Snapchat ads. Are they worth it?
Here’s the thing: Those who like this platform, really like. According to a Pew Research survey of American Snapchat users, 46% reported visiting the site multiple times a day. This puts the site just ahead of Instagram at 42% and just behind 51% of Facebook. Snapchat is particularly popular with the 18- to 24-year-old demographic.
Still on the fence? Global usage is expected to increase by 14% in 2020.
Some other impressive numbers:
- An average of 210 million people use Snapchat every day around the world.
- These users spend an average of half an hour a day on the site.
- These users create 3.5 billion Snaps daily.
Now that you have an essential reel on why advertising on Snapchat is worth your time and effort, this piece will make clear how to create ads that will engage the platform’s unique audience.
Six different types of Snapchat Ads
Before you start your advertising journey, you should know the different paths you can follow. In the Snapchat example, there are six different types of ads.
Quick Ads
Snap ads can take many forms: videos, photos, gifs, etc. Ads, whatever their format Fullscreenappears among different types of Snapchat content. It allows the viewer to take immediate action such as installing an app or clicking on a specific URL.
While Snap ads can be up to three minutes long, they are most effective when they are between three and five minutes long. second long.
This screenshot is from a nine-second commercial for mobile gaming company Nanobit. You can see the full thing, which boasts a 50% lower CPI than other platforms, in this case study on the Snapchat website.
filters
In the Snapchat universe, the word “filter” doesn’t apply to the various edits and overlays we put on our faces to look like we have giant anime eyes or that we’re wearing a particularly absurd hat. These are the “Lens” that we will outline below. Instead, it includes filters, stylized text and images, and targets specific demographics. The filter below, developed by Quaker Oats, is targeted at College and Young Working Women, Female Fitness Enthusiasts, Convenience Seekers, and Working Moms.
Snapchat also offers GeoFilters that target geographic areas rather than specific demographics. Private GeoFilters are popular with cities, universities, and other public places who can create community Geofilters for free (provided there is no brand logo).
Businesses can create their own GeoFilters for as little as $5. (The larger the region and the longer the ad runs, the more it costs.)
A two-day GeoFilter is $13 for an area around a specific office building. Increasing the radius to a full city block brings the price to about $45. If you want to go big instead of going home, you can aim for 70 city blocks (or about five million square feet) for $3,000.
GeoFilters are perfect for location-specific businesses like theme parks and hotels.
lenses
When you think of Snapchat, you probably think of selfies with dog ears and/or flower crowns. These are lenses!
From an advertising standpoint, they can also turn you into a giant taco like Taco Bell does. If you’ve seen this in your feed, you’re unlikely to forget even if you try hard.
In addition to “Face Lenses” as above, Snapchat also offers “Earth Lenses” that use the front camera to make it appear as if objects are in your physical space. So you can imagine what it’s like to have a hamburger on a plate in front of you! Created from images of a real burger, like this lens from Bareburger, it allows potential customers to imagine their meal from every angle.
Story Ads
Stories ads are a collection of Snap Ads in quick succession. You know, for those times when you need more than three to five seconds to convey what you want to say!
Story ads appear in the “Discover” feed with a cover photo and headline intended to entice you.
Product Ads
Would you like to shed light on your products and services? Upload your catalog or list of services and create ‘shop-able’ ads (also known as product ads).
Below is an example of what you would see as an advertiser creating these ads. Below that is an example of what the user saw. They can click on the item that looks most attractive and buy it right away!
advertisements
Only available in certain countries, Snapchat ads are what they sound like. They run six seconds long and cannot be skipped.
Dynamic ads
A very new offer (launched mid-October 2019), Dynamic ads brings automatic personalization to Snapchat advertising. Remarketing allows you to send ads to past visitors of your website or mobile app, while dynamic remarketing allows you to direct users to online catalog pages specifically for products they are looking at exactly on your site. Customers like Swarovski and Ivory Ella saw positive results in their dynamic ads during the holiday season.
How to advertise on Snapchat
- Go to Snap Ads Manager
- Decide what type of ad you want to create:
- Choose the target of your ad:
- Copy and paste the URL you hope to increase traffic to. (Importing photos saves you having to upload them yourself.)
- Choose a title and Call to Action:
- Choose your demographic based on gender, age, location and, if you prefer, lifestyle.
How much does it cost to advertise on Snapchat?
Snapchat chat costs are kind of a “how much is a piece of string” question. To give you an idea of the various investment levels, here are Snapchat’s Estimated Average Daily Swipe rates for a one-week campaign targeting the demographic above, $20 per day, $200 per day, and $2,000 per day.
Best practices for Snapchat ads
As with any ad campaign, it’s important to know best practices before you start creating your own ads, especially if you want to maximize your budget.
know your audience
As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, Snapchat is particularly popular with the 18 to 24-year-old demographic. That’s why the platform is best suited for the under 25 crowd. Make sure you also build your audiences from your Snapchat customer lists or lookalike audiences based on your Snapchat customers.
Define your business goals
Do not post Snapchat ads just to serve Snapchat ads. Make sure you know what you hope your campaign will accomplish. Otherwise, you have no chance to develop and test a strategy to see if it is successful. So, it helps to increase views of your videos, re-engage with your app users, increase traffic to your website, etc. make sure you are working
Test and optimize
Snapchat automatically optimizes your ads for the targets you choose during setup. Try A/B testing while your campaign is running and keep a close eye on things like which images are performing well and what time of day your target audience is more descriptive. Use this data to inform your advancing tactics.
Measure results
Snapchat advertising includes pretty solid analytical reporting. From Delivery Metrics to Spend Metrics to Conversion Metrics and everything in between, you’ll know if your Snapchat ads are delivering the desired results. You’ll also get tips on how to do better next time. Before your campaign starts, make sure you know how to use Snapchat Analytics.
Not ready to dedicate your advertising budget to Snapchat yet? Check out our posts for basic and advanced tactics of Snapchat marketing.
