Outline Of Topics In This Post:
- What The Hell Is A Snapchat & Why Is It So Popular?
- My Typical Snap Story & What I Like About Snapchat
- Promoting Your Snapchat
- Different Blog Ideas For Snapchat
- A Couple Of Dont's When Using Snapchat To Promote Your Blog
If you're a blogger, vlogger or business owner and not utilizing Snapchat yet to promote your brand then 1) you're late and 2) you're missing out!
What are you waiting for?
Stop what you're doing and jump on there now! Let me tell you why...
What The Hell Is A Snapchat & Why Is It So Popular?
Using Snapchat for your blog and personal brand is very smart. Snapchat and Instagram are by far my favorite social media apps. If you don't know much about Snapchat, then let me explain that first.
First launched in 2011, Snapchat is a mobile messaging app in which you can download to share photos, videos, text and drawings in 10 seconds or less.
So, what's so great about it?
For starters, it's one of the hottest apps on the market and receives over 4 billion videos views a day and counting. Snapchat is more important to the younger generation, more than Facebook, according to many sources. You could attract a new audience with Snapchat.
Bloggers need to keep up with the latest social media trends and use them to our advantage to further grow our brand.
No wonder why Snapchat's growth and its huge visibility of its brand partners has more marketers wanting in.
And, it seems like just about almost every celebrity has recently jumped on the Snapchat bandwagon within the past year.
In addition to promoting yourself and your blog, Snapchat is also a cool way to follow these celebrities as well as other bloggers. Check them out behind-the-scenes and see how they promote themselves as well as their products and + whatever else they are working on so you can get an idea of how people are using their Snapchat to enhance their brand.
My Typical Snap Story & What I Like About Snapchat
I joined Snapchat around either 2013 or 2014 (I can't remember which year, but I remember working as a full-time copy writer at the time). I used the app just for fun with my friends and coworkers who followed me.
My account was set on private at the time so only my friends could follow me. And then, Snapchat rolled around the Stories feature (which I didn't even like using at first because I didn't understand its full potential then).
The Stories feature allows you to upload as many videos and photos you like and save them under your 'Story' where viewers can watch them as many times as they like for 24 hours (or whenever you feel like deleting it beforehand).
One day, a light bulb clicked ... what if I open my Snapchat so anyone can follow me and use it a little more to promote my blog and show off my personality?
BINGO!
I joined Snapchat at a good time, right when the app started kicking off more and before all the celebs started jumping on.
I follow almost every celeb I can think who as a Snapchat account. As a celebrity gossip blogger, I feel like I have to. So, celebs are mostly all over my feed. In addition, I have my friends, some family members, and I also follow back some of my cool Instagram followers who I noticed have been following my blog for awhile.
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- Snapchat is super dope because you are able to update in real-time with what's going on.
- You can show off what you're up to and hint at what's to come on your blog and any announcements you may have. Show a sneak peek of what you're working on and do behind-the-scenes type of posts.
On the first day I launched this blog, I announced it on Snapchat and included some updates about the type of information I plan on posting. This was effective because I received comments back from those interested and I also noticed some screenshots of a photo I uploaded showing off my URL. This alone told me some of my Snapchat followers were interested.
- Snapchat feels more intimate. I'm giving my followers a little glimpse into my life so it's used more in a personal way than I use Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. My followers get to connect with me more and enjoy my personality.
If you follow me (NJLALA) you'll see how funny I tend to be. I constantly upload myself talking about random life moments, I complain about traffic as I'm sitting in it, I rant, I sing and dance, and I show off my little Yorkie a lot. This is me, this is what I do, even before I could show it off on an app.
My fellow snappers see me when I'm at work, when I'm out in the street walking around, in my car, out with friends, when I'm exercising, and when I'm home. I also tend to say good morning and good night to them and I ask different random questions. I just act like my regular ol' normal self. I feel like I can do whatever I want on Snapchat, things that I would never post on any other social media app.
- I love the different fun filters to enhance photos and the location/time/weather features you can add, plus how you can draw on your photo if you're feeling more creative.
- There's no like or share buttons like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. So there's no pressure to see if your photos are performing well. No one see's how many people viewed your snap stories (unless you want to screenshot and share, like I do).
- Snapchat doesn't even tell you how many friends you have. (I'm guessing they'll eventually roll out that feature so people can know the exact number of followers they have).
I know I have at least 400 something Snapchat friends from monitoring the highest number of times I've seen my snap stories viewed.
- You know people are engaging with your posts because they are using their thumb to hold down and click on all of your stories to watch. Pretty dope!
I feel like, if you can convert your followers from other social media networks to follow you on Snapchat, then those followers are very loyal. This means they care to know what you're doing, how you're doing it ... they want to see more of you and what goes on in your life. You're building more of an online relationship with them.
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- After 24 hours, your photo / video is deleted from the app. Gone! There's no worries on building up a page or anything.
Snapchat used to be more private. There was a time users could only watch your video or see that photo and then it was gone forever. Now, you're allowed to replay a video or rewatch a photo.
When someone screenshots your photo or video, you get a little notification that someone took a screenshot.
There are also these different phone recording apps being used nowadays where people (myself included) are able to secretly record snaps without the snapper even receiving a notification about it. How else do you think us gossip bloggers are able to record all the celebrity Snapchats.
- I also love Snapchat Discover where I can read little bits and pieces of news and fun things from different sites, like BuzzFeed and Cosmopolitan, all within the app.
- Snapchat, to me, is just more fun. Upload a 10 second story or as many as you want and build up your story everyday.
I typically add anywhere between 5 to 10 daily Snapchat posts to my story.
Promoting Your Snapchat
First off, if you're looking to grow your following and engage your readers, then you need to make your Snapchat account public.
Yup, that's right!
No more hiding behind a private account. Unless you have a team of bloggers then you can all share the Snapchat password to the blog account and choose who posts to it, etc. But, if you're riding solo, like me, then just jump on there, get active and start talking!
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Upload your pics/videos to 'My Story' so everyone can view your snap story:
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- Promote your Snapchat across your other social media channels to gain more visibility and more followers. Everyone has their own unique snap code, screenshot yours and share it! This way, people see your name and can manually add you as a friend OR they can screenshot your code and add you by your Snapcode.
I also once set my Twitter profile picture as my Snap code so it was more noticeable.
- Add a widget to your website. I use the Add This widget on both of my blogs. You can choose which social icons you want to promote, Snapchat is included. Add it!
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| My social icons from Add This |
Different Blog Ideas For Snapchat
- Start a Snapchat series!
I goofed around with the idea of this and started adding random, funny facts called 'La La Facts' and I realized my fellow Snappers actually liked that. They send me comments with laughing emoji's and tell me how much they love my Snapchat.
Engage with people who follow you! This goes for every social media app. And, don't be afraid to add some of your followers back as Snap friends and comment back once in awhile.
- Show behind-the-scene moments and exclusives. I've been showing quick updates of what's to come on my blog or if I have something exciting for a new post.
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- Show your snappers something special, something that you haven't shared on your other social media platforms.
Let's say you're going to a concert. You could do a post on Instagram and Facebook letting people know you're going and then alert them to follow your Snapchat to see more. This is a good way to draw new followers in and you're giving people a reason to follow you.
- Promote other bloggers in your niche and have them promote your Snapchat in return.
Reality star Natalie Nunn, who is known from the Bad Girls Club show, shouted out my Snapchat name on her account once which was really cool of her.
- Engage in a snap takeover with someone cool, a popular blogger in your niche or someone a lot of people know about. For example, I see a lot of entertainment & celebrity gossip bloggers who allow reality stars and celebrities to log into their accounts and they take it over for a day. This is really good promotion for both parties.
Just don't forget to change up your password afterwards.
Promote the takeover multiple times on your other social accounts before the actual takeover day to give people a heads up to follow you so they know and encourage the other person to promote it as well.
- Partake in a Q&A. What do your followers want to know about you or your blog? Tell them in advance that you're doing a Q&A and either accept questions from your other social media pages and answer them on Snapchat OR have your comments open to the public so they can ask questions right from the app.
When opening the option for anyone to comment, beware of trolls and possibly receiving some unwanted photos. I've had my share of nude photos sent my way and those people quickly got blocked.
I play around with the Who Can Contact Me setting. One day, I may have my comments open for anyone to reach me and then sometimes I like to close them off so only people I know can chat with me.
I follow an Instagram star on Snapchat and she tends to do Q&A's live from her bathtub which has become a regular sort of Snapchat series for her which is pretty cool and different.
A Couple Of Dont's When Using Snapchat To Promote Your Blog
- DON'T come off as spammy. If you only contantly promote your blog and products and don't mix it up, then people may unfollow you or they just won't watch your snaps anymore. Have an even balance when it comes to promoting your blog, promoting other people's products, shout outs, and posting fun content.
- DON'T be that person who posts like 50 selfies or like 100's of videos of you just lip-syncing and looking cute.
- DON'T just post videos of you watching TV or 100 photos of your food (unless you're some type of food blogger) try and mix it up a little so people don't get bored and stop watching your videos.
- DON't post all these boring videos that go on for like 100 seconds ... 100 seconds of a bunch of nothing. If you're Snapchatting that much, it better be worth it. Like, you better be at a Beyonce concert or something. I'm not sure who actually watches those long drawn out snap stories, I know I don't.
However, DO represent your brand, be original and bring your niche to the table. Just have fun. Be real, be you and show off how you normally live day-to-day. People appreciate realness and love to connect with blogger.
Are you on Snapchat?
If so, how do you use it to promote yourself and your brand?
What else can you do and show off to engage your followers?
And, don't forget to add me on Snapchat!
Feel free to drop your Snap name below
and I'll follow ya back!
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You can find some spy snapchat apps for hacking social media accounts.
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