#snapads

With 256 million daily active users on Snapchat creating content and keeping engagement regularly off the charts, it's no surprise that businesses are looking for a way to take advantage of the platform with Snapchat ads.

But is it worth it to take the time to create, manage, test, and update Snapchat Ads for your business?

The answer is yes, of course. However, we want to talk you through every step of the process not only to prove it's worth to your business, but to show you exactly how to tap into the bottomless well of success that is Snapchat Ads.

Are you ready? Let's jump right into it.

A Brief History of Snapchat

Who created Snapchat? It was three Samford University students, Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy who came up with the concept for an app with disappearing content in July 2011- originally named Picaboo. It was relaunched as Snapchat in September of 2011.

What are Snapchat Ads?

Snapchat Ads are like any social media ad in that they are usually targeted to specific audiences in order to make a sale, raise brand awareness, drive website traffic, or increase engagement.

There are three basic options when it comes to Snapchat ad formats.

Within each ad format, there are sub formats, which do make the process more complicated, but also spell out more success when you know how to target and utilize them effectively. We'll get into those shortly.

There are plenty of things about Snapchat that can be beneficial to a brand, but also wildly confusing.

For instance: if you're unfamiliar with augmented reality and filters, you'll probably be more than a little confused about what creating a Snapchat ad might actually entail, or maybe about how Snapchat Ads are even a thing on a platform that isn't "Newsfeed based" like Instagram or Facebook.

However, all of these incredible features can drive massive brand awareness for your business when paired with a good Snapchat ad strategy.

A Glance at the Snapchat Ad Formats

Now that you have a basic concept for what a Snapchat ad is, let's take a deeper dive into each of the Snapchat ad formats, Snapchat ad specs, and Snapchat ad sub-formats.

Snapchat Snap Ads

These will play with sound on, are full-screen ads that come in video form, are viewable in frame, and feature a "swipe up" for links.

They allow for three main objectives, (sub-formats) which include:

Website clicks and views with swipe up

Long-form video plays

App installs with swipe up

Each of these have positive/negative aspects, which we'll cover in just a second.

Filter Snapchat Ads

Filters aren't just fun. They're also a wonderful way to raise brand awareness and create positive feelings around your brand with younger audiences.

This is an especially popular option for people with brick and mortar locations or people advertising or creating excitement around a particular event.

Lense Snapchat Ads

The real MVP for Snapchat advertising, Lense Snapchat Ads can alter the appearance of users and can often include augmented reality elements centered around your brand.

(Image Courtesy of Neil Patel)

Story Snapchat Ads

There will be plenty of times when you'll need to communicate something that will take longer than 3-5 seconds. For cases like these, Story Snapchat Ads are a wonderful option because they allow you to show your ads in rapid succession.

Product Snapchat Ads

Looking to highlight a particular product or service? Just upload a catalogue or list of services and create “shoppable” Snapchat product ads!

They'll see a swipe collection of products and can click on anything that takes their fancy.

Dynamic Snapchat Ads

With dynamic ads, you can easily send people directly to your website, a particular product, a service or a catalogue of items they've been interested in and previously looked at on your website.

Think of it like retargeting, but even more targeted.

Snapchat "Commercials" (Only Available in Certain Countries)

This isn't available everywhere, so if it sounds unfamiliar, feel free to scroll.

However, if it does, here's the scoop: 🍦

These babies can't be skipped and often clock in at or around six seconds, which is an incredible amount of time when you're looking to create brand awareness, excitement, or even just draw users back to your website.

Are Snapchat Ads a Viable Option for Your Brand?

This question depends on a variety of factors.

For starters: who are you targeting?

More than 3/4 of daily Snapchat users are under the age of 25, which means if your target audience is over the age of, say, 30, we wouldn't recommend utilizing it for your business' advertising needs.

What are your goals as a brand?

If they involve brand awareness as a main objective and you're ready to put in the investment, we'd definitely recommend giving it a shot. Snapchat Ads are fun, versatile, and perfect for driving excitement and creativity around events, services, and products.

How to Create Snapchat Ads

Now for the fun part. 🧑🏻‍🔬

Step One: find your way over to the Snapchat Ads Manager. This is going to be where most of the action takes place and where you'll be able to create some pretty incredible Snap ads.

Step two: you'll have two basic options when it comes to the type of ad you'd like to create.

Instant Create: where you can create a single ad and get it rolling within minutes, (think of it as a similar thought to boosting- no ad groups, no complicated lists, just the bare basics).

Or

Advanced Create: you can take full, unbridled control over every angle and aspect of your Snapchat Ads and corresponding campaigns. Create as few or as many as you'd like- nothing is holding you back except budget! 🤑

(image courtesy of Hootsuite.)

Step Three: choose a goal! Your options will include:

Website Visits

App Installs

App Visits

Now copy/paste in any relevant URLs. AKA apps, your company website, etc.

Step Four: Write a headline! 🎉

Remember that headlines should be catchy, thumb-stopping, engaging, straight to the point, and also self-explanatory. Nobody should be asking what you're talking about in the comments or in your DMs.

Step Five: Choose your target demographic. This one is wildly important because if you aren't careful to choose the demographics that align with your customer base, you could end up paying for unqualified leads, unqualified clicks, etc.

(Images Courtesy of HootSuite)

Step Six: TIME TO LAUNCH!

It's go time! Now you can start watching the results come in and prepare to test, optimize and improve your Snapchat Ads overtime.

Remember: success doesn't come overnight. It takes hard work.

A Look at the Snapchat Ads Cost

Unfortunately, as much as we want to provide a definite answers, the truth is that there isn't one.

This is going to depend on your demographic, how long your campaign is running, your dollar-per-day investment, and so many other small details with too many combinations to mention at all.

Snapchat works by charging every 1,000 impressions, but there are also goal-based options to examine if you think it might be beneficial.

But consider this: advertising requires money to begin with- but usually not more than a couple hundred bucks for a simple start.

While more investing CAN equal more money later, this is going to largely depend on the success of your campaigns.

If you're new to the game, we recommend starting small. Or even better: get a professional so you don't waste time in the test phase!

Snapchat Ads Best Practices

If you want to make the most out of your Snapchat Ads budget, (who doesn't??) you'll want to make sure you're closely following the Snapchat advertising best practices we're going to outline below.

Start by Defining Your Snapchat Ads Objectives

What do you plan to accomplish through your Snapchat advertising efforts? Defining these goals and making a plan for how to reach them is important if you want to get the most out of your Snapchat ad campaign.

Get to Know Your Audience

It may very well be that Snapchat is not the right place for your audience to see yours ads or interact with them-and that's okay! There's plenty of other platforms that WILL encompass your target audience.

But you won't know whether you're going to reach them or not until you've really gotten to know them and taken a close look at the Snapchat demographics to see how they line up.

Test, Optimize, Test, Optimize

Limitless success is not a click away. It requires lots of work, dedication, and more work.

Snapchat will automatically optimize your ads for your ad objective, but it won't do all the work for you.

Pay attention to what ads are performing well and perfect your formula over time for best results.

Measure the Results of Your Snapchat Ads

You won't know whether you've hit the success jackpot or not unless you're regularly measuring the results of your Snapchat Ads efforts.

Similar to the testing and optimizing concept, measuring your results can provide important insight, let you know what needs to be adjusted and further improve results over time.

Snapchat Ads: Frequently Asked Questions

If we don't get to your question, we're still here to help. Drop a comment below or email our writer at [email protected]

"Why Do People Use Snapchat?"

Snapchat is the perfect place to be yourself, be chill, hang with friends, and never worry about what is being hung onto.

When interviewed about why they use Snapchat, 95% of users declared that it made them happy. And we think that's a pretty darn good reason to be continually using a social media platform.

"How to Get More Views on Snapchat?"

When it comes to getting more views, there are three rules you need to follow.

1) Post relevant, engaging content

2) Speak directly to your audience

3) Post REGULARLY

If you're doing these three things, your audience will start growing because you're engaging them, you're providing the content they want and need, (relevancy) and are giving it to them on a regular basis so they always know what to expect.

Easy, right? It takes effort, but you'll look back and it'll be easier than you imagined.

How Snapchat Works

Learning to use Snapchat, let alone advertise on the platform can be nothing short of exhausting and stressful.

But quite frankly, it's easier than you would imagine.

Open the app

Take a picture or upload one from your camera roll

Add it to your personal or brand story

OR

Click the friends icon on the lower right side and explore what's happening in your network!

Snapchat is all about quick messages, fun pics, and hilarious shorts, so get to sharing!

What to Post on Snapchat

There is no limit to the superbly fantastic things you can post on Snapchat, but it works best as a platform for "behind the scenes" content, 3D content, VR, and more.