Snapchat is NOT for Everyone — Don’t Believe the Hype…Here’s Why [Medium]

8 years ago

In marketing, all we’re hearing nowadays is that all brands should be on Snapchat. That if you’re not on Snapchat you’re falling behind or stuck in the 1960’s.

Some of the biggest voices in the marketing industry are saying this. Voices I learn from each and every day. On this point though, I have to disagree.

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I’m here to tell you the Snapchat hype is over-hype. Not every brand or person needs to be on Snapchat. The platform is wonderfully useful, but only for certain people and certain brands.

Don’t be so easily swayed before you think about the practical applications a platform has for your brand. Because your brand is all that matters. That’s why you’re here right now.

This is an article on Snapchat as a whole, but more than that it’s a plea — even a cry — for people to not be robots when it comes to marketing their brands. For people to think about issues through the lens of their own business.

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Here’s the breakdown…

Snapchat works for:

“Personality-based” businesses
People with large, pre-existingaudiences on other platforms
Individuals — “solopreneurs”
Casual users
Brands with a shit ton of money

And that’s about it.

Snapchat is not a platform to grow your audience. It’s a platform to nurture your already-existing audience.

It’s a platform for those who have proven they’re interesting enough to grow an audience already. It’s a platform for people to take the relationship with their audiences to a more intimate level.

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Here’s the solution:

When choosing a channel for your social media marketing, select the 1,2 or 3 channels that work best for you. Don’t stick to a channel just because you heard about it on The Gary Vee Show, on AdWeek, or the Social Media Examiner.

If it doesn’t feel natural to you, then don’t do it. For people with very boisterous, captivating personalities or for very attractive people (let’s be honest here), Snapchat works great. But again, this is based on personality.

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What I am saying is this:

Don’t invest a lot of time and energy on Snapchat if it’s not going to be worth it. According to Mediakix, Snapchat births 158 years of content…per day…wow. That’s a lot of competition.
Don’t believe all you hear from us marketers — shocker!!
Try to stay focused and give other social media platforms you’ve worked so hard on some love! We as marketers are always looking for the special formula. The next platform. Sometimes, the answer is as simple as work harder & be yourself.
If you’re going to have Snapchat as a focus, do it after you’ve built up an audience on another channel. That way you can funnel your audience into your Snapchat following.
Give it a try. Maybe it will work for you. But if it doesn’t, that’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up for not being “ahead of the curve” all the time, or being “too old” for Snapchat. Who gives a shit if you are? Just be yourself. Be confident.
First, find which platforms you love the most. Then, find out where your audience is. Finally, find a happy medium between the two.
Marketing is about results based on devoted time/energy. So be honest with yourself next time you measure these, then act accordingly.

Curated from Snapchat is NOT for Everyone — Don’t Believe the Hype…Here’s Why [Medium]

Snapchat works for:

Here’s the solution:

What I am saying is this:

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