We all have that one friend who was wild when they were younger. That guy who would come to a party, do something crazy, and then disappear without a trace, with no memory of the craziness he caused. Amazingly, this friend has grown up, matured, realized his potential, and started to understand his purpose. Still fun, but in a more glamorous way, he’s suddenly more popular than ever before.
That friend is, of course, Snapchat. Stories are king when it comes to successful marketing, and Snapchat is perfect for telling them quickly to an engaged audience. So why are so many B2B marketers afraid to use Snapchat? It could have something to do with the fact that 71% of the app’s users are under the age of 25. It could also be that marketers who are just getting used to Instagram filters are intimidated by the unfamiliar interface, with features like face-mapping technology that turns selfie users into dogs, superheroes or monsters, and don’t see the relevance. Or is the reluctance to jump on the Snapchat bandwagon just down to general fatigue with new trends? For the 20-something demographic, Snapchat dates all the way back to high school. But it wasn’t a viable platform for businesses until recently, and even marketers new to it are only now able to measure the success of their snap strategies.
If your B2B brand isn’t on Snapchat yet, here are some stats to get you motivated:
22% of marketers plan to advertise on Snapchat in 2016.
Snapchat ads are viewed up to 1 million times a day. Today, 60% of all smartphone users use Snapchat.
60% of Snapchat users are between the ages of 18 and 34.
But like any good implementation, it takes planning and strategy. If you’re curious what that might look like, consider these starting points:
Storytelling.
Admittedly, this is a broad category. But that’s exactly where the app’s real strength lies. Whether you want to take a peek behind the scenes at your company, highlight your employees, or document a trade show in an interesting way, Snapchat lets you create stories out of 10-second video clips or still images that your followers can watch in one go. So instead of writing multiple paragraphs on Facebook about your next product launch, a Story Snap lets you capture the moment faster and more personally.
But as a B2B marketer, don’t forget that the majority of your audience isn’t on the platform. So you need to take advantage of Snapchat’s location-specific features. That means if you’re in town for an event, you can drive attendees from other social channels to your Snapchat account and use geofilters to further contextualize your story in an interactive way. Incentive. Instead of tweeting an offer code for a product discount, take a snap of it. Then use your existing channels to promote your Snapchat account by making a snap of the screenshot the only way to redeem the discount. This is an especially useful idea for limited-time offers. Finally, the snap disappears forever after 24 hours. Excitement.
Let’s be honest, Snapchat is associated with fun, so it’s hard to think of B2B marketing having anything to do with it. But this is a good thing for B2B companies; after all, you’re still trying to connect with real people. A great Snapchat strategy shouldn’t exist in isolation; it needs to be part of a smart multichannel messaging matrix. So let the space it occupies in that matrix be looser, more experimental, and more fun. Snapchat is ephemeral, and so are social media failures on the platform.
An inspiring B2B company is Cisco, which allowed individual employees to “take over” the company account and post articles from across the country. It was a successful attempt to inject humanity into its overall messaging strategy. Relationship building.
Snapchat has demonstrated its staying power to add a valuable addition to B2B social outreach efforts. With a younger workforce, your audience will be using increasingly unconventional channels and they’ll likely be more savvy than you when it comes to using them. It can be hard to get ahead as a B2B marketer on Snapchat, but as with any platform, the goal is to build a relationship with your audience.
If you want to try it out before committing to a brand channel, consider one of the literally thousands of social media influencers who use Snapchat to help companies sell their products. Or create micro-campaigns for junior employees to represent your brand on their personal accounts.
In a world where social trends come and go, Snapchat has garnered a captive audience and grown in usefulness to marketers. For B2B companies looking to stand out, now is the time to develop a storytelling strategy with Snapchat at its core. Don’t worry, we’re not telling you to give up for Pokémon Go just yet.
