In the early days of Snapchat, it was primarily a place where users would share risqué pictures and videos without fear because this content would disappear shortly after being posted. However, the platform has evolved over the years, becoming much more robust in what it can accomplish. As a result, Snapchat now has over 218 million active users each day and over 10 billion videos are consumed daily on the platform.
Whether you’re a business trying to grow your brand using social media marketing or a teenager looking for a fun social media outlet, there are many reasons to love what Snapchat has to offer.
Snapchat Is a Powerful Marketing Tool
If you’re looking to build your brand and grow your audience on social media, do not overlook Snapchat. This platform is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal, and it provides a variety of benefits to marketers.
Expand Your Audience
If you’re looking to attract a more youthful audience, Snapchat is a great way to grow your brand. Approximately 60% of Snapchat users are under the age of 25. With over 200 million active users, you’ll experience a great deal of exposure to a younger demographic.
The age range of Snapchat users breaks down in the following way:
- 23% of users haven’t graduated high school yet
- 37% of users are ages 18-24
- 26% of users are age 25-34
Over 85% of Snapchat users are under the age of 35. This can be a powerful way to gain a strong foothold amongst an audience that can potentially remain loyal to your brand for decades.
Facilitate Cross-Promotion
Your Snapchat content doesn’t have to disappear forever after 24 hours. Users have the ability to save their content to their camera roll, allowing them to upload it to other platforms at a later date. While these stories will only live on Snapchat for a day, they can have a much longer lifespan once you add them to other social media platforms.
Engage Your Audience in a Fun, Creative Way
Snapchat provides a more fun way for your audience to interact with you than can be accomplished on other platforms such as Twitter or Facebook. You can utilize a wide range of filters that will show off your company’s personality in your stories.
Share Behind-the-Scenes Content
Use Snapchat to provide your audience with a window into what it’s like at your company. Post content of employees interacting, giving presentations and using your product. This can help you build interest for your brand and forge a stronger connection with your audience.
Command the Attention of Users
Approximately 90% of Snapchat followers will watch your story. This engagement rate dwarfs what can be achieved through other tactics such as email marketing (email open rates hover at roughly 25%).
Snapchat is able to achieve this high level of engagement from users for several reasons:
- Content is short (videos can’t exceed 15 seconds), so it’s easy to consume
- Content gets delivered in real time
- Stories only last for 24 hours, creating a sense of urgency to view the content before it disappears
Snapchat Provides Teens with a Positive Outlet for their Social Media Consumption
There has been growing sentiment, especially with the recent release of the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, that social media can be detrimental to teenagers. While this may be true of many social media platforms, Snapchat provides several important benefits to teenagers looking to connect with others.
Encourages a Visual Sharing of Stories
Snapchat provides you with a way to tell your story to others in a visual medium. This is a valuable skill to learn in the modern world, and it will help teenagers in numerous ways as they enter adulthood. These skills can help them in job searches and as they embark on their careers.
Increases News Consumption
Snapchat provides a fun and easy way to view news stories. This increased news consumption will create a more informed generation of young adults.
Reduced Social Pressure
One of the detrimental effects of other social media platforms is the way it increases pressure on young kids. The number of likes and shares your content receives can impact your self-esteem. This can be very damaging for teens who don’t have many friends/followers, or who find their posts are rarely liked by others.
Snapchat doesn’t have a “like” button, eliminating much of this social pressure. In addition, stories disappear after a day, eliminating any anxiety that may be experienced when posts remain live forever and can be viewed long after they are published.
Improves Creativity and Artistic Expression
Snapchat provides teenagers with a way to express themselves in fun, creative ways. Doodles, filters and captions can all be used to convey their ideas, style and personality.
Increases Social Bonding with Peers
A recent study found Snapchat provides a greater opportunity for social bonding because it is more similar to having a face-to-face interaction than other social media platforms. Facebook provides people with a way to curate and highlight the best moments of their life, but it doesn’t create an authentic discourse between others regarding those experiences. Snapchat allows teens to experiment with emotion and humor, helping them to refine the way they relate to their peers. In addition, Snapchat’s focus on allowing you to craft your story as you go mirrors the spontaneity of teenage life, which makes it a powerful tool for an adolescent trying to craft their personality and sense of self.