Social media marketing is all about being where your audience is.

If your target audience is active on a platform, then you should be, too. And if you’re looking to speak to a younger demographic, Snapchat can be a powerful marketing tool for your business.

Snapchat is the fifth largest social media network in the world – but it’s one of the most misunderstood (and underestimated) by marketers.

So, if you’re concerned about missing the boat on this platform, you’re not alone. You’re also not out of touch – you just need a comprehensive guide to get started. And you’re in the right place.

In this updated guide to Snapchat marketing, we’ll provide you with a deep dive into the multimedia messaging platform, explain who’s using it, and give you the strategies you need to add it effectively to your marketing mix.

Why Use Snapchat For Marketing? (Is It Still Relevant?)

Successful marketers focus on grasping every opportunity to reach potential customers – and Snapchat continues to offer unique opportunities.

As of 2024, Snapchat boasts over 406 million active daily users, with more than 80% of them being 34 or younger. The platform reaches 90% of the 13-24-year-old population worldwide and 75% of 13-34-year-olds in over 25 countries.

This makes it an ideal platform for targeting Millennials, Gen Z, and, increasingly, Gen Alpha.

While it might not have the massive user base of Facebook or YouTube, it drives impressive engagement. According to recent data, the average Snapchat user opens the app over 40 times per day and spends about 30+ minutes daily on the platform – which means people interact with their social circles on Snapchat more than any other social network.

Yet, when it comes to marketing, Snapchat is a relatively untapped territory. While every brand seems to have a Facebook and Instagram presence these days, comparatively few have a foothold on Snapchat. And that just means more opportunity for your brand.

The boon of Snapchat is how it’s optimized for authenticity. Given the ephemeral nature of the app and the more unfiltered style of content approach, brands can use the platform to connect with their audience in ways that feel genuine and immediate – which is more valuable than ever.

And, as if all of this wasn’t enough, Snapchat has established itself as a competitive force in the social commerce market. With its augmented reality (AR) shopping experiences, you’re able to build immersive shopping experiences for users through the app – something most other platforms can’t compete with.

By now, it should be crystal clear why Snapchat could be a strong addition to your marketing strategy. So, how do you get started? Let’s break it down.

How Does Snapchat Work? A Brief Overview

If your social media experience is primarily with platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or X (Twitter), Snapchat’s interface may initially feel like a whole new world.

Snapchat’s design is unique – it’s built for spontaneity, exclusivity, and in-the-moment content creation. When you open the app, it goes directly to the camera, making it super easy for you to capture and share videos and photos (called “Snaps”) in just a few seconds.

You can then edit these Snaps using a variety of filters, stickers, and AR Lenses before sending them directly to your chosen friends or adding to your “Story,” which remains viewable for 24 hours. There’s also a newer Spotlight feature, similar to TikTok, for sharing short-form videos with wider audiences.

The app offers a host of other features, including a Snap Map, an AI-powered chatbot, and disappearing direct messages. Long story short: There are a bunch of innovative and creative ways for brands to engage with audiences on Snapchat.

What Brands Are Best Suited To Snapchat Marketing?

Let me be clear: Snapchat isn’t for every brand. There’s a reason why it’s less frequented than some other social media platforms. That said, if your target audience includes younger consumers, it’s absolutely worth considering.

Brands that are best suited to Snapchat are those that present a youthful image and tone and prioritize authenticity, “realness,” and creativity. If your brand image is highly professional or you have red tape around your marketing efforts, you should likely look elsewhere.

Lifestyle brands, fashion labels, beauty products, entertainment companies, and tech startups – these are the kinds of companies that typically see success on the app.

But really, the opportunity exists for any type of brand that is interested in using Snapchat’s tools to create immersive, engaging content that resonates with the platform’s users.

How To Get the Right “Tone Of Voice” For Snapchat

I mentioned tone above – and on Snapchat, tone of voice is a big deal. The platform itself is playful and casual, so you’re not likely to find success using an overly formal or professional tone.

Instead, your brand should focus on having a genuine conversation with users and infusing your content with humor.

Here are some tips for nailing the Snapchat tone of voice:

• Keep it light: People go to Snapchat to be entertained. Leave your hard sales pitch at the door.
• Prioritize authenticity: It’s a place to show the human side of your brand, whether it’s through user-generated content or behind-the-scenes Snaps.
• Engage, engage, engage: Snapchat has a ton of interactive tools for engaging directly with users, like polls, Q&As, and more. Put them to use!

How To Create A Snapchat Strategy For Business

So, you want to create a successful Snapchat strategy. You can just start posting content sporadically, right? Wrong.

You need to start by understanding your brand’s goals and audience, and then determining the type of content that will best help you reach those people on Snapchat specifically. Here are some steps you can take to start building your Snapchat strategy:

• Decide what you want to achieve on the platform. Maybe it’s brand awareness, community building, or increasing sales – once you know your goals, you can build your content approach around them.
• Know your audience. As with any kind of marketing strategy, this is crucial.
• Experiment and be creative. Try your hand with some of Snapchat’s different tools (like Bitmoji, AR Lenses, filters, etc.) to create content that resonates with your audience. Don’t just choose one type of content and settle – you can (and should) experiment with a variety of Snaps, Stories, and Spotlight videos.
• Be consistent. All great marketers know that consistency is key – and it’s the same story on Snapchat.
• Keep a good balance. Of course, you want to sell your brand to users, but don’t go all in on self-promotional content. Make sure you’re balancing organic, engaging storytelling with talking about yourself.
• Learn (and follow) Snapchat best practices. This is a no-brainer. Spend time on the platform to find what works, and see how you can adopt it in your own strategy.

Types Of Content That Work Best On Snapchat

Snapchat is all about driving engagement. What does that look like in action? Here are some examples of content approaches that work particularly well on the platform.

1. Sneak Peeks & Teasers

Launching a new product or service? Snapchat is a great place to drive excitement by giving your audience teasers or sneak peeks at what’s to come.

You might think about dropping hints about the product, sharing a quick glimpse, or some other behind-the-scenes moments to encourage anticipation among your Snapchat followers.

Warner Bros., for example, has used teaser content to promote its upcoming movie releases.

2. Behind-The-Scenes Content

Speaking of behind-the-scenes, this type of content is tailor-made for Snapchat.

Showing your audience what goes on behind the curtain at your brand is a clever way to create a sense of exclusivity and make people feel like insiders.

3. User-Generated Content (UGC)

You’ve heard about user-generated content – well, Snapchat is a place where UGC really thrives. Consider prompting your followers to create their own Snaps that feature your products or brand, and then share them along with a custom hashtag. Then, you can amplify the strongest ones in your own Stories.

UGC is proven to be a highly effective way to generate social proof, increase brand loyalty, and build a stronger social community.

Javy Coffee is one example of a brand that leveraged UGC by featuring real customer testimonials and stories about how they enjoy the coffee concentrate. This helped the company create relatable ads that resonated with its audience.

4. Interactive Content

One thing that separates Snapchat from most other social media platforms is its interactivity. And brands have plenty of opportunities to get in on the action!

Try devising interactive moments for your followers, whether it’s a simple poll, a challenge, or a unique AR Lens. These allow users to really get involved and have a fun experience with your brand – and can lead to new UGC for you, as well.

For example, e.l.f. Cosmetics used AR Lenses combined with Bitmoji to allow users to virtually try on makeup, creating a highly interactive experience for its audience.

5. Exclusive Offers

Want to really impress your Snapchat followers? Reward them. From promo codes to exclusive discounts or early bird access to new products, there is no shortage of ways to treat your audience.

It’s great for them but beneficial for you, too. It gives people a reason to keep engaging with your content and following your brand.

Advertising On Snapchat

While organic content is at the heart of Snapchat, the platform also offers some unique and powerful paid advertising options. The company also rolled out a new ad platform update in August 2024 that provides enhanced analytics, improved targeting, and more.

1. Snapchat Ads

Served to users in between user-generated content, these are full-screen, vertical video ads.  They’re not dissimilar to Instagram Stories, and can include interactive elements such as having a user swipe up to visit a website.

The Salvation Army’s Snapchat Ads featured videos depicting real-life stories of individuals impacted by its services, emphasizing themes of hope and transformation. These ads connected emotionally with viewers and included a swipe-up option to learn more or donate, making the content both impactful and actionable.

2. Sponsored AR Lenses

One of Snapchat’s unique offerings is its custom AR Lenses, which brands can create for users to experience.

You can create Lenses that allow users to virtually “try on” products, for example, put people in a humorous visual setting or even have them play games. At times, they can even respond to users’ movements or the environment around them.

These can be hyper-engaging and drive a lot of interactions – like Volkswagen did when it used an AR Lens to enable people to experience its ID.3 electric vehicle virtually. Using the Lens, people could place a virtual model of the car in their environment, explore its features, and even change the color.

3. Filters

These are static overlays that you can apply to your Snaps once they’re created – and brands are able to design their own to delight Snapchat users. These are typically non-interactive but are fun visual enhancements that enable people to add some creative flair to their content.

Post Consumer Brands created its own custom Snapchat Filter to promote its Honeycomb cereal – and it was very sweet!

4. Dynamic Ads

Snapchat’s Dynamic Ads enable brands to automatically create and deliver personalized ads to users based on their behavior and interactions with your company. For example, if a user visits your website and looks at a specific hat, Snapchat might serve them an ad for that product.

If you work for an ecommerce company, these might be particularly interesting to you, as you can automate ad creation based on your product catalog – so you don’t need to lift a finger.

Fashion brand Free People has used Dynamic Ads to automate personalized ads for users, ensuring that those who viewed specific items on its website were later served ads featuring those exact products on Snapchat. It resulted in a 396% increase in demand.

5. Commercials

These are non-skippable Snapchat video ads that usually appear within the platform’s premium content, like Snap Originals.

They’re short – three to six seconds for a Standard Commercial and up to 180 seconds for an Extended Play Commercial (though users can skip after the first 6 seconds) – and are optimized for high visibility.

They typically focus more on storytelling than some of the other ads on the network.

Let’s Get Snapping!

Yes, Snapchat is still an effective marketing platform for reaching younger audiences – but you must be mindful about your strategy and approach.

With its unique blend of high engagement, unique creative tools, and loyal audience, Snapchat offers brands a variety of ways to connect with their target consumers.

Hopefully, this guide has given you the insights and inspiration you need to build a successful Snapchat marketing strategy in 2024.

Now, it’s time to put these ideas into action and start Snapping your way to success.

More resources: 

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Featured Image: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock

Earlier this year, Google introduced new AI features into its Google Ads platform to help streamline work for many advertisers.

One of those new features comes in the form of AI video enhancements.

This is no surprise since video makes up over 65% of all internet traffic.

Read on to learn more about the AI video enhancements tutorial and how they can help streamline your PPC campaign optimization.

How do AI Video Enhancements Work?

In Google Ads, the AI video enhancement tool uses smart automation features to enhance your videos in a variety of ways.

It’s important to note that video enhancements are turned on by default but can easily be turned off at any time.

The feature can be found within your Google Ads campaign settings.

If you’re creating a new Google Ads campaign, this setting will only be available if you choose “Sales” as the goal and “Video” as the campaign type.

From there, go down to “Additional settings” to find the AI video enhancements settings:

Types of Enhancements Available

Google’s new AI video enhancements provide marketers with two areas to optimize current video assets.

#1: Additional video sizes and ratios

The first enhancement type can take existing horizontal videos and create additional versions for vertical and square ratios for optimal viewing.

The new ratio sizes that Google can create include:

This feature can help the new video sizes feel more native to users viewing on mobile devices and create a better user experience.

#2: Get shorter versions of video ads

Say you’ve got a stellar video asset, but it may be too long to keep a user’s attention.

This new video enhancement uses Google AI to select key moments in the existing video to create shorter versions while keeping the original video message and appearance.

Per Google, these shorter video versions will automatically start running if they pass a quality review.

What are the benefits of using AI Video Enhancements?

As we come into Q4, time is of the essence for every marketer.

Resources are trying to do more with less, all while producing optimal PPC campaign results.

If you or your team are strapped for time or have a heavy workload, testing the Google AI video enhancements could be a key helper for your creative assets.

Some key benefits of testing out video enhancements include:

• Reducing workload and budget
• Takes the heavy lifting out of manually optimizing creatives
• Can help boost campaign effectiveness
• May help improve conversions

In Summary

With the ability to automatically generate different video sizes and ratios and create shorter versions of longer video ads, these tools are designed to save time and reduce the manual effort of video editing.

As marketers head into Q4 and face increasing demands, utilizing Google’s AI video enhancements can help lighten workloads, improve campaign effectiveness, and potentially increase conversions while keeping within budget constraints.

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Featured image: monticello/Shutterstock

If you manage a Google my Business account, you may have seen a few reviews from users with a star symbol right by their name – and you may have even noticed the title “Local Guide.” This is a feature called the Google Local Guide Program, and it’s something your business can tap into.

What is the Google Local Guide Program?

The Google Local Guide program is an initiative by Google, designed to incentivize users into contributing information about local businesses, attractions, and places they’ve visited and engaged with. 

Users who participate in this program are called Local Guides, and they’re users who actively share the knowledge and experiences they’ve had with local businesses. They also engage with other users by answering questions about various locations on Google Maps.

It’s made to improve the accuracy of business information other people can find through GMB and Google Maps, and also so that other users can see first-hand accounts of what a local business is like.

Local Guides earn points for their work – the more they contribute, the higher their level becomes within the program. High level contributors are rewarded with benefits and perks, like early access to new Google features, exclusive events, and special promotions. 

How You Become a Local Guide?

Here’s the good news: anyone with a Google account can become a Local Guide. You just need to sign up. But keep in mind that this program is only open for individual users, and you cannot sign up using a business account. 

Start by opening Google Maps either on desktop or on your mobile app. Then, tap on the three horizontal lines on the top-left corner to open the user menu. 

Scroll down the menu until you see the option “Your contributions.” Click on that, then click on “Join Local Guides.” This starts the application process, which can be finished in minutes.

You can also sign up for the program through the official Local Guides link.

Google’s Local Guide System

There’s tons of ways to earn points in the Google Local Guide program, and a tier system which unlocks new benefits for users. All users have to do is keep contributing, and the amount of points they earn is already set per contribution type:

• Review: 10 points per review. If the review is more than 200 characters long, there is an extra 10 points. 
• Rating: 1 point per business or location rating.
• Photo: 5 points per photo. Multiple photos uploaded per business or location will lead to multiplied points.
• Photo tags: 3 points per tag.
• Video: 7 points per video. Multiple videos uploaded per business or location will lead to multiplied points.
• Captions added to photo updates: 10 points per caption 
• Answer: 1 point per answer.
• Respond to Q&As: 3 points per response.
• Edit: 5 points per edit to a business or location listing.
• Place added: 15 points per place added.
• Road added: 15 points per road added.
• Fact checked: 1 point per checked fact.

Each contribution does go through a review and verification process, so earning points doesn’t happen immediately. 

As users earn points, they also level up. Levels in the Google Local Guide program go from 1 to 10, with higher levels having more benefits. At level 4, users earn a “Local Guides” badge, which is the star icon you may have seen by some user’s names before. 

How the Local Guide Program Affects Your Local SEO

Google Local Guides push users to keep contributing to listings on Google My Business, and locations on Google Maps. This makes both platforms, which are very useful ways to discover local businesses, work better.

If you want your Google My Business profile to outrank your competitors, then you need to tap into the Local Guide Program, and make sure your profile is comprehensive, helpful, and engaging to users. 

Because Local Guide reviews tend to show up at the top of your business reviews, they will be the most viewed parts of your profile. Plus, reviews from these users tend to be longer, more detailed, and with photos and/or videos attached to them, since this earns them more points. Getting impressive reviews from these users is a great way to boost your brand’s reputation online.

Plus, whether they leave a review, photo update, an answer in your Q&A section, contributions from a Local Guide will positively impact your business locations’ local SEO performance. The more contributions you get from them, the more detailed your business profile will be, and the more likely it is that you rank higher in local search results.

Author’s Note: If you haven’t created your business’ profile yet, follow my guide to setting up a Google My Business Account. I also have another guide to local link building strategies you can follow to level-up your local search visibility.

How to Use the Local Guide Program to Improve Your Local SEO

The amount of reviews you get from local Guides can work in your favor, and boost your online reputation – a must for brand recognition and improving your rankings. Here are some of the ways I have encouraged more and more reviews from Local Guides:

Keep Your Google My Business Profile Updated

Be sure that Google My Business has all the information a user needs to know about your business. Aside from the basics, such as your address and operating hours, consider if they need to know what kind of facilities you have at your location, additional services you provide, links to your menu and social media profiles, and so on. 

Make it a point to review and update your profile every so often as your business grows. The more descriptive your Google My Business profile is, the more likely you are to be discovered and reviewed by other users (Local Guides included). 

Respond to Your Reviews–Even the Bad Ones

Customers, in general, want to feel that businesses care about their experience–which makes responding to their reviews a must. BrightLocal’s survey on customer reviews shows findings which should really drive this point home:

• “89% of consumers would be ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to use businesses that respond to all reviews”
• “59% of users said they are fairly likely to use a business that responds to all reviews”
• “52% said they would use a business if a merchant responded to only negative reviews”
• “22% say they’re ‘not likely at all’ to use businesses that don’t respond to any reviews”

So yes, you should reply to all the reviews on your profile, even the bad ones. It will show future customers who look you up online that you do care about their experience. 

Don’t Buy Reviews

It might be tempting to reach out to Local Guides and incentivize them to leave a review or contribution to your Google My Business profile, but it’s something I strongly do not recommend. The best engagement happens organically – plus, buying reviews violates Google’s review policy. 

Instead, encourage engagement with your profile by adding its link to your other platforms and focus on building up an authentic relationship with your customers. 

Use Feedback for Insights

Local Guides are more likely to come back and continue engaging with your business if you’re using their feedback to improve your business. Don’t ignore reviews from other customers either – each contribution will give you valuable insights on your customer experience. 

So reply and thank them for their feedback, and take note of any actionable points that they provide in their comments.

Key Takeaway

Understanding the Local Guide Program and how it affects your business is crucial if you’re working on improving your presence online. Remember, brand reputation and SEO go hand-in-hand. When a trusted source like them engages with your Google my Business, it doesn’t just boost your online credibility within your industry, it’ll also benefit your ranking on the search results. 

Having a solid plan for responding to and generating reviews not only helps retain existing customers but also attracts new ones. Use this guide to build up social proof, increase customer engagement and experience, catch the attention of Local Guides, and ultimately climb up local search results.