At an annual rate of 30 percent, Snapchat is growing faster than any social network. The latest stats show Shapchat surpassed Twitter and Pinterest with 150 million daily active users. Snapchat grew more in one year than Twitter did in four years combined. More people know more about Snapchat than about LinkedIn. It’s also beating Facebook on the number of videos users share. The company claims that users are watching more than 10 billion videos on the app each day. It’s no wonder businesses are abuzz about Snapchat as the latest marketing trend. Ohio State University communications professor, Joseph B. Bayer, told the New York Times that Snapchat has, “[…] reshaped the social media landscape.”


What makes Snapchat so appealing?
Snapchat is fun and it suits our current attention span. The photo-messaging and storytelling app lets users share pictures and videos that self-destruct seconds after viewing. Users can also share a string of their chosen Snapchats more publicly as a “Story” giving viewers repeated access for 24 hours. This is the perfect medium for our 8-seconds attention spans.

How should a business use Snapchat?
Brands from every industry are finding they can engage fans in a highly personal way on Snapchat. It’s a platform that celebrates personality. Brands don’t have to be polished, they can be raw and fun. In fact, it’s better that way. Brands engaging most successfully are relating to their fans on a human-level.

A branded Snapchat offers consumers a behind-the-scenes look at their favorite companies. People don’t want the high-gloss edit of an ad any more. They prefer humanized businesses that are willing to be genuine and real.

Create Snapchat Stories that show your culture and provide a narrative people will want to follow. Follow and learn from other businesses on Snapchat you admire to inspire your own Stories. Snapchat Stories are also ideal vehicles for sharing company news.


Grab attention with a geofilter
The Huffington Post predicts Snapchat’s On-Demand Geofilters will be the next big thing in business growth. Brands that want to make a statement or businesses that want to target a designated area for an event or special promotion can draw a fence around an area under 5,000,000 square-feet and upload a branded image filter that anyone in your geofenced area can use for the duration of your promotion. Shapchat charges by size of the area and duration of your geofilter. It’s a great way to create a personalized promotion!

So when would you create a geofilter? Let’s say you just opened a new restaurant and want to attract diners who live and work close to your location. A geofilter is a great way to get noticed and encourage nearby Snapchatters to share their photos with your branded geofilter.

Millennials are the prominent users on this platform. Geofilters capture the attention of these lightning-speed consumers. A geofilter is 39 percent more likely to reach them than an ad on television. If millennials are the audience you are looking to attract, this is the platform to use.

The trick behind a good geofilter is to create something innovative that people want to use and doesn’t feel like an ad. Gatorade made a memorable splash when they released an animated filter for the 2016 Super Bowl that received over 160 million impressions.

What next?
When hosting an event, or launching a new product, create a custom Snapchat geofilter for guest to use. This branding is an interactive way to engage users, plus anyone who follows them.

          • Create a custom Snapchat account and share posts on your Story.
          • Let your followers on other social media sites know that you are active on Snapchat by sharing your username so they can easily find you.
          • Post regularly on Snapchat and stay relevant with what is happening in the world.
          • Don’t be afraid to get creative! Snapchaters love seeing something unique.
          • Follow us at AMPMPR on Snapchat to get a look at our daily office antics.