If we are looking at building creative and engaging stories through Snapchat we need look no further than aspiring Snapchater DJ Khaled. During the end of 2015 DJ Khaled took to snapchat to express himself to his ever growing fan base, and has now created a cult following through the social network.  His Snaps are entertaining, provocative, and offered a behind-the-scenes look into his lifestyle.

Instead of building a huge Follower count, Snapchat lets you engage a smaller community of your biggest fans—people who are genuinely interested in what you’re doing, and this is how DJ Khaled built his success because of the nature of snaps, they are different, funny, and send a good message to those that watch.

The facts

• There are over 100 million daily users on the platform.
• Over 5 billion video views happen every day on snapchat.
• According to ComScore, 11% of the total us digital population can be reached on snapchat.
• 71% of snapchat users are under 34 years old (that’s a lot of millennials).
• 30% of us millennial internet users use snapchat regularly.
• – (Kumar, 2016)

Being able to provide content with a limited life span can be very difficult for marketers as they need to get their message across within a 10 second window, but if they plan to make the message longer they need a way to interlock each 10 second window with the next to make sure that it has a good flow and to continue the user’s engagement.

1. Tell a story

It might seem very obvious but the key to use Snapchat well as a digital marketing tool you need to tell a story. Create a story from the morning to the evening sharing both photos and videos of the projects that you are working on, with exclusive sneak peeks of upcoming content, this gives the impression that you are taking your audience on a journey with your life. There is much more power in a story’s being told directly from the person whose story it is, then any document could ever present.

2. Give exclusive behind the scenes look which the user otherwise wouldn’t get the opportunity to see 

Just like with other social media platforms, providing exclusive content is a great way to encourage people to engage with your account. Telling a story is a fantastic way of sharing content that wouldn’t usually be shared elsewhere online, however, offering more enticing content is always encouraged. Build anticipation by sharing previews of new content or products, host a giveaway, offer perks, and share exclusive promotions only available on Snapchat.

3. Get Personal

If you’re feeling a little cut off from your viewers, reach out to them and engage on a personal level. Snapchat doesn’t always have to be about adding more and more content to your story. Snap content, products, or design ideas and ask viewers what they think; ask for feedback and reply on a personal level. You could even ask viewers to screen shot their favorites to vote. Snapchat was built for one-on-one engagement so it’s super easy to create a more personal social media experience.

4. Be Memorable

As mentioned previously snaps USP is the content that self-destruct. Although this feature makes the service more engaging for users, it also means businesses have a very short window of time to capture customers and effectively deliver their message. The content can be produced by the company or by someone that you hire, this can be either celebrities or pop culture personalities that are well known. Therefore, making sure that marketing on it needs to state the value proposition very quickly, and call to action needs to be simple, easy and memorable.

5. Relate to your audience

Snapchat marketing isn’t for everyone. The platform is primarily used by younger generations a third of 18- to 24-year-olds use Snapchat, making it a powerful marketing channel only if your business caters to younger customers. By understand the demographic of those users, you can make your content relevant to your audience, making the content something that they would want to watch as they can relate and that it would benefit them in some way. Doing this point will also make your content memorable.

References

Kumar, B. (2016). Snapchat Marketing: The Key to Discovering and Engaging Your Most Loyal Fans – Shopify. [online] Shopify’s Ecommerce Blog – Ecommerce News, Online Store Tips & More. Available at: https://www.shopify.co.uk/blog/75307013-snapchat-marketing-the-key-to-discovering-and-engaging-your-most-loyal-fans [Accessed 5 May 2016].

Angeles, S. (2014). 3 Effective Ways to Use Snapchat for Your Business. [online] Business News Daily. Available at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7233-snapchat-marketing-business.html [Accessed 5 May 2016].