We may know Snapchat as a messaging platform between friends, but it also offers an array of advertising opportunities that are perfect to hit your target audience. You can approach the platform for high-level awareness tactics, build up trust within the community and establish your brand as #1, and track purchases if you are an e-commerce brand trying to generate revenue via social media tactics. 

 

 While it is common to believe Snapchat appeals to the younger generations, 24.5 million millennials are currently active and using the social media platform, which actually skews as high in comparison to Gen Z at 24.7 million users. This social media platform has a mix of age ranges and proves that even if your target audience skews older, they might very well be active within the platform. Snapchat currently reports an engagement rate upward of 80%, making each user valuable in the sense that they are online and consuming content daily. 

 

Not many platforms offer augmented reality as an advertising opportunity, but Snapchat is one of the few that can help develop AR with cellphone cameras, and make a sponsored lens for your brand. Over 200 million users take advantage of augmented reality on the platform, proving to have high exposure and getting your brand name in front of users directly.

 

Snapchat also provides opportunities to run sponsored, interactive filters that can be created directly in-platform, without the use of a dedicated creative team, and target users with vertical video based on interests, and behaviors. Snapchat can integrate with CRM tools to leverage first-party data for more refined targeting and also geo-fence locations for a very direct advertising experience. These direct targeting opportunities allow for a hyper-focused experience and reach exactly the right people at the right time in a fun, creative way. 

 

Vertical video is the leading ad type on social media and can be repurposed across many social media platforms. If you intend on advertising on any other social media platforms with vertical video, Snapchat should be at the top of your list to tes, due to its video-first nature and relatively low CPMs ($3-$8 CPM average). Comparatively, big leaders like Instagram average around $6 and higher. 

 

Snapchat also has a shoppable ad format in the form of collection units, allowing you to drive potential customers directly to product pages and track conversions through their pixel. You can indicate a hero image and dynamically populated creative via a product catalog to retarget users who have shopped on your website. As this is not a new feature, it brings a competitive element to the platform, where you no longer have to rely on Facebook to place shoppable ads to the right audience types. 

 

As the rise of iOS14 changes on Facebook and Instagram, advertisers are also making their way over to various social media platforms where conversion tracking opportunities are still available. This allows for advertisers to tap into audiences that they have been shut out to on Facebook, and find alternative ways to target without the fear of losing insight into data and tracking. 

 

Overall, Snapchat appeals to a wider audience, and has creative differences among social media platforms that sets it apart from the rest. With an overall platform engagement rate at 80%,  augmented reality lenses, filters, vertical video, and shoppable opportunities, there is no doubt you can reach the right audience on this platform.