Drew Binsky's Snapchat 101

Over the past few weeks I have been coming up with new ideas for this blog, and one of them was to potentially write an in depth how to of snapchat, putting your business on snapchat and how to make it work effectively for you. I thought about this idea for a while, began writing and realized what a massive job it really was. Then I came across Drew Binsky (If you think that name sounds familiar, it does, if not check out my previous blog post on travel blogging on Snapchat!) and his absolutely marvelous 'SNAPCHAT 101: MARKETING FOR BLOGGERS & BUSINESSES'.
SO instead of writing out my own, I contacted Drew to see if he would mind if I shared his post with you guys, the answer was affirmative and so here's Drew's opinion section on...

Why is Snap Chat so Effective? 
 In this section, I am going to lay out 10 reasons why Snapchat has blown up so quickly and why it’s so powerful:

1.  It works like a text message – Snaps immediately are sent to the recipients phone and they will receive a notification – Just like a text message, but much it’s more entertaining and fun. 
2.  You have extreme PRIVACY – Nobody else can see what you’re doing on Snapchat besides yourself. It’s personal. This is perhaps the most attractive feature of the app, because it sets it apart from the other major social media platforms.
3. You don’t need wifi to send snaps – This is crucial especially for us travelers who don’t always have access to strong wifi on the road. You can take as many snaps as you want, and save them on the app to resend when you do have access to wifi. I’ve been doing this in on my current trip in India and it’s been working magically.
4. It’s quick and to the point – There is no bullshit with Snapchat. You send a photo/video, and the recipient views it. No advertisements, no re-Snapping, no sharing. That’s it.
5. It’s fun –Snapchat is a more FUN way to communicate with your friends and followers than just standard texting. The same way that watching videos is more fun than reading blog posts.
6. It’s Customizable – After you take the photo or video, you are able to choose any color and draw freely on the screen with your finger. You also have the option to write up to 31 characters on the screen. Better yet, you can use emojis and put them anywhere on the screen and make them as big or small as you want. There are unlimited options to customize your snaps!
7. Users will Anticipation Your Snaps – If you are somewhat entertaining and creative with your snaps, then people will start looking forward to your next post. Just like Instagram.
8. Photo + Video Option – While photos are nice, videos are much more powerful. You are allowed up to 10 seconds of video to send.
9. It’s addicting – You know how Tinder can be addicting? Yeah, Snapchat has 100 million active monthly users. People who are on it can’t seem to stop (I’m guilty of it too). 
10. It’s behind the scenes – My favorite part about Snapchat is that you are essentially filming your life experiences behind the scenes! Nothing is planned or staged. People are seeing content exactly how you are seeing it in real life. It offers an incredibly your viewers a unique perspective, almost as if they are standing next to you. 
11. 100% user engagement – When someone is viewing a snapchat, their finger must be touching the screen at all times or the snap will disappear. Therefore, you can be 100% certain that you have the full attention of your viewers when they are opening your snaps. This is unlike Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where users quickly scroll through their newsfeeds and hardly retain anything unless it pops out or catches their eye.

So there you have it guys, if I can't convince you to get on Snapchat, Drew certainly can! Check out the entire of his blog post at: http://thehungrypartier.com/snapchat-101-marketing-for-bloggers-businesses/ and follow him on Snapchat to see his travels by snapping this:

How to put your brand on Snapchat

Recently I've been talking a fair bit about brands and companies who have been using Snapchat, but today I thought I'd tell you how to actually put YOUR brand on Snapchat and how to make it work.

To make it real simple, I found this infographic which is pretty spot on. Enjoy and good luck!

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-of-the-amazing-facts-about-Snapchat

The WWF #LastSelfie Campaign

Early last year the Danish branch of WWF conducted what was arguably one the of the best marketing campaigns seen on Snapchat. The #Lastselfie campaign involved taking full advantage of the fleeting nature of Snaps in order to highlight the rapidly diminishing numbers of so many endangered animals lives.

The Snaps featured 5 endangered animals all sending the same message; 'Don't let this be my last selfie' as the image slowly faded away into darkness. Each image offered the viewers the opportunity to share the campaign with friends, adopt an animal or donate over text message.

WWF reached their donation target for the entire month in just 3 days and over 120 million twitter timelines were reached with the campaign. This meant that 50% of all twitter users were exposed to this innovative, beautiful video (which, by the way is absolutely incredible! Absolutely no one reaches 50% of all Twitter feeds without being the Kardashians or Obama!):

Batman vs. Superman- Sponsored Selfies

For all those who have Snapchat, I'm fairly certain that at least half of you would have noticed that some of the snaps they have been receiving have been every so slightly altered...
Well maybe a little more than ever so slightly, vomiting rainbows sound familiar? How about turning you into a puppy dog? Or Kanye West? Or an Alien (told you they're real!)? Or making you look like you sitting on a tropical beach? Or what I consider possibly the best of the lot; swapping your face with your friend? So many choices!

For those who haven't yet figured how to use this feature, here's a quick how to:

1. Open the app Snapchat and ensure your front facing camera is on
2. Press and hold the picture of your face until the app scans you face and the options pop up below
3. Chose an option below your face and press the circle shutter button to take photo/video
4. Have fun!

Used with permission

But of course, not just anyone can make a filter and have it put on Snapchat and there are a few companies (like Warner Bros.) paying very big money to have theirs featured for only a few days. It's not certain exactly how much it cost, but it's rumored to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per day.

The most recent, and probably most prolific of these, was the Batman vs Superman movie advertising that was on Snapchat only a few weeks ago. For example:

http://snapchat-download.net/how-to-use-batman-lens-in-snapchat/

It allowed users to turn themselves into character of the movie and encouraged then to see the move by creating so much hype before it was released. 

I personally think this type of interactive marketing is a fantastic way to get people interested in things like this, especially when the product (in this case a movie) is fairly un-interactive.
What do you think? Is it worth the money?

Used with permissions

Snapfact Tuesday!

To keep the typically boring day of Tuesday interesting, here's some quick Snapfacts to keep you going:

1. Originally Snapchat was called Picaboo! (It was renamed in 2012)
2. Inspiration for the self destructing nature of the photos and messages came to Evan Speigel and Bobby Murphy (the creators of Snapchat) after co-creator (Frank Reginald Brown) regretted sending a photo to someone else.
3. Snapchat's mascot is called 'Ghostfact Chillah', a name Frank Reginald Brown derived from Ghostface Killah of the group Wu-Tang Clan

Used with permission.

Source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/25-things-didnt-know-snapchat/91169/

@StuBallingerArt- Small town artist on Snapchat

I don't expect you to know him yet- but one day you will. Stuart Ballinger is a 20 year old digital artist who has been featured in magazines, on art sites and is currently has his first physical exhibition in Horsham Art Gallery (go check it out if you're in the area!).
He also uses Snapchat, along with an Instagram, a Facebook, a Behance and a DeviantArt page as a way of advertising to his followers. When I asked him why he uses Snapchat in addition to so many other mediums, his reply interested me. Apparently, he finds it a more 'personal' platform compared to the others. For example, if he shared a picture on Facebook and someone comments, everyone can see that comment. Unlike over Snapchat where if a picture if shared, only those who it was sent to can see it, and only Stuart can see their comments and reactions-providing a more private place for his followers to give him comments and tips.

Screenshots from Stu's Snapchat- Used with Permissions

He also uses it to send partially finished artwork and progress updates, something quite unprofessional and personal, along with what he is doing in his day to day life so his followers actually see the type of human is behind the art. This is unlike his Behance where he shares only finished artworks. Admittedly, there are some downfalls to Snapchat, for example, the art can only be viewed once and only for 10 seconds max. if shared by private Snaps. Also you can only have people add you on Snapchat if they know your username, meaning that the only people who follow him on Snapchat- already follow him on other social media where he has advertised his Snapchat- leaving it virtually impossible to build a fan base over the platform and therefore needs to be used in conjunction with other social media platforms.
However, he's obviously doing something right because he's being noticed! So chuck him a like/follow guys, you won't have any regrets :)

Light The Way- Stu Ballinger

And We All Fell Back to Earth- Stu Ballinger

Marketing on Snapchat

Even though I personally believe that Snapchat is a fantastic platform for marketers, but this infographic highlights the lack of marketers and brands who have actually caught on to the exponential growth of this Social Media platform. 

An infographic from medium.com/@demainlaveille

Regardless of the small amount of people marketing on Snapchat, there are a few individuals/companies/geographic areas etc. who are doing an absolute ripper of  a job at marketing their products and services to their Snapchat followers. And people are noticing with more and more marketers and brands beginning to reach ouch to their audiences via Snapchat. My next post is featuring a digital artist by the name of Stu Ballinger, so stay tuned to find out how and why he markets his personal brand over Snapchat :)