5 Hacks to Boost Sales Via Snapchat Sharing your product with the young crowd just got easier.
By Rocco Baldassarre Edited by Jessica Thomas
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Over the past few years, the number of young people using Snapchat has nearly doubled from 100 million to almost 200 million users -- and more than 75 percent of users are active. This significant growth is much larger than Facebook or Twitter. Even though Snapchat might be difficult to understand or even get the hang of, it is one of the most valuable social media platforms to reach today's younger generations of buyers.
Snapchat was initially created for people to share countless selfies as well as exotic dishes from all around the world, however, it evolved and became the marketing nucleus for brands to reach their younger audiences -- since most of its users are under 35.
Related: Leave Your Competition in the Dust With These Snapchat Marketing Strategies
But how can you get involved in a way that it will eventually benefit your business? Below are five hacks to boost sales via Snapchat by building an interactive and engaging audience who will feel connected to your business on a deeper and personal level and will be yearning to buy from your brand.
1. Share engaging product demonstrations.
Showing original, creative and entertaining ways of using your products or services will attract new users. If you are selling a specific product or service, try to define what makes it unique and share different ways on how it might improve your customers' life.
For example if you own a tile manufacturing company with one of the strongest, most durable and lightweight tiles around, you already know that is your major selling point. Running a series of daily snaps featuring the above strengths will let users visualize the advantages and superiority of your product against your competition.
2. Exclusive promotions and giveaways.
Who doesn't love free things? As you start to grow your Snapchat audience, you will need something to keep your audience interested and in tune every day. Launching special coupons with exclusive discounts can be a great way to achieve this. Offering promos and giveaways to users who share your products or share snaps using your products may prove to be an effective way to engage audiences, too.
Always keep in mind that promotions should be something your followers look forward to but won't receive daily. The more often you run them, the less effect they will have on your audience. Followers won't feel the need to engage or shop assuming there will be a new one the following day.
Whatever your strategy might be, make sure it complies with Snapchat's rules for promotions.
Related: 10 Social Media Trends to Watch in 2019
3. Leverage social media influencers.
If you are a small business, you don't have to go for the top notch, world-recognized and costly influencers like Neil Patel. You can start with niche influencers around your neighborhood and see if they may be interested in trying out your product or service for free in exchange of a few snaps to support your company.
To find the right influencer you might need to start analyzing your current followers and search around Facebook, Youtube or Instagram to see who the perfect candidate might be.
4. Using geofilters.
Geofilters allow users and businesses to purchase, or even create, their own customized filter around a specific area for a certain length of time.
They are exceptionally good for your business if you are about to host an event. First, they may encourage your customers and followers to attend your event. Second, they are extremely helpful to spread awareness when shared with people who have a high chance of being part of your target audience.
However, in order to make sure you did not spend money without getting any return on advertising spend (ROAS), you need to make sure to post on social media and create signage advertising that you have a geofilter. Without proper promotion, attendees might not look for your filter. Also keep in mind that geofilters can't feature your website or social media platforms, therefore, you should consider asking your customers to add that information on their snaps.
Related: 4 Young Marketing Influencers You Can Learn From
5. Track your engagement.
Social media measurement can be complex in a partially new platform like Snapchat. So how can someone track content performance? Running a contest or a promotion offering a discount code might be the best way.
How does it work? First, you need to publish a snap letting know your followers you are about to share a discount code that they should immediately screenshot to redeem. Snapchat lets you track views, as well as see number of times your code was captured by screen shot. If your code was uniquely design for your specific promo, you will be able to see exactly how views and screenshots translate to actions.
My last piece of advice would be to encourage every brand to try Snapchat and test its capabilities to see if it is a fit for your brand strategy. Keep in mind that Snapchat is a much different platform than the ones you already are familiar with, so your objective shouldn't be based solely on getting the most followers, but rather keeping your followers engaged once they opt-in to follow you.
