Snapchat

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Snapchat is a platform that is starting to get a lot of traction. A photo and video messaging app launched in 2011, it seemed to be just for kids to play with at first, but in the past year or so it has had a rebirth and business owners and entrepreneurs are starting to take the platform a lot more seriously.

I started to use the platform to have conversations with friends and family. To be honest, we mostly spent our time trying to out do each other in the ‘Ugliest Photo’ category.

Fun and playful at first, now it isn’t about that for me—it is more strategic. I am following people I want to have a deeper relationship with, other business owners and entrepreneurs I admire and want to learn from.

I love that with Snapchat nothing is rehearsed. It is all in real time, not staged, and although that is one thing I feared at first I have learnt to love it. The spontaneity of it is refreshing and I believe live streaming is our future. Word to the wise: The sooner you adopt it into your overall strategy the better off you will be.

But as with everything to do with your business, it still requires careful forethought. You need to know what it is you are trying to achieve with this platform before you launch into using it (particularly because you only have a few seconds before your image/video disappears into the ether).

My one goal with Snapchat is to build better relationships with key people. Who are those people?  It is simple: The people who follow me. I’m not out to have the largest audience—I’m out to have meaningful relationships with people. I want to truly get to know them because one thing I have learnt in my years of working online is that it’s the real relationships you have that help you in business.

While this is my goal it certainly isn’t what I advise others do. There are only a few business owners who are making this space their main platform because the engagement is a lot higher than any other platform.

Things businesses are doing on Snapchat:

1. Engaging their customers with quick fire interviews, i.e., in local cafes, retail stores. I have seen business owners and customers Snapchatting each other at the same time. Makes for interesting watching.
    
2. Quick-fire photos. This frees up time because instead of live-vlogging all day, you can snap photos at strategic times throughout the day. This helps your viewers get an understanding of what your day entails. Be creative. Design a story around your images.  Always think about how your content is consumed—vlogging all day can actually turn your audience off. Always change it up.

3. Use the Snapchat geofilters. Design a filter for your business or your location. The sooner you do this the better. Early adopters to Snapchat should get in on this now before everyone else does. Get your filter shared and seen by all your fans and followers.
    
4. ‘SnapSwap’. Swap Snapchat accounts with other influencers so they can tell their story to your audience and vice-versa.

5. ENGAGE. My personal favourite, this involves you taking full advantage of the ability to chat with your fans, check out their stories and send them video/audio or text. And I do not mean advertise and tell them about your latest sale. Really get to know them. Ask them questions (and not questions about whether they are coming to your latest sale). Take an interest.

My top 5 Snapchat accounts to follow are : 

Leah Light: Jump into the the background scenes of this very busy business women. She truly is a breath of fresh air and has me laughing on a regular basis.

Cliff Ravenscraft: Cliff has very interesting commentary on so many insightful topics. If you are looking for inspiration in fitness and business then he is your man.

Joel Comm: Snapchat story teller KING. Everyday is a new take on how you can make the best use of Snapchat. He keeps it interesting and if you are new to the platform he is def worth a watch.

Chocolate Johnny: Chocolate, talking teeth, oompa loompas? These Snapchat stories make my morning. A small business owner who is killing it on Social Media and loving his snapchat audience—AND he is an AUSSIE (but we won’t hold that against him).

I’ll give the last word to a couple of business experts on how Snapchat can benefit you:

“Snapchat gives business owners the opportunity to connect with their customers in a more personal, direct way, just like ‘back in the day’ before social media was a thing.” Peter Freeman

“B2B companies can totally learn about their fans’ default state and reverse engineer the sale. [It allows for a] depth of relationship vs width of platform.” George B. Thomas