Everyone loves a good story, but the story itself is only half the, well, the story. The other half is getting it out there and reaching an audience.

With social media on the up and up, there are a number of platforms where your business stories can find a home, but how can each one be used effectively to get your message across? If you apply the right strategy to the right platform, then it is as easy as snapping your fingers.

A user-friendly and fun-to-use platform like Snapchat is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to a company’s social media marketing mix. And the reason is that on any given day, Snapchat reaches 41% of all 18 to 34-year-olds in the United States. Just to put that in perspective, that is over 360 million daily active users and over 400 million snaps per day.

So if you want to join the Snapchat frenzy, or if you are already active on Snapchat and are looking for new ways to strengthen your brand, read on to find out how you can develop the other half of your own business story.

1. Partner with influencers and stage an influencer reveal

A Snapchat campaign that catches the eye of an influential snap chatter could help your brand name thrive in the social media world. If this influential user takes over your account and is in the driving seat for a while, then you instantly reach that user’s followers. Your message is spread to a demographic that may have not been reached otherwise. Just keep in mind that it is a good idea for the user’s followers – who will also become your followers – to be interested in what your story has to offer. So if you are a clothesline, the followers should be interested in fashion, or if you are geared towards offering services to children, then parents of children within the age group of your target market are exactly who you want your story to speak to.

Go one step further: When you are doing a promotion for your product, the influential user can give followers a sneak peak of what goes on behind the scenes – making followers feel like VIPs. Feeling like part of the company’s family and having access to the dress rehearsals before the actual performance takes to the business stage, makes a loyal follower and customer.

2. Give out private content

A group of followers are like a little community of their own. They share the same interests and are looking for the same things. So if you treat them like a unique entity, they will feel like you are letting them into an inside secret. The secret comes in the form of private content. Think of unique content that will surprise followers and make them feel like part of the team. Some fashion brands have used Snapchat to unveil their new collection to followers before they walked down the runway. Followers know they have information before the rest of the world, and they feel included and part of the action, making a happy follower and happy client.

3. Make followers feel included with access to live events

When you are looking for a social media platform that reaches an audience in real time, Snapchat is exactly what you need. Users can follow live events at the exact time they are happening and feel like they are right there. Not everyone can come to a company’s product launch, trade shows or other events where you have the chance to show off your products or services, but with live events, a virtual group of consumers can also be part of what is happening. These followers may be more excited about being there than those people who are physically at the event because this is a more authentic view of what is going on. It also shows that you have nothing to hide, and a company that wears its heart on its sleeve will attract more loyal customers.

4. Go all the way with promotions, giveaways and contest

Let’s face it, everyone loves a freebie and everyone loves winning. Snapchat is the perfect place to promote your products by getting followers involved. They will just keep coming back for more if you, for example, offer promo codes or discounts to the fans who watch your entire Snapchat story, or ask them to take a snap while holding your product. Again, followers are involved, they can generate content themselves when it comes to them taking their own snaps and they also have their chance to tell their version of the story, while also making your product the one they will go to time and time again.

5. Talk about relevant issues

Customers like to know that the company they buy from cares about their issues. A beauty product company could talk about how the media’s spotlight on the perfect image is affecting young girls’ self-esteem, or how men should not feel that they have to hide the fact they use skin care products.  Getting personal, showing followers that your brand talks to them on a personal level, and above all by expressing your values, your Snapchat account will be busy with fast traffic.

Source