We give millennials a lot of flack but in reality, they’re the ones with their fingers (and phones) on the pulse. Snapchat is a social media platform favoured by millennials that everyone else has now embraced as a way to send images and videos.
Available as a downloadable app, Snapchat offers users a chance to share content fast. The images and videos created by each user can only be 1-10 seconds long and disappear immediately after the recipient views them.
If you’re not on Snapchat, get on it because this quirky social media platform is quickly becoming a way to drive traffic to blogs and other content forums. In fact, you can use Snapchat to get people to check out your blog.
You’ve no doubt seen posts where someone is wearing a crown of pretty flowers or dog ears, but Snapchat is more than special filters and cartoon animal faces. It’s a smart marketing and promotion tool that will lead more traffic to your blog. In fact, social media chat is expected to emerge as a major communication and advertising platform in 2017.
Whether you run a personal blog or one for a company, taking advantage of Snapchat just makes sense. You may be wondering how an app through which pictures and videos that can only be 1-10 seconds long and disappear after the recipient has viewed them can be a useful promotional tool that sends people to your blog but it truly can.
Here’s a breakdown of how you can use Snapchat to drive traffic to your blog:
Personalize, personalize, personalize
With Snapchat you can personalize your content. Share an exclusive video or picture that teases your next blog post. You can also show off your personality, intriguing your followers enough so that they visit your blog.
For instance, if you run a cooking blog and like to sing while you cook, create a video for Snapchat that shows you doing exactly that.
Or, if you are in the charge of the blog for a company, make a Snapchat video of you using the company’s product but add that for more information about the product and how it works your followers will need to check out the blog.
It’s storytime
Snapchat offers a feature that allows you to broadcast your posts to followers in a narrative fashion. This feature is called stories and recipients can watch your videos or see your photos as many times as they want for 24 hours.
When you create your story, you have the ability to post multiple snaps (pictures and videos) over the course of the day making it feel cohesive.
For instance, you can start with a teaser for your blog post then follow it up with a snap of you working on it before finishing with a video announcing the completed blog that people can check out. This gives your followers a sense that they are right there with you while you are working on your blog and will make them more inclined to check it out.
Special offers and event promotion
Everyone loves free stuff and discounts. If you’re going to create special offers or promote an event your company’s hosting, tease it on Snapchat and give full details on your blog.
Even if you don’t work for a company and are using your blog to promote your products or services, you can still offer discounts for your work/stuff on Snapchat that are redeemable only your blog. You can also host a contest on your blog but promote it via Snapchat.
Furthermore, take advantage of Snapchat’s short content bursts to promote your event, product or special offer. Because the videos and pictures can’t be longer than 10 seconds and disappear once they’re viewed, you’re creating a sense of urgency with every snap you post.
You’re basically telling your followers that if they want to use the promo code, special offer or whatever you’re giving them, they need to go to your blog now, now, now!
Real-time updates
Like many social media platforms, Twitter being the perfect example, Snapchat is a real-time app. This means that updates occur in the present so when you create a new blog post, you can promote it via Snapchat right away.
There’s no posting delay with Snapchat which leads to instant results. Because your followers are seeing your snaps in real-time they’ll be prompted to check out your blog in real-time too.
Talk to your followers directly
To send people to your blog site, chat with your fans on Snapchat but interact with them on your blog. What this means is, get your fans to ask you questions on Snapchat and send them to your blog for answers. When you talk to your followers directly on Snapchat via the chat feature you can send them right to your blog.
For example, host a Q&A about the product, service or subject of your next blog post. Get your followers to ask questions on Snapchat while you provide the answers on your blog. In doing so, you build engagement with your fans on Snapchat and on your blog.
Snapchat quick facts to help you maximize the platform’s potential:
- Snapchat users are called snapchatters
- The photos and videos you take on the app are called snaps
- Snaps can be viewed by the recipient for 1-10 seconds before it disappears
- A snapback is a reply to a snap
- You can create a narrative of your snaps with a story
- Snapchat gives you a score based on an equation that takes into consideration the number of snaps you’ve sent and received, and the amount of stories you’ve posted
- To add new friends easily you can use scannable codes called snapcodes
- The app has a chat feature allowing you to send direct messages to others
- There’s also a video chat option that lets you either hear or see a friend live
- You can add up to 80 characters of text to your snaps
Approximately 200 million snaps are shared daily on Snapchat making it a simple and effective way to drive traffic to your blog. Let the app work as an emissary for your blog and you’ll be able to promote and market your brand with ease.
Approximately 200 million snaps are shared daily on Snapchat making it a simple and effective way to drive traffic to your blog. Let the app work as an emissary for your blog and you’ll be able to promote and market your brand with ease.
Author Bio – Rebecca Hill is the Outreach Coordinator at TechWyse, an SEO agency in Toronto, Canada. When she’s not busy building relationships with bloggers and influencers in the marketing world, she can be seen rooting for the Blue Jays.
