Advertising on Snapchat

Advertising on search engines, YouTube or social media is an everyday occurrence for us. But what about advertising on mobile apps? They are the ones – due to the level of user engagement – that take up a lot of our attention. Every year, we devote more and more of our free time to them. One such application is Snapchat. The app introduces many new options and interesting formats, including those dedicated to advertisers. This gives us plenty of opportunities to create interesting, creative and original advertising and, consequently, to run an effective advertising campaign on Snapchat.

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is a social media platform for smartphones. Communication on Snapchat is via so-called snaps, which are photos or video clips that disappear 10 seconds after opening. Snapchat is much more informal and private than other social media (you don’t have to give your name), and only the people to whom you send your snaps can access them. The app is popular among 18- to 20-year-olds. There is a misconception that Snapchat’s glory days are behind it. This is contradicted by statistics: in 2020, Snapchat has 229 million users who share more than 4 billion snaps per day. Campaigns on Snapchat are run by major brands such as McDonald’s and H&M, but also by many smaller, locally operating companies. It’s worth knowing that Instagram Stories (and later also Facebook Stories) was developed from the very idea of Snapchat. Over time, the app has expanded greatly. Today, it offers a wide range of possibilities to create and optimise advertising campaigns, making them effective and positively received.

Who are Snapchat ads designed for?

Around 3.5 million people use Snapchat in Poland every day (data: 2020). Many of these are users in the 16-24 age range. This is a group expecting a message that inspires their trust. These people react allergically to overt sales messages. At the same time, they are open to news and like to keep up to date with what is currently trending. Remember that, just as millennials used to be, generation Z is becoming one of the main consumer groups today. Therefore, it is worth developing a communication strategy today. If they are your target group, advertising on Snapchat will be a hit. Our media team will be happy to show you how to reach them and plan a campaign on Snapchat that will achieve the highest and most valuable conversions.

Advantages of advertising on Snapchat

There is room for a variety of industries

Because of the wide age range (from teenagers to students and people starting out in their careers), Snapchat is suitable for the promotion of a really wide range of products and services for different target groups. We can find audiences for advertisements for local eateries, financial and insurance services, education, app sales, as well as beauty services or premium products.

Targeting opportunities for stationary outlets

If you run a stationary business or have a network of outlets, on Snapchat we can target your audience to stationary outlets (in addition to the website, of course). In this type of campaign, Snapchat uses the location of the device and only displays the ad when the user is within a certain distance of the premises. In addition to the ad, he or she will also see basic information about the location: opening hours, telephone number and more. This is an excellent way to advertise in an effective, surprising and at the same time efficient way. It also works well in situations where you want to specify an audience and, for example, avoid displaying advertising to those who, due to distance, would not be able to use the service anyway.

Unique ad types

There are unique and platform-specific ad types on Snapchat that you cannot find in other social media. These include, in particular, ads with AR filters and Dynamic Ads. The former allow the user to create a customised appearance-changing filter that can be placed in a snap or on a photo. Importantly, snaps with such a filter are later sent to the user’s friends – so the ad reaches people who may also be interested in the product. Dynamic Ads, on the other hand, are ads based on data from the online shop’s product catalogue you have uploaded. With this solution, there is no need to create separate adverts for dozens or hundreds of products.

Ease of use and precision of the advertising system

Snapchat’s advertising system, despite its extensive possibilities, is quite simple to use. When running a campaign on Snapchat, we can define our target group with very high precision. We select audiences based on age, interests, location, gender and other data. We can then personalise already existing ads and campaigns on Snapchat even more precisely. We have insights into who opened and saw the ad; we also know what the user’s reaction was when they saw it (whether they clicked it, accessed the page, made a call or maybe just ignored it). On this basis, we can target future adverts – e.g. only to those people who responded positively to earlier ones.

Flexible rates

The minimum rate for an advertising budget is $5 per day. This amount allows both to promote a locally operating company and to see if campaigns on Snapchat are a good solution for a brand – without risking large amounts. For the first few days, the app ‘learns’ the ad and the target audience in order to increasingly manage the advertising budget and, over time, obtain a lower advertising cost.

What does advertising on Snapchat consist of?

Ten-second videos with the ability to redirect to a page. Sponsored Lenses, scanning a user’s face, geofilters that can be accessed within a specific territorial range – these are just some of the ways to run a campaign on Snapchat. The ad is displayed on the entire screen of the device, so we can be sure that no viewer misses it. Others include:

Snapchat Ads – snaps lasting between 3 and 10 seconds (image or video). When you swipe up, the ad shows the details of the offer (this could be an article or a longer, 10-minute video, for example, or simply a graphic with more information). This is the most common type of ad used in Snapchat campaigns.

Story Ad – standard, short videos arranged into a larger whole (up to 20 videos). Their popularity stems from the fact that they can be used to tell a longer story, but using the form most characteristic of Snapchat.

Dynamic Ads – ads designed for e-commerce. Dynamic Ads involve linking the app to an online shop’s catalogue and automatically creating an ad in the form of a photo as soon as we add a product to our catalogue. This way, the ad on Snapchat is updated in real time and automatically, while you can spend your time on other activities.

Augmented reality lenses are also an interesting ad format on Snapchat. These possibilities for running a variety of ads in the app give us great scope for realising an effective campaign on Snapchat. Our media specialists will tell you exactly what we can offer. Once we have a better understanding of you, your brand, your target audience and the objective you want to achieve, we will present you with the solutions that we believe will deliver the best results. When running a campaign on Snapchat, we draw on our own experience and current social media trends, so we know how to communicate with different audiences – including Snapchat.