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The world has moved (not moving, but moved) to using an online mobile digitised experience in every aspect of daily life, from; social, shopping, news, entertainment, business and even personal media production. This is the reality of life and your customer’s eyeballs, ears and attention are no longer focused on print, TV and radio.
Attention first moved to the online space and now has pivoted strongly to mobile devices. With the average mobile device having many times the features, connectivity and computing power than high-end box store laptops of just a few years ago, the real question is why is there still anything else. The public’s attention has shifted to mobile and especially social media sites and apps. It should be no surprise that highly social animals like humans who crave social interaction and connectedness would be captivated by an extreme version available at a moment from their pocket or purse in the form of a smartphone
Consequently, for small business or any business, to be effective with their marketing they need to be where customers attention is. The same principle is true and why companies sponsor big events and Red Bull creates exciting live competitions and activities.
You need eyeballs and attention to sell and that’s the name of the game. Currently, your customer’s eyeballs are on social media. Fortunately, the bar to entry for business is low, as social marketing is very cost effective and highly accessible. Businesses can market in social media for little money and don’t necessarily need to be super clever. Rather, just addressing your markets needs on some of these social platforms that your customers are using, such as; Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, Musical.ly, Medium, Vine, Periscope is more than enough for most.
The exciting thing, which we are focusing on today, is digital moves so fast there is often a massive lag between marketing costs, competition on the platform and the effort to gain attention or engagement. Basically, being unique and interesting is much easier when you are the only one around.
The race for real estate
With all these new digital platforms there is a period of extreme opportunity for early adopters. It is the age old saying ‘being first to market matters’ and it is so true for social media. Consequently, you need to stop printing flyers, doing print and radio and get some real ROI on social media instead of broadcasting to no one and filling up landfills. The race for market share of the eyeballs fixated on social media is real and it has already started.
Being first to bet the noise
Social channels like Facebook and especially twitter are awash with late adopters and it is harder to cut through the noise to get some market share. Consequently, it is significantly harder (more expensive) to capture attention. However, there are large numbers of free range organic eyeballs for your business content/products on new platforms that have hardly been touched by eyeball rustling marketers. To be clear jumping to use a new bustling social platform is not doing something weird or odd, in fact, it is doing just what a business person should be doing. Ergo, looking for the best possible ROI, with massive potential. Right now Snapchat (also Musical.ly) offers one of the best ROI potentials in the marketing space today, for any business.
Why Snapchat?
Snapchat has monstrously huge numbers of engaged users every day, better than most top 10 social platforms. Additionally, better than any one TV, Radio or print network. I won’t go into it much here, but feel free to read our other post here. The figures are mind blogging. Already there are many success stories and Snapchat Celebrities already. We came across several big brands, such as; General Electric, The New York Times, Domino’s Pizza, Mc Donalds, Taco Bell, NBA, Audi and Sour Patch kids who crafted marketing stories via Snapchats story feature. Instead of pumping money into traditional marketing they crafted clever marketing campaigns and succeeded big with real ROI. Of course, they have the budget to produce quality on any medium. However, the point here is they all were losing market share via traditional marketing and they won big with Snapchat.
For small business owners, the potential for massive ROI and low-cost entry is there for the taking, because the space is far from crowded…if not damn barren and ready for herding some eyeballs. Also it is free to setup and only requires a little thought to create targeted content.
Note: I always like to have a practical application to my/our posts so we invested some time and went covert on these brands and here we will illustrate their angle and elaborate how Snapchat can be used for you. However, let’s get you set up first and in the right mindset.
First tip – be who you are or be true to yourself
I say this a lot with website development clients. I tell them we should translate you/your business to digital web medium as you are. We should not try to make you out as some huge company when you are really just operating out of a garage. People want to hire a person/company just like you for lots of positive reasons, they don’t need to be tricked into thinking you are something you are not. So be humble and be who you are it will be more honest and endearing.
Create your Snapchat account and observe
Don’t be a twitter newbie and try to follow and trick others into following you just for the numbers. The good and bad of Snapchat is, it is high engagement. So if you haven’t found your feet yet you will possible loose the long term goal to capture the right audience with good content.
The first thing you should do is follow others in your space and I recommend following celebrities, yes even the ones you might hate. Observe celebrities and big brands especially, see what they produce, how they meet their market expectation, how their content feeds their niche, do they suck or are they good, what are people saying about their Snapchat accounts on other social platforms.
Fortunately and what is often the case and the point of this post, the bar for creating good content is very very very low. From what we observe most Snapchat accounts are little more than glorified selfies. However, there are a few who are working it…not earth shattering, but they are on to something.
Here are some notable mentions we have seen and follow:
Johnny has all the basics covered. He is where his market is, Snapchat! He does a mix of telling customer stories and engagement, Specials, a few funny moments and new products. A little bit of personal stuff too. I have little interest in chocolate, but I find his half dozen posts a day quite endearing and he is holding my interest. He is definitely engaging his customers on the platform and a must to follow and you could learn a lot from the guy’s techniques.
More lifestyle than anything, but the constant Snaps of parties interlaced with quotes, comments, jokes and the odd book and pair of mean kicks is defiantly entertaining. Tai’s market is definitely aspirational and he gives plenty of that.
Gary knows the social media space, better than most and his personal branding is consistent through his Snapchat story also, though a lot more personal and you feel like you are getting a sneak peak behind the scenes of his life, Vayner Media and his quest to grow his company and own the Jets.
Love her or hate her. Her personal branding is strong and on point on Snapchat and I am sure her fans enjoy her Snapchat greatly. It reminded me a little of her former TV Show and has actually cracked me up a few times and keeps me entertained even though I have zero interest in the subject manner. It is clear she puts a lot of effort into her Snapchat, branding etc and she is obviously a lot more intelligent than given credit for especially in regards to the subtleties of products placement 😉
A Huge star (10 million or more followers) of the app Musical.ly has carried her brand over to Snapchat for more of the same. Ariel is the embodiment of winning big due to being an earlier adopter and talent. Personally, Its a stretch for me to watch, but when I ask kids they know all about her and more so than any singer or A typical star. If your products are in her space then watch and learn, because with numbers that big she’s on to something. There would be very few celebrities if any with the followers and engagement of Ariel.
Supporting my local businesses here, but they are not affiliated with us. I simply found their Snapchat QR code on a flyer when buying shoes in store. They are totally rocking it in the right space for their market and do a great job of supplying just enough culture, product, specials and events. I’m sure they are keeping their customers engaged and selling product from their Snapchat story. Note: This business is pumping every time I go there! It must be the busiest store in Southport.
With respect, nothing out of the ordinary here. A great guide to promoting retail via Snapchat.
There are many more, but these are some notables that we are enjoying following and feel could add insight and value to your Snapchat for business learning.
Others to watch are; Tony Hawk, Tiesto, David Guetta, xglittermobx, mistermordechai, quizzes.sans.answers, brittanyjfurlan and Jessie J has had some awesome moments.
Watch and learn, you must Snap before you can chat!
Follow the gurus or masters in your niche and try to shadow their marketing campaign style, decode it to paint a clear picture of what they are actually doing. Watch and learn and take the good and leave the mistakes. Practice your own angle and technique with friends or your kids. When you are ready put yourself out there and test and measure the results.
Getting your Snapchat QR code out into the market
Getting people to follow your businesses on Snapchat is pretty straight forward and similar to getting people to email your or call you. Put your Snapchat QR code on your products, closed sign, flyers, business card, facebook and website. We are trying to make a point and now only have our Snapchat QR code on our business cards.
Now for the fun part, practical application.
Sharing promo codes is an excellent means to increase the reach and number of followers. It couldn’t be easier than to post on your facebook, website, twitter or sandwich board outside your business that you offer daily specials on Snapchat. Then every day you spend a couple minutes putting some specials on Snapchat. I really think it will not be long before everyone will check Snapchat before buying something to look for a company to see if they are offering coupons (Also a little project we are doing too). Additionally, you could put your Snapchat QR code on your products so customers could check your Snapchat for prizes, coupons etc and they will do it. When you are into something you notice it and many are on the look out for Snapchat QR codes already.
I came across a story of a Frozen yoghurt chain called 16 handles, which brilliantly crafted their Snapchat marketing campaign around coupon codes. Apparently, they were one of the first brands that gave away coupon codes via Snapchat. The results: The company accumulated many followers at a great rate. The catch to get a coupon, the customers had to Snapchat a picture of them or their friends having a good time at the store to get a coupon code for 16% off, simple!
Snapchat is an ideal platform to promote any product. Here is an example of how Amazon raised the profile of one of its products. Amazon promoted their flagship product Alexa, via Snapchat. The results: Amazon alleviated the ambiguity that loomed over this product in the mind of customers and increased sales. The takeaway: Amazons reach was a staggering 6K mentions in less than five hours. Try and get that from breakfast show marketing!
If people already love your brand, Snapchat is a fantastic medium with huge ROI potential to display your products with fully engaged users.
There are Snapchat stars, twitter, vine and Musical.ly stars with millions of followers. Many have more fully engaged followers than so called celebrities and rock stars. It is a real thing and the potential for you to hire them to product place or endorse is huge. If you look up @babyariel (10mil + followers) you’ll find she went to Department store Nordstroms to buy a Prom dress…I am sure it was a huge success with fantastic ROI.
Sometimes the best thing for your business is for others to see others using your business. It is a weird thing, but you can be the best option and people won’t use you sometimes just because everyone else is using X service or product. So break the gridlock by showing others using your services. The psychological influence of seeing others using your service is extremely powerful and similar to the bystander effect.
Additionally, you can show that you are a local business, by Snapchatting yourself in local locations. Most people will go with someone local first over others.
In a digital world, some businesses can become too impersonal. You can add a very personal element to your business, by being more candid through Snapchat. It is social and people will gravitate towards people they feel familiar with over others…always.
This can be further enhanced, by offering a behind the scenes view through your Snaps.
If your business is not using Snapchat, now is the time to own your niche. Be consistent with your content and ensure that it is interesting. Plan your promotional campaigns and plan your content accordingly, do not generalise your content, rather, try to be unique and intriguing. Most importantly actually do something, it could potentially take you to amazing places. Ergo, look into the story of @babyariel who took playing around with lip sinking into big personal brand.
Bibliography:
Fastcocreatecom. (2014, 13 August 2014). How 12 Brands Used Snapchat. [Weblog]. Retrieved 2 August 2016, from http://www.fastcocreate.com/3033793/how-12-brands-used-snapchat
Lindsay kolowich. (2016, no-date). 10 of the Best Brands on Snapchat Right Now (And Why They’re So Great). [Weblog]. Retrieved 2 August 2016, from http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/snapchat-best-brands
Convinceandconvertcom. (2016, no-date). 5 Creative Ways Brands Are Using Snapchat. [Weblog]. Retrieved 2 August 2016, from http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-case-studies/5-creative-ways-brands-are-using-snapchat/
Globalsocialmediacoachingcom. (2016, 7 July 2016). IS SNAPCHAT GOOD FOR BUSINESS?. [Weblog]. Retrieved 22 July 2016, from http://www.globalsocialmediacoaching.com/guest-blogs/is-snapchat-good-for-business/
Socialmediaexaminercom. (2016, no-date). 10 Ways to Use Snapchat for Business : Social Media Examiner. [Weblog]. Retrieved 22 July 2016, from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/10-ways-to-use-snapchat-for-business/
Lindsay kolowich. (2016, no-date). 10 of the Best Brands on Snapchat Right Now (And Why They’re So Great). [Weblog]. Retrieved 22 July 2016, from http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/snapchat-best-brands
Vaynerchuk, G.A.R.Y. (2009). Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion. (1st ed.). : Harper Studio.
