Are you aiming to expand your presence on Snapchat? With Instagram and Facebook dominating the social media marketing landscape, Snapchat for business can sometimes be overlooked. However, it shouldn’t be underestimated, as it boasts 383 million active users daily.

Snapchat offers unique advantages as well. While Instagram excels in showcasing polished products and curated content, Snapchat provides a more immediate and authentic experience in terms of presentation.

Despite facing criticism in comparison to Instagram’s staggering 1.35 billion users, Snapchat is a distinct platform that sets itself apart from its larger competitors.

To thrive on this often-underrated platform, it is crucial to understand how to increase your friends list on Snapchat. A larger audience increases your chances of gaining traction and acquiring new conversions.

In this blog, we will share tips on expanding your friends circle, provide examples of Snapchat marketing, and discuss some of its noteworthy features.

The Benefits of Growing Your Snapchat Following

Snapchat presents a distinct platform for promoting your business. With its unique features like disappearing images, Snap Map, and entertaining filters, it encourages creativity and offers fresh avenues for expanding your audience.

What does that mean for you? Well, it opens up opportunities to capture a new audience. Snapchat is particularly popular among Generation Z, the demographic born between the mid-1990s and 2012, making it an ideal platform if you’re targeting a younger age group.

Advantages of Snapchat Strategy:

• With its diverse array of tools, you can leverage Snapchat’s features to attract potential customers and keep them entertained.
• Snapchat offers a fresh and engaging experience that captures the attention of users in a way that is different from other platforms.
• Snapchat’s features, such as lenses, filters and stickers, inspire creativity and allow you to showcase your brand or personal content in a captivating and entertaining manner, making your posts stand out.
• Snapchat ads can help you connect with Generation Z. This demographic is heavily present on Snapchat, giving you valuable opportunities to engage and build relationships with them.
• Snapchat’s interactive tools and features enable you to engage with your followers in innovative ways.
• Sharing real-time moments and unfiltered content allows you to establish a genuine connection with your followers, making your brand more relatable and trustworthy.

By focusing on growing your Snapchat following, you can take advantage of these benefits to enhance your social media presence, foster meaningful connections, and effectively engage with your target audience.

Learn More: Effective Social Media Marketing for Your Business

Tips for Growing Your Snapchat Friends and Followers

In this section, we will explore effective social media marketing strategies that can help you expand your Snapchat audience. By implementing these steps, you can start building your following, fostering relationships and promoting your business.

• Invite Contacts and Share Your QR Code on social media and Email

  Utilise your existing contacts and connections to gain Snapchat followers easily. These individuals are more likely to follow you back since they already know you.

  What To Do?

  a. Access your Snapchat profile and click on the “Add Friends” button.
  b. Select the “Contacts” menu and click on “Find Friends” to grant Snapchat access to your contacts and social profiles.
  c. Return to the “Add Friends” section, where you’ll find a curated list of users you can add with a single tap.
  d. Sit back and wait for your friends and family to follow you back, which will set the ball rolling.
  e. Additionally, tap into your followers on other social media platforms. Many of your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram followers may also use Snapchat. Create a Snapchat QR code and invite them to follow you.

• Utilise Bitmoji and Augmented Reality for Creating Viral Content

  Creating viral content on Snapchat can be challenging due to the platform’s saturation and intense competition. However, Snapchat offers powerful tools that can help you craft viral content, even if your brand is not widely recognised.

  What To Do?

  Bitmoji is a valuable addition to Snapchat that has become an essential element of content creation. It enables you to customise a virtual avatar that closely resembles your appearance. You can incorporate Bitmoji in various ways, such as on your Snapcode, in snaps and photos, and even in messaging across Snapchat and other social platforms.

• Organise an Engaging Snapchat Giveaway

  Everyone enjoys the excitement of a giveaway, and the positive impact they can have on your business is undeniable. Giveaways not only boost sales and grow your email list but can also help you gain more friends on Snapchat. Still sceptical? Let us share a few compelling examples.

  What To Do?

  Consider offering giveaways to gain more friends. Collaborating with popular influencers in your niche for co-promotion can also amplify the reach and impact of your giveaway.

  Here are some engaging themes and ideas for Snapchat giveaways that have proven successful:

  • Local-based scavenger hunts
  • Trivia questions
  • Photo or hashtag contests

  Test these strategies on your Snapchat account to determine which generates the best return on investment (ROI) for your brand.

• Utilise a third-party platform to host your giveaway

  Gleam is a recommended choice that ensures all entries to your giveaway comply with your Snapchat account requirements. Through stringent verification methods, Gleam confirms that users are following your instructions. It makes it incredibly easy to gain Snapchat followers. You can promote the giveaway link on external platforms, reaching a broader audience beyond your current Snapchat following.

  What To Do?

  Setting up a giveaway with Gleam is a breeze and it takes just minutes to get it up and running. Once your giveaway is live, you receive a unique link that you can share with anyone. Ensure that the prizes you offer are directly relevant to your target audience. For instance, if you run a jewellery blog, giving away a piece of your jewellery would attract the right audience and provide value to your followers.

• Craft Compelling Stories in a Blog-Style Format

  Expanding your Snapchat friend base and maintaining their interest requires more than just giveaways. It entails creating captivating content that keeps people entertained and eager to follow you.

  Snapchat curates your feed based on user preferences, presenting a valuable opportunity to attract more followers.

  What To Do?

  By implementing a simple call to action, Snapchat leveraged this content to drive website traffic. They linked full articles to each slide, utilising the platform’s swiping capabilities. Review your recent blog posts or content pieces and identify opportunities to divide them into different slides for a Snapchat story. Additionally, leverage Google’s assistance in generating fresh content ideas.

• Discover Fresh Content Ideas from the Discover Page

  If you’re seeking effective methods to increase your Snapchat friends, look no further. This approach is one of the best strategies you can employ. Rather than spending hours creating content that may not resonate with followers, why not leverage existing popular content? It’s a logical approach. By understanding what’s already working, you can create similar content that appeals to your target audience.

  What To Do?

  Snapchat Trends is a fantastic resource that allows you to explore trending topics and associated snaps relevant to your search. The possibilities are endless and you can examine what was trending over the past week. Furthermore, you can filter your search by “captions” or “#topics” and choose from five different countries, including the United States, Canada, and France.

In the example below, I searched for “Celtics soccer” and “gaming chair” using Snapchat Trends:

Snapchat Trends Example.

Snapchat Stories is another feature you can utilise to find inspiration for your content. You can browse through published content and gain insights that can fuel your creative process.

Spotlight is yet another feature that shines a light on the most entertaining snaps. By swiping up and down, you can explore captivating content. To discover trending sounds, lenses and topics, simply select the “trending” button. While some content on the Discover page may be paid placements, it still offers valuable insights into successful content formats.

Pay attention to stories on the Snapchat Discover page that are labelled as “Popular Story.” These are unpaid, organic posts that are gaining significant traction.

Take Advantage of Snapchat Spotlight

Snapchat Spotlight features a curated collection of captivating Snaps shared by users worldwide, accessible to everyone. It functions similarly to Instagram’s “Discover” section, enabling users to discover content from unfamiliar users who post about their areas of interest.

Being featured on Spotlight can amplify your Snapchat presence and enhance your visibility. To be considered for Spotlight, create a Snap and select the “Spotlight” option from the “Send to” screen.

Spotlight also offers cash rewards for outstanding Snaps. However, it’s crucial to adhere to Snapchat’s guidelines, which include:

• Keeping Snaps between five and 60 seconds in duration
• Infusing creativity into your content through captions, sounds, lenses and GIFs
• Incorporating relevant hashtags on Snapchat’s send page to encourage interaction and exploration of similar Snaps
• Submitting only your best-quality Snaps
• Avoiding duplicate content
• Using original content and utilising sounds exclusively from Snapchat’s library

Now, let’s explore some content ideas to expand your Snapchat reach and increase your circle of friends:

• Dance Challenges: Just like TikTok, Snapchat allows users to engage in dance challenges by creating videos and leveraging popular music and hashtags.
• Comedy Skits: Many users on Snapchat Spotlight craft humorous skits or sketches, utilising filters and other creative tools to elevate their content.
• Storytime Videos: Prominent Snapchat Spotlight creators often share personal stories or anecdotes with their followers, employing animation and visual elements to make their narratives more captivating.
• Beauty and Fashion Tutorials: Numerous users produce makeup tutorials, fashion advice and other content centred around beauty on Snapchat Spotlight.
• Travel Vlogs: Snapchat serves as a favoured platform for sharing real-time travel vlogs, enabling users to easily document their adventures and share them with their followers.

Learn More: What is Social Media Marketing

Utilise Sponsored Lenses

Snapchat features augmented reality filters known as lenses that enable users to engage with interactive elements. Unlike static filters, lenses provide a virtual experience where users can virtually interact or manipulate objects in augmented reality.

In addition to their cool factor, sponsored lenses offer the opportunity to reach a targeted audience. Businesses, for instance, can create campaigns tailored to specific demographics, such as age and gender or focus on topics that users frequently engage with.

Snapchat Marketing Example: Coca-Cola

A Snapchat advertisement from Coca-Cola Denmark was part of their “Share a Cola” campaign. This ad allowed users to personalise messages and share positivity. As a result, it significantly increased ad awareness and achieved a 10 percent rise in the share rate.

Sponsored lenses are not limited to Coca-Cola; other major brands like Red Bull, MTV and Warner Brothers also employ them. However, even smaller brands can benefit from sponsored lenses. For instance, you can use a fun sponsored filter to promote a grand opening or the launch of a new product. When users incorporate your lenses in their stories, it can substantially expand their reach authentically and organically.

Recommend Other Products through Affiliate Marketing

If you have experience with affiliate programs and utilise affiliate links on your blog, you can leverage those relationships to promote affiliate content on Snapchat and expand your audience reach.

For those who haven’t ventured into affiliate marketing, the first step is to identify an affiliate partner and create relevant content.

Here’s How It Operates?

You endorse products from other businesses using a unique link, and when your friends make purchases through that link, you earn a percentage of the profits. Sign up with platforms like Awin, Shareasale and Rakuten Marketing to explore various affiliate products. Once your application is approved, you can select brands or products within your niche, integrate affiliate links into your content and earn commissions for successful sales.

To effectively promote your affiliate links on Snapchat, focus on creating entertaining and engaging content that is likely to resonate with your audience.

Add Story Ads

Story Ads provide an opportunity for users to display advertisements within the Discovery feed. Similar to Facebook’s newsfeed, the Discovery feed allows users to explore content from the accounts they follow, as well as sponsored content from brands and influencers.

• With Story Ads, you can incorporate 3-20 single images or video ads, which Snapchat will showcase amidst regular content or on a dedicated tile in the Discover section.
• With a strong customer-centric Snapchat marketing strategy, utilising Story Ads as a means to broaden your reach among users who may not be familiar with your brand. For instance, you can share a collection of your products, provide educational content related to your industry or share your published content.

While immediate sales may not be the primary outcome, increasing brand awareness plays a pivotal role in driving future sales.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Expanding your social media marketing efforts beyond platforms like Facebook and Instagram can be a wise choice. Snapchat, with its impressive user engagement and average daily usage of 28 minutes, presents a valuable opportunity. With 383 million daily active users, it offers a vast potential for gaining new followers who are captivated by the platform.

• However, it’s important to acknowledge that gaining more Snapchat friends requires time and effort, similar to any other social media platform. Fortunately, Snapchat provides tools to facilitate friend acquisition, such as sharing your QR code on various social media platforms to increase awareness.
• Another effective social media marketing strategy is to leverage your email list by incentivising people to follow you on Snapchat, offering enticing perks like discounts or exclusive content.
• Additionally, creating and sharing viral content using features like BitMoji and augmented reality, organising giveaways and crafting engaging stories that stimulate people’s imagination can all contribute to attracting more Snapchat friends.

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