How to Use Snapchat for Business
Know your audience., Create a username that is easy and related to your company., Use Snaps to send messages that aren't meant to last., Add back people that add you., Take photo or video Snaps depending on what you're showing., Tap the "T" button...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Know your audience.
Snapchat users skew towards the younger generations, so if that's not your market, you may want to consider focusing your advertising efforts elsewhere. -
Step 2: Create a username that is easy and related to your company.
Your business username is one of the main ways people will add your company on Snapchat.
You can change your display name later to match your business name exactly, but your username cannot be changed after making it. , Snaps go away as soon as the recipient views it, or if it's on your Story, after 24 hours.
Because of this, marketing on Snapchat is a very "in the now" experience.
If you want to share something that your customers are going to want to continue to refer to, consider another method. , Your customers will add you to their friends list so that they can see your story and receive Snaps from you.
Add them back so that you can reach each individual customer if necessary.
This interaction also adds to the feeling of being part of the process for the customer. , Snapchat can send both photos and videos.
Tap the Shutter button in the Snapchat camera to take a photo Snap.
Press and hold the shutter button to record a video Snap.
Video Snaps can be up to ten seconds long. , Using captions for your Snap is essential for businesses, as you can include websites, Twitter handles, or any other information that you can fit.
You're limited to 31 characters, unless you use one of the workarounds discussed in Get a Longer Caption on Snapchat.
Tapping the "T" button a second time will make the text larger, and tapping it a third time will center the text and remove the caption box background. , Creative use of the drawing tool can really help your Snaps stand out.
If you have the budget, consider hiring someone with some doodling skills.
You can do a lot with drawings, and a popular technique is to take a picture of a black background and then draw a colorful sign on it.
Press and hold on the color strip to select from a variety of different drawing colors.
See Find Extra Colors in Snapchat for more details. , By default, your Snaps will only be visible for three seconds.
You can tap the timer to change photo Snap length to up to ten seconds.
This is important if you have essential information or a lot of text on the screen.
Video Snaps last as long as the recording, but you can increase this by using the Slow-Motion filter.
Swipe on the Snap after recording it until you find the Snail filter.
This can be really useful if you want a Snap that's just text to be visible for a long time. , Snapchat's ad program, called "V3," will place your company's video ads in Live Stories.
Running full-fledged advertisements in Snapchat is an expensive endeavor, and will only be cost-effective for companies with massive advertising budgets.
Unless you consider your company on the same tier as McDonalds, Universal Pictures, Sony, Kraft, or Budweiser, you'll probably want to focus on advertising through your own Story and local geofilters., Your Story is a collection of chronological Snaps that stay up for 24 hours.
By keeping your story up to date, your customers will always have something to see about your business.
Stories are a much easier way to reach your audience than sending Snaps to everyone on your list. , Stories work best when you have a sequential campaign in mind, such as a countdown to a reveal or a series of short Snaps that tell a story together.
Plan out your Story so that you know what you're doing ahead of time.Consider doing a Story as a lead-up to a sale or event, or as a way to chronicle a day at the business.
You can use your Story to give a "behind-the-scenes" look at your business by posting strategic Snaps throughout the day.You can use your Story to show the specials of the day, since the Story Snaps only last 24 hours. , Snapchat can give your remote customers a chance to "attend" the same event you are.
Use your Snapchat Story to chronicle the event you're throwing for your business, or give a glimpse of your company at a trade show or event you're visiting.
Not only will this promote the event, it will promote your own business as well., If your product lends itself to physical demonstrations, use Snapchat to give followers a quick peek at ways that they can use your product.
These ten second mini-"commercials" can do a lot to spread the word about your product and increase buzz. , To post a Snap to your Story, tap the "Add to Story" button at the bottom of the screen, or select "My Story" when you tap the "Send" button.
This will add the new Snap to the end of your Story.
Your followers will see the new Snap if they are all caught up.
People who haven't seen your Story yet today will start it from the oldest Snap still available. , Snapchat is a great tool for increasing foot traffic to your business through offers.
Because Snaps on your Story expire after 24 hours, your coupon has a built-in immediacy to it.
Come up with a discount or offer that will get people in the door and more likely to purchase from you., This doesn't have to be fancy, just something like, "Look out for a special offer today in our Story!" This will get people's attention and also let people know that the next Snap is the offer. , There are several ways you can create a coupon Snap.
You can record a video Snap of you saying the offer, maybe while displaying the product.
You can take a photo Snap of your coupon or offer, or use the drawing tools the draw the coupon on the screen.
Even though Snaps expire, put a date on the coupon anyway in case someone takes a screenshot. , This engages the customer and cements the relationship they have with you through Snapchat.
Your followers can open your Story on their phones and show the coupon Snap. , You can offer special deals for users that send out Snaps with your product in them.
You can advertise this promotion elsewhere so that your customers always know about it.
Having your customers send out Snaps to their friends with your products in them will help raise awareness for your brand. , Snapchat allows you to purchase custom geofilters for your business, which will appear when users are in a certain location at a certain date.
This can be really useful for sales or events that your business is hosting.
Because the filter cost is determined partly by length, and because the maximum length is 30 days, they are not an effective means of constant advertisement.It can take a few days for filters to get approved, so try to plan ahead and have your filter up and ready to go at least a couple week in advance. , If you decide you want to make a geofilter for your business, you'll need to create the art for the filter in an image editing program.
If you're the artistic type, you can make one yourself, but you may want to consider hiring an artist.
There are several design companies that will not make you a custom filter as well.
If you're making your own, you'll need an image editor like Photoshop, Illustrator, or GIMP.
There are some guidelines that will need to be followed, such as the image's dimensions and how much space the art can take on the screen.
See Create Your Own Filter on Snapchat for detailed instructions. , Once you've created or received the geofilter for your business, you can upload it to the Snapchat website.
Visit https://snapchat.com/purchase/ and click the "Choose File" button to upload your image. , You can set a filter to be active for as little as one hour, or as long as thirty days.
Snapchat charges $5 per 200,000 sq. feet, per hour.
It's worth noting that the timezone will be in your current time, but it cannot be changed.
So if you're creating the filter for an event somewhere else, keep the timezone difference in mind when setting the times. , Click and drag the map around, or enter a city, landmark, or address into the search field.
Center the map on the location you want to set for your business's geofilter. , Click "Enhance" until it turns into a "Draw Fence" button.
This will zoom the map close enough to begin creating the geofence. , Click points on the map to create a geometric shape for your fence.
If people are inside this fence, your geofilter will appear in Snapchat for them to use.
You can see the size of the fence and the current cost in the upper-right corner.
Snapchat charges $5 per 200,000 sq. feet, per hour.
Make sure that the geofence makes sense for your business.
You don't want to include a bunch of the surrounding area, as it won't be cost effective for you.
You want to provide geofilters for Snapchatters that are physically close to your event. , After setting the fence boundaries and setting the dates, you can purchase the filter.
You'll need to enter your business's name as the "Geofilter Name." Your filter will need to be approved by Snapchat, which usually takes a few days.
Once it's approved, your payment method will be charged and the filter will go live at the date and time you specified. , Once the filter is live, you should be able to select it by swiping left after taking a Snap.
Location can be a little iffy sometimes, so make sure you're near the center of your geofence.
If you're not seeing any geofilters, you may need to enable location access for Snapchat.
See Use Filters on Snapchat for details. -
Step 3: Use Snaps to send messages that aren't meant to last.
-
Step 4: Add back people that add you.
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Step 5: Take photo or video Snaps depending on what you're showing.
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Step 6: Tap the "T" button after taking a Snap to add text to it.
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Step 7: Tap the Pencil to draw on the Snap.
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Step 8: Tap the timer to change the length of your photo Snaps.
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Step 9: Consider Snapchat advertising if your business is large enough.
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Step 10: Use Stories to engage your customers around the clock.
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Step 11: Plan your campaign.
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Step 12: Use Stories to cover an event that your business is hosting or attending.
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Step 13: Show your product in action.
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Step 14: Post a Snap to your Story.
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Step 15: Come up with an offer or coupon that suits your business.
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Step 16: Post a Snap to your Story informing users that a coupon is coming.
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Step 17: Create a Snap with your coupon or offer.
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Step 18: Ask your followers to show the coupon at the store.
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Step 19: Ask users to take Snaps with your products.
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Step 20: Decide if a custom geofilter is right for you.
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Step 21: Design your geofilter.
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Step 22: Upload your filter to the Snapchat website.
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Step 23: Set the dates you want the filter to be active.
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Step 24: Center the map on the location you want to set for your geofilter.
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Step 25: Click "Draw Fence" to begin setting the geofence boundaries.
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Step 26: Draw your geofence boundaries.
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Step 27: Purchase the filter.
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Step 28: Test your geofilter out.
Detailed Guide
Snapchat users skew towards the younger generations, so if that's not your market, you may want to consider focusing your advertising efforts elsewhere.
Your business username is one of the main ways people will add your company on Snapchat.
You can change your display name later to match your business name exactly, but your username cannot be changed after making it. , Snaps go away as soon as the recipient views it, or if it's on your Story, after 24 hours.
Because of this, marketing on Snapchat is a very "in the now" experience.
If you want to share something that your customers are going to want to continue to refer to, consider another method. , Your customers will add you to their friends list so that they can see your story and receive Snaps from you.
Add them back so that you can reach each individual customer if necessary.
This interaction also adds to the feeling of being part of the process for the customer. , Snapchat can send both photos and videos.
Tap the Shutter button in the Snapchat camera to take a photo Snap.
Press and hold the shutter button to record a video Snap.
Video Snaps can be up to ten seconds long. , Using captions for your Snap is essential for businesses, as you can include websites, Twitter handles, or any other information that you can fit.
You're limited to 31 characters, unless you use one of the workarounds discussed in Get a Longer Caption on Snapchat.
Tapping the "T" button a second time will make the text larger, and tapping it a third time will center the text and remove the caption box background. , Creative use of the drawing tool can really help your Snaps stand out.
If you have the budget, consider hiring someone with some doodling skills.
You can do a lot with drawings, and a popular technique is to take a picture of a black background and then draw a colorful sign on it.
Press and hold on the color strip to select from a variety of different drawing colors.
See Find Extra Colors in Snapchat for more details. , By default, your Snaps will only be visible for three seconds.
You can tap the timer to change photo Snap length to up to ten seconds.
This is important if you have essential information or a lot of text on the screen.
Video Snaps last as long as the recording, but you can increase this by using the Slow-Motion filter.
Swipe on the Snap after recording it until you find the Snail filter.
This can be really useful if you want a Snap that's just text to be visible for a long time. , Snapchat's ad program, called "V3," will place your company's video ads in Live Stories.
Running full-fledged advertisements in Snapchat is an expensive endeavor, and will only be cost-effective for companies with massive advertising budgets.
Unless you consider your company on the same tier as McDonalds, Universal Pictures, Sony, Kraft, or Budweiser, you'll probably want to focus on advertising through your own Story and local geofilters., Your Story is a collection of chronological Snaps that stay up for 24 hours.
By keeping your story up to date, your customers will always have something to see about your business.
Stories are a much easier way to reach your audience than sending Snaps to everyone on your list. , Stories work best when you have a sequential campaign in mind, such as a countdown to a reveal or a series of short Snaps that tell a story together.
Plan out your Story so that you know what you're doing ahead of time.Consider doing a Story as a lead-up to a sale or event, or as a way to chronicle a day at the business.
You can use your Story to give a "behind-the-scenes" look at your business by posting strategic Snaps throughout the day.You can use your Story to show the specials of the day, since the Story Snaps only last 24 hours. , Snapchat can give your remote customers a chance to "attend" the same event you are.
Use your Snapchat Story to chronicle the event you're throwing for your business, or give a glimpse of your company at a trade show or event you're visiting.
Not only will this promote the event, it will promote your own business as well., If your product lends itself to physical demonstrations, use Snapchat to give followers a quick peek at ways that they can use your product.
These ten second mini-"commercials" can do a lot to spread the word about your product and increase buzz. , To post a Snap to your Story, tap the "Add to Story" button at the bottom of the screen, or select "My Story" when you tap the "Send" button.
This will add the new Snap to the end of your Story.
Your followers will see the new Snap if they are all caught up.
People who haven't seen your Story yet today will start it from the oldest Snap still available. , Snapchat is a great tool for increasing foot traffic to your business through offers.
Because Snaps on your Story expire after 24 hours, your coupon has a built-in immediacy to it.
Come up with a discount or offer that will get people in the door and more likely to purchase from you., This doesn't have to be fancy, just something like, "Look out for a special offer today in our Story!" This will get people's attention and also let people know that the next Snap is the offer. , There are several ways you can create a coupon Snap.
You can record a video Snap of you saying the offer, maybe while displaying the product.
You can take a photo Snap of your coupon or offer, or use the drawing tools the draw the coupon on the screen.
Even though Snaps expire, put a date on the coupon anyway in case someone takes a screenshot. , This engages the customer and cements the relationship they have with you through Snapchat.
Your followers can open your Story on their phones and show the coupon Snap. , You can offer special deals for users that send out Snaps with your product in them.
You can advertise this promotion elsewhere so that your customers always know about it.
Having your customers send out Snaps to their friends with your products in them will help raise awareness for your brand. , Snapchat allows you to purchase custom geofilters for your business, which will appear when users are in a certain location at a certain date.
This can be really useful for sales or events that your business is hosting.
Because the filter cost is determined partly by length, and because the maximum length is 30 days, they are not an effective means of constant advertisement.It can take a few days for filters to get approved, so try to plan ahead and have your filter up and ready to go at least a couple week in advance. , If you decide you want to make a geofilter for your business, you'll need to create the art for the filter in an image editing program.
If you're the artistic type, you can make one yourself, but you may want to consider hiring an artist.
There are several design companies that will not make you a custom filter as well.
If you're making your own, you'll need an image editor like Photoshop, Illustrator, or GIMP.
There are some guidelines that will need to be followed, such as the image's dimensions and how much space the art can take on the screen.
See Create Your Own Filter on Snapchat for detailed instructions. , Once you've created or received the geofilter for your business, you can upload it to the Snapchat website.
Visit https://snapchat.com/purchase/ and click the "Choose File" button to upload your image. , You can set a filter to be active for as little as one hour, or as long as thirty days.
Snapchat charges $5 per 200,000 sq. feet, per hour.
It's worth noting that the timezone will be in your current time, but it cannot be changed.
So if you're creating the filter for an event somewhere else, keep the timezone difference in mind when setting the times. , Click and drag the map around, or enter a city, landmark, or address into the search field.
Center the map on the location you want to set for your business's geofilter. , Click "Enhance" until it turns into a "Draw Fence" button.
This will zoom the map close enough to begin creating the geofence. , Click points on the map to create a geometric shape for your fence.
If people are inside this fence, your geofilter will appear in Snapchat for them to use.
You can see the size of the fence and the current cost in the upper-right corner.
Snapchat charges $5 per 200,000 sq. feet, per hour.
Make sure that the geofence makes sense for your business.
You don't want to include a bunch of the surrounding area, as it won't be cost effective for you.
You want to provide geofilters for Snapchatters that are physically close to your event. , After setting the fence boundaries and setting the dates, you can purchase the filter.
You'll need to enter your business's name as the "Geofilter Name." Your filter will need to be approved by Snapchat, which usually takes a few days.
Once it's approved, your payment method will be charged and the filter will go live at the date and time you specified. , Once the filter is live, you should be able to select it by swiping left after taking a Snap.
Location can be a little iffy sometimes, so make sure you're near the center of your geofence.
If you're not seeing any geofilters, you may need to enable location access for Snapchat.
See Use Filters on Snapchat for details.
About the Author
Brian Freeman
Experienced content creator specializing in creative arts guides and tutorials.
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