Snapchat has certainly taken the world by storm. In fact, the stats don’t lie. In an article from one of my favorite authors and speakers; Jay Baer – on his website, Convince and Convert, he shares some interesting statistics from Edison Research:
- Snapchat is better known than Pinterest or Linkedin
- Snapchat has more users than Twitter or Pinterest or Linkedin
- Snapchat grew as much in one year as Twitter has in 4 years combined
- Snapchat is the country’s second-favorite social network
- Snapchat is incredibly popular among young Americans
I joined Snapchat earlier this year – a bit reluctantly I may add, as I always “assumed” it was for “the kids.” But after fumbling for a day or two and feeling my Gen X age – I figured it out and quickly fell in love with Snapchat! Soon, Snapchat was my first app I was going to in the morning and the one I went to when I wanted to share something first.
I love the spontaneity of Snapchat. I love creating content in the moment quickly and easily, and I love the “imperfect-ness” of Snapchat. I said this earlier this year, but I think a lot of us are growing weary of the ‘perfect’ posts – the perfect Instagram filter, the perfect post where everyone’s life is awesome on Facebook. Life is messy – there are ups and downs and Snapchat is a great place to capture many of those moments!
So, after six months or so, what have I learned, what works and doesn’t work on Snapchat and what advice do I have? Here you go!
Consistency counts. It’s just like any other social media platform in that consistency matters. I tend to follow Snapchat stories that I really like and that I know are consistently funny, entertaining or informative.
Consistency counts!
Get into a routine. For me, my routine starts with coffee in the morning and usually late nights working after the kids get into bed. Snapchat is the best place to share those ‘in between’ moments of your day. Find your routine and share that on Snapchat.
Get into a routine of what you share on Snapchat.
You may think, ‘who is really interested in this?’ But, you will be amazed – there is something about getting a sneak-peek into someones life.
Repurpose content. One of the ways I create new content daily for Snapchat is to think about the content I’ve already created and how can I repurpose this. For example, if you have a blog and are publishing content once a week or so – you can take a few pieces of that blog post, do a few Snaps and then drive people back to that post. I do this week in and week out for blog content, webinar content, Facebook Live content. It’s an easy way to drive traffic back to you and to not reinvent the wheel.
Repurpose your content!
Have fun and get creative. I love, love, love the creative part of Snapchat. I love the doodling, the emojis, the BitMojis, the colors – it all rocks.
Use BitMojis to get creative!
And now, you can search emoji by topic – this is just the cherry on top.
Search your favorite emojis.
Find your groove. It took me a bit to figure out how Snapchat was going to be different for me than Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. I’ve realized sharing just my day-to-day, and then mixing in social media and business tips works really well. I like to have a balance between personal things; out and about with my kids, enjoying a great glass of wine – and balancing that with sharing tips or advice works really well.
Balance personal and professional.
Engage with others. Like other social media platforms, it’s less about you and more about other people. If you want people to engage with you – you need to engage with them. Take a few minutes daily to watch other people’s stories and Snap them back. I try to do this for a few minutes every morning and every evening and I make an intentional effort to watch others and connect. It makes a huge difference.
Engage with others!
Recognize others. Hands down, the most ‘popular’ thing I do each week (or as often as possible) is give other awesome Snapchatters a ‘shout-out.’ I used to do this all the time on Twitter and Periscope when I was new to those communities and it is by far one of the best and fastest way to grow your network. Once a week I think about the 3-5 people I can recognize, I go to their Snapchat snapcode and take a screenshot. Then, I go into Snapchat and through the Memories feature, I can upload those 3-5 Snapcodes.
Recognize others!
Pro tip: When you are using Memories – click ‘edit’ and add some text over the image and also change the timer from the default of 3 seconds to 10 seconds so people have enough time to take a screenshot. Once I add these Snapcodes to my Story, I will privately snap each of them with a quick “heads up” that I gave them a shout-out. So often, they will in their story thank me and many times return the favor. I don’t ask them to – but I see it time and time again and it’s a great win-win for both of us!
Here are two additional links that may be helpful for you:
Ok, now it’s your turn! How are you using Snapchat? I’d love to hear from you, leave me a comment below or better yet – send me a Snap and let me know you read this!
P.S. Ready to take your social media skills to the next level? We’d love for you to check out our #GetSocialSmart Academy which has an awesome section all about Snapchat! Here’s a couple screenshots to give you a sneak-peek!
#GetSocialSmart Academy sneak-peek
