03 Sep, 2020

What are Snapchat Ads?

Snapchat Ads
03 Sep, 2020

What are Snapchat Ads?

This is the age of filters, selfies, and stories that generate sales! 

As the world shifts to sharing unabashed, uncensored, and random pictures and videos of their daily life online, the Social Media Networks are soaring high on numbers and transforming into a marketplace for brands!

Snapchat is one of the most popular social media networks.

Providing a platform to share random unfiltered and unique moments with friends and family – Snapchat introduced us to the feature we so profoundly call ‘stories’

Today, Snapchat hosts about 238 million daily active users who, on average, open the app almost 25+ times in a day.

Over 60% of these active users are creating fresh content daily!!!

Snapchat is one of the most-visited apps on smartphones and holds the potential for engagement.

Snapchat’s users use the app for fun and to connect with friends/family, a feature that drove the audience to Snapchat in the first place!

Snapchat is different!

While other platforms boast of posts that are too refined and stay on the timeline for years, Snapchat came along as a light-mood and fun app that allowed users to show their real-life, unedited, and natural selves (read Behind-the-scene stuff) that lapse every 24-hours.

While these short-lived stories are great for interaction and connection, are these 24-hours enough for brands to create an impact and generate sales from potential customers?

Is it viable for Indian brands to try such short-period impacts for paid ads?

Is it worth it to invest in paid ads on Snapchat?

Let’s find out!

 

Snapchat Ads – what are they?

Anyone who has been on Snapchat knows that it is one of the most unique, AR empowered apps that can brighten up your mood in a jiffy.

Engaging Filters, astounding Lenses, Face Swap, unique highlights, etc. – It is a diverse platform!

While a lot of fun surrounds the Snapchat vibe, brands can capitalize on the unique creativeness that comes through it to drive the audience and generate sales.

Snapchat currently allows for 3 types of ad formats i.e. Snap Ads, Filters and Lenses,

 

Snap Ads – Turn your stories into advertisements

What are snapchat ads?

SnapAds are the full-screen, 100% viewable, picture and video stories that brands can boost to their target audience and drive clicks.

snapads

 

These are the mainstream Snapchat Ads that Brands have been using to create an impact on the audience to boost Page Visits. These include:

  • Stories for Brand Awareness
  • Website Clicks
  • App Installs
  • Long-Form Video

Brand Awareness Stories are hosted through Brand Pages where the Brand connects to the audience and shares creative content.

‘Website Click’ ads are used from time to time to engage with the audience and convert into customers.

Websiteclick in snap ads
For Page Visits and customer tracking, the brands can use the Snapchat Autofill feature that helps collect user data making user experience swift and easier for the brands to reach out to the audience through emails and mobile notifications.

The third popular Snap Ads are called ‘App Installs’ that come with a picture and video stories feature prompting the user to ‘Swipe-up’, ‘Install Now’, or ‘View More’ CTA at the bottom. With swipe-ups, users can download the Brand App without leaving Snapchat or going to the App Store.  

‘Long Form Video Content’ is used by brands to promote events, movies, shows, etc. where the trailers are shared with the audience to drive the audience to register/book for it. Fashion, Beauty, and Travel brands use this type of Ads to provide a virtual experience of products/places and connect.

 

Filters – Create Experiences for your customers

Filters in snapads

Filters form the core of Snapchat and Selfie Culture.

It is one of the main features that made Snapchat what it is today.

From changing the hues of the sky and colours of the wall to making your face look like that of a cat, dog or honey bee – Anything is possible!

With new updates – Filters provide users with a fun experience making them stay on the app for longer.

Lenses in snapchat

Now Snapchat welcomes advertisers to create their own filters and define user experiences. The filters don’t come with the Swipe-up feature and are restricted to businesses looking for just Brand Awareness.

For instance, be it for Independence Day, a festival, or attending a cricket match at the Stadium – you can swipe through the filters and find personalized and sponsored filters for specialized experiences.

 

Lenses – Interact with the Customers in style!

Lenses in snapchat

 

Snapchat’s most fun feature today is the lenses.

Empowered by Augmented Reality, lenses alter the facial appearance and put dynamic features on the photo in real-time to create unique pictures.

Businesses looking to create Brand Awareness can create their own lenses and feature them on the App to create unique experiences for a wide range of customers.

Lenses in snapads

These help the brands with a very large target market to reach an even bigger audience. Brands like Cadbury, Starbucks, BurgerKing, taco bell, etc have used their signature product/logo filters to create massive awareness and customer engagement.

But lenses are for more diverse business and a small B2B structure or startup is not likely to benefit as much from this Ad format.

 

Having understood the three broad types of ads, it is important to read between the numbers and find out how these ads really perform with the organic Snapchat users.

 

Snapchat Ads – What the numbers say?

According to NDTV Gadgets, Snapchat Revenues jumped by about 17% in 2020 making it to $454.2 million globally.

With Google and Facebook ruling the sector with their large base and compelling strategies, Snapchat is too far away to be counted as a credible platform in India. The gap between ad revenues of Facebook, Google, and Snapchat is astounding.

Although the Snapchat audience soared at the beginning of the 2020 lockdown, the traffic has petered out and has been dropping as we progress through the year.

Snapchat Users by Country

Snapchat-users-by-country

 

snapstats

As India is still an emerging market for Snapchat, there is huge scope for the Daily Active Users to rise, which outlines an opportunity for the brands to drive sales.

Nearly 50% of the world’s population uses social media. That’s over 3 billion users worldwide. (Statista)

Each person spends an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes on social networks and messaging. (Globalwebindex)

However, while Snapchat’s daily users are back on the rise, Instagram Stories is now in the top spot with 500 million active daily users.

It is expected that Snapchat’s global advertising revenue is predicted to reach $2.01 billion in 2020 and $2.62 billion in 2021.

Facebook And Google dominate throughout the world when it comes to daily usage and ad revenues generated. Although Snapchat is trailing behind them, the revenue and the daily usage of the audience is still remarkable.

 

Will Snapchat Ads work for you?

More than 400 Million Snapchat Stories are opened every day.

An Active user opens Snapchat over 30 times a day.

snap chat stats

32.7% of US Marketers are on Snapchat

While numbers say a lot about the success of ads across industries of varied countries, their performance isn’t guaranteed when it comes to your business.

What works for others, might not work for you.

It is important that you go through the trial and error process to figure out the kind of Ads, platforms, and costs that will drive your target audience to your website.

snapchat demographics

Snapchat is popular amongst the Young Audience. Millennials and Gen Y are amongst the early adopters and continue to be loyal users of the App.

So if your brand aims to target a younger audience, Snapchat is a good place to tap into the traffic.

While brands in FMCG, IT, Automobile, Electronics, etc remain loyal to good old Facebook and Google Analytics, businesses with massive reach and awareness like Cadbury, M&Ms, etc still choose to spend on Snapchat for their customer engagement.

Despite over 70% of the audience skipping the ads, the remaining 30% is good traffic for companies to drive a good number of audience to their abode.

 

A short snap from us

Indeed, with Snapchat having a limited presence in India, it is hard to say if brands can garner good traffic to their website. But as the humongous presence of the app increases and Snapchat continues to actively target the Indian Market – the numbers are definitely on a rise.

As the number of Marketers playing in the Indian Snapchat arena is still less, it might just be the right time to make a move and gain the early adopter advantage.

All Stars Digital is a Digital Marketing, and a Brand Scaling agency etched with excellent experience in Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Brand Image Designing, and creating trending online feeds. As the digital market turns fierce and competition rises, All Stars Digital serves as a dedicated partner to carve a swift path to brand popularity.

If this article makes you want to try Snapchat Ads for your business, Will you snap about it? Tell us on our handle – @allstarsdigital

 

References:

https://www.omnicoreagency.com/snapchat-statistics/#:~:text=90%25%20of%20Snapchat%20users%20are,of%20US%20adults%20use%20Snapchat.

https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/snapchat-statistics/

https://neilpatel.com/blog/explore-snapchat-ads/

https://blog.hootsuite.com/snapchat-ads/

 

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