SEO

15 Easy (And Free) Ways to Promote Your Website in 2022

Published

2 years ago

July 28, 2022

Free and effective promotion tactics? Yeah, right.

At the risk of sounding like a salesman, let me tell you that not only do these marketing tactics exist, but they’re also actually some of the most effective ones. We’ve been using them, other marketers use them, and most of the big websites I’ve seen to date use them.

But that’s not all. You don’t need a degree in marketing or to be a marketing pro to start promoting your website for free and get results. Here are 15 ideas that go into the free, easy, and effective basket.

If you’re unfamiliar with SEO, it stands for search engine optimization, and it allows you to get free traffic from search engines like Google.

Overview of our beginner's guide to affiliate marketing — For example, our beginner’s guide on affiliate marketing gets an estimated 24.4K visits from search engines every month.

One of the fundaments of the SEO process is to choose the right keywords to create content for. Now, a tried and tested tactic for new websites and websites without a strong backlink profile is to choose keywords with low ranking difficulty.

You can spot those keywords by mainly looking at two things:

How many backlinks from unique domains do the top-ranking pages have?
Do the top-ranking pages belong to a domain with high topical authority?

Here’s how you can do it using Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer. You can:

Enter a seed keyword (or multiple seed keywords).
Go to the Matching terms report and filter the KD (Keyword Difficulty) metric to show keywords with up to 20 KD. This will show you easy keywords based on backlink profile.
Pick a relevant keyword and open the SERP panel to see what kinds of pages rank. If you see popular brands dominating, those keywords may be hard to rank despite the low KD. SERPs without brands like that should be easier to target.
Repeat step #3 for every relevant keyword on the list.

Keywords with KD lower than 20 based on "matcha" seed keyword — Keywords with KD lower than 20 based on the “matcha” seed keyword.

Example of a keyword with low KD and no "very strong" brands — Example of a keyword with low KD and no “very strong” brands.

Single low-competition keywords may not offer as much traffic potential. But if you pile up a number of pages targeting these keywords, you can end up with serious organic search traffic.

Also, low-competition keywords may convert better than their more generic counterparts if they are specific enough. One of the neat tricks to find keywords that can possibly convert to sales is to check the CPC ad cost to see if people bid for those keywords.

So what to do with difficult keywords? Of course, you may target them any time you wish, but note that they will probably take more time (and backlinks) to rank.

Position history chart for our article on keyword research — Despite many factors in favor of our article on keyword research, it reached #1 in the U.S. only after some four years of content updates and earning backlinks. Even then, it could not hold that position. KD 87 out of 100. Strong brands competing on the same keyword. Data via Ahrefs’ Site Explorer.

Recommendation

You may also want to try out zero–search volume keywords, as they are usually low-competition too. This article will introduce you to the subject and show you the steps. Do note that this tactic doesn’t always bring results and can be a bit more complicated than what you’ve read above. Also, it may be more suitable for some areas (B2B, emerging technologies) than others.

Sometimes, you don’t need to create new content to get more traffic. Your old content may just need some SEO work, including:

More precise alignment with search intent to better serve the meaning of the search query.
Refreshing the content, making it more up to date.
Introducing a unique value to show Google and searchers that you have something new to add to the table (to Google, unique content is quality content).
Optimizing your title tag to get more clicks from the SERPs (search engine results pages).
Filling content gaps for more topical relevancy.
Adding internal links to distribute link equity.

At Ahrefs, we do these things to get more traffic regularly. With multiple successes.

Nailed search intent (before and after results shown in line graph) — Here’s how organic traffic to one of our articles grew after we aligned with the search intent.

You can follow our step-by-step process with this guide: Republishing Content: How to Update Old Blog Posts for SEO

This tactic is all about creating valuable, unique content that’s ideally centered around your brand or product—then offering free access to the content.

Whether it’s a printable PDF guide or a tutorial series on YouTube, focus on adding value for your audience. You’ll then start seeing the magic of word of mouth at work.

Actual user feedback for “Blogging for business” — Actual user feedback for “Blogging for business,” our free video tutorial course on how to grow your blog past 100K monthly visitors.

But first, you need a proven topic for your free resource.

You can find inspiration for topics manually by visiting social media profiles of authors and magazines in your niche and looking at the engagement signals: likes, retweets, comments, etc. Additionally, you can browse through online communities and see what resonates with your target audience.

But there are also tools that can help you with this job.

One tool we recommend quite often for any kind of audience research is SparkToro. Just plug in topics your target audience frequently talks about to discover related topics and hashtags (among many other things).

And with an all-in-one SEO toolset like Ahrefs, you can broaden your options with keyword research.

Matching terms report with applied filters

And on top of that, you can reverse engineer what worked for your competitors.

Top pages report in Ahrefs' Site Explorer — **Top pages** report in Ahrefs’ Site Explorer will uncover pages with the most organic traffic. You can also filter the results, as in the example above.

Recommendation

Consider creating content tailored to platforms with native distribution mechanisms. For example, you can create a course on a site like Udemy on how to, say, paint Warhammer miniatures and mention that you own a website on the topic with more cool resources.

Look for other businesses that target a similar audience but do not compete with you directly.

Then see if they are up for a content collaboration with you. This way, you can pitch to their audience, and they get to pitch to yours.

Here’s an example: In 2018, we worked with Buffer, a social media scheduling tool, to create a webinar titled “How to Get Website Traffic With Evergreen Content and Social Media Marketing.”

While the audience was comprised of digital marketers, our products are different enough and do not compete with each other.

Repurposing content is about using existing content and “repacking” it for other marketing channels.

For example, you can chop a larger article into smaller pieces and use them to promote the original piece via guest blogging. Actually, it’s such a common technique that it has its own name: the “Splintering Technique.”

Splintering technique for content repurposing

Or you can turn an article into a video and take advantage of YouTube’s search engine and content recommendation algorithms.

Article repurposed into a video — Our article on influencer marketing was repurposed into a video and published on YouTube to reach even more people. Of course, it can work the other way around too.

Or you can take an entire post, strip it down to a tl;dr version, and publish it on Reddit.

Article repurposed into a tl;dr version posted on Reddit — This is something we did with our guide on keyword research.

There are other ways to take advantage of this tactic. Check out our complete guide to content repurposing, where we share nine ideas for that.

How can you promote your website while writing for others?

When you publish content for other websites, a number of things happen:

You get a boost to your website traffic (although it’s not the best method for consistent traffic).
You expose your brand to a new audience.
The earned link contributes to your backlink profile.
You can make new connections in the industry.

Apart from preparing a pitch that stands out from the crowd, the key is to find the right places to publish.

For this, you can use Google with search operators. Then you need to vet each page manually. Try our free website authority checker for that last part.

Using Google with search operators to find guest posting opportunities

Result from screening a website with Ahrefs' free authority checker

With an Ahrefs sub and our SEO Toolbar, you can also vet the websites right inside the SERPs.

Using Google with search operators and Ahrefs' SEO Toolbar to find guest posting opportunities

Or use our Content Explorer to get additional insight to filter for results that meet specific performance criteria.

Possible guest blogging opportunities filtered by DR and website traffic.

Content syndication is a similar tactic to guest blogging. The only difference is that with content syndication, you publish the same thing in multiple places.

Getting started with content syndication is practically the same as guest blogging. You need:

Great content.
Potential syndicates (websites that can publish your content). You can use the same process and tools as described above. The only thing that changes is your search query. So you can use something like “originally appeared on” + [topic].
A good pitch to get your foot through the door.

With syndication comes the option to self-syndicate. So unlike guest blogging, you can self-populate your articles to other platforms like Medium, Reddit, or LinkedIn. These platforms have a large audience and their own distribution mechanism, so you can get in front of people’s eyes for free.

Recommendation

Use a backlink checking tool to see where authors of your choice syndicate their content. In Ahrefs, go to Backlinks report, set the word or phrase filter to “Anchor with surrounding text,” and type “originally appeared on” inside the input field.

Social media platforms, including online communities, are places where you can likely find your target audience. You just need to figure out where exactly and how you can provide unique value to them. If you have something important to say, there will be plenty of opportunities to link to your website.

A link to a blog post that's part of a relevant answer on Quora — Example: posting answers on Quora.

Start by learning more about your audience. Again, for this, I’ll recommend SparkToro.

Another way to find places that mention topics related to your website (or even your website) is to use a web monitoring tool like Google Alerts or our very own Ahrefs Alerts.

Once you’ve zeroed in on your communities, you may want to approach them with these universal tips in mind:

Pay attention to what works for each audience – After joining, read the rules and dedicate some time to researching the group. Look at how the existing members interact. Also, comment on others’ posts while adding value and being helpful.
Post thoughtful, insightful comments – Others will begin to return the favor. Don’t be a spammer.
Start referencing your own website after a while – Only do so after you’ve spent a good amount of time giving back to the community and making some friends. Even then, try to go about it in a way that doesn’t scream “blatant advertisement.” Asking for opinions or positioning your website as something that may help people out are some ways to go about it.

Recommendation

You shouldn’t always expect referral traffic from your social posts. Two reasons:

If there’s no natural way to include a link, don’t do it. Otherwise, your content may be seen as a spam policy violation.
Social media platforms seem to prefer native continent, i.e., content that is to be “consumed” on the spot instead of accessed via a link. This means sometimes you will have to trade links for engagement.

Case in point. Have you heard about Miss Excel? Her software training business can generate up to six figures per day. Not per month, per day. Even Google Docs tried to correct me on that.

Miss Excel gets customers through social media. But you can rarely come across a direct link to her course in any of her posts. Instead, she directly shares Excel tips on TikTok and Instagram. Here’s a great interview on how she does what she does.

And how about creating your own community?

It may work if:

People genuinely like to share thoughts on topics related to your website.
You can offer a unique value that will attract and retain your audience.

Marketing Solved community promoting a free course — Marketing Solved is a popular marketing community run on Facebook. Note the highlight.

Going further, we can see there are multiple benefits of having a community tied to your website. In terms of promotional aspects, the biggest benefit will likely be word of mouth.

Word of mouth is one of the most effective marketing channels. It will start working organically when community members feel like the value inside the community will benefit others. But you can potentially influence word of mouth by giving people a reason to talk, such as a new study you just published.

Sharing an original research study on Ahrefs Insider

This way, a community can naturally start to attract members and, as a result, promote your website. Just keep in mind that you shouldn’t expect overnight success with this tactic. Treat it, rather, as a long-term investment with dividends paid as you go.

Here’s why email marketing has been utilized by so many marketers: It allows them to build an audience and communicate with them directly and regularly. For free. An email marketing list like that can become one of your most valuable assets.

Of course, building an email list is not that easy. But if email marketing is done in tandem with quality content marketing, a setup like that puts the process of list-building almost on autopilot. All you need to do is to put up a sign-up form next to your content.

Before you run off and start looking for the best email app, do make sure you’re on the right track:

You need to commit to publishing great content regularly – After all, the content should attract people to your email list. If you feel like you can use a step back to revisit your blogging strategy, check out this list of 17 blogging tips.
What kind of newsletter will your audience like to read? For example, we recently found that Ahrefs’ audience prefers to get a short digest of each article we feature in the email instead of, say, bare links to articles.
What will be unique about your newsletter? Do you plan to include some kind of added value or exclusive content for your email subscribers? Or will you keep it simple by offering people the good ol’ “never miss a post again”?

If you’re a local business owner, getting listed in local directories is a must.

This is because people look for local services on the web all of the time. For this, they use either local service directories or simply plug in a keyword like “lawyer near me” in Google. In the latter case, Google will usually point them to a local directory.

SERP for "lawyer near me" dominated by map pack and directories — Looking for a lawyer via Google these days? Well, you will see mostly maps and links to directories.

Creating or claiming your Google Business Profile is a good starting point. Setting up the profile is quite straightforward (and free). However, what I recommend here is going a step further and making sure your profile is optimized. Here’s how to do it in 30 minutes.

Completing this step will make your business profile (hence, your website) eligible to show up in Google Map Pack (the search result with a map, as seen in the picture above), Google Maps, and a local knowledge panel when someone looks for your brand.

Next, add your business to relevant local directories. For example, a lawyer may want to list their service for free with Thervo.com. Just make sure to keep all information consistent across platforms.

Once you’re done with adding your business to directories, check out our guide on local SEO to take things a notch higher. Among other things, this guide will show you tactics that can improve your position in the local map pack and how to create content for keywords with local search intent.

Outreach done for link building purposes is a tactic where you get your content in front of bloggers and influencers in your industry. The aim is to get them to talk about you and link to you.

This tactic is mainly utilized to boost the “authority” of your pages in the eyes of Google so that these pages rank higher and bring more search traffic.

Correlation between search traffic and referring domains — Our study of 1 billion pages found a strong, positive correlation between the number of websites linking to a page and search traffic from Google.

In its simplest form, outreach is the act of reaching out and asking for a link back to your website. And yet, great outreach at scale is a lot more than just asking for a backlink. The process involves:

Creating content.
Finding prospects.
Segmenting your prospects.
Finding the right contact details.
Crafting your pitch.
Scaling your outreach.

Sounds easy, right? But there are actually a lot of details involved that can make or break the process. Also, steps like finding prospects or finding the correct emails are too tedious or even impossible without the right tools.

Hunter's Sheets add-on filling email addresses the tool can find

The best way to go about your outreach process is to pick up a tried and tested process you can simply follow to a T. Here’s one from us, completely free:

Link to a local lawyer's website in a magazine—a PR effort — And now you know a reputable music industry attorney. All thanks to her commentary on an article about NFTs.

Backlinks report showing a link from a high-DR website — And now you know a reputable music industry attorney. All thanks to her commentary on an article about NFTs.

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SEO

OpenAI Expected to Integrate Real-Time Data In ChatGPT

Published

7 hours ago

May 12, 2024

Max

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, dispelled rumors that a new search engine would be announced on Monday, May 13. Recent deals have raised the expectation that OpenAI will announce the integration of real-time content from English, Spanish, and French publications into ChatGPT, complete with links to the original sources.

OpenAI Search Is Not Happening

Many competing search engines have tried and failed to challenge Google as the leading search engine. A new wave of hybrid generative AI search engines is currently trying to knock Google from the top spot with arguably very little success.

Sam Altman is on record saying that creating a search engine to compete against Google is not a viable approach. He suggested that technological disruption was the way to replace Google by changing the search paradigm altogether. The speculation that Altman is going to announce a me-too search engine on Monday never made sense given his recent history of dismissing the concept as a non-starter.

So perhaps it’s not a surprise that he recently ended the speculation by explicitly saying that he will not be announcing a search engine on Monday.

He tweeted:

“not gpt-5, not a search engine, but we’ve been hard at work on some new stuff we think people will love! feels like magic to me.”

“New Stuff” May Be Iterative Improvement

It’s quite likely that what’s going to be announced is iterative which means it improves ChatGPT but not replaces it. This fits into how Altman recently expressed his approach with ChatGPT.

He remarked:

“And it does kind of suck to ship a product that you’re embarrassed about, but it’s much better than the alternative. And in this case in particular, where I think we really owe it to society to deploy iteratively.
There could totally be things in the future that would change where we think iterative deployment isn’t such a good strategy, but it does feel like the current best approach that we have and I think we’ve gained a lot from from doing this and… hopefully the larger world has gained something too.”

Improving ChatGPT iteratively is Sam Altman’s preference and recent clues point to what those changes may be.

Recent Deals Contain Clues

OpenAI has been making deals with news media and User Generated Content publishers since December 2023. Mainstream media has reported these deals as being about licensing content for training large language models. But they overlooked a a key detail that we reported on last month which is that these deals give OpenAI access to real-time information that they stated will be used to give attribution to that real-time data in the form of links.

That means that ChatGPT users will gain the ability to access real-time news and to use that information creatively within ChatGPT.

Dotdash Meredith Deal

Dotdash Meredith (DDM) is the publisher of big brand publications such as Better Homes & Gardens, FOOD & WINE, InStyle, Investopedia, and People magazine. The deal that was announced goes way beyond using the content as training data. The deal is explicitly about surfacing the Dotdash Meredith content itself in ChatGPT.

The announcement stated:

“As part of the agreement, OpenAI will display content and links attributed to DDM in relevant ChatGPT responses. …This deal is a testament to the great work OpenAI is doing on both fronts to partner with creators and publishers and ensure a healthy Internet for the future.
Over 200 million Americans each month trust our content to help them make decisions, solve problems, find inspiration, and live fuller lives. This partnership delivers the best, most relevant content right to the heart of ChatGPT.”

A statement from OpenAI gives credibility to the speculation that OpenAI intends to directly show licensed third-party content as part of ChatGPT answers.

OpenAI explained:

“We’re thrilled to partner with Dotdash Meredith to bring its trusted brands to ChatGPT and to explore new approaches in advancing the publishing and marketing industries.”

Something that DDM also gets out of this deal is that OpenAI will enhance DDM’s in-house ad targeting in order show more tightly focused contextual advertising.

Le Monde And Prisa Media Deals

In March 2024 OpenAI announced a deal with two global media companies, Le Monde and Prisa Media. Le Monde is a French news publication and Prisa Media is a Spanish language multimedia company. The interesting aspects of these two deals is that it gives OpenAI access to real-time data in French and Spanish.

Prisa Media is a global Spanish language media company based in Madrid, Spain that is comprised of magazines, newspapers, podcasts, radio stations, and television networks. It’s reach extends from Spain to America. American media companies include publications in the United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and Panama. That is a massive amount of real-time information in addition to a massive audience of millions.

OpenAI explicitly announced that the purpose of this deal was to bring this content directly to ChatGPT users.

The announcement explained:

“We are continually making improvements to ChatGPT and are supporting the essential role of the news industry in delivering real-time, authoritative information to users. …Our partnerships will enable ChatGPT users to engage with Le Monde and Prisa Media’s high-quality content on recent events in ChatGPT, and their content will also contribute to the training of our models.”

That deal is not just about training data. It’s about bringing current events data to ChatGPT users.

The announcement elaborated in more detail:

“…our goal is to enable ChatGPT users around the world to connect with the news in new ways that are interactive and insightful.”

As noted in our April 30th article that revealed that OpenAI will show links in ChatGPT, OpenAI intends to show third party content with links to that content.

OpenAI commented on the purpose of the Le Monde and Prisa Media partnership:

“Over the coming months, ChatGPT users will be able to interact with relevant news content from these publishers through select summaries with attribution and enhanced links to the original articles, giving users the ability to access additional information or related articles from their news sites.”

There are additional deals with other groups like The Financial Times which also stress that this deal will result in a new ChatGPT feature that will allow users to interact with real-time news and current events .

OpenAI’s Monday May 13 Announcement

There are many clues that the announcement on Monday will be that ChatGPT users will gain the ability to interact with content about current events. This fits into the terms of recent deals with news media organizations. There may be other features announced as well but this part is something that there are many clues pointing to.

Watch Altman’s interview at Stanford University

Featured Image by Shutterstock/photosince

SEO

Google’s Strategies For Dealing With Content Decay

Published

1 day ago

May 11, 2024

Max

Disappointed stressed businessman staring at the stacked paperwork on his desk

In the latest episode of the Search Off The Record podcast, Google Search Relations team members John Mueller and Lizzi Sassman did a deep dive into dealing with “content decay” on websites.

Outdated content is a natural issue all sites face over time, and Google has outlined strategies beyond just deleting old pages.

While removing stale content is sometimes necessary, Google recommends taking an intentional, format-specific approach to tackling content decay.

Archiving vs. Transitional Guides

Google advises against immediately removing content that becomes obsolete, like materials referencing discontinued products or services.

Removing content too soon could confuse readers and lead to a poor experience, Sassman explains:

“So, if I’m trying to find out like what happened, I almost need that first thing to know. Like, “What happened to you?” And, otherwise, it feels almost like an error. Like, “Did I click a wrong link or they redirect to the wrong thing?””

Sassman says you can avoid confusion by providing transitional “explainer” pages during deprecation periods.

A temporary transition guide informs readers of the outdated content while steering them toward updated resources.

Sassman continues:

“That could be like an intermediary step where maybe you don’t do that forever, but you do it during the transition period where, for like six months, you have them go funnel them to the explanation, and then after that, all right, call it a day. Like enough people know about it. Enough time has passed. We can just redirect right to the thing and people aren’t as confused anymore.”

When To Update Vs. When To Write New Content

For reference guides and content that provide authoritative overviews, Google suggests updating information to maintain accuracy and relevance.

However, for archival purposes, major updates may warrant creating a new piece instead of editing the original.

Sassman explains:

“I still want to retain the original piece of content as it was, in case we need to look back or refer to it, and to change it or rehabilitate it into a new thing would almost be worth republishing as a new blog post if we had that much additional things to say about it.”

Remove Potentially Harmful Content

Google recommends removing pages in cases where the outdated information is potentially harmful.

Sassman says she arrived at this conclusion when deciding what to do with a guide involving obsolete structured data:

“I think something that we deleted recently was the “How to Structure Data” documentation page, which I thought we should just get rid of it… it almost felt like that’s going to be more confusing to leave it up for a period of time.
And actually it would be negative if people are still adding markup, thinking they’re going to get something. So what we ended up doing was just delete the page and redirect to the changelog entry so that, if people clicked “How To Structure Data” still, if there was a link somewhere, they could still find out what happened to that feature.”

Internal Auditing Processes

To keep your content current, Google advises implementing a system for auditing aging content and flagging it for review.

Sassman says she sets automated alerts for pages that haven’t been checked in set periods:

“Oh, so we have a little robot to come and remind us, “Hey, you should come investigate this documentation page. It’s been x amount of time. Please come and look at it again to make sure that all of your links are still up to date, that it’s still fresh.””

Context Is Key

Google’s tips for dealing with content decay center around understanding the context of outdated materials.

You want to prevent visitors from stumbling across obsolete pages without clarity.

Additional Google-recommended tactics include:

Prominent banners or notices clarifying a page’s dated nature
Listing original publish dates
Providing inline annotations explaining how older references or screenshots may be obsolete

How This Can Help You

Following Google’s recommendations for tackling content decay can benefit you in several ways:

Improved user experience: By providing clear explanations, transition guides, and redirects, you can ensure that visitors don’t encounter confusing or broken pages.
Maintained trust and credibility: Removing potentially harmful or inaccurate content and keeping your information up-to-date demonstrates your commitment to providing reliable and trustworthy resources.
Better SEO: Regularly auditing and updating your pages can benefit your website’s search rankings and visibility.
Archival purposes: By creating new content instead of editing older pieces, you can maintain a historical record of your website’s evolution.
Streamlined content management: Implementing internal auditing processes makes it easier to identify and address outdated or problematic pages.

By proactively tackling content decay, you can keep your website a valuable resource, improve SEO, and maintain an organized content library.

Listen to the full episode of Google’s podcast below:

Featured Image: Stokkete/Shutterstock

SEO

25 Snapchat Statistics & Facts For 2024

Published

2 days ago

May 10, 2024

Max

Snapchat, known for its ephemeral content, innovative augmented reality (AR) features, and fiercely loyal user base, is a vital player in the social media landscape.

While it sometimes flies under the radar – as other platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram tend to dominate the cultural conversation – Snapchat is an incredibly powerful marketing tool that holds a unique place in the hearts and minds of its users.

In this article, we’ll explore what you need to know about Snapchat, with insights that shed light on what audiences think of the app and where its strengths lie.

From user growth trends to advertising effectiveness, let’s look at the state of Snapchat right now.

What Is Snapchat?

Snapchat is a social media app that allows users to share photos and videos with friends and followers online.

Unlike other social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok – where much of the content is stored permanently – Snapchat prioritizes ephemeral content only.

Once viewed, Snapchat content disappears, which adds a layer of spontaneity and privacy to digital interactions.

Snapchat leverages the power of augmented reality to entertain its audience by creating interactive and immersive experiences through features like AR lenses.

Users can also explore a variety of stickers, drawing tools, and emojis to add a personal touch to everything they post.

What started as a small collection of tools in 2011 has now expanded to a massive library of innovative features, such as a personalized 3D Snap Map, gesture recognition, audio recommendations for lenses, generative AI capabilities, and much more.

Creating an account on Snapchat is easy. Simply download the app on Google Play or the App Store. Install it on your device, and you’re ready!

Screenshot from Google Play, December 2023

25 Surprising Facts You Didn’t Know About Snapchat

Let’s dive in!

1. Snapchat Has 406 Million Daily Active Users

That number, released by the company in October 2023, represents an increase of 43 million year-over-year – a 12% increase.

Here’s a chart from Statista showing Snapchat’s user growth from 2014 to 2023:

Screenshot from Statista.com, December 2023

And with 750 million monthly active users (MAUs), Snapchat is the fifth-biggest social media network in the world.

2. Users 18-24 Years Old Account For The Biggest Chunk Of Snapchat’s Audience

According to Snapchat’s own advertising data, the platform has 243.5 million users aged 18 to 24 – representing 38.6% of its total ad audience.

The second largest group of users are between the ages of 25 and 34, followed by 13-17-year-olds – proving that Snapchat is reaching young people around the world.

On the flip side, the platform isn’t huge with older users; people aged 50 and over account for only 3.8% of Snapchat’s total ad audience.

As a marketer, you can take a hint on what your campaign should focus on if you use Snapchat. As Snapchat’s own report puts it:

“From its inception, Snapchat has inherently created a frictionless space where Gen Z creatives can experiment with their identities, yet not have to feel like they’re ‘on brand’ in communicating to their close friend groups.”

3. Snapchat Reaches 90% Of The 13 To 24-Year-Old Population

It also reaches 75% of people between the ages of 13 and 34 in over 25 countries, according to Snapchat’s estimates.

In the US, 59% of American teenagers (between the ages of 13 and 17) report using Snapchat. This number amounts to roughly six in 10 US teens.

4. Snapchat Users Open The App Nearly 40 Times A Day

According to the company, this means people interact with their social circles on Snapchat more than any other social network.

In the US, about half of teenagers (51%) report using Snapchat at least once a day – making it slightly more popular than Instagram, but not quite as popular as YouTube or TikTok.

5. Taco Bell Paid $75,000 For 24 Hours Of The Taco Filter/Ad

To boost sales, Taco Bell launched the taco filter on Snapchat. Here’s what it looked like.

Today only: turn yourself into a taco using our @Snapchat lens. Because Cinco de Mayo. pic.twitter.com/P4KwLdFNFZ
— Taco Bell (@tacobell) May 5, 2016

The filter is humorous, relevant, and unique. Users adored it, and it got 224 million views.

That’s great, considering Taco Bell paid $75,000 for the ad – which actually proved to be a great investment for the exposure the brand received.

6. More Than Half (50.6%) Of Snapchat Users Are Female

In contrast, 48.7% of the platform’s global users are male.

While there is not a huge discrepancy between the demographics here, it’s helpful information for any marketers looking to put together Snapchat campaigns.

7. Snapchat Is The No. 1 App People Use To Share What They Bought

Is your brand looking to reach young social media users around the world? Snapchat could be the perfect platform for you.

People are 45% more likely to recommend brands to friends on Snapchat compared to other platforms.

They’re also 2X more likely to post about a gift after receiving it – making Snapchat a powerful tool for influencer marketing and brand partnerships.

8. Snapchat Pioneered Vertical Video Ads

Once a novelty in the social media industry, vertical video ads have become one of the most popular ways to advertise on social media and reach global audiences.

What are vertical video ads? It’s self-explanatory: They’re ads that can be viewed with your phone held vertically. The ad format is optimized for how we use our mobile devices and designed to create a non-disruptive experience for users.

You’ve definitely seen countless video ads by now, but did you know Snapchat pioneered them?

9. You Can Follow Rock Star Business Experts On Snapchat

Who knew Snapchat could be a powerful business tool? Here are the top three experts you should follow right now:

10. More Than 250 Million Snapchatters Engage With AR Every Day, On Average

Snapchat was the first social media app to really prioritize the development of AR features, and it’s paid off.

Over 70% of users engage with AR on the first day that they download the app – and, to date, there have been more than 3 million lenses launched on Snapchat.

11. People Are 34% More Likely To Purchase Products They See Advertised On Snapchat

When compared to watching the same ad on other social media platform, Snapchat proves to be an effective way to reach and convert.

12. Snapchat Is The King Of Ephemeral Content Marketing

Ephemeral content marketing uses video, photos, and media that are only accessible for a limited time.

Here are three reasons it works:

It creates a sense of urgency.
It appeals to buyers who don’t want to feel “sold.”
It’s more personalized than traditional sales funnel marketing.

Guess who’s one of the kings of ephemeral content marketing? That’s right: Snapchat.

Consider that if it weren’t for Snapchat, Instagram Stories would likely not exist right now.

13. More Than 5 Million People Subscribe To Snapchat+

Snapchat+ is the platform’s paid subscription service that gives users access to exclusive and pre-release features on the platform.

Subscribers also receive a range of other perks, including options to customize their app experience and the ability to see how many times their content has been rewatched.

The fact that so many millions of users are willing to pay for special access and features to Snapchat should be a sign to brands and marketers everywhere that the platform has a strong pull with its audience.

Beyond that, the fact that Snapchat+ drew 5 million subscribers within just a year or so of launching is impressive on its own.

14. Snapchat Reaches Nearly Half Of US Smartphone Users

According to Statista, approximately 309 million American adults use smartphones today.

Snapchat’s ability to reach such a considerable portion of US smartphone users is notable.

15. Snapchat Users Spend An Average Of 19 Minutes Per Day On The App

That’s 19 minutes brands can use to connect with people, grow brand awareness, and convey their message.

16. Snapchat’s Original Name Was Picaboo

In fact, Snapchat did run as Picaboo for about a year.

17. Snapchat Was Created After 34 Failures

Snapchat creators Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Frank Reginald Brown worked on the Snapchat project while they were studying at Stanford University.

After 34 failures, they finally developed the app as we know it today.

18. Snapchat’s Creators Had A Major Falling-Out Before The App Was Released

Frank Reginald Brown was ousted from the Snapchat project by his friends.

Although no one knows the real story, Brown claims Spiegel and Murphy changed the server passwords and ceased communication with him a month before Snapchat was launched.

19. Snapchat Downloads Doubled After The Launch Of The Toddler & Gender Swap Filters

Users downloaded Snapchat 41.5 million times in a month after the release of these filters!

20. Mark Zuckerberg Tried To Buy Snapchat

Snapchat’s owners refused to sell Snapchat to Zuckerberg (even though the offer went as high as $3 billion!).

21. Snapchat’s Mascot Is Called Ghostface Chillah

The mascot was inspired by Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan – and when you consider that the app was once called “Picaboo,” the ghost logo makes more sense.

Apparently, Snapchat co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel has said that he developed the mascot himself and chose a ghost based on the ephemeral nature of Snapchat content.

22. Facebook And Instagram Borrowed Ephemeral Content From Snapchat

As we mentioned above, we have Snapchat to thank for Facebook and Instagram Stories, which have since become integral to the social media experience.

Snapchat also pioneered the use of AR filters, which were adopted by Instagram and paved the way for the filters that dominate the world of TikTok today.

23. 75% Of Gen Z And Millennials Say Snapchat Is The No. 1 Platform For Sharing Real-Life Experiences

Social media is all about authentic moments and human connection – and social media marketing is no different.

With such a large number of young people preferring Snapchat over other platforms for sharing their life experiences, marketers should follow suit.

Find ways to share behind-the-scenes moments with your team and company, and emphasize the humans behind the brand.

24. Snapchat Users Have Over $4.4 Trillion In Global Spending Power

That’s nothing to sneeze at.

25. In 2022, Snapchat Generated $4.6 Billion In Revenue

It is currently valued at over $20 billion.

Looking Ahead With Snapchat

Snapchat’s ephemeral content, intimacy, and spontaneity are strong points for everyday users, content creators, and businesses alike.

Marketers should keep a keen eye on emerging trends within the platform, such as new AR advancements and evolving user demographics.

Those looking to reach younger audiences or show an authentic, human side of their brand should consider wading into the waters of Snapchat.

By harnessing the power of ephemeral content and engaging features, brands can effectively use Snapchat to grow their brand awareness, engage with audiences on a more personal level, and stay relevant in the fast-paced world of digital marketing.

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Featured Image: Trismegist san/Shutterstock