Are you feeling overwhelmed about how to build a Snapchat marketing plan that fits your business? I felt unsure at first, too. But after some research, I found out Snapchat has over 750 million active users each month—mostly Gen Z and Millennials. 1 In this guide, I’ll share simple ideas for using Snapchat’s features effectively. These tips can help boost your brand visibility and bring in new customers. 2 Keep reading to find out how!
Key Takeaways
- Snapchat reaches 750 million users monthly—and 200 million every day—making it ideal to connect with Gen Z and Millennials.
- Small budgets? No problem—Snapchat marketing campaigns start at just $5 a day, easy for small businesses to test the waters.
- Features like Stories and Spotlight let brands share real, behind-the-scenes content easily—Spotlight alone hits 14 billion views daily.
- Taco Bell’s Cinco de Mayo lens hit 224 million views in just one day; Gatorade’s Super Bowl lens boosted buying intent by 8%.
- Depop lowered new customer costs by 77% using Snapchat ads, and L’Oréal’s AR campaign kept people interacting for over 70 seconds each.
Understanding Snapchat Marketing Strategy
Snapchat is a gold mine for growing your business. It boasts 750 million monthly users—and 200 million daily active users. Every day, users create around 3 billion Snaps—a massive audience to tap into.
Marketing on Snapchat is different from other social channels, though. People here prefer quick, playful content—nothing overly polished or formal. Since Snapchat first launched ads in October 2014, smart brands have found creative ways to use short videos and AR features to engage users.
The great thing about marketing on Snapchat is that it doesn’t cost a fortune. Campaigns kick off at just $5 per day, ideal for both small businesses and big-name brands. My approach usually involves Stories and Snap Ads to get younger people excited about your brand.
Snapchat users watch about 10 billion videos daily—that’s proof they prefer engaging visual clips. Successful brands make content that fits Snapchat’s vibe: short, relatable, and attention-grabbing.
Now, let’s check out some key Snapchat features you can use to boost your brand. 1
Essential Features of Snapchat for Business Promotion
Snapchat offers powerful tools that can boost your business in unique ways. I’ll show you how to use Stories, filters, ads, and data to reach more customers.
Utilizing Stories and Spotlight
I really enjoy using Snapchat Stories for my business marketing. Stories offer quick updates that disappear after 24 hours—great for grabbing attention fast. With 4 billion daily Snaps shared on Snapchat, these Stories boost my brand awareness through authentic visual storytelling.
Customers respond better to real-looking content, not overly polished ads, making Stories perfect for this. 3
The Spotlight feature pushes my Snapchat marketing even further, highlighting short videos that feel user-generated. Spotlight videos reach roughly 14 billion daily viewers—that’s huge exposure.
I usually create short, playful clips to match what users expect to see on Snapchat. With Spotlight, I easily target younger viewers who typically skip formal ads but interact with casual content they trust.
Combining both Stories for quick updates and Spotlight for broader reach really helps my brand grow. 2
Implementing Geofilters and Lenses
Geofilters give my business an easy, fun way to reach local users. They appear as location-based overlays whenever folks snap pics in certain areas. 1 My coffee shop often adds them during special events—customers get excited about using our branded filters in their snaps.
Snapchat Lenses step things up with AR effects that totally change user photos.
Face and World Lenses create playful interactions users love to share. People hang out longer on Snapchat just messing around with these features—which is awesome for brand visibility. 4 Last month alone, our custom lens got passed around 5,000 times over one weekend. The coolest part is customers creating their own posts using my branding—meaning my message spreads organically, without me doing extra work.
Exploring Snap Ads and Video Options
Snapchat has four great video ad types I often use to boost marketing results. Single Video Ads run from 3 to 180 seconds, formatted in a vertical 9:16 ratio—but they’re most effective if you keep them short—around 3 to 5 seconds.
Story Ads fit nicely into the Discover section, right where users regularly explore content. Commercials stand out by being non-skippable for the first 6 seconds, which guarantees your message gets attention.
AR Lenses add a playful twist, inviting users to interact directly with your brand through fun face filters and interactive games. My clients consistently see strong outcomes, especially by matching the ideal ad format with specific marketing goals and user interests.
These Snapchat tools help businesses easily connect with their target audience. 5
Utilizing Insights and Analytics
I keep an eye on my Snapchat ad performance in real-time, using analytics from Ads Manager. This tool quickly shows me what’s effective—and what’s not. Split tests are great, letting me compare ads, spot the best ones, and move ahead confidently.
The Snap Pixel is another handy feature; it tracks how visitors act after checking out my content. It gives clear details—story views, clicks, interactions—so, I know exactly what grabs attention.
With these numbers, I spot issues early, tweak ads quickly, and improve my campaigns. This helps stretch my marketing budget, as I spend mostly on content that truly gets results. 1
Advantages of Snapchat for Businesses
Snapchat gives businesses a direct line to young shoppers who love fresh, fun content. This app helps brands stand out with quick videos and cool filters that can boost sales fast.
Targeting a Young Audience
I use Snapchat to reach exactly the right audience for my marketing. The numbers speak for themselves—71% of Snapchat users are under 34. 1 It’s a perfect spot to connect with Gen Z and young adults.
My brand shares short, playful videos that feel honest and true-to-life. Most users open their Snapchat over 20 times each day, giving plenty of opportunities to get noticed. The secret is simple—make content that doesn’t look like traditional ads.
Behind-the-scenes shots do incredibly well.
Young people prefer genuine, relatable stories over polished commercials. I get the best results from casual, informal glimpses into my business—no fancy editing needed. Short, relaxed clips beat stiff marketing every single time.
Even Baby Boomers are showing interest, helping my content reach beyond just younger audiences. Snapchat helps brands be seen by many different age ranges—broader appeal means broader success.
Boosting Brand Visibility
Snapchat is a fun, powerful way to get your brand seen. Users spend around 30 minutes each day on the app—that’s plenty of time to make an impression. 1 Stories, filters, and Snap Ads that appear between user posts can help you stand out.
Snapchat’s Discover section is especially effective; big names like Cosmopolitan pull in about 19 million views a month there. With that kind of visibility, your brand stays fresh in the minds of younger people.
Short, playful videos or branded AR filters encourage sharing—so users naturally spread your content to friends.
The key is to become part of your audience’s daily Snapchat habit. Look at BuzzFeed—they get 21% of their total web traffic straight from Snapchat. 2 That clearly shows the app’s potential to boost your results.
A good social media plan mixes natural, organic posts with paid ads for the best boost in brand awareness. Snapchat’s ad manager also helps you see exactly which posts gain the most views and swipes—so you can spend smarter.
Top brands blend regular content with special ad campaigns to stay relevant and memorable with their followers.
Increasing Website Traffic and Conversions
Using Snap Ads boosted my website traffic big time. These ads let people swipe up easily—just one simple move—to reach my site. Once I added interactive stuff to my snaps, my conversion rate spiked.
That showed me how important fun, clickable content really is. 1
I track views and swipe-ups closely, seeing quickly what’s hitting home with viewers. This info clearly tells me which ads work best, and exactly what gets visitors clicking. 6
The trick is creating real content your viewers actually care about—stuff they’ll want to interact with right off the bat.
Developing Effective Snapchat Marketing Tactics
I need a plan to make my Snapchat marketing work. Smart tactics help me reach the right people and create content they’ll love.
Identifying Your Audience
Targeting the right Snapchat audience makes all the difference. Most Snapchat users are young—between 13 and 34 years old—which is great news for brands trying to reach teens and younger adults. 1 Plus, Snapchat has over 280 million daily active users, each spending about 30 minutes a day on the app. That gives your brand plenty of chances to reach potential customers. Matching your marketing to what Snapchatters enjoy, and how they actually use the app, helps you create content they’ll truly appreciate.
Once you know exactly who you’re talking to, it’s time to make your content stand out. Stories, videos, and ads need to catch attention quickly since users tend to swipe through fast.
Young Snapchatters prefer short, fun, and authentic posts—they love content that feels personal, like it’s speaking directly to them. Keeping your audience clearly in mind helps you craft posts they’ll actually stop to watch. 7
Crafting Authentic and Compelling Content
I make Snapchat content that truly connects with my followers. Behind-the-scenes clips, everyday moments—all show the real, human side of my brand. Polls and fun quizzes encourage fans to join in and interact. 1 The trick is making posts feel authentic, not just like ads—users skip anything overly salesy. My best stories blend entertainment with product info in a natural way. Reviewing Snapchat analytics shows exactly what fans prefer.
These metrics help me create even better content each time.
Take Taco Bell, for example—they nailed Snapchat marketing with their Cinco de Mayo lens, viewed over 224 million times in just one day. Similarly, Gatorade’s interactive lens during the Super Bowl reached over 165 million views and lifted purchase intent by 8%.
Another standout is American Eagle. They featured relatable, casual content showcasing real employees, boosting engagement by 20% in one month. These brands succeeded because they kept storytelling authentic, fun, and engaging.
Case Studies: Successful Marketing on Snapchat
Let me show you real wins from top brands on Snapchat. These success stories will give you clear ideas for your own campaigns.
Depop and Visual Storytelling
Depop is killing it on Snapchat—with standout visual stories that young shoppers love. Over 12 million users aged 18–25 connect through Depop’s engaging snaps. 8 And the results speak loudly: Depop cut their cost per new customer by 77% compared to other ad platforms. 8 That’s serious savings. They know where their dollars work best, spending over half their total ad budget on Snapchat.
Depop’s style of content feels genuine and speaks directly to their audience. They use Snapchat-style filters and short clips to show off trendy clothes in creative ways. User-generated snaps boost authenticity, helping the brand quickly reach new people.
This keeps costs low and impact high. Depop’s smart, relaxed approach shows why understanding your customer really matters.
L’Oréal’s Use of AR for Product Promotion
Visual storytelling is powerful—but brands like L’Oréal take things to another level with AR technology. Take their recent Snapchat campaign for CeraVe skincare. It reached 900,000 unique users in Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Serbia. 9 On average, people spent more than 70 seconds interacting with the AR lens—impressive for a quick-use app like Snapchat. Over 25,000 users even shared it with their friends—that’s real engagement.
AR filters are great for product demos because they make trying products feel easy and fun. L’Oréal nailed this idea, letting people explore skincare virtually through their phones.
The big share count proves that effective marketing doesn’t need a heavy sales pitch. Snapchat users like playful content, and this campaign matched that vibe perfectly, while clearly showing product benefits.
Businesses aiming to reach younger audiences can learn a lot from this example—creative, interactive campaigns produce results.
Disney’s Celebratory Campaigns
Disney ran a fantastic AR campaign on Snapchat. They celebrated their 100-year history through playful, interactive stories starring beloved characters. The best part—young users got to have fun with these features right on their phones.
Partnering with some well-known Snapchat creators helped Disney gain 50,000 new followers in only one day. 10 That impressive leap shows the huge impact brands can have by crafting content that’s fun, interactive, and easy to share.
Conclusion
Snapchat has great tools to help businesses connect with younger users. I’ve covered the essentials—Stories, Filters, and Ads—to help build your brand and reach fresh audiences.
Success comes from understanding your crowd and sharing genuine, engaging content they’ll want to pass along. Big companies like Depop and L’Oréal already use Snapchat to boost sales and attract loyal customers.
Start with a few simple moves, see what clicks, then adjust your strategy as needed. Best of all… you can sign up today and reach people already interested in what you offer.
References
- ^ https://www.ocoya.com/blog/snapchat-marketing-guide-43305
- ^ https://quickframe.com/blog/snapchat-marketing/
- ^ https://www.hubspot.com/snapchat-marketing (2019-04-16)
- ^ https://www.klaviyo.com/blog/snapchat-marketing-strategies
- ^ https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/
- ^ https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/blog/digital-marketing-guide (2023-03-20)
- ^ https://www.searchenginejournal.com/snapchat/474251/ (2024-09-29)
- ^ https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/inspiration/depop-increases-their-spend-on-snapchat-by-3x-after-seeing-efficient-scale
- ^ https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/inspiration/loreal-cerave-ar-lens
- ^ https://productlondondesign.com/successful-snapchat-influencer-campaigns/ (2024-10-30)
