Snapchat has become an increasing social media trend since its fame as a sexting app in 2011 encapsulated millennials. Moving on from the “sexting scandal”, its grown as a disappearing image messaging application, with the unique selling point of the app. being that the multimedia is only available for a short period of time before it is inaccessible. To read more about this, take a look at this link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11868102/Will-Snapchats-new-update-stop-people-from-sexting-using-the-app.html
But if you’re a high-street or luxury department store, it’s a ticket to brand engagement with customers, using the smart features of the app; presenting 24-hour “stories” to followers/friends, “discover” to promote ad-supported entertainment by brands. Here we’ll explore the pros and cons of Snapchat being used for brand engagement.
Snapchat Inc. has such a high inflow of traffic, with over 166 million daily active users (Castillo, 2017) – giving businesses an optimistic platform to engage with customers.
So… what does brand engagement actually mean?
Brand engagement is a method used to increase the amount of time or attention a consumer gives to a brand across multiple channels (Chaffey, 2012). Whereas, Sashi (2012), defines it as creating connections with customers that drive a purchasing decision or even interaction with the brand.
Figure 1
The Benefit
The benefit of celebrities taking over a firm’s snapchat can bring an increase of followers whom are fans of that celebrity.
So, what is a takeover?
Imagine giving sole control of your company’s reputation and audience to an outsider of the firm, and sharing the password and letting them post for a whole day as the face of your brand.
Could you take that risk? …well, it’s happening all the time on Snapchat at the moment. It is becoming common practice for influencers and brands forming partnerships. The celebrity/influencer directs all their followers to the brands Snapchat account as they’ll be ‘taking it over’, for example: in the next 24 hours. Having such a short snap of an influencer on a brands story creates a more valued connection between a retailer and its followers. Hershatter and Epstein (2010), mention that millennials appreciate brands whom provide them with a human connection, thus, helping boost a department stores social media following and customer engagement.
The takeover involves the influencer creating their own stories on the brands account for a certain period of time. It is a way to discover new Snapchat users or followers of the brand and creating new audiences of the company’s Snapchat. It is advantageous because it builds connections and grows your audience. A prestigious department store such as Harrods or Harvey Nichols may lack a following of young teenage girls, however, paying a celebrity such as Ariana Grande (with a large following in this demographic) to partake in their Snapchat takeover will entice a following and build connections from a new audience. Due to the nature of the application, it Is unlikely once you’ve added a Snap account you would go to the bother of removing it as it doesn’t post in a forced-to-view feed such as Facebook and Twitter.
The takeover is a marvelous way to engage potential consumers with the company via Snapchat. Especially when targeting a millennial, fresh audience. The simplicity of the Snapchat takeover is raw and authentic according to Cicero (2017), which is key when engaging with your audience.
Figure 2
This is demonstrated in figure 2, an influential Snapchat user (blogger) took over a young female clothing retailer’s account for a Snapchat campaign to increase their followers. This story boosted over 250,000 views of Wet Seal’s account and propelled a further 9,000 connections to their account by using this platform to merge with the influencer (Siu, 2016). Thus, increasing consumers brand engagement via Snapchat promotions.
Snapchats Risk
71% of snapchat users are under 34 years old (Omnicoreagency.com, 2018), so for companies aiming at a younger demographic it is a promising way to encourage customer engagement.
However, luxury department stores that may be directing their marketing strategies at an older demographic, other social media platforms may prove to be more effective (Shaoolian, 2017).
Tsimonis and Dimitriadis (2014), stated it was vital to engage with a variety of age groups if a brand wants to generate equal awareness towards their company. So, it is a clear weakness targeting just millennials through platforms like Snapchat, and lowering the changes of engaging with Generation Y followers (Boton et al., 2013).
So, all in all, if department stores want trendy young followers, then Snap away! Takeover that platform with those influencers and grow your audience!
Refs
Bolton, R.N., Parasuraman, A., Hoefnagels, A., Migchels, N., Kabadayi, S., Gruber, T., Komarova Loureiro, Y. and Solnet, D., 2013. Understanding Generation Y and their use of social media: a review and research agenda. Journal of Service Management, 24(3), pp.245-267.
Castillo, M. (2017). Facebook’s Instagram Stories crushes Snapchat with 250 million daily active users. [online] CNBC. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/20/instagram-crushes-snapchats-daily-active-users-rate.html [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].
Chaffey, D. & Ellis-Chadwick, F. 2012, Digital marketing: strategy, implementation and practice, 5th edn, Pearson Education, Harlow.
Cicero, N. (2017). How to Use Snapchat Takeovers to Grow Your Audience. [online] Social Media Today. Available at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/how-use-snapchat-takeovers-grow-your-audience [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].
Hershatter, A. and Epstein, M., 2010. Millennials and the world of work: An organization and management perspective. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(2), pp.211-223.
Omnicoreagency.com. (2018). • Snapchat by the Numbers (2018): Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts. [online] Available at: https://www.omnicoreagency.com/snapchat-statistics/ [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].
Sashi, C.M., 2012. Customer engagement, buyer-seller relationships, and social media. Management decision, 50(2), pp.253-272.
Shaoolian, G. (2017). Is Snapchat The Right Social Media Marketing Platform For Your Brand?. Forbes. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gabrielshaoolian/2017/03/08/is-snapchat-marketing-the-right-social-media-platform-for-your-brand/#42ee26501168 [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].
Siu, E. (2016). 10 Ways to Use Snapchat for Business. [online] Socialmediaexaminer.com. Available at: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/10-ways-to-use-snapchat-for-business/ [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].
Tsimonis, G. and Dimitriadis, S., 2014. Brand strategies in social media. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 32(3), pp.328-344.