How Enterprise Companies Generate Video Success on Snapchat

If you’re looking to run a test campaign on Snapchat or perhaps step up your budget there, Snapchat has made a few important strides to make allocating your marketing budget clearer.

They now have a self-service ad platform. Snapchat also partnered with multiple companies including Neustar Marketshare, Nielsen, Analytic Partners and Marketing Management Analytics to give marketers further insights like return on ad spend. Data so far indicates for every dollar spent restaurants saw over a 10x return.

So if you are already using those partners or looking to reach a younger demo in the United States, it may be time to finally jump into Snapchat. Here are a few ways enterprise companies are creating success there.

Incentivize Snapchat Engagement

Brands have found success by rewarding their followers for creating Snapchat content around their brand.

In a campaign by Grubhub, they challenged users to complete a scavenger hunt where their followers could snap photos and share them for a chance to win a $50 credit. Followers increased by 20% and 30% of their total followers participated.

Grubhub also has gamified campaigns through Snapchat’s in-app mini-games.

Targeting university around finals, who likely want a convenient way to eat as they cram for exams, Grubhub created an ad campaign on Snapchat Stories with the initial goal to get them to their in-app game. The ad creative had school archetypes like the jock, sorority girl, etc.

Snapchat users are first prompted to swipe up to play the game.

Once the game launches, users can play through three different levels to earn either $10 off their first order or $15 off after downloading Grubhub's mobile app.

Piggyback On a Target Market’s Interests

Brands beyond food and fashion are also finding their way on Snapchat. Hewlett Packard was looking to target millennials and Gen Z. HP ran paid ads around specific live events including Coachella music festival. Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel reported Coachella’s Our Story, a collection of user-generated videos and photos curated by Snapchat’s team, led to over 40 million views.

Creating Custom Snapchat Lenses & Filters

One of the most popular and effective ways enterprise companies are driving awareness on Snapchat are through augmented reality. Specifically thanks to lenses and filters.

A quick summary of lenses and filters in case you aren’t aware:

• Lenses are animations or images Snapchat users can use to augment photos and video taken within the app
• Filters change the color of content users create in Snapchat
• Some add the location, time, or weather to something shot

A lens by Kraft promoting their products no longer carry preservatives and artificial dyes generated over 40 million plays.

For driving in-store sales across multiple locations, major retailers and restaurants including McDonald’s and Starbucks use branded geofilters.

With Snapchat adding more augmented reality features, big brands are jumping in as early adopters. McDonald’s became one of the first to sponsor Snapchat bitmojis. Bitmojis are animated avatars Snapchat users can play with as they snap video and photos.

If you want to create your own AR objects, install Snapchat’s Lens Studio. Currently, anyone can create lenses for the rear-view camera of the phone. So no custom selfie lenses for now at least. However, sponsored lenses are available by contacting Snapchat’s sales team.

Bring in Influencers

Use influencers to temporarily takeover your brand’s account like Clinique spokeswoman Hannah Bronfman did for Sephora. Hannah showed how she applies Sephora products and other content both Sephora and her influencer’s audiences are already seeking.

Marriott had the largest viewthrough rates of any ad campaign on Snapchat in 2017. In a series of Snapchat ads and organic content shot, viewers were able to see through the first person perspective of four different influencers. Each influencer documented a one week stay in Berlin, New York, Dubai and Seoul, shot partially using Snapchat’s Spectacles.

One key thing to keep an eye out for with influencer takeovers, in addition to fake influencers, is a very temporary engagement spike. With that it;'s an increase in followers during the takeover. But shortly, after a significant drop. A few strategies to potentially tackle this issue:

• Have more engaging content and campaigns ready to go post-takeover
• Introducing a new campaign or people you’ll be featuring in future content while the takeover is still occurring

As Snapchat invests more in their ad platform and develops augmented reality features further, brands will hopefully continue to have a clearer picture of performance and higher return on their investments. Snapchat right now is the clear leader in AR investment of any social networking platform. Future engagement rates should be very telling on how much Facebook looks to invest in the technology soon.