This Wisdom.Applied Wednesday, let’s take a look at the revolutionary photo sharing app that brands ought to consider making a part of their strategy.
Last October, Snapchat released a “My Story” feature, allowing users to add their snaps together to create their own narrative. These stories don’t lose sight of the apps commitment to being an evolving social profile, as they disappear after 24 hours. In June, Snapchat decided to tap into its vast user base, creating the “Our Story” feature. The first collaborative effort was tested at Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, and attendees could share their snaps with “Our Story.” This endeavor has clearly been successful, infiltrating sporting events such as the World Cup in Brazil and cultural events such as Diwali in India; Snapchat’s next “Our Story” is set to take place at several college campuses throughout the U.S.
Brands also take to Snapchat Stories, as it’s an excellent medium for cheap (free!) and easy marketing. Thanks to Snapchat Stories, brands now have longer than 10 seconds to get their message out to followers on this platform. Although the stories are not permanent, they can be replayed as many times as a consumer wants during the 24 hours they are active. For example, Taco Bell used Snapchat to let consumers know their signature Beefy Crunch Burrito would be returning to stores, and GrubHub uses their account to promote special deals and discounts.
Snapchat has over 100 million active monthly users, sending over 700 million Snaps and viewing over 1 billion stories per day. It is no surprise, then, that Snapchat is worth $10 billion. However, that’s just on paper–the app had not made any money until this October, when they ran its first advertisement for the horror movie, “Ouija.” Snapchat’s first foray into paid advertising closely mimicked live TV ads, but the app is planning on expanding into branded content as a way to make money through a service called Snapchat Discovery, set to launch this month. Media companies such as ESPN and Vevo will be able to provide their own content in the Discovery section of the app, such as relevant videos and images and possibly even audio and text. Collaborating with professional content providers may ultimately make Snapchat more appealing to advertisers in the future.
Snapchat is not the only photo- and video-sharing app on the market, but the app gives users a unique social media option. Rooted in content creation as opposed to consumption, Snapchat feels more like a conversation than other social media platforms. Although the content is not supposed to last forever, Snapchat shows a lot of promise as the next digital advertising medium.
Cover Photo Source: Dean Drobot / Shutterstock.com
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://wpmaster.sjadv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Our-Space-The-San-Jose-Group.png[/author_image] [author_info]Jenny is a Junior Executive at SJG. She earned her BA in Psychology and a minor in Educational Studies in 2014 from Colgate University. Outside the office, Jenny loves to travel (usually to Disney World), bake and watch copious amounts of TLC.[/author_info] [/author]