How Snapchat can benefit your business

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Apr 15, 2016 / by
How Snapchat can benefit your business

Legendary entrepreneur and author, Gary Vaynerchuk, stated early this year: “Snapchat will be huge in 2016”. From May 2015 to January 2016, Snapchat’s daily video views have grown from 2 billion to 7 billion, and this figure continues to rise. With famous brands such as Taco Bell and Acura already rolling out comprehensive Snapchat strategies, it’s clear that this is a platform that is worth your attention.


Behind the scenes footage

Perhaps the best thing about Snapchat in a business context is that it provides you with an intimate channel of communication with your audience. You can show your followers what really goes on behind the scenes at your company, without any rehearsals or pretense. This helps to show that you are real human beings and aren’t just out to make as much money as possible. It’s an excellent tool for building trust.

This is particularly useful for sports teams, who have fanatical fanbases that want to get closer to the players that they idolise. One football team that has been using Snapchat effectively is Arsenal. Last year, two of Arsenal’s stars, Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain took over Arsenal’s Snapchat account and gave some comedic insights into what life was like at the club. Although some Arsenal fans felt that the players should be dedicating more time to their training instead of Internet antics, the efficacy of Snapchat in creating an intimate connection cannot be denied!

Exclusive deals and promotions

Everyone loves an exclusive deal, partially because they feel that they are getting something of value for less than what others are paying, but also because it makes them feel a sense of camaraderie with the brand. Snapchat’s “Stories” feature is an excellent medium for offering exclusive deals, since they disappear after 24 hours of publication. Taco Bell used this to their advantage last year for a Valentine’s Day promotion, where they gave their audience detailed instructions for personalising and sending a Snapchat valentine to their loved ones. The tagline “We go together like Doritos and tacos” is absolutely guaranteed to inspire romance, after all!

Blogger and business growth expert, Melyssa Griffin, advocates offering exclusive coupon codes with Snapchat:

“Maybe you’re selling a book or e-course and you want to create a little buzz around it. Snap a photo of a coupon code exclusively for your Snapchat friends! Post about the awesome code on Twitter or Facebook and invite people to join you on Snapchat in order to access it.  This not only brings in more followers, but more business as well.”

Private content

Acclaimed car manufacturer, Acura, is another brand that recognised the utility of Snapchat at an early stage. In order to promote their new vehicle, the Acura NSX, the company sent out a message via their other social media platforms that the first 100 people to follow them on Snapchat would get a free teaser video of the NSX prototype. This scarcity around the new vehicle created a huge amount of fervour before the vehicle was released to the marketplace. Inexpensive yet highly effective marketing.

Q/A sessions

From an emotional perspective, having an intimate channel of communication with your audience is an excellent way to build a connection. However, it’s also pretty useful in terms of telling people what your product is about! If you’re releasing a new product, people will surely have questions that they need answering in order for them to be confident in making the purchase. With Snapchat, you can alleviate people’s concerns about your product and you can use the platform to showcase the product itself (if it is physical).

Conclusion

In a world where mobile is becoming the dominant medium that people are using to access the net and communicate with one another, marketing in real time is simply a necessity. Snapchat provides an intimate channel of communication with your audience and allows you to showcase your true personality and products in order to build trust and boost your brand awareness.

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