There are three things that Kirk Ouimet wants to make clear: Mobile is king, Snapchat makes the best mobile ad products, and Snapchat leads by innovation. With over 166 million daily users, and over 3 billion Snaps created each day, Snapchat is the leader in mobile advertising. More than half of the top 100 advertisers have spent money advertising on Snapchat in 2017, including: Google, Starbucks, Pepsi, Netflix, and McDonalds. The question that Ouimet asks is, why isn’t your company taking advantage of Snapchat’s ad platform?
Snapchat vs. Social Media
While Facebook is used to update your friends and family on life events, and Instagram is used to show people how perfect your life is, Snapchat is used to show your everyday life. It is real, raw and sometimes ugly. But it’s honest, and that’s why people like it. In fact, more people are using Snapchat than Instagram. On average, people are on Snapchat for 30 minutes per day compared to 21 minutes on Instagram. Not to mention that 46% of daily Snapchatters can’t even be found on Instagram.
Friends Matter
With Snapchat, users don’t only see advertising campaigns, they interact with them and share with friends. Before 2017’s Wonder Woman was released in movie theaters, the studio created Snapchat lenses and filters to promote the movie. Users could take a photo while wearing Wonder Woman’s crown and send it to friends and family. Why is this shareable, interactive advertising technique so important? 87% of people rank close friends as most influential on purchasing decisions. Only 6% of people rank influencers and celebrities as most influential on purchasing decision, which is a tactic often used on other social media platforms. So, receiving a Snapchat from a friend or family member using the Wonder Woman Snapchat lens is more likely to influence you to see the movie than an Instagram influencer posting a picture of themselves dressed up as Wonder Woman would.
Snapchat’s Formula for Ad Products
Before Snapchat, mobile video was only horizontal. That means, when scrolling through your Facebook feed and coming across a native video ad, the only way to see the detail in the video was to stop scrolling, tap the video, and turn your phone sideways. Snapchat has changed how mobile video advertising is done in one crucial way: full screen, vertical videos. Or, in other words, videos made specifically with mobile in mind.
Advertisers can now create and use full screen videos, gifs, stills, and cinemographs to catch people’s attention. By adding a “Swipe Up For Action” button at the bottom of their ads, advertisers can lead viewers off of the Snapchat app and straight to a landing page of their choice. This changes the way video advertising is done on social media.
Scan, Inc. Joins Snapchat
While attending BYU, Ouimet founded Scan, Inc. with fellow students Garrett Gee and Ben Turley. Scan's mission was to build technology to connect the digital and physical world. Scan, Inc was acquired by Snap in 2014. Since the acquisition, Kirk has built a team of engineers focused on integrating Scan technology into Snapchat. One of the Scan, Inc. technology uses: Snapcodes.
Snapcodes allow advertisers even more ways to reach their target audience. McDonalds, for instance, uses Snapcodes on their bags. Have the Snapchat app downloaded on your mobile device? Pull it out, scan the Snapcode on the back of the McDonalds bag, and enjoy an interactive game. Not only do Snapcodes allow for more advertising variations, but more creativity in the social media marketing realm.
Digital marketing is constantly evolving to fit the interest of the consumer. Snapchat is leading the way in how digital marketers reach their audience. With over 166 million daily users, advertisers need to ask themselves why they haven’t taken advantage of Snapchats advertising platform.