Essential tips for marketers looking to get on Snapchat

BACK in 2017, Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc announced an IPO — but the result, many experts believe, was quite a flop. In fact, post-IPO, the company’s reputation has taken quite a hit after poor earnings and user growth have disappointed analysts.

Despite this, social media experts believe that digital marketers should not give up on the platform, especially if their target audience includes millennials.

Snapchat has about 188 million daily active users across Android and iOS, and although the app doesn’t have the numbers Instagram boats of (500 million daily active users), the platform is still popular among millennials.

According to ComScore, as of 2018, about 45 percent of Snapchat users are 18 – 24 years old and 71 percent are under 34 years old.

Further, users tend to create 3 billion videos a day and spend 30 minutes on the platform, which makes it clear to digital marketers that the platform is not something that can be ignored.

For those just getting started, here are some essential tips:

# 1 | Zoom in on your audience

Use Snapchat Insights to understand your audience. Focus on who’s paying attention to you, what their key interests are, and what they like — aside from what you produce.

Once you understand your audience, you’ll be able to create content that better resonates with your audience as compared to channels on Snapchat that don’t understand what their audience really wants.

Snapchat Insights tells you about your viewer count over certain periods, your viewer’s age, location, gender, and interests, and also your viewer’s attention space. Use this information wisely.

# 2 | Set SMART goals

Once you’ve studied your audience, set SMART goals. Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely (SMART).

Doing so will not only help you understand what kind of content you need to create but will also help you understand the results of any campaigns undertaken to achieve set goals.

Further, according to experienced marketers, setting SMART goals helps organizations do better with improving subsequent campaigns.

# 3 | Conduct a competitive analysis

On Snapchat, you’re competing for eyeballs — and your users have only a certain amount of time.

Hence, understanding what your competitors offer is key to succeeding and making sure that you’re able to provide not just comparable content but also content that is better and unique in many respects.

Since things are quick to move on social media, it’s a good idea to undertake a competitive analysis on Snapchat at least once every three months, if not every month.

# 4 | Focus on the story

On Snapchat, your audience has a lot of options and in many cases, a lot of substitutes.

Make sure you’re very focused when creating your content so as to attract the right kind of talent. Make sure you’re also working in the right space — telling your story in a way that is suitable to your brand.

Ideally, this is something that can be handed over to content creators on a daily basis, but it’s something that digital marketers must keep an eye on and audit frequently.

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