is a tool that highlights the topics and terms that are most popular, even week to week. Use this tool regularly so your posts will be fresh and organic. You can also search what is trending in specific business categories to scope out and explore new opportunities within your niche.
Keep Things Personal.
Snapchat users like genuine and organic content, so make sure that your profile and ads feel approachable and authentic. As mentioned earlier, keep your terms recognizable so that you can easily be discovered by those who are meant to find you. Additionally, try out a variety of ads and content, and get your own people involved as brand ambassadors. This will give Snapchatters a complete look at what you offer. Posting consistently will increase confidence and comfort with your brand.
Ready to Snap?
As is likely apparent by now, using Snapchat Ads effectively will help you keep current and above the competition. Best of all, it will keep your brand present in the spaces where Millennials and Gen Z consumers frequently traffic.
If you’ve already become proficient with Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, it might be time to master Snapchat’s innovative ads.
If you need help getting started, give us a call. We can help you establish your profile and strategize how to best integrate Snapchat with your social media and marketing platforms.
So what are you waiting for? With Snapchat, you have the potential to become a trend creator, not just a follower. The world is waiting for you to Snap your way to success.
WRITTEN BY: KATIE BARNETT
