SNAPCHAT ANALYTICS

With its base of 173 million daily users, Snapchat has become an effective tool for businesses. Brands can promote themselves through ads, Snapchat Stories, geofilters and sponsored lenses. 

Recently, Snapchat has implemented analytics tools for verified accounts and influencers.

Influencers can access detailed stats that break down audience demographics and engagement.

The new “Insights” page provides information about:

• Total story views
• Time spent viewing stories
• Daily reach and engagement metrics
• Audience demographics
• Audience interests

This is a handy tool that allows brands to understand their audiences. Brands can tailor their content more effectively, seeing precisely what works and what doesn’t.

SNAP MAPS

Snapchat’s Snap Maps feature isn’t entirely brand new – it debuted on the app last year – but it’s finally available on the web as of February 2018.

Snap Maps allows users to broadcast their locations on an interactive map, accompanied with photos and videos.

Snap Maps has been utilized during Hurricane Harvey, the Pyeongchang Olympics, and even high school gun control protests.

Brands can take advantage of Snap Maps’ real time, visual appeal by posting during concentrated events like conventions, marathons and festivals. Brands can encourage audiences to participate and share their own content.

SNAP STORE

On February 1, Snapchat set up an in-app merchandise store named Snap Store. Users can buy products through the Snap Store.

The initial launch solely featured Snapchat merch, like a Dancing Hot Dog Plushie or a Dog Lens t-shirt.

However, Snapchat recently partnered with Nike during NBA All-Star Weekend. Nike released its new Air Jordan “Tinker” shoe on the Snap Store.

Users who attended the All-Star after party scanned a Snapcode, which linked them to the Snap Store. The sneakers sold out after 23 minutes.

The Snap Store represents a large amount of potential.

Snapchat can access billing/shipping information to gather more data on its users, and use that to improve targeted advertising. Snapchat has taken a step forward in the e-commerce industry, allowing them to tap into its young, active user base.

The Nike promotion was a clear success, and in the future, other brands may have opportunities to promote products on the Snap Store. This is definitely a feature to keep an eye on.

FACEBOOK LISTS

Facebook is still the king of social media sites. Facebook serves as a hub for news, content and ads. 95.8 percent of social media marketers state that Facebook produces the best return on investment than any other platform.

Facebook’s new features is called Lists. Users can create and share lists – Top 10 lists, to-do lists, and so on.

Users can decorate Lists with color backgrounds and add emojis.

Facebook’s Lists is another tool that brands can use to spice up their content. What are some lists that you think would appeal to your followers?

INSTAGRAM RESHARING

Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr all have options to retweet, reshare or reblog other users’ posts.

Instagram lacks that option. Users instead go through the awkward process of screenshotting other posts or using third-party apps.

To rectify this issue, Instagram has been testing a reshare feature.

This feature allows Instagram users to share public posts to their Stories, with the original poster’s username credited. The original poster is notified about the resharing.

Users can turn off this feature if they want to prevent their posts from being reshared.

While this has yet to fully debut, Instagram resharing is definitely a useful one. Instagram users will be able to do something they never were able to do before.

Instagram resharing would allow brands and influencers to expand the reach of their posts and ads. Hopefully, it’ll be roll out soon.

In August of this year, Instagram began competing directly with Snapchat stories. Keen has read several articles comparing the two, but they seem to focus a lot on their features or instructions on how to use them. At Keen, we’d rather embrace their difference instead of pitting them against each other. We’re interested in two things (a) How should you apply “stories” to your platform strategy and (b) How much of your audience will each reach?

INSTAGRAM STORIES

Before we begin, we need to first review some updates that occurred earlier this year. In June, Instagram initiated an algorithm which determined which photos are shown within a user’s newsfeed. Before this change, photos were viewed in chronological order, but now your photos are shown in terms of performance; top performing post are now only shown within your fan’s newsfeed.

For businesses, this should have greatly impacted your strategy since each photo no longer reached fans like they did prior to the update. Businesses needed to depend more on Instagram ads than organic reach for your weekly content. However, Instagram Stories rejuvenates hope! Now, your business has the opportunity to once again reach 100% of all of your fan-base within a 24-hour window. In reality, there’s no limit the number of stories you can create, so you can technically reach your fans longer than 24-Hours if you create a steady stream of stories.

A great organic strategy for your business is to begin creating content for “stories” and pull them into your profile so they can view the rest of your Instagram content. A great way to do this is by providing a call-to-action in your last snap to “check out the remainder of the story on our profile.” I’d like to caveat that this should not replace your paid strategy. Keen highly recommends leveraging Instagram Ads to target more relevant audiences and continue to grow your fan-base.

Instagram Story Example

SNAPCHAT STORIES

Obviously, Snapchat’s platform creates a unique and more personable way to communicate with your followers. Snapchat reaches 41% of all 18-34-year-olds in the United States on any given day and they just released some awesome targeting features (Snapchat Targeting – Click Here). Unlike Instagram, you don’t have a profile that displays your contents, so besides “snap stories”, all of your communication is one-on-one with your followers. You can leverage the same strategy with Snapchat Stories and reach 100% of your followers, and drive them to click the “chat” button with you to learn more.

The one-on-one communication on Snapchat really allows you to get creative with the platform and make it more of VIP outlet for your business. For an example, you can reward the first 10 people who “chat” with you with exclusive content or a percentage off their next purchase.

SnapChat Story Example

We hope this gives you some quick ideas on how to leverage both Snapchat and Instagram Stories. So, there you have it. We encourage you to embrace the differences in platforms and the opportunity to leverage these new features, instead of wasting your time arguing on which platform is better.