Snapchat Marketing Guide: Formats, Tools and Features

Only dead, floats the social network with the friendly spirit again in the spheres of success. Because at Snapchat, user numbers are increasing, as the company's quarterly report shows. In the third quarter of the third quarter of 2018, around 186 million users were active on the social media platform; in 2019, there were around 210 million. 

24 million more users use the network than in the previous year. In Germany, the platform has six million active users every day. More than half of them are female and most of them are at most 24 years old. According to Statista, the average lifetime of Snapchat is 12.6 minutes.

Snapchat's total revenue grows 50 percent

Overall, the company has total worldwide revenue of approximately $ 446 million for the third quarter of 2019, compared to approximately $ 297 million in the same period last year. That's an increase of more than 50 percent. Snapchat generates its revenue according to the Annual Report mainly through advertising. 

These include Snap Ads and Sponsored Creative Tools such as Augmented Reality Lenses. A good reason to take a closer look at the Snapchat marketing options of a business account. By the way, you will find further good reasons.

Snap Ads for Creative Snapchat Marketing

Snap Ads are created with Ad Manager. Here you can create campaigns as usual, set target group, campaign goal, budget and time period. You have a choice of different formats available:

• Snap Ads : They lead users through links to web pages, apps, videos, or AR lenses, and can last up to ten seconds. Videos should have a length of three to five seconds.
• Collection Ads : This ad format lists several products in one bar. The individual products can be clicked on and also lead to the shop.
• Story Ads : Here, between a selection of snaps, a "Discover" tile is displayed with the created Snapchat Story Ad. The story can span between three and twenty snaps in picture or video format.
• Commercials : The six-second ads appear between the premium content of the users and are not skippable.

Ads appear between stories or, depending on the nature, between other content. The ads are always delivered in portrait format. It's also possible to choose from predefined audiences, such as Snap Audience Match, for campaigns.

Tools - Help with Snapchat Marketing

Instant Create : The ad manager tool helps create Snapchat advertising and simplifies the process.

In the Business Help Center , Snapchat guides you step by step through various processes such as "Get Started with Snapchat Advertising" or "Ad Creation".

Learn how to get the most out of your Snapchat advertising under " Creative Best Practices ." When creating, Snap Publisher helps .

Lenses - Snapchat's impressive marketing tool

Sponsored AR-Lenses : Snapchat offers a special marketing tool with the Sponsored Augmented Reality Lenses. There are two options here:

• "In Camera": The AR lens will be published in your country for one day
• "In Content": The Snap Ads are shown to the users who are most likely to swipe and use the lens.

It's possible to create your own lenses with the lens studio or collaborate with Snapchat's Creative Partners to create a lens. According to Snapchat , 70 million users use AR-Lenses daily.

For example, American pizza maker Papa John's has published an augmented reality lens with integrated ordering functionality . This has resulted in over 25 percent of AR lens users ordering a pizza via the swipe-up feature. In addition, the company printed snap codes on the pizza boxes, which led the users directly to the lens.

Rituals also used snap codes for the Audience-Lense, which were displayed in magazines and shop windows of the stores. Thus, the company gained more reach , user engagement and visibility for their own Snapchat account and with the brand.

With us, companies are already using the reach of Snapchat for the young target group: Techniker Krankenkasse and Thyssen Krupp have been promoting their apprenticeships via the social network for several years. However, Thyssen Krupp used a mix of marketing elements . According to an interview with Human Resources Manager, the company distributes flyers, postcards, and posters to schools that point to Snapchat, and also distributes them to schools or job fairs to increase the number of followers. The feedback was very positive according to Thyssen Krupp.

Filters - versatile

Filters are also part of Snapchat's advertising tools. These include geo filters, which are only available in certain locations and can also serve to attract more visitors to real shops or to events.

McDonald's Norway used a chain filter in more than 70 venues to promote the Big Mac's 50th anniversary in 2018. The filter was designed primarily for consumer engagement with the brand. The users were given new designs for the filter each time they entered one of the fast food restaurants. The share rate of the filter was 16 percent.

Advertising filters can be placed by the users simply over their photos or videos like the normal filters. The filter then additionally displays the brand of the advertiser.

• On Demand Filter: This can be used to mark an area in which the filter should appear. The period can also be fixed. The price depends on the size of the area and the specified period.
• Audience Filter: These filters are targeted to a predetermined audience. Your costs will be calculated after impression and delivery of the filter to a user.

Conclusion

Snapchat is particularly suitable for the young target group. Especially Generation Z responds to videos and interactive content. In order to open up this group of people, it is worthwhile for Marketeers to deal with the extensive possibilities of Snapchat Ads, Filters and Lenses and to create their own advertising for it. If the user development of the app remains consistently good next year, the user group could possibly expand to other age groups.