Snapchat’s move to improve ecommerce and lead generation marketing via deep-linking has gotten marketers interested and invested in the app once more. But of course, this isn’t Snapchat’s first foray into ecommerce. Ever since its debut in 2011, Snapchat has proven its potential as a powerful marketing tool when placed in the hands of knowledgeable marketers. And aside from deep-linking and auto-fill, it has a number of other potent features that one can utilize with ecommerce video production for truly remarkable returns. Here are three of our favorites.
Tell Your Story with Stories
Snapchat’s ‘Stories’ feature allows you to combine several snaps into one full-length narrative about your day, made up of videos and pictures. Since the content is dispensed all in one go—rather than scattered over the course of the day—stories make it easier for your followers to get succinct and informative updates.
You can make use of this feature to get personal with your audience, thereby nurturing the brand-consumer relationship. People tend to gravitate towards names and companies once they have a strong emotional connection with them, so don’t be afraid to post casual, relatable content. You don’t necessarily need to throw traditional corporate video production out the window when utilizing Snapchat stories (remember; you still need ‘formal’ corporate content for proper branding), but the occasional spontaneous, on-the-spot snap is a good way to open up to your audience and start a healthy flow of engagement.
A good strategy would be to alternate between sending ‘formal’ corporate snaps—such as product releases, launches, updates, and corporate event announcements—and casual, more personable posts—such as behind-the-scenes snippets, a typical workday at your company, or even some break room shenanigans.
Dive into Discover
Snapchat’s ‘Discovery’ platform is perhaps the best way for your brand to be discovered via social media. It essentially provides publishers with a social channel to distribute original content. For Snapchat users, this platform allows them to freely ‘explore stories from different editorial teams.’
When first introduced, big-name companies such as MTV and Buzzfeed signed on, giving users the option to follow their channels for specific brand-generated content. In 2016, Snapchat introduced shoppable ads within Snapchat Discover. Retail powerhouses Target and Lancôme were the first to utilize this unique feature. This arguably changed the ecommerce game.
How it works is, while on Discover, ads that are relevant to the content will pop up as a full-screen video. Users have the choice to “swipe up” if they want to see more. Because these ads appear in the context of the content, the swipe-up rate for them is 5 times higher than the average click-through rate of ads on rival channels.
By releasing your content on Discover, whether as a channel or as a shoppable ad, you have a shot at exponentially expending your consumer base and audience. If you’re able to produce constant content (say more than 2 snaps a day), you could use Snapchat’s Discovery platform and reach out to a cold market. Alternatively, Discover can also nurture your current customer base. After all, consistent posts make for entertained and engaged followers.
Limited-Time Offers and Coupons
The beauty of Snapchat lies in its transience. People will take all the time in the world when they don’t have a timeframe to work with, but give them a deadline and suddenly they’re moving at three times their usual speed. Placing an ultimatum creates a sense of urgency, which is why people actually pay attention when opening a snap or viewing Snapchat stories.
Mirror this short-lived characteristic in your marketing strategy by offering limited-time offers or coupons exclusive to your Snapchat followers. It can be as simple as taking out your phone and filming yourself as you introduce the latest special deal, or else snapping a picture of a coupon code and placing the expiration date in overlay text. Again; the presence of a deadline can really push people into taking action.
Your giveaways needn’t be extreme either. Even just a discount code for 10% off selected items or a code for free shipping is enough to raise excitement levels. And since you don’t need to go through the full blown ecommerce video production process to produce a Snapchat video, you can stand to run these two to three times a month without blowing through your marketing budget.
