Guest post by Senior Advisers Network
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, why not SnapChat?
Get with the times, try some new social media channels for your business marketing
The latest social media marketing trend report by Sensis highlights that 99% of Australians have an Internet-enabled device and as many as 87% are online every day. Social networking is one of the most popular activities for Australians aged 9 and above, with almost half of the country being active on social media on a daily basis. Looking at these stats, it is impossible to ignore the potential reach that social media marketing has for small businesses in Australia. Here we take a look at one of the rising stars in social media – Snapchat!
Millennial Favourite Social Media Channel
Wait, what? Snapchat is that thing the kids use, right? To send the pictures that disappear in a few seconds. That’s not a business app. Or is it?
Snapchat may not be the first social media app you consider when you think of business, but Social Media News recently reported that around 2 million Australians are active on Snapchat every month, so it could be very beneficial to include this app in your social media marketing strategies.
How Snapchat Works
Understanding how it works is the first step.
Snapchat works with the camera app on your phone to send pictures that you take to people you are friends with on the app. When you receive a snap, you can view it for up to 10 seconds before it disappears. If you want, you can take a screenshot of it or view it once again, but after your 10 seconds are up, it’s gone from the app.
You can also put pictures in a snap story, which is visible for 24 hours. The idea is to give a ‘snapshot’ of your day or an event that your friends can look at.
Engage with Your Customers on Social Media
When trying to engage with potential and existing customers, the first thing to do is to reach out and make friends on Snapchat. You can add friends if you have their snap code, or if they are nearby. You’ll want to add your customers and your followers from other platforms to your Snapchat friends list.
As you can see, Snapchat is a little different from other social media apps, so you might need to think a little bit about how to best use it to promote your business. Snapchat is predominantly used by a millennial audience, but seniors who are in business can benefit too, particularly if they are attempting to promote their services and products to a younger generation of customers.
Here are some ideas:
- Use it to promote live events. If you’re having a grand opening or a special promotional event at your retail store, you can announce it on Snapchat. Then, when the event happens, you can add live video to your snap story so that even customers who can’t be there can see what’s going on.
- Have a contest. Snapchat is particularly suited to contests like scavenger hunts. Have a list of items in your store that customers need to snap, and offer a prize for everybody who finds them all.
- Give a tour. If your business includes manufacturing or production, give a tour of your facility on Snapchat. Customers will be able to see just how the products they buy are made.
These are just a few ways you can promote your business using Snapchat. As you start to use it, you’ll probably come up with more.
Online Marketing and the 7 Big Questions of Small Business
Business owners frequently ask 7 Big Questions about how to Build a Beautiful Business and Life.
The first of these Big Questions is: How do I grow my business?
To answer that question I have identified the 11 most important strategies to create Business Growth.
The third of those strategies is Grow your business with Online Marketing. This is one of many more articles on this site that explain how Online Marketing and Growth hang together, in some depth.