The world is truly a changing and every single day, we get inundated by a whole host of information about tech gadgets, some which will make us laugh and some which have the potential to make us weep. Whichever way you choose to look at it, the fact of the matter is that we are living through some of the most interesting times ever since the creation of the universe.
That said, Facebook is still king of Social Media in September of the year 2016 A.D. And here are the statistics to prove it. By reach alone, Facebook has over 1.55 billion monthly users and every single day as of June 2016, there were an average of 1.31 billion active users logged in and engaged on this medium. This is excellent news for any digital marketer worth his/her/their salt.
SnapChat Why Care?
So what exactly is SnapChat and why should you care? Well, SnapChat is an image messaging and multimedia mobile application that was created by a group of Harvard students in July 2011. In its short and eventful life, it has morphed into a veritable mix of private messaging and public content which includes brand networks, publications and live sports and music events, according to Wikipedia.
Further still, a survey conducted in March of 2016 showed that 71% of the people surveyed loved using the app for chat, messaging and imaging services vis-à-vis a paltry 5% who used it exclusively for events, brands and celeb content every single day. This means that if you are a digital marketer, you should start paying very close attention to this medium as a way in which you can interact with your audience and lead to conversions.
To start you off in the right direction, here are a couple of reasons why you should call your SEO Experts and start doing this ASAP:
- Limited Edition- SinceSnapChat closed down its app store and decided to go down the road of premium advertising, the future has never been rosier for the ad buyers who have chosen this closed network to advertise their goods and services (products). As the saying goes, numbers never lie and here is the proof.
The model SnapChat uses for advertising goes contrary to any prior model used in digital marketing. You see, the prior model relies on an infinite amount of ad space available for media buyers and this means that the race for purchase of ad inventory is a downward spiral with publishers jostling for space. The end bidding to the lowest price, effectively it is a market for qualified but cheap ad space.
On the contrary, SnapChat has opted to go the opposite route with outstanding results. The ad campaign, which was run by Gatorade, was viewed 165 million times in 48 hours; Taco Bell’s Cinco de Mayo was viewed 224 million times in 24 hours. In spite of the cost, the limits on campaign make its viewership much higher. It’s the simply concept of supply and demand.
- Narrow Choices- SinceSnapChat only allows for 2 or 3 sponsored ads per day, as a potential advertiser, you can be sure that your brand will have prime viewership for the longest possible time, measured in hours, and the viewership will be from the demographic that you want to appeal to.
The millennials are cool with this mode of advertising even as the other demographics work hard to catch up with the rest of the in-crowd. The net result is that the narrowed choices make the ad space more valuable, which consequently drives up the cost and naturally the engagement. Clearly, the narrower the choices the more valuable the engagement becomes.
The beauty of this ad serving system is that it is entirely opt-in based, meaning that you as the user choose on your own volition to have the ads served up to you. This makes them less disruptive. As an advertiser, therefore, you can be sure that you are getting real value for your money since you are dealing with a conscious demographic that has chosen to engage with your advertisements.
- Intimate Connections–As opposed to the other media that gets lumped out there with SnapChat such as Twitter and Facebook, SnapChat falls somewhere in the sweet spot of a Micro blogging website and an App. The distinguishing feature of this medium as opposed to the others is largely due to its one-to-one or one-to-many functionality.
This means that it is designed for more intimate functionality and therein lays its great power. It allows people to share their SnapChat with likeminded people who do not mind having the pictures served to them. Contrast that with the other digital ads which have a habit of popping on you and you begin to understand the full value of this medium for getting your brand exposed to an active and engaged audience.
- Guaranteed Privacy- Unlike most other media that use cookies implicitly or discreetly to collect data on you in order to use that data for targeted marketing in the future, SnapChat does no such thing; it does not collect any user information at all.
Among the things that internet users abhor and detest the most on the internet, the most detestable is the hacker and his criminal posse and next on the list, tagging closely by , is the advertiser and his numerous never ending ads targeted at you trying to sell you everything under the sun. With SnapChat guaranteeing users privacy from the get-go, it has become the beloved of media consumers the world over.
Strike While Its Hot
The figurers do speak for themselves. This model is the game changer when it comes to the usage and spending of ad inventory and as a corporate entity, you should seriously consider playing in this league. Get your ads out on SnapChat and enjoy a piece of the pie and as the saying goes, “strike while the iron is still hot”.
Author Bio: Selina Jenkins is a Digital Media consultant working at SsUSA. She has been active in digital marketing & SEO for the past 20 years. You can follow her on Twitter, or learn more about her on Linkedin.
