4 Best Practices for Advertising on Snapchat

If you want to reach your perfect global audience at scale, what better place to start than on the platform that boasts 173 million daily active users?

But Snapchat’s appeal isn’t just its impressive number of users. Its creative and quirky content is also keeping users engaged for an average of 30 minutes each day.  From algorithms that turn faces into animals to an augmented reality dancing hot dog, Snapchat is wowing users with its cutting-edge technology and memorable experiences. And it’s giving brands the opportunity to contribute to these experiences with playful and highly effective branded content.

The business case for advertising on Snapchat is clear. But how can brands make the most of their campaigns on the platform?

This is the question representatives from Adglow and Snapchat explored at Snap Inc.’s London office last month. Before an audience of senior marketers, Adglow outlined four best practices for producing show-stopping ads and long-lasting relationships with Snapchat users.

1. Define and align your marketing objectives

‘Today, there are so many different ad formats and opportunities to connect with customers,’ said Mona Parmar, Head of Client Services UK at Adglow. So before diving headfirst into Snapchat, she explained, brands need to define their main objectives and align them with what’s available on the Snap platform. 

For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, you’ll want to drive views. That means creating compelling content that showcases your brand while entertaining your audience.

But if you’re looking for direct response, you’ll need to include a convincing call to action. This is how advertisers at gaming app Bubble Witch managed to successfully drive installs. Rather than simply telling users to install their app, they invited them to give the game a try first—without ever leaving Snapchat.

2. Find your perfect audience

Brands will find a range of familiar targeting capabilities available to them on the Snap platform—from identifying a target demographic to conducting lookalike modelling.

Advertisers can also choose from Snapchat’s over 3,000 lifestyle categories based on in-app user behaviour. For example, if someone follows Arsenal and frequently watches the team’s highlight reels, he’ll be categorised as a football fan.

Brands can also gain even greater insight into users thanks to location data. A user that regularly opens her app at the cinema, for instance, is probably a film-lover.

Advertisers can make sure they’re making the best use of their audience data by conducting A/B tests for each of their campaigns.

‘Snap ads are skippable,’ explained Fintan Gillespie, Snap Inc.’s Head of Consumer App, Gaming and Streaming. ‘People choose to put lenses on their faces and filters on their snaps.’ That means users will only view, snap and share content that captures their attention and imagination.

Gatordade's 'Serena Match Point' video game is one example of an attention-grabbing Snapchat ad. By giving users the chance to play Serena Williams in a Grand Slam victory, Gatorade kept users entertained and engaged- and saw an impressive 14.5 percent swipe up rate. Similarly, Taco Bell's Cinco de Mayo ad filter - which turned users' faces into giant tacos- boasted over 224 million views.

When branded content is imaginative and playful, it will encourage users to swipe, snap and share with friends.  

4. Continually measure and optimise your campaigns

Once advertisers have put their creative campaigns into action, the work doesn’t end there. By measuring how well each ad is performing, they can make incremental improvements throughout the campaign lifecycle.

‘Allow the campaign to run for a period of three days from launch,’ Parmar told the audience. That way, you’ll have enough data to assess its performance and start making decisions about what to do next.

Advertisers can also use location data to see if their ads are effectively driving footfall. Gillespie explained that KFC, for instance, used location data to determine how many users exposed to a branded filter actually went into a KFC. What they found was a 20 to 30 perfect uplift in store visits.

As Snap Inc. continues to push the boundaries of imaginative social content, Adglow is helping brands navigate this exciting new landscape. ‘The Adglow team has been amazing,’ said Gillespie. ‘The way they structure campaigns, adding first-party data and scaling them, has been really impressive to us.’