Snapchat is experiencing an avalanche of new millennial users and a minuscule yet rapidly growing number of business-based early-adopters.
Compare that to the vast sea of new and established brands, drowning each other out across the fast social media oceans of Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
After experiencing a mind-blowing jump from 4 billion to 10 billion daily video views since last May (outperforming Facebook in the process), Snapchat is now the hottest social media platform for radically building your digital brand and client-base, as an industry-leading personal development experts, wellness coach or fitness pro.
Here’s why:
- Every day, 100 million people actively use Snapchat to share 700 million videos and images.
- Not only are 76% of these users online shoppers but they spend an average of 30 minutes each and every day consuming content!
- Snapchat already has more people using it than Twitter and has actually grown in just one year as much as Twitter did in 4 years.
- Snapchat is all about sharing fun and simple mobile-based visual content that you make with your smartphone.
- Most importantly, the fact that so many businesses are just starting to learn about Snapchat means it’s a good time for you to jump in as wellness coaching or fitness marketing early adopter.
Stats via: https://adespresso.com/academy/blog/ultimate-guide-marketing-snapchat/
How is Snapchat Outperforming Facebook for Video Views?
So how DO you explain the quickly growing, Facebook-surpassing daily consumption of video content on a smaller, newer platform like Snapchat, that boasts a tiny fraction of the number of users on Facebook?
It turns that out it probably has a lot to do with the fact that Snapchat is set up for sharing the kind of vertically formatted videos uniquely created through the use of typical mobile devices.
This stands in sharp contrast to the types of horizontal images you’re more likely to formatted for TV or in more sophisticated video production and photography for business social media.
In fact, users are 9X more likely to finish watching great video content if it’s vertically displayed compared to if it’s shown horizontally (says Snapchat’s internal data).
This focus on short, engaging visual content specifically created on mobile devices may also help explain how Snapchat grew its number of daily video views from 4 billion to 10 billion between May 2015 and April 2016! That’s an increase of 150% in just one year!
And why are such incredible objective video-engagement measures so essential to your online branding and digital marketing success?
For one thing, it’s a video marketing best-practice to place an inspiring, value-creating call-to-action at the end of your videos. When more of your ideal customers watch your videos right to the end, it means they’re much more likely to actually see and follow through on your calls-to-action.
For another thing, having a limited budget for content creation is actually an advantage when it comes to Snapchat. You’re only limited by the depth of your creativity and the value and emotionally positive experiences you can deliver.
Section sources: 1. https://www.etrafficwebmarketing.com.au/blog/snapchat-stats-will-make-think-twice/ 2. https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/28/video-consumption-on-snapchat-more-than-doubled-in-under-a-year/
Powerful Snapchat Lessons from an Unexpected Brand
Are you like so many others social media users who just haven’t had the chance or the time to explore Shapchat entirely, if at all?
Before I share a quick step-by-step guide on how to set up your account and start using the latest features from Snapchat’s revolutionary new Chat 2.0, it’s important that you sample a couple of short video “stories” from a brand that you’d never think could go so viral so quickly.
When you think of such a new social media platform, where half of all new users are millennials, with content perfect for that generations’ tech savvy, time-sensitive attention span, ask yourself:
What’s one of the least likely brands you’d think would be a major Snapchat success story?
How about The New York Times?
Well, according to digital marketing expert Lindsay Kolowich’s The New York Times is actually one of the 10 best brands on Snapchat right now.
Check out these 2 surprisingly compelling New York Times Snap Chat stories (short videos).
The first one is an Apple Watch demonstration. The second one has a behind the scenes kind of feel, while at the same time actually explaining how to use Snapchat – a hugely hot topic right now.
Product demonstrations, behind the scenes stories, event and content promotions are huge winners on Snapchat as well.
Ultimately, the real key to your Snapchat digital marketing success as a life coach of fitness pro follows the same basic formula that all great content creation follows:
And that’s delivering immediate, positive value for your viewers. It means updating them with inspirational, life-changing wellness and fitness hacks, and solving their most critical personal and business pain-points.
When you take a look at these 2 short Snapchat videos, notice how each video story is actually an informal sequence of shorter videos that are chained together.
See how the use of spontaneous, authentic humor, genuine personality, and vibrant creativity quickly make up for a lack of sophisticated video and audio equipment.
Oh, and notice the vertical screen orientation in the first video? That’s the real deal with Snapchat! :
Snapchat Story 1: Snapchat Video on the Apple Watch
Snapchat Story 2: Snapchat Pro Tips for the New York Times
Snapchat for iPhone And Android – A Step-by-Step Guide
6 Need to Know Snapchat Terms:
Snaps: are videos or photos that you send to your Snapchat friends. Snaps are self-destructing, meaning: they disappear right after they’re opened.
Stories: are a series or compilation of snaps which can be viewed for no longer than 24 hours.
Your Snap Score: is a kind of user metric (Snapchat doesn’t have objective engagement metrics yet) based on the number snaps and stories you’ve viewed and shared.
Going on a “Snapstreak”: means you’ve shared more than one snap with the same friend over a more than 2 days in a row.
Screenshot: has special meaning on Snaptchat. This probably to prevent people from resharing your content without your knowledge or consent, you’ll get a notification if someone takes a screenshot of one of your image or story snaps.
Replay [ing]: is limited on Snapchat to a maximum of 2 replays per day. I assume that this a way of minimizing empty content recycling and maximizing the creation and sharing of fresh new snaps and stories. You get a notification whenever someone replays your snap.
How to Create Your Snapchat Account on iPhone and Android
- Step one: head to Google Play or the App Store and install the Snapchat app.
- Create your account by tapping the sign-up tab after first typing in your email address, a secure new password and your date of birth.
- Pick a great username for your account. Your username is the primary way friends and potential customers are able to locate and connect with you on Snapchat – Especially at first. Your username gets listed under your real name via the Snapchat contact list as well.
Important Note: Your Snapchat username can’t be changed once you’ve set it.
- Find and add friends to your new account. You can do this by allowing Snapchat to tap into your phone’s contact list. If you’re an IOS user, you’ll be asked to share mobile numbers with the platform to make adding friends that much faster and easier. You’ll then be asked to verify your account via text.
Snapchat will then provide you with a friend or contact list that you can import by just tapping the person-with-a -+-tab at the right of their names.
You can also block or remove contacts by continuously touching the name you want to remove. This drops down a menu with block and remove options.
How to Take and Share “Snaps” – Pictures and Video on Snapchat
Now that you’re signed up for your new Snapchat account use the tools on the main page that make creating videos and taking pictures a real snap!
- Start by tapping on the area of the image you’d like your phone to target. Next press the large round circle to snap your picture. If you want to create a video snap, just hold that same large round circle to start your video. Tap = shoot and Hold = Record.
- There’s no way to save your snaps once you’ve shared them on the Shapchat platform. So, save your videos and image directly into your smart phones own image and video galleries by tapping the downward-pointing arrow icon positioned at the right of the Snapchat timer.
- Set a time-limit of between 1-10 seconds for your snaps by tapping on the stopwatch icon that you see at the bottom left of your screen. This determines the length of time your visual content can be viewed by the friends and contacts you share it with.
- To share your snap, go to the lower right-hand area of your screen and tap on the arrow icon. This brings up your friend list so you can select who you want to share your image or video with. To send, click the arrow in the lower right hand on your screen’s lower right.
How do You Create and share Snapchat Stories?
As you saw in the New York Times Snapchat stories I shared earlier, you build stories by seqnecing a series of snaps into a larger, more compelling narrative with an easy to understand beginning, middle and end. It really boils to down to good old fashioned story telling.
Combining your snaps into stories also enables your friends to view your content over a 24 hour period, and there’s no limit to the number of views your stories can have. Although, you do have the option to delete them whenever you want.
Tapping on the square-with-+ icon at the bottom of your screen adds each new snap to the story you’re building. You may also want to tap on the large arrow icon and select “my story” from the drop down menu to add a fresh snap to your story as it unfolds.
Step by Step Guide Based on: 1. https://techtalks.ideacellular.com/how-to-use-snapchat-on-iphone-and-android/ 2. https://support.snapchat.com/en-US/a/post-story
Chat 2.0 – 5 Amazing New Features that May Radically Change How we do Business on Social Media!
Snapchat recently unveiled its latest package of powerful new features. Chat 2.0 is very likely going to “reshape the purpose of the app altogether.” Here’s a critical breakdown of Snapchat’s amazing new tools:
Auto Advancing Stories: Right after you finish watching a story the next one begins automatically. To skip to the next story, it’s just a matter of one quick swipe. You can also use the pulldown feature to exit.
200+ New Private Chat Stickers: In addition to Snapchat’s signature ghost, you can now access almost 300 cartoon sticker images (including recently added 3D stickers), everything from aliens to walruses and sloths. Find them with a quick keyword search just like you do on Facebook Messenger.
You can Now Upload Pre-Saved Images from Your Phone: This is huge! You can share image and video you took days, weeks or even months and years into the past. This single upgrade feature represents a significant change for Snapchat, which was primarily defined as an “in-the-moment” or near-live visual content sharing platform until now.
Video and Audio User Reaction Notes: This new feature allows users to post 10-second looped audiovisual responses to the content you’re sharing with them.
Phone and Video Calls Directly via The Snapchat User Interface: Now users can move quickly and seamlessly from short video and image sharing bursts to full-fledged, live phone and video calls right on Snapchat itself! Just imagine how this is going to transform digital marketing and branding!
Snapchat 2.0 overview sources: 1. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/snapchat-business-update#sm.00ocile914hseib107024mqmymtpn 2. https://snapchat-blog.com/post/141902878020/chat-20 3. https://www.wired.com/2016/04/how-to-use-snapchat-guide-millennials/
Final Thoughts: Snapchat is a powerful and fast evolving social media app that’s bursting at its seams with a rapidly growing base of millennial users and record-breaking follower engagement levels. And all this for visual content you create with your smartphone.
With over a 100 million daily users Snapchat is outperforming Facebook with its comparatively massive 1.65 billion users for videos consumed daily.
Snapchat’s new Chat 2.0 upgrade, with its seamlessly layered audiovisual snap-reaction loops, and instant live phone and video connection features, is redefining the very meaning of “social engagement”.
And that’s going to make connecting with your ideal customers a much faster and deeper online experience.
The bottom line: If your target market includes tech-savvy young adults, this may just be the perfect time to blaze a fresh, Snapchat-early-adopter trail in the fitness marketing or wellness coaching niches. – Happy Snapping!
