What’s New in Snapchat Marketing

Snapchat, the photo/video/instant messaging app differs from other social media platforms as one of its principal concepts is that pictures and messages are only available for a short time before they become inaccessible.

If you’re still not quite sure what the app is all about, find the nearest teenager or young millennial and ask them, they’ll know. As a matter of fact, over three-quarters of all social media users aged 12-24 use the app.

Additionally, more teens consider Snapchat their favorite social media network than any other platform. While not boasting as many users as Facebook or Instagram, Snapchat is the preferred social media platform of the younger generation.

Despite Snapchat’s 178 million active daily users, only 11% of marketers reportedly use the app. It ranks far behind Facebook (96%), Twitter (89%), Instagram and LinkedIn (both 70%) in terms of adoption by marketers.

In the near future, Snapchat plans to roll out some significant changes to its interface.

Separation of Social and Media

Creating a distinction between friends and brands on Snapchat and housing their content in different locations within the app is the biggest change to the Snapchat platform. Previously everyone you followed: friends, companies, celebrities, etc. would have their stories appear on the same page. Snapchat has decided to move away from that design in an attempt to create more meaningful social interactions between its users.

The company commented on this change in a blog post saying, “While blurring the lines between professional content creators and your friends has been an interesting internet experiment, it has also produced some strange side-effects (like fake news) and made us feel like we have to perform for our friends rather than just express ourselves.”

Snapchat is not the only social media outlet to alter its platform to promote conversation between its users. Facebook recently announced a change to their newsfeed algorithm with a similar goal in mind.

Snapchat Web App

Along with the redesign that includes the separation of brands’ and friends’ stories, Snapchat is adding another new feature that changes the way we use the app. For the first time, users will be able to share stories on the web outside the mobile app. While viewing a public story, you will have the option to share a link via text or e-mail.

This is Snap’s latest effort to combat Instagram stories and stimulate slow user growth. Both Snapchat users and those who don’t have accounts on the mobile app can view the photos and videos online.

Only public stories will have the option to be shared which include its Official Stories (created by verified accounts), Our Stories (crowdsourced pictures/videos that anyone can contribute to from specific locations), and Search Stories (a collection of user-generated snaps that can be found be searching keywords). While Official Stories will disappear online after 24 hours as always, Our Stories and Search Stories will be available for 30 days. The goal of this addition to the platform is to make Snapchat easier to use and entice more people to create accounts.

The introduction of the web application allows for a better sharing option and for public stories from brands to reach an even wider audience. With 178 million active daily users and only 11% of marketers currently utilizing the app, it is not yet saturated with content from other brands. This leaves room for companies to promote on Snapchat and not have their messages lost in a sea of other advertisers.

Snapchat, like all social media platforms, is constantly evolving with new updates. Learn more about What’s New In Social Media in 2018 in our latest webinar!