Once considered a niche platform for the young, Snapchat has grown to control a considerable piece of the social advertising pie. In 2019, second-quarter revenue increased 48% to $388 million. This accelerated from 39% growth in the previous quarter and from 36% in the prior quarter.

According to the platform, user activity is up as well. Snapchat reached 190 million daily users in Q1 of 2019. Snapchatters use their app over 20 times per day and spend an average of 30 minutes on the app creating over 3.5 billion Snaps daily.

And while it’s still true that Snapchat appeals most to the younger generations (90% of all 13-24 year-olds and 75% of all 13-34-year-olds in the U.S. are on Snapchat), marketers can’t afford to ignore this platform.

Why is Snapchat so crucial for brands? Here are two important reasons:

  • Millennials (the first generation to adopt Snapchat) are coming into their prime purchasing power – it is projected that by 2020, Millennial spending will grow to $1.4 trillion annually, representing 30% of total retail sales. As more and more marketers turn to Instagram Stories, there is less competition on Snapchat. This presents an opportunity for marketers to double down on their Snapchat strategy in order to see a better ROI
  • The key to brand success on Snapchat is providing authentic content that offers something users cannot find on any other platform. By leaning into Snapchat’s ability to create the “fear of missing out” in its users, brands are able to capture audiences’ attention and connect with their consumers. Not quite sure how your brand can make an impact on Snapchat? Read on for our favorite 5 brands on Snapchat right now.

The key to brand success on Snapchat is providing authentic content that offers something users cannot find on any other platform. By leaning into Snapchat’s ability to create the “fear of missing out” in its users, brands are able to capture audiences’ attention and connect with their consumers. Not quite sure how your brand can make an impact on Snapchat? Read on for our favorite 5 brands on Snapchat right now.

#1 Self Reinvents Itself on Snapchat

When fitness magazine Self folded its print edition at the end of 2016, it was unclear what the future would hold. But since then, the magazine has found a new life and demographic of readers on the brand’s Snapchat. The brand launched on Snapchat’s Discover section for publishers with a weekly frequency. That frequency has now increased to three times a week and reaches 8 million unique users per month. This number is larger than Self’s own website, as well as any other platform for the magazine. Additionally, more than 50% of their audience returns to its Discover Stories at least three times per week. This statistic proves that their modern approach to content delivery has created an engaged and loyal audience base.

Self has shifted their content on Snapchat to be video focused – which keeps their audience engaged with the publisher’s content longer than text based publishers. Readers can interact with the stories, tips and tricks shared on Snapchat and them ‘swipe up’ to read more on Self’s magazine edition. But the Self team is less concerned with converting their Snapchat audience to self.com visitors. Their main goal on Snapchat is to provide users with wellness information that is trustworthy, nonjudgmental, inclusive and entertaining. Ultimately, this will keep the brand top of mind for readers and get them excited about Self products.

TAKEAWAY: Craft content and content delivery based on how audiences want to engage with Snapchat.

#2 Taco Bell Serves Up the Soft Sell

Taco Bell Snapchat Strategy

Source: Medium

Taco Bell is known for their funny and lighthearted approach to branding, so it’s no surprise that the taco fast food chain delights users on Snapchat. They frequently use their Snapchat channel to promote new menu items and to engage a young social media audience.

But on Cinco de Mayo in 2016, they took their comical approach to social media to a new level. The ‘Taco Head’ campaign shattered a Snapchat record with a whopping 224 million views. It’s still one of the top-performing campaigns in the platform’s history. The taco was a Snapchat lens that turned consumers’ heads into a giant taco shell. Since the Snapchat demographic is already playing with Snapchat lenses, this cheerful approach to praising the taco was enthusiastically received.

TAKEAWAY: You don’t have to hit viewers over the head with your branding. Taco Bell subtly branded the taco lens by playing their famous ‘bong’ sound rather than a logo or tagline. The key is not to discourage use with overly branded assets.

#3 Jägermeister Takes the Snapchat Party into Bars

Jägermeister Snapchat Strategy

Source: Jägermeister tarot cards on Instagram

Jägermeister increased their Snapchat ad spend to $100,000 surrounding their 2018 Halloween push. The liquor brand created an AR campaign, “Divine the Darke” which featured a Snapchat lens of tarot cards that would reveal the users’ “cocktail fate.” Users interacted with the cards by viewing them on any background surface and tapping to see fortunes like, “Trust in your instincts and follow your gut” along with a suggestion for how to drink Jägermeister. Snapchat users could also access the experience through different Snapcodes on the brand’s products in both bars and stores. This key feature of the campaign was effective at bridging the online experience with the in-real-life one.

“We really felt that [Snapchat] was the best platform to engage with our consumers in the moment… When our target millennial consumers are in bars, we know they’re on their mobile devices. We are joining them instead of crashing their party.”
Heather Kozera, VP of integrated marketing

This campaign had some pretty impressive results. After just 18 days the AR ads and snapcodes drove 32 million impressions and 450,000 ‘swipe up’ actions. Of those who swiped, 6,000 users shared the experience, while 3,000 saved it within Snapchat.

TAKEAWAY: Consider when and where your audience is when they are interacting with your brand’s Snapchat channel. Build experiences that aim to connect with the user not just on the platform, but outside of it as well.

#4 Bareburger Transforms the Dining Experience

While many brands are using Snapchat for one-off influencer partnerships or limited advertising campaign pushes, Bareburger has focused on experimenting with the platform’s technical features. The restaurant chain is using a custom Snapchat World Lens to allow customers to scan a Snapcode which places a virtual dish on the table. The image can be resized, mixed with other filters and snapped to a friend. The augmented reality lenses, which are created from images of real burgers, allow diners to preview any dish from all angles.

The hope is that incorporating AR will help to drive traffic to the chain’s restaurants and help the industry as a whole bring value to customers by creating realistic presentations of dishes before they place an order. This test also opens the door for marketers to create 360-degree experiences that can be activated by scanning Snapcodes with the image-messaging app’s camera. Snapchat also offers the ability for marketers to track the effectiveness of these features, such as how many people scan the code or interact with the lens (Digiday).

TAKEAWAY: In the experience economy, it’s important to test out how platform features can supplement a traditional experience in new, exciting and better ways. This creates buzz, engages customers and can help to differentiate your brand from the competition.

#5 Moët & Chandon Authentically Captures the Consumers’ Attention

Moet Snapchat Strategy

Source: Digiday

According to a Snapchat blog post, 44% of Snapchat users in the U.S. look to friends and family for recommendations on alcohol purchases, compared to just 19% of non-Snapchatters. This statistic makes the platform an ideal one for the sparkling wine brand, Moët & Chandon.

Last holiday season, the brand launched a campaign that centered around a ‘Tower Toss’ game. To play, two people took turns swiping up to shoot a cork at a four-layer Moët tower. Each player had 10 seconds to toss as many corks as they could, receiving points for precision and which tier they targeted. Moët paid for placement on Snapchat Discover to direct users to play the game. As the brand moves away from traditional advertising channels, the goal of the game was to drive higher engagement and consideration with consumers.

“We don’t want to just buy people’s attention through media — we want to get their attention naturally in a customized way,” said Christine Ngo Isaac, marketing director and head of U.S. consumer engagement for Moët & Chandon. “Snapchat is an open ecosystem and has done a good job in building a customer experience outside of traditional advertising.”

TAKEAWAY: Take advantage of the opportunities Snapchat provides to connect with your audience. Embrace the fun and different features of the platform to create campaigns that will resonate.

In today’s crowded social landscape, Snapchat offers marketers a lot of great reasons to embrace the platform. It offers less competition from brands, unique features, and an engaged user base. This can mean big results for brands, but the decision to add a new platform to your mix should always be made cautiously. What brands are you following on Snapchat? Will your brand be joining the Snapchat mix?

If you’re interested in learning how chatbots can better complement your social and digital strategy, attend one of our social media strategy conferences.

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