Launched in 2011, the Snapchat had its moment of glory in 2015 when it reached the 200 million active users mark and began to show its full potential as a business platform for those looking to invest in advertising. And the potential was enormous, almost irresistible to advertisers; after all, it's not every day that an app comes along where sponsored real-life stories generate revenue. 40 million views, a number greater than any prime-time TV program.
Of course, with the growing popularity, the Snapchat quickly redefined its advertising strategy and expanded its advertising capabilities, offering a variety of options for those looking to invest in the platform.
Snapchat's 3V Advertising
Called 3V (Vertical Video Views), advertising for Snapchat Its major advantage is the display of vertical videos, which occupy the entire screen of the device, gaining in display size compared to most of its competitors and also in effectiveness, as they are much easier to view on mobile devices, without having to turn the device sideways.
There are three ad formats on Snap: Discover, Live (live stories), and the popular Geofilters, which are location-based filters.
Discover
Discover is a media-targeted ad format designed to encourage users to consume sponsors' content. It features callouts for articles, news stories, series, and even movies.
Live
Live is designed especially for brands that want to generate buzz for events by sharing their stories live, making the best moments of major parties, parades, and celebrations that are prominent around the world available for users to view.
Geofilters
Geofilters is a feature that offers a personalized filter for a specific region, allowing advertisers to create special filters for holidays and events, or to be used in a specific location.
In addition to being a less aggressive form of advertising, Geofilters also have the advantage of associating the brand with a positive moment experienced by the user, generating very expressive branding.
Check out our video about advertising on Snapchat
Audience and segmentation
As soon as it launched its advertising models, Snap focused its sales strategy on the claim that the app would be “the best way to reach people aged 13 to 34”, showing that contrary to popular belief, its audience is also made up of adults and not just teenagers without purchasing power.
Even so, its targeting capabilities were quite limited, allowing sponsors to choose only the ad format and location or gender. However, the app recently announced a partnership with Oracle Data Cloud, which will allow ads to be displayed based on users' offline purchases, based on purchases made with a credit card.
Is it worth investing in Snapchat?
As you may have heard, 2017 has not been an easy year for Snapchat, which makes this question gain even more weight.
The truth is that with the increasingly heavy competition from new features in Mark Zuckerberg's apps, especially Instagram Stories, the Snapchat lost users and strength, growing only 5% compared to the last quarter.
Apps are certainly still one of the most fun, interactive, and engaging platforms for advertising for branding strategies, and with the new segmentation approach, they might gain a new lease of life. But if your goal is performance or you need a more comprehensive marketing strategy, perhaps social media is the good old-fashioned way. Facebook and even Instagram, are more recommended.
