“Snap” Shots of the Business World

In the most recent past years, a new social networking site has been added to the list of every day household terms: Snapchat. Today there are approximately 26 million users of this social networking app, and I myself am no stranger to the Snapchat world. I find myself constantly clicking on the app to see which of my friends have snapped me, or looking at my friends’ “stories” or collection of snapchats available for anyone to view. The most fascinating part of Snapchat: once the snap is gone, the snap has vanished and can no longer be viewed again.

Overall based on my experience with snapchat, I am impressed with the social media site. It makes connecting with friends simpler and better in my mind because you get little snapshots of their lives all within your hand held device. I find Snapchat easier to maneuver about, and everything makes sense in terms of the various buttons, screens and how to find the help button. Snapchat is one of my top social media platforms in terms of my time spent using the app, so I may be biased in terms of ease and personal thoughts regarding the app.

I noticed how snapchat has a section within the story screen for businesses to place Snapchat stories of their own to where users can click on the buttons and view whatever it is the company decides to share that day. These stories are typically brightly colored and aesthetically appealing since the app is designed as a fast pace viewing place, so if the business is too stuffy with  business terms and not enough color, brevity, or moving displays, the viewer will quickly switch to another snapchat screen or story.

Due to the little interaction with businesses on social media and specifically Snapchat in the business world that I’ve had, I researched “effective marketing techniques on Snapchat”. The Entrepreneur, found at https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/270663, gave several great tips on how to manage a business snapchat account. One of the very first points the article discussed is the need to be “Disney-like” or “flashy with content” due to my theory of users needing to be distracted, so their focus in captivated enough to where they stay on a particular story long enough.

One marketing strategy I was surprised about was that businesses are beginning to offer coupons within their snaps. Initially, I thought this was a poor way to market until a saw a surprising statistic. Apparently of the 77 percent of college students that use Snapchat daily, 58 percent of those students would be likely to purchase a brand’s product if they received a coupon on Snapchat. At first, I believed this statistic to not be even remotely true, but then I began to ponder the stat. I realized that a lot of my peers as well as myself as a college student are captivated by coupons, deals or even something that is free. If a student had to screenshot a snapchat to obtain a coupon, I guarantee people will do so, myself included. By requiring students to show a screenshot, this is an effective way to gauge how many people your snapchats are reaching and how many of your customers or followers are interacting with the deal (and how much potential revenue a business could be making).

Overall, I find Snapchat a decent tool for a business, particularly the fact that if a business is creative enough, then designing an appealing snap should be done regularly and also include coupons within snapchat. I don’t believe Snapchat is overly beneficial in reaching out to the older generation, since Snapchat is predominately younger users. Also, compared to Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, Snapchat allows for very little customer interaction, which is something as an entrepreneur I would wish to have the ability to do.