Do you want to connect with the millennial (or even centennial) audience? Look no further: Snapchat is your social network.
Although Snapchat has been around since 2011, it’s only in the last couple of years that it has “taken off” as the favorite network for younger people and has started to attract the interest of marketers. And with good reason, since 71% of Snapchat users are under the age of 34 .
To continue winning the hearts of advertisers, Snapchat has added an option that allows you to easily link your website to Snapchat to generate organic traffic . Do you want to know how it works and what else you can do to attract visitors to your website with this network? Do not miss this article!
What’s new on Snapchat
In July 2017, Snapchat added a new way to link web pages to its application, a functionality that could become very popular among brands, the media, and users interested in bringing visitors to their website.
The new functionality is called Paperclip and its operation couldn’t be simpler, since it allows any user to include a link in a Snap before sharing it. To do this, just click on the Paperclip icon in the Snapchat toolbox.
One of the most interesting aspects of this novelty is that it places Snapchat in a privileged position compared to Instagram , which does not allow links except in the biography. This means that users have to resort to forced solutions, such as including the phrase “link in my bio” in their posts. The only exception is users with more than 10,000 followers, who can attach links to their Instagram Stories.
Until now, the only way to link your website to Snapchat was to buy ads. With this new feature, it is very easy for advertisers to generate organic traffic with Snapchat. This is also excellent news for the media, who finally have a solution to direct users directly to their web pages.
And this is not all: Snapchat has launched two other tools at the same time as Paperclip, which are already available for both iOS and Android:
- Voice Filters – With this feature, users can change the sound of their voice even if they are not using a visual filter.
- Backdrops : A fun tool to add backgrounds to snaps.
Recently, it has also incorporated the options Multi-Snap (to record a video continuously that is later divided into 10-second clips) and Tint Brush (to make outlines on the images and modify the color). Without a doubt, Snapchat is working hard to keep updating itself and gaining the interest of users and advertisers. Well done!
How can I generate organic traffic with Snapchat?
Paperclip gives us an easy and comfortable option to promote websites with Snapchat, but by itself it doesn’t completely solve the problem: the ideal is to combine it with other strategies. Therefore, here are some extra ideas to generate organic traffic through Snapchat:
- Customize your brand . Snapchat is the network for brands that dare to show themselves to the public without Photoshop. Its ephemeral and casual nature makes it ideal for bringing your company closer and showing its funniest side. For example, you can use it to share videos and “how-to” photos or relaxing moments from the day that make your followers want to get to know you a little better.
- Contact influencers . One of the main functions of any social network is… making friends! Snapchat gives you the opportunity to get one-on-one with the most influential users in your industry and build relationships with them. In the long run, this investment in contacts will make it more likely that they will talk about your brand in their different channels, achieving the objective of attracting organic traffic.
- Make promotional videos . Do you want to convince users to visit your website? Show them what they are missing! Snapchat 10-second videos are the perfect format to let your followers take a look and be left wanting more. Make it very clear to them why they should visit you: access incredible content, participate in promotions…
- Use Snapchat to broadcast your offers. And speaking of promotions, Snapchat is a great place to publicize your offers. As the content of this network is ephemeral and self-destructs, your offers will have a plus for the “sense of urgency”. Encourage your users to visit your website now! to enter a code, leave a comment or share a post in exchange for a discount or to participate in a raffle. To reinforce the effectiveness of the promotion and boost your branding, you can make users have to see an entire Story to participate.
- Create expectation . A resource that never fails: make your users eager to know how the story continues. Snapchat is a great place to post teasers of your releases and encourage users to visit your website to find out more. You can also use this network to “broadcast” your brand events live and make users feel like part of your community. And finally, a very useful strategy is to publish exclusive content that reinforces this feeling of belonging and helps you further strengthen your brand image.
Advertising on Snapchat, a smart bet for your brand
Since the marketer lives not only from organic traffic, I want to present you with another option to continue taking full advantage of your presence on this network: advertising on Snapchat.
Ads on Snapchat have several advantages over other social networks. In addition to being able to access a new and younger audience , advertising on Snapchat has much less competition than other platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, which will allow your ads to stand out much more. But perhaps its biggest advantage is qualitative: Snapchat is a different app , with a bit of a direct and authentic social network and messaging service. And thanks to this, it allows you to connect with your audience in a different and new way.
When it comes to ad formats, Snapchat has three main options:
- Snap Ads . Snap Ads start with a full-screen, vertical, up to 10-second video that appears in context alongside other Snapchats. The user can swipe up to see extra content: extended videos, articles, invitations to download an app or mobile websites. If you manage to overcome the challenge of attracting users’ attention in less than ten seconds, you’ve done it: the click-through rate of Snap Ads is 5 times higher than on other platforms.
- Sponsored Lenses. A fun and interactive option to encourage users to play with your brand. Among the campaigns launched so far there are options as crazy as turning the user’s face into a taco or showering them with Gatorade. When finished playing, the user can post a video of the result or send it to a friend.
- Sponsored Geofilters . This type of filter is linked to the user’s location, either generally (cities or countries) or by type of place (for example, all the cinemas in Madrid). It consists of small drawings that are superimposed on the images of the users and allow them to explain where they are, what time it is and why they have taken that photo or video.