What Happened
Snapchat introduced a new feature today called Memories, which allows users to save, organize, and edit their snaps. Users can also search their archive of snaps and resurface interesting ones through their personal Story or private messages. This marks a big strategic shift for the infamously ephemeral Snapchat that initially made a name for itself with vanishing messages. Previously, users could save a snap or a Story to their phone’s camera roll, and now they can save it to Snapchat’s servers with Memories. Snapchat says it is gradually rolling out this new feature to all users in the coming weeks.
In other news, Virgin America became the first airline to woo Snapchat users with a branded Geofilter as it unleashed a branded Geofilter last Thursday at five Virgin airport terminals across the country. For some added fun, the airline designed the Geofilter with a customizable caption “Wheels up ____” for travelers to fill in the blank with their own messages.
What Brands Need To Do
As Snapchat continues to grow its user base and build out its ad products, more and more brands are flocking to the hot social app to reach its young-skewing users. Besides Virgin America, the tourism departments of several U.S. cities are now using Snapchat to lure travelers. With Memories, brands on Snapchat gain a handy tool to conveniently recycle their content and build a searchable content library on Snapchat. Plus, the new feature also allows users to pull old photos and videos from their phone’s camera roll for a public Story, opening doors for pre-produced content to be posted.
Header image courtesy of Snapchat’s YouTube Video
