Tag: snapchat

Snapchat Extends Ads In Stories To More Brands

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Snapchat is opening up its Snap Ads that appear in between user-generated Stories to more brands. To ensure a good user experience, Snapchat is reportedly capping this ad unit to three views per day for each user, regardless of how many snaps they actually consume. Snapchat introduced this video ad product in June with the launch of its ad-tech program Snap Partners, limiting the launch partners to ten select brands at the time. Now, brands such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Maybelline, Starbucks, and JCPenney have started running Snap Ads.

What Brands Need To Do
Snapchat has been winning over brand marketers with its unique ad products like branded selfie lenses and sponsored Geofilters along with improved ad measurement. As its user base continues to grow and it opens more advertising opportunities, more and more brands are jumping on Snapchat. Ford, for instance, has created more than 30 sports-themed Snap Ads to push for its 2017 Escape SUV during the Olympics. If your brand has yet to develop a Snapchat strategy, now is the time to include the popular messaging app in your social marketing mix.

 

Source: AdWeek

How GE Is Using Snapchat To Drum Up Interest For Its Facebook Live Event

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
GE is sending a team into the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua, one of the world’s most active lava lakes, to install a wireless sensor network for monitoring purposes and it is using two of the hottest social media products to share this adventure with fans. Since Tuesday the company has been sending out Snapchat Stories that document its epic journey downward and is planning a Facebook Live event on August 12 straight from the site of the active volcano, allowing fans to ask the staff members all sorts of volcano-related questions.

Why Brands Should Care
GE is no stranger to livestreaming as the company has used Facebook Live and Periscope to broadcast interesting events to humanize its brand. Hosting a live event at an active volcano is an intriguing premise and using Snapchat to hype its Facebook Live event is a great touch. Brands looking to create live video content should take a cue and learn to use other social channels to properly promote Live events. In addition, Facebook has started testing mid-roll ads in Live video, something that brand marketers should look out for as well.

 

Source: The Next Web

Brands Love Instagram Stories Already

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Although Instagram only launched its Snapchat Stories-esque feature on Tuesday, a number of brands have started using the ephemeral sharing feature and are already seeing great results. According to AdAge’s report, Nike has received 800,000 views in 24 hours for its Instagram Story posted on Tuesday. For comparison, Nike says its most viewed video on Snapchat got 66,000 views. Besides Nike, brands like Mountain Dew, Quaker, Coach, and GE have all gotten started with Instagram Stories. In addition, major cosmetic brands including Covergirl, L’Oréal, and Maybelline have all jumped on this new Instagram feature to share content with their followers, with many opting for behind-the-scene looks or sneak peeks at some of the products they are working on.

What Brands Need To Do
The consensus among brand marketers so far seems to be that Instagram is more brand-friendly than Snapchat, as the former offers better ad products and measurement tools for marketers and has a referral-based discovery system that makes it easier for brands to build followers. Given that most brands have a bigger follower base on Instagram than on Snapchat, it is not surprising that brands are seeing better results from Instagram Stories.

Although Instagram has not specified whether it will insert ads into Stories as Snapchat does, it seems safe to assume that Stories will start carrying ads sooner or later. For now, Instagram Stories remains a shiny new tool that brands should use to connect with followers.

 

Source: AdAge & Glossy

Snapchat Brushes Off Instagram Stories With More NFL Content And New Ad Product

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Snapchat is brushing off Instagram’s head-on attack by adding new features and content to its service. For starters, the social messaging app is rolling out Geostickers – think Geofilters meet regular stickers – to ten global cities including New York City, San Francisco, London, and Sydney.

The L.A.-based company also announced that it is extending its content partnership with the NFL. As part of the deal, Snapchat will be adding a new Discover channel for the NFL this fall, making it the first sports league to get a dedicated content portal on Snapchat. The NFL will also be creating Live Stories for Snapchat. Sources say Snapchat will be handling most of the ad sales for both NFL content channels.

In addition, Snapchat is reportedly developing a new ad unit which allows users to scan barcodes and other images to unlock sponsored content or special offers in app. The scannable ad product is reportedly aiming for a fall launch this year.

Why Brands Should Care
There is no denying that Snapchat is the buzziest social app at the moment, amassing over 150 million daily active users as of June and surpassing Twitter in daily usage. Only time will tell how much Instagram will undermine Snapchat’s growth by adding a nearly identical Stories feature, and for now Snapchat seems to be soldiering on and focusing on improving its content offering and ad products. As Snapchat continues to grow and make its platform more brand-friendly, brands should get on board early to explore Snapchat’s unique ad products in order to reach mobile consumers.

 

Sources: VentureBeat & WSJ & The Information

 

Instagram To Become More Like Snapchat With New Stories Feature

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Instagram is getting a bit Snapchatty with the debut of a new Stories feature that closely resembles Snapchat’s popular feature of the same name. Instagram Stories allows users to share photos and videos that will disappear after 24 hours with their followers. The interface design Instagram chose for this new feature also calls to mind that of Snapchat, displaying the Stories as a row of circles at the top of the app. In an interview with TechCrunch, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom acknowledged the similarity by admitting that Snapchat “deserves all the credit,” but also promises that Instagram will put its own spin on the feature.

Why Brands Should Care
Snapchat has seen impressive growth over the past few years, amassing over 150 million daily active users as of June and surpassing Twitter in daily usage to become a formidable force in the mobile and social media spaces. So it makes sense for Instagram to take a stab at developing a similar feature as the two apps enter a head-on fight for user attention. Although Instagram has not specified whether it will insert ads into Stories as Snapchat does, it seems safe to assume that Stories will start carrying ads sooner or later given that Instagram has been ramping up its ad efforts in recent months with its ad sales expected to jump to $1.5 billion this year. For brands looking to reach mobile consumers via social platforms, this new feature marks an interesting development that brands need to be aware of.

 

Source: The Verge

Header image courtesy of Instagram’s Vimeo vidoe

Tiffany Becomes The First Luxury Brand To Buy Snapchat Lens

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Upscale jewelry retailer Tiffany has become the first luxury brand to buy a sponsored selfie lens on Snapchat in an attempt to connect with a younger audience. The branded selfie lens transforms the eye color of users into Tiffany’s signature blue and adds heart-shaped branding on top. The lens received some extra exposure after scoring an unsolicited Snapchat post from Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian.

The branded selfie lens is just a start for Tiffany as the NYC-based company says it has more Snapchat campaigns planned. Throughout August, a branded Snapchat Geofilter will be made available at all 93 of its U.S. stores, and it will also be running video ads on Snapchat that appear in between users’ stories to amplify its brand presence.

What Brands Need To Do
With this initiative, Tiffany joins a growing list of brands that have tried out Snapchat’s unique ad products such as Sponsored Selfie Lenses and Branded Geofilters to connect and engage with users on the fast-growing social messaging app. Last week, both Maybelline and L’Oreal bought Sponsored Lenses in celebration of National Lipstick Day and leveraged the lens’ AR technology to virtually showcase how their products would look on users. For brands that wish to reach millennial consumers, Snapchat is a social channel with some great native ad units that should not be overlooked.

Source: Glossy

Header image courtesy of Tiffany’s Twitter

Why Warby Parker Is Selling Exclusive Sunglasses On Snapchat

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Online eyewear retailer Warby Parker is launching a pair of sunglasses exclusively on Snapchat as it aims to grow its Snapchat audience. Followers of the company’s Snapchat account will see a URL in its Story to purchase a pair of limited-edition sunglasses embellished with Snapchat’s ghost logo. In tandem with this Snapchat-exclusive launch, Warby Parker will be rolling out branded Geofilters in L.A. and New York this weekend to drum up interest.

What Brands Need To Do
As Snapchat continues to grow its user base and build out its ad products, more and more brands are trying their hands at adopting the hot messaging app as a social marketing channel. This Warby Parker campaign is noteworthy because it leverages Snapchat’s popularity to organically grow Warby Parker’s fan base, which many brands have found difficult to do on Snapchat, while also using customized Geofilters to reach a wider but geographically-targeted audience. This sets an interesting example for brands to follow as they try to incorporate more ecommerce elements into Snapchat.

 

Source: TechCrunch

Snapchat Adds “Suggest Account” And Develops Ad Product Powered By Image Recognition

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Snapchat has quietly added a way for people to spread the word about the accounts they love. Along with the recent addition of Memories, users can now easily recommend friends follow other accounts by tapping the new “Suggest” button on profile cards. Users will receive suggestions as private messages with an account info card and a button to follow them.

In other Snapchat news, the company is reportedly developing a new ad product powered by image recognition technology. The idea is to use that technology to identify real-life objects that users have snapped, for example a can of diet soda, and surface related ads and coupons in other Snapchat channels such as Discover and Live Stories.

What Brands Need To Do
Snapchat has long been a hard nut for brands to crack because the app does not have a referral-based discovery system, making it difficult for brands to grow their followers. With the Suggest feature, brands gain a useful tool to ask their fans to spread the word and grow their fanbase in an organic and, if they’re lucky, viral way. The new image recognition-powered ad product, if realized, should provide brands a valuable targeting tool to run their Snapchat campaigns. As Snapchat grows more prominent in the social media landscape, brands need to keep up with brand-related developments of the app and learn to leverage them to their benefit.

 

Sources: TechCrunch & Business Insider

Snapchat Introduces Memories To Save Snaps, Debuts Virgin America-Branded Geofilters

Posted on by Lab Team

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.

 

Source: The Verge & USA Today

Header image courtesy of Snapchat’s YouTube Video

 

Snapchat Adjusts Ad Rates As User Demo Shifts

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Snapchat has made significant progress in its ad business this year, including launching an Ad API last month and partnering with several third-party analytics firms to help improve its ad measurement. Last week, Digiday reported that the company has reduced the pricing of its ads bought through its ad API from a previous minimum of $500,000 per ad to just $100,000.

Meanwhile, comScore released on Monday a report that contains some interesting stats about Snapchat’s user demographic. According to its estimation, 14% of U.S. smartphone users that are 35 or older are now using Snapchat, up from a mere 2% three years ago. For smartphone users aged 25 to 34, that number has ballooned from 5% to nearly 38% in the past three years.

What Brands Need To Do
When it first opened up to brand advertisers in late 2014, Snapchat received some flak for its formidably high pricing and lack of transparency on ad performance. Now as the social app continues to mature and attract a more diverse user base, its ad business has evolved accordingly and become more accessible and measurable. The expanding user demographic points to new opportunities for marketers to reach a wider audience. For brands that are looking to connect with mobile users, Snapchat is a fast-growing social channel that marketers should not overlook.

 

Source: Digiday & WSJ