In a world where we put a lot of ourselves out there publicly on social media, Snapchat hit the scene with a radical new idea: ephemerality.
It was designed for private, personal, and short-lived content that disappears completely after 24 hours.
And it was a hit, especially with teens.
Today, it's one of the world's top social media platforms, and marketers are starting to realize that it's got a lot of potential.
Like Instagram, Snapchat offers a “stories” feature.
This can be a great content marketing opportunity for brands, especially those that are targeting teenagers or the 18-24 demographic.
If you've been on the fence about adding Snapchat to your social media strategy, it's a great time to get started with Snapchat stories.
In a recent post, Hubspot offers some pretty compelling reasons why Snapchat might be worth your while.
Why Use Snapchat Stories?
1) Users can share spontaneous, unpolished posts.
Snapchat was the original ephemeral sharing and messaging app, and it made its mark for showing a more authentic and unpolished side of social media, especially compared to the perfectly curated posts on Instagram feeds.
And as it turns out, that original feeling is what keeps some of its users engaged to this day.
[image source: Hubspot]
2) It's a less competitive space for brands to stand out with customers.
While some think Snapchat makes it too hard to discover and follow other users, Richie de Wit thinks Snapchat audiences could be more engaged because they have to seek your brand out so intentionally. Plus, because Instagram is so saturated with accounts, Snapchat could be a way to grab people's attention more easily.
[image source: Hubspot]
3) It's a more personal, private space for sharing with friends.
The most commonly cited argument for using Snapchat was for private use to communicate with friends and family — not necessarily for brands.
[image source: Hubspot]
My colleague, senior growth and acquisition marketer Lindsay Kolowich, uses Instagram for personal branding — and she doesn't post Stories. Instead, she saves her authentic and spontaneous content for her private network of Snapchat friends.
[image source: Hubspot]
And in such a connected and social world online, some marketers find it valuable to have one network that's just for them, and not for personal or business branding.
[image source: Hubspot]
4) It's popular among younger audiences.
One of Snapchat's biggest value propositions has always been its appeal to younger social media users — like teens in high school, and college students in their early 20s. Younger millennials were among the early Snapchat adopters, and they're still the Snapchat diehards today.
So it's no surprise that when we asked our resident youth culture expert, Clifford Chi, about Snapchat, he was a big fan.
(Just kidding — he's an intern writing for the HubSpot Marketing Blog.)
[image source: Hubspot]
So while Snapchat might be on a user growth downturn right now, who's to say how its demographics and popularity will change when Chi and his classmates graduate, start working in social media marketing, or purchasing ad space? They'll probably start with Snapchat — and app they already know and love.
For a great discussion of Instagram stories, Snapchat stories, and how they're distinct from one another, check out the full article over at Hubspot.
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