The Ultimate Marketing Guide to Snapchat

Ross Simmonds
rosssimmonds.com
The Ultimate Guide to
Snapchat Marketing

We’re living in a
time where our
attention is
Minimal.

Snapchat is a tool that captures
someone’s attention entirely for a
few seconds and has the ability to
CUT THROUGH
the attention crisis.

Snapchat has an estimated user
base of more than 30 million and is
continuing to grow and develop its
brand and product.

Snapchat allows users to take
meaningless, embarrassing, private,
and goofball type photos or videos
and send them to friends.

After a few seconds, the photos or
videos vanish and are no longer
available for the user to see.

This is an
opportunity
to leverage one of the most talked about
social networks since Facebook…

This is an
opportunity
to leverage one of the most talked about
social networks since Facebook…
…and drive real
results for your business.

1. Getting Started: Sending snaps
2. Settings You Need As A Brand
3. Why Snapchat Makes So Much Sense
4. The Power Of Visual Storytelling
4.1.Brand Speciﬁc Content
4.2.Behind The Scenes Content
4.3. Promotion Driven Content
4.4. Leverage Snapchat Stories
4.5. Embrace The 'Naughty' Screenshot
4.6. Key Takeaways & Conclusion
The Ultimate Guide to
Snapchat Marketing

The Elephant
In The Room
Snapchat is not
just for sexting.

The Elephant
In The Room
A lot of people like to turn up their noses at the
idea of sexting, but let me remind you that
according to a recent study from McAfee & Intel:
“nearly 50% of adults have used their mobile
device to share or receive intimate content…”

The Elephant
In The Room
Sure, there is a percentage of people who use
Snapchat to send a risqué photo here or there,
but Snaps are mostly a mix of selﬁes, concerts,
events, nights out, and pretty much everything
you'd ﬁnd on Facebook.

The Elephant
In The Room
Just because the device can be used to share
sexy photos, doesn't mean it can't be used for
business.

The Elephant
In The Room
“Our experience has been blissfully genital-free,
but on those odd occasions where responses
have been close to the line, we’ve been able to
respond with an image of the new Deep Space
shower gel, urging people to clean up and take
a cold shower…”
- Alex Willimott, the Community Manager
for Lynx of Axe Body

The Elephant
In The Room
So there you have it.

It's time to get over it and it's
time to start using Snapchat
FOR BUSINESS RESULTS.

MAKE YOUR
Account Setup
To have a successful Snapchat
marketing program, you need:
A mobile device that can install the
latest version of Snapchat, such as
an iOS or Android device.
E-mail Address.
Password.
Username.

MAKE YOUR
Account Setup
You want to use an email address that will
be used solely for Snapchat purposes.
If you're a small business, you should
have no issues using your own email for
setting this up. If you're a large company,
you will want to create an email like:
Snapchat@businessname.com.
E-mail Address

MAKE YOUR
Account Setup
I'm not going to preach about the
importance of having a secure password
but it's extremely important on Snapchat.
If someone hacks your account, they
could do a lot of damage sending oﬀside
content directly to your users.
Password
!
!

MAKE YOUR
Account Setup
This is the most important element when setting
up your Snapchat account.
Your username is the @username that people
will use to send Snaps to you and use to add you
to their friends list on Snapchat.
Consider branding your username with your
business name or with your real name if you're
an individual.
It's also a good idea to keep some consistency
between your Snapchat name and Twitter name.
Username
@

MAKE YOUR
Account Setup
Even if you're not going to use Snapchat
right away, sign up and own your username.
If you don't, you could ﬁnd yourself in a
situation where someone else signs up
with your name and you're unable to get it
without a legal battle or paying top dollar
for it.
Take Away
!
!

MAKE YOUR
Sending a Snap
Photo Snap Video Snap
When using Snapchat, there are two types of content
you can share with your friends or followers.

MAKE YOUR
Sending a Snap
When you get started, you're going
to come across a screen like this:

Sending a Snap
When you get started, you're going
to come across a screen like this:
To Take a Photo: Tap the circle once and it
will capture the frame.
To Take a video: Hold down on the circle
and it will begin recording your video.
Hold down on the circle for as long as you
would like the video to be. The max length
of the video clip is somewhere between 8
and 10 seconds.

Sending a Snap
If you don't like the ﬁrst version of
your Snap, you don't have to worry.
View your snap before sending it to anyone.
Decide if you want to send it or delete it by
clicking the "X" in the top left corner.

MAKE YOUR
Sending a Snap
Select the length of time a
user can view your content
by tapping this little clock.
Select the number of seconds the
recipient will have to see the snap
before the photo disappears.

Sending a Snap
After taking a snap, simply tap the
middle of your screen and you will
be able to type a short blurb of
text for the recipient to read.
Once you have written the text,
tap anywhere to exit out of the
caption interface.
From there, you simply tap the
arrows in the bottom right, select
who you want it to be sent to, and
it's oﬀ to the masses.

MAKE YOUR
Getting Fancy
1
2 3
4
Snapchat gives you a wide range of functionality to take
your snaps to a whole new level, get creative, and have
some fun with your brand:
Diﬀerent Fonts
& Texts
Quick Snaps
Snapchat Stories
Drawing
Tools

Getting Fancy
1
Diﬀerent Fonts & Text:
I recommend switching it up here and
there when sending Snaps to your
audience to keep them guessing.

Getting Fancy
Quick Snaps:
How much can someone see in a
second? That’s something that might
be worth testing out.
Shorten the amount of time that a
user can look at a snap to one second
and force them to focus 100% on
your snap.

Getting Fancy
Snapchat Stories:
Create a Narrative
A Snapchat Story is a photo or video you post to
your very own Stories section of your account,
which is visible by you and all your friends.
Instead of sending several snaps to users
individually, you can post them to your story,
where each of them will attach to the previous
Snap added to create a story from the entire
night.
Snapchat Stories last for 24 hours and can
capture a much longer and impactful message.

Getting Fancy
Snapchat Stories:
Create a Narrative
When you visit your "My Friends" tab in
Snapchat, your username should appear at the
very top, and beneath it will be a circular icon of
the most recent story posted. The same
functionality will work for your friends.

Getting Fancy
Snapchat Stories:
Create a Narrative
You can tap anybody's name in this section to
trigger the dropdown menu that may show
additional Stories, if the user posted several of
them.
In the 24 hours that Stories live on your
account, they can be viewed again and again for
that period. Once the time limit is up, they are
automatically deleted.

Getting Fancy
Drawing Tools:
Snapchat enables you to share drawings,
sketches, and doodles with other users. They
can be as simple as a moustache like you see in
my photo or a something as impressive as these
Snapchats from Janine Doherty:

Now that you’re set up,
it's time to manage
your settings.

Settings You Need As A Brand
Snapchat for a brand is diﬀerent
from Snapchat for a person.
As an individual, you worry about
things like privacy, who has the
ability to send you content, and
of course, who can see the content
you share.

Snapchat for a brand is diﬀerent
from Snapchat for a person.
You want to ensure that EVERYONE can view
your stories. Initially that sounds odd but
for a business - it's actually very important.
You want to ensure that anyone who has
added you to Snapchat can look at your
stories because it's only going to be a
matter of time until your contact list is so
full that you're unable to scroll through and
select every single person as the recipient
for your Snaps.

You want your settings to look
like this:

This is the average friends list:
John C, Mike S, Cameron C, and Surrey J are all
friends who have been added as friends.
Smitty R, is someone who has added me as a
friend but I haven't added them back yet.
Smitty R can try to send me Snaps, but unless
my settings are set to "Everyone”, the Snaps are
never going to make it.
Smitty R is also unable to view my Stories that I
publish unless I've set that feature to
"Everyone”.

It's going to be a challenge to accept
everyone to your Snapchat.
I suggest leaving your settings open to
“everyone” which will give you the ability to put
your story in front of anyone who wants to see it.
Note: If a user has added you to Snapchat, you
also have the ability to send them Snaps directly
from your account to theirs. If you don't add the
user back and they attempt to send you a Snap,
they will simply be met with a "Pending" message
as an indicator of Snap delivery.

The Strategy
SO MUCH
SENSE
Why Snapchat Makes

Let’s look at the facts:
Over the course of the last ten years,
the average attention span has
dropped from 12 minutes to a
staggeringly short 5 minutes.
!
25% of people forget the names or
details of close friends and relatives.

“In a world where our attention span
is limited to 5 short minutes, a tool like
Snapchat can be a marketers dream.”

The Founder of Snapchat discussed
the concept of ephemerality when
describing Snapchat:
"Snapchat discards content to focus
on the feeling that content brings to
you, not the way that content looks.
This is a conservative idea, the
natural response to radical
transparency that restores integrity
and context to conversation."

The Power of Visual Storytelling
Visuals play a signiﬁcant role in
our ability to understand and
connect with stories.
In marketing, visual
storytelling is an art
that needs to be considered
and applied like a science.

T>
93% of communication is nonverbal.
The research department at 3M Corporation
concluded that humans process visuals
60,000 times faster than text.
It's visuals that help us understand a
situation, connect with our emotions, and
allow brands and businesses to tell their
story quickly and more eﬀectively.

The three most important
aspects of visual storytelling are:
The way it reaches
your audience.
How it captivates them.
How it aligns with your
business goals or objectives.
1.
2.
3.
SNAPCHAT!
STRATEGY!
KEY TO SUCCESS!

6 sure-ﬁre ways to captivate
your audience using Snapchat:
1. Brand Speciﬁc Content
2. Behind The Scenes Content
3. Promotion Driven Content
4. Leverage Snapchat Stories
5. Embrace The 'Naughty' Screenshot
6. Key Takeaways & Conclusion

Snapchat Pro Tip: The saying “A picture says 1000 words” is one
of the most frequently used clichés but it’s a cliché for a reason.

Doing it Right:
Karmaloop – a leading e-commerce site for the trendy elite.
How: The content you'll receive from
adding Karmaloop to Snapchat is always
on brand but never what you expect. And
that's the magic of it.
Why: The key to creating a great Snapchat
account is creating one delivers content
that is so unique and compelling, you have
no choice but to open your Snaps and see
what they're going to send you next.

Doing it Right:
HBO series, Girls
How: A Snap of one of their cast members
telling her fans that she loves them.
Why: It's this simple branded interaction
that connects the show even deeper with
its audience.

2. Behind the Scenes Content
Snapchat Pro Tip: If you're going to be on Snapchat - announce
that you're going to be on Snapchat.

Doing it Right:
HBO series, Girls
How: Throughout the entire Golden Globe
experience, the GirlsHBO team was making
an eﬀort to share as many intimate, behind
the scenes moments it could with their
audience. It was an awesome way to give
their viewers an extra special layer to the
event and oﬀer them content that was
engaging and unique.

Doing it Right:
HBO series, Girls
Why: People are thirsty for transparency
and an inside look at how things are built or
done within your organization.
If your brand has a strong connection with
your fans, people will be excited to see the
team behind your Snaps or products.
Embrace it!

Snapchat Pro Tip: I repeat, if you're going to be on Snapchat -
announce that you're going to be on Snapchat.

Doing it Right:
Karmaloop
How: They've ensured that their brand is
alive and well with exclusive Snapchat
promotions. They recognize that Snapchat is
meant to be one of their many marketing
tools that will drive online sales for their
brand.

Doing it Right:
Karmaloop
Why: If you're sending solid discounts and
deals to people who follow you on Snapchat,
you have a chance to really start driving
sales. Promotion codes and limited time
oﬀers are a great way to build a strong
connection with this audience and also a
great way to measure the success of your
Snapchat campaign.

Snapchat Pro Tip: The "Stories" feature on Snapchat is still a
huge untapped opportunity for brands.

Doing it Right:
Intel (@Intel_Inside on Snapchat)
How: Intel is giving their fans a chance to
see a quick tour of the Intel museum. One
single snap wouldn't have been able to tell
the story in full while this approach gave
Intel a chance to share a deeper and more
captivating brand experience.
People were so impressed by it, that they
uploaded screenshots of the Intel Museum
for others to see.

Doing it Right:
Intel (@Intel_Inside on Snapchat)
Why: People who are connected with Intel are
interested in their brand, so having a tour of
their museum through Snapchat was pretty
cool.
That's the power of telling a captivating story.
Snapchat is a tool that gives you a chance to
make your biggest fans feel special. As a result,
these fans will not only share your story but
help mold it in a way that is both engaging and
unique to their latest brand experience.

Snapchat Pro Tip: The Screenshot is a key part of the application’s
approach to delivering an ephemeral experience.

What you might not know about
Snapchat is that if someone tries to
take a screenshot of a Snap, the
sender is notiﬁed that the other
person took a screenshot of their
photo or video.

Leveraging the screenshot for your
brand is a clear opportunity to have
your story and message last longer
than 5 seconds.
It gives you a chance to have your
customers capture your Snaps and
share them with their own
connections and networks on social.

Doing it Right:
The marketers behind the movie Romeo & Juliet
How: The team created a special
contest. Users were told to take
screenshots of the Snaps that they
send them, tweet them with the
#RomeoMoments hashtag, and be
entered to win a special prize.

Doing it Right:
The marketers behind the movie Romeo & Juliet
There were hundreds of tweets sent and
shared with that very hashtag showing
screenshots of their dreamy cast.
Why: It was a perfect execution that led
to both a stronger connection with their
fans and the ability to have their fans
become walking, talking billboards for
their story.

Key Takeaways
Visual Marketing is here to stay. Whether it's Instagram,
Snapchat, or another network that takes the crown - we can all
agree that visual marketing isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
While the pan is still hot, no one is going to ignore a Snapchat.
If you send a Snapchat to a customer who has added you to
their friends list, 99 times out of 100 they're going to open that
Snapchat. If you've provided value in the pass - that number is
very likely to move up to 100%.
Snapchat isn't just for sexting. If you understand what your
audience wants and build a persona around their interests; you
can craft a compelling and captivating brand experience using
Snapchat.
1
2
3

With click-through rates on online ads
plummeting and the amount of
competition increasing, businesses
are looking for results. In a world
where there is more noise than ever
before, it’s important to create
content worth reading, creating and
sharing.
www.standoutguide.com
Look out for my e-book
Stand Out: A Content Marketing Guide
INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE?

ROSS SIMMONDS
www.rosssimmonds.com
@TheCoolestCool
PS: Feel free to also add me to
Snapchat: @coolestcool

The Ultimate Marketing Guide to Snapchat

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to The Ultimate Marketing Guide to Snapchat

More from Ross Simmonds

Recently uploaded

The Ultimate Marketing Guide to Snapchat