Snapchat is a platform that is heavily used by the millennials, my daughter spends every minute she can on it, ask anyone under 30 their top 3 social media platforms and Snapchat is highly likely to be in their top 3! The millennials are obsessed with it and it’s definitely here to stay! Even if millennials and those under 30 aren’t necessarily your target market right now, they are your next generation of customers and believe me they will expect to see you with a presence on Snapchat.
My advice to anyone that owns a small business is to plan ahead with your future customers in mind and make a start on building a name for your brand on Snapchat. I have detailed below my top 5 tips for getting started with Snapchat for those of you that are new to the platform.
Starting on Snapchat is just like starting out on any other social media platform, you need to get a feel for the way people are interacting on the network and then follow suit. For example, you wouldn’t post loads of selfies on LinkedIn, however this would be completely acceptable on Instagram. Snapchat is a really fun social media platform, it’s basically a place for people to hang out be a bit silly and share what they have been up to with their friends or even the world!
Make sure your Snapchat content is appealing to those that are on Snapchat. You will be competing against a lot of other Snapchat stories so it’s imperative that you post content that will make your brand stand out from the crowd. You can do this by using your personality, you don’t need to be super professional on Snapchat, sharing really cool stuff that is relevant to your business, and is still in context, will work really well for you.
Whatever you do, do not be over promotional on Snapchat, this is not the Snapchat way! It will be a huge turn off for your followers if the only posts you ever make are promotional ones. Find innovative ways to show off what you have going on in your business without being too salesy. Find subtle ways to promote your products and services. For example, you could do a behind the scenes post or special sneak peaks, there are so many great things that you can do to activate your Snapchat audience that don’t involve overly promotional pushy content.
Keep things interesting by allowing someone to do a takeover of your brands account, it could be an influencer who you think aligns with your audience or it could be a member of your team. Your Snapchat audience will love this.
Don’t limit yourself by having the incorrect settings on your account, make sure everyone can send you snaps and view your story. If your Snapchat account is set to just your friends then you have to follow people back before they can view your Snapchat content. Keeping your settings open will help you to build a Snapchat following much faster.
To summarise a lot of the other social media platforms underestimated Snapchat when it first came out however they quickly saw the error of their ways and even the more established platforms such as Instagram now see Snapchat as a serious threat. Hence the reason Instagram decided to shamelessly copy Snapchat in one of their recent updates. Don’t make the same mistake as so many others by underestimating Snapchat, it does have the ability to help increase brand awareness and generate new leads for your business both now and in the future. In order for your smal business to thrive it is imperative that you move with the times and explore up and coming social media platforms such as Snapchat. If you would like to find out more about Snapchat and how it can benefit your business have a read of the following article - How To Use Snapchat For Business Marketing… Is It Even Possible?