How To Use Snapchat for Business

As of April 2024, the US is the country with the second biggest number of Snapchat users with a total number of over 106 million users.

Snapchat is one of the social media platforms that connects people and brings entertainment, but did you know that you can use Snapchat for business? 

In this article we will talk about how to leverage Snapchat for business in the US and how to connect with millennials and Gen Z who are by far the target audience of Snapchat. 

Let’s start now!

The Basics of Snapchat for Business

The Snapchat app was launched back in 2011 but is still one of the top 15 most-used social media platforms in the whole world alongside Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X. 

Snapchat is a visual social media platform where users can share pictures and videos of different contexts. It can be your everyday life, updates on your travels, whereabouts, or basically anything. 

A little background – Snap Inc. is a technology company that was founded on September 16th, 2011 by Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy in Santa Monica, California. Snap Inc. produced services and products like Snapchat, Bitmoji, and Spectacles.

Snapchat was often overlooked by small and large businesses as a platform to build their brand presence and increase revenue. Other Snapchatters just considered Snapchat as a user-to-user social media app, but it is a great platform for your business’s social media marketing strategy.

And now Snapchat is getting a new surge of popularity, after its “Less social media, more Snapchat” campaign at the Super Bowl.

Here are some of the benefits of Snapchat for your business:

• Connects you with a younger audience: If your target audience is Gen Z and millennials, Snapchat is the platform for you. In a study, it is said that users spend 30 minutes per day using Snapchat. The demographic data of your audience are sometimes hard to find on traditional advertising channels that is why you need to leverage other social media platforms like Snapchat.
  
• Gets users to interact with your business or brand: Snapchat’s nature is encouraging people to make unfiltered contents, and foster a sense of authenticity and intimacy between brands and their audiences. When you feature user-generated content, share bits or behind-the-scenes footage of campaigns or sneak peek, you can humanize your brand and create genuine relationships with your potential customers.
  
• Helps show your brand’s real and playful side: Snapchat is created for people to have casual and fun relationships. You can leverage this platform to show playful color or other sides of your business like creating bitmoji or just being unfiltered.
  
• Access to creative opportunities: Snapchat has creative tools you can leverage for your business like AR lenses, drawing tools, stickers, etc.

• Direct communication: Snapchat is also a messaging platform where you can directly interact with your customers or audience and give them real-time service for customer inquiries, customer support, or if you are requesting feedback, etc. 

If you are going to use Snapchat for your business, make sure to avoid using third-party apps and always comply with Snapchat‘s terms of service. Snapchat is important if you are reaching a wider audience of young people as it makes a lasting impact that can contribute to your business goals and objectives. 

The Millennial and Gen Z Audience on Snapchat

Snapchat has more than 406 million daily active users, and about 62% of them are younger demographic or audiences who are 18 – 34 years old. These age brackets are famously known as Generation Z or Gen Z and Millenials. 

As mentioned earlier other users just see Snapchat as user-to-user use and not much for business. But why do businesses that target Gen Z and millennials want to leverage Snapchat?

Millennials are people who were born between 1981 and 1996. On the other hand, Gen Zs are born between 1990 and 2010. 

These types of people are:

• Obsessed with social media;
• Tech-savvy;
• Authenticity seekers;
• They love personalization;
• They love seeing and responding to UGC or user-generated content;
• They’re usually ad-resistant;
• They love researching.

Millennials and Gen Z love content from real people. 

The same goes when it comes to interacting with a brand – they love reviews, product research, and content from real people who have real experience or reviews about the product or service. That being said, Snapchat has been partnering with a research firm called NRG or National Research Group over the past years to assess mobile video trends among Gen Z and millennials.

According to one research, 9 out of 10 millennials and Gen Z prefer to watch videos on a platform that has a positive environment, not a platform with algorithms that favor anger or divisiveness. This age group forms a high source of trust in videos created by people they personally know, followed by influencers, brands, studios, artists, etc. 

This generation knows how misinformation is easily spread, they are highly aware of it and rely mostly on research to know if a story is true or not. According to another research, it is said that 86% of millennials and Gen Z would most likely watch videos on a platform that is less likely to spread misinformation and provides trust. 

That is why if you are going to use Snapchat for business, you must capture your target audience’s attention by being authentic and reliable.

How To Set Up Business Goals and Objectives for Snapchat 

Setting your business goals and objectives is important to boost your marketing strategy and drive users to your platform. These goals will not only serve as a roadmap but also as your guide to measure your business’s success. 

Here are some of the goals you can consider for your Snapchat strategy:

• Lead Generation: Generating leads should be one of your goals for using Snapchat for business. Track the number of sign-ups from your business or purchases that are directly attributed to your Snapchat marketing strategy.
  
• Increase brand awareness: One of the main objectives of using Snapchat for business is to increase brand awareness and use the platform to increase brand visibility. Ultimately, you want to drive traffic to your sales pages.
  
• Reach new audiences: Expand your audience reach on Snapchat by setting this as one of your goals. Aim to set a number of new Snapchat followers you want to gain within a specific period and use metrics or KPIs to measure your success on it.
  
• Promote product or service launches: You need to set goals to drive awareness and joiners for your product launches or upcoming event dates by using or tracking metrics like RSVPs, web visits, or event views from Snapchat audiences or referrals.
  
• Benchmark against other brands: Always keep a close eye on competitors and set goals to outperform them in terms of creativity, reach, or engagement. You can also analyze their strategy and content to gain insights into how they are different from you and pinpoint your areas for improvement. 

By setting clear and measurable goals, you can ensure that your business will see great results in terms of sales, conversion rates, or engagement rates. You can also ensure that your business is aligned with your overall objectives if you have goals to follow. 

Regularly track your progress by incorporating KPIs or key performance indicators to your overall operations. 

How To Create a Snapchat Business Account

Creating a Snapchat business account is pretty straightforward and seamless. All you need to do is create a Snapchat account and then add the business Snapchat functionalities. 

Here is a complete guide on how to do it:

• Download the Snapchat app: You can download Snapchat on your mobile devices via Playstore for Android users, and App Store for iOS users. You can also use the web version of Snapchat for your desktop, though most users and small businesses prefer mobile devices. 

• Create an account: After downloading and opening the app, you’ll be asked to choose to log in or sign up. Choose sign up and you’ll be prompted to the fill-up section. Write your name, and last name, choose your username, set up a password, enter your email address, and your birthday. After that click “Sign Up & Accept”.

• Set up your Snapchat Business Account: Go to the Snapchat ads manager and log into the Snapchat account you created. After logging in your Snapchat username and password, you will then have to complete the following steps:

• Create and enter your business name, your name, and your email address. After that select Next.
• Select your country and after that your preferred currency. And then after that enter your business phone number and website. Press Next.
• Select and add your profile photo for your business and confirm. You can also change your username to match your business name. After that, select “Create Public Profile”.

• Create ad campaign: You will be guided and prompted to design and create ad campaigns and set up your first ad account. After that, you need to set up the details like specific audiences and specific locations along with an ad budget.

• Lastly, launch your first campaign: Select and enter a payment method and finalize your business’s ad campaign.

Snapchat can be a hidden card in your marketing strategy because it could offer your business a solid base for reaching your target audience. Other platforms like X (Twitter) and TikTok for business are already booming and there are lots of competitors. So, if you are looking for a less competitive space to begin with, you can leverage Snapchat and use the advantage of the USA being one of the largest user-bases of this platform.

What Kind Of Content To Use For Snapchat

To make your audience turn heads and turn into leads, you need to create compelling Snapchat content. 

But what makes content appealing in the Snapchat world and why would a user click on your content in Snapchat’s discover section? 

Well, for starters, you need to focus on content that is relevant, entertaining, and aligned to your brand identity. 

Here are some elements you can incorporate into your content:

• UGC or user-generated content with user testimonials;
• Interactive polls;
• Product showcases;
• Evergreen content.

You can also use a content calendar to have a more organized posting schedule. 

How To Use Snapchat‘s Features and Tools

Snapchat boasts several features and tools that are useful for businesses. These tools offer opportunities for businesses to engage with their audience, achieve their marketing objectives, and drive growth in terms of the number of new customers, sales, etc. 

Here are some of the Snapchat features useful for both large and small business owners:

• Snapchat ads: Snap ads can help you reach your target audience, no doubt. You can use different ad formats like the Snapchat story ads, collection ads, video ad, and single image ads as long as it showcases your brand or products. You can also manage all of them in the Snapchat Ads Manager.
  
• Snapchat’s QR code: Snapchat enables businesses to create custom QR codes that users can scan to unlock access to exclusive content and special offers, or engage with branded experiences. You can incorporate this QR code into your packaging, storefront, or other marketing materials to boost offline and online experiences.
  
• Pre-set templates: Pre-set templates help you simplify your content creation process. These templates are professionally designed layouts and themes that fit your ads or stories. You can customize these templates based on your brand identity, messaging, etc.
  
• Dynamic stories: This relatively new feature allows publishers to automatically create stories based on the new stories they publish online.
  
• AR Lenses: These lenses allow you to create interactive experiences for your customers and capture their interest. From interactive games to branded Snapchat filters, you can showcase your product more in a memorable way, and with that, you can create a sense of recall for the customers and increase engagement. AR is a great example of what makes Snapchat uniquely valuable and engaging.
  
• Snapchat business manager: This tool is your one-stop shop for creating, launching, optimizing, and monitoring your Snapchat business account. It has useful features such as events manager, creator marketplace, instant creation of content, Snapchat lens lab builder tools, catalogs, and more.

These tools and features can help you create impactful marketing strategies to raise your brand’s awareness and identity. 

Tips For Engaging with Your Audience on Snapchat

If you’ve chosen Snapchat to engage with your audience, that only means you are targeting a younger audience whose demographic data includes people who were born between 1981 and 2010, or in simpler terms you are aiming for Millenials and Gen Z. 

These generations you are considering potential customers are ad resistant when it comes to online stores, websites or other traditional channels. But with social media platforms like Snapchat, you can invest effort in the app that is one of their purchase drivers.

To engage with your audience on Snapchat, here are some things you can do:

• Feature UGC or user testimonials;
• Create interactive content;
• Share behind-the-scene content;
• Create giveaways or contests;
• Collaborate with influencers or other brands;
• Use creative brand storytelling.

Last but not least – ask questions, seek feedback, or hype your audience to share their own stories relating to your brand or product. This is a great way to connect with your following and foster brand loyalty. 

Snapchat Advertising Tips For Businesses

Snapchat offers targeted advertising options that can boost your brand’s visibility. A Snap ad should be able to provide information about your business and your products and services.

To effectively launch campaigns, here is what you need to do:

• Set clear objectives: Before launching your Snapchat ad campaign, clearly define what are your objectives and goals, and choose KPIs too that align with your business operations.
  
• Use dynamic ads: Ads that are created automatically in Snapchat are called dynamic ads. These advertisements create personalized ad experiences for users based on their interests and preferences.
  
• Implement sponsored AR lenses: A sponsored lens allows you to create interactive content that can help keep more users engaged.
  
• Manage your ad accounts: Use Snapchat’s ads manager to manage your ad accounts, organize ad campaigns, and track your ad performance metrics with Snapchat insights.

Remember – Millennials and Gen Z audiences are always changing preferences. Always keep experimenting with new formats, targeting options, and other creative strategies to achieve your business objectives. 

How To Measure Performance and Analyze Results

When it comes to Snapchat marketing, using data and analytics tools to measure performance is important. 

Here are some tools and strategies you can use:

• Split test: Also known as A/B testing, this test involves comparing two or more variations of your ad creative, messaging, targeting efforts, etc to measure which among performs best. You can use this test to experiment with different formats. Call-to-action, visuals, or audience to identify which is the most effective strategy that drives results.
  
• Snap pixel: Snap pixel is a tracking tool that enables you to gauge conversions and attribute them back to your Snapchat ad campaigns. Install Snap pixel on your website to track and measure actions like web visits, purchases, sign-ups, or app installs; all originating from your Snapchat ads. 

Define what key metrics best suit your nature of business. The Key performance indicators or KPIs that align with your marketing objectives are best to use. You can consider click-through rate, conversion rate, impressions, engagement rate, number of followers participating in a UGC contest,or return on ad spend (ROAS) to measure the effectiveness of your Snapchat marketing efforts.