Snapchat fits the bill perfectly in this day and age, where being privy to what’s happening makes the user feel that much more special. You could even say Snapchat is a cut above the others at that. This is attributed to the medium of content the platform uses – personal, unique, and snackable. In that moment, only YOU have taken that picture of the food you’re eating, the concert you’re attending, or that dress you’re buying. No one else can possibly replicate that. THAT is one of Snapchat’s biggest winning streaks and now, as a business, yours.
Here is a preview of what this blog is going to talk about –
This ephemeral nature of Snapchat’s content might just be the perfect fit for your next event. It’s one of the best ways to generate curiosity and leverage on the resulting fear of missing out (F.O.M.O). Tell your audience to send you their snaps through contests, giveaways, and even treasure hunts.
Here’s an analogy to explain that. If there’s a flash sale with 50% discount on everything from 9AM to 10AM on just that one day, wouldn’t you step on the gas and be there for that hour? Just reading/seeing this made you feel that element of urgency, didn’t it? That urgency is induced because of the short duration of the sale.
“Everything will get over in a heartbeat”.
Perplexing as it may be, the sense of urgency invites its buddies- exclusivity and cliquish.
“Did you know about it? No? I did.”
Snapchat is a hive of activity
A hive with 178 million daily active user force, to be exact. Imagine the amount of honey you can draw from that!
People are using Snapchat to send snaps to their friends, find interesting things on Discover, create Stories, use quirky filters and lenses, and so much more!
3 billion snaps are sent everyday.
That’s 3 billion snaps your next event can be part of.
How? Read on!
Snapchat can help you cause a stir
One of the most important things events are characterised by is that they’re location based. A music concert, a flea market, a food festival, or a cars expo – whatever the event may be, it’ll happen in one or multiple geographically bound locations. Snapchat has devised a great opportunity to leverage the location attribute and it’s called Geofilters.
Snapchat geofilters are graphics that overlay the images you click and are related to a particular location and what is happening there. In one shot, you, as a brand, have interacted with your fans and their friends in a fun and contextually relevant way.
This is perfect for event advertisement because it safely lures your customers into where your event is happening! By sharing a live experience virtually, your audience is telling their community what they’re doing without actually saying it but by showing it. This creates a cascading effect of “OMG! Look what’s happening there! Let’s go now!” and that’s how your show/event gets sold out!
With Snapchat, you can reach a whole new set of audience – The Millennials, a demographic that you’d never be able to reach through television, print, or other conventional marketing. Geofilters are the perfect creative outlet for the audience to create exciting stories that they share with their friends.
To get started with creating your own geofilter, head on here.
Now, let’s play a game!
We’ve picked 3 personas and have come up with how they would use Snapchat’s geofilters for their events! At the end of it, you can either tell us if you fit into any one of these or create one of your own.
-
If it is a sports event
Sports events are all about the groups. It’s always about the really passionate crowd supporting and cheering the teams that they’re loyal to. There is also some healthy rivalry there. These are the emotions you could play on while creating geofilters for a sports event.
Let’s say you own a sports pub and today it’s the Barcelona vs. Real Madrid match. You have a huge screen and are telecasting the match. You’ve decked up your bar with banners, posters, and slogans of both the teams. You’ve even customized the menu with drinks named “Messi-ng with your head”, etc.
There are multiple opportunities for geofilters here. Any geofilter you create will have your branding on it. Here are two ideas –
A.) Geofilters can be perfect for running contests where you giveaway coupons. For instance, you could run a happy hour coupon contest for all those who take a snap with your geofilter and send it to you. This makes sure that your customers are in the location of your pub thereby helping you increase your sales.
More people = more sales = your happiest day.
B.) Geofilters with the teams’ logos, banners, or famous players can add a really big winning fun element to your pub, making you standout from the rest of them.
-
If it is a music concert
Music concerts are high energy and extremely entertaining. The geofilters have to bring out that element in their design along with the genre of music, the location of the concert, and the audience the artist is attracting. If you are sponsoring or organising the event, you can include your branding in the geofilter thereby making sure you reach not just the people attending the concert but also their friends!
Let’s say it’s a Beatles concert, hypothetically of course. (Yes, I wish it could really happen now too!). Here are two ideas-
A.) The geofilter design can have titles of their most famous songs with related graphics. For instance, for the title “Yellow Submarine”, a small yellow coloured submarine could be part of the design.
B.) Imagine clicking a picture with the Fab Four! The design can have their faces sketched out and placed at the four corners so everyone feels like they’re taking a picture with them.
-
If it is a restaurant
Everyone takes pictures of their food.
“If you didn’t Snap your food, did you really eat it?”
There are numerous contests you can run at your restaurant with geofilters! Let’s say you own a restaurant called “The Steak Out” that’s famous for its steaks. Here are two ideas-
A.) “Stake out at The Steak Out” could be your geofilter. You can run a contest where you tell your customers the first five people to send you a snap with the geofilter get like a 50% off on their meal for staking you out.
B.) “Staken out for dinner!” could be another geofilter which your customers can use if they come to your restaurant for a dinner date!
Now, it’s your turn! Comment with the persona and your ideas for its geofilter!
Snapchat is a Way of Life
It’s no longer just a tool that teenagers use to take pictures. It’s a platform for communication and more importantly, discovery. And the best part is even a shaky video of your dog with a Burger King crown is perfect for Snapchat. It has taken away the need for creating the perfect image by making it disappear in an hour or a day. That, honestly, is like finding that breath of fresh air amidst all that social overwhelm. Snapchat has a way of humanizing marketing content and this opportunity to tell the story exactly while it’s happening is golden.
Also published on Medium.
