Some of you reading this article might have found Snapchat slightly intimidating, because it was basically built and popularized by teenagers. But the fact is that it’s a good channel to reach a massive audience in many niches. The key to Snapchat is to understand that it should be part of a broader strategy, and it mean that you’re going to need to promote yourself on other channels as well before you can start diverting people to Snapchat.
So for example, you can create a video and then share it to Twitter and Instagram, as well as saving it as your story and sending it to your friends. This then lets people who are following you on Facebook and on Twitter see what you’re posting on Snapchat, so they’ll think it looks interesting and therefore want to follow you.
You simply need to upload the video and then add the comment “Add me on Snapchat for more of my adventures” for example. Someone in “Hollywood” who does this very well at the moment is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold is someone who has really grasped the idea of social media and who is using it in very smart ways to build a bigger audience. Recently, Arnold posts a picture of himself cycling in a new city and said that he never accepted the excuse that people “don’t have time to exercise”. He followed this by saying he goes for a bike ride as the first thing he does every time he gets to a new city. Then he shares that ride with his Snapchat followers. Other times, he will post videos of himself talking at events, meeting other famous people and generally just doing interesting things that his fans might want to see.
They then get updated with his exploits and feel like they’re getting almost privileged access to his lifestyle and activities. Every now and then he shares these videos on Facebook and so his followers see that if they want to get more unique and personal content, they need to get onto Snapchat. On the marketing perspective, remember: it takes: “five touches” to sell someone something. So if you have seen someone on TV > liked them on Facebook > started following them on Snapchat… then you’re already three touches in! Facebook is one way to do this but there are several other social media channels that are particularly well suited to promoting Snapchat.
Instagram 12 is one great example because it already allows you to share short videos. Another good option for the same reason is Vine. There are of course other ways you can build a bigger audience too. One example is to simply promote you on your own blog or website. This is just how email marketing often works – includes an “Opt-In Form” in your blog or website for starting building your own mailing list. Likewise, you can grow or promote your Snapchat through any other channel.
A good example is YouTube, simply state at the end of your videos that you have a Snapchat channel where you post more exclusive content for your biggest fans and try to make it sound exciting! Another tool that you can use and that is popular in all kinds of marketing these days is influencer marketing. This simply means that you’re teaming up with other influencers and sharing your audience. For example, you might make a short video with another prominent personality on Snapchat and then mention the channel of that person in your own video.
Likewise, they might do the same for you, letting you appear in one of their videos/photos and promoting your account in the process. To make this work, you need to ensure that you approach creators who are at the same level as you and in the same niche. In other words, if you have a fitness channel and you sell fitness apparel, then you need to make sure that you work with other fitness personalities on Snapchat – otherwise their 13 followers won’t be interested in following you!
Likewise, you need to avoid approaching the biggest names in the industry (like Arnold) because they get millions of messages a day and won’t be likely to respond to your requests. If you have 2,000 followers, then approach someone else with 2,000 followers. Then, when you’ve done that a few times and you have 5,000 followers, you can start approaching people with 5,000 followers. Think of it like a ladder and try to head toward the top one rung at a time.
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