Snapchat might have started as an app for sending silly selfies and posting quick quips never to be seen again. But it’s grown into a powerful marketing tool hiding in plain sight. With 400 million daily active users, Snapchat is where attention lives, especially if you’re targeting Gen Z and younger Millennials.
What sets Snapchat apart for social media marketing is how personal it feels. You’re not just posting to a feed and hoping for likes. You’re dropping into someone’s inner circle, right between messages from their friends and stories from people they care about. That kind of access is rare, and when done well, insanely effective.
If you want less “Look at me!” marketing and more “Let’s connect,” Snapchat is the place, and this is exactly why it works. Plus, tools like Stories, Spotlight, AR filters, custom lenses, and location-based ads help brands lean in and stop the scroll.
Let’s look at how to do Snapchat marketing, including what to post and how to reach your core audience.
Contents:
Understanding Snapchat Marketing
Essential Snapchat Marketing Strategies
Snapchat Advertising: A Deep Dive
Measuring and Optimizing Performance
Common Mistakes to Avoid in Snapchat Marketing
Improving Snapchat Marketing with Meltwater
Understanding Snapchat Marketing
Snapchat marketing involves using Snapchat’s unique features — Stories, ads, filters, etc. — to promote your brand in a way that feels native to the platform.
It’s not about creating perfect content or getting the most views. Instead, your goal should be to show up in meaningful ways, grab attention quickly, and give users a reason to engage with you.
Snapchat users tend to be highly loyal to the platform. We’re talking 5 billion snaps per day.
That sounds like a lot of noise that could make it harder for brands to stand out. But the reality is, Snapchat users want to consume lots of content, which is why they choose the platform. Content feels fun and immersive, which means your brand can slide right into users’ scrolling habits without it feeling like an ad.
When your content appears fun and exclusive, people pay attention.
TIP: AI can help you generate content ideas for a wide variety of social media platforms, including Snapchat! Download our Ultimate Guide to AI for Social Media Management to learn more!
Essential Snapchat Marketing Strategies
Snapchat has a very specific vibe. Most of its users are active on the app and fall into the younger demographics. They don’t like hard sells and instead prefer relatable content.
If your goal is to build brand loyalty and boost brand awareness, Snapchat is your playground.
Let’s look at some effective Snapchat marketing strategies that can help you gain an edge.
Create engaging Snapchat Stories
Stories are the heart of Snapchat. They’re quick, they fill the screen, and users consume them fast.
Use Stories to give your audience a peek behind the curtain, like new product drops, tutorials, office shenanigans, Q&As, countdowns, or quick blurbs. Keep it real and always include a call to action, even if it’s just to swipe up or DM you.
Use Snapchat lenses and filters for brand engagement
Snapchat has mastered the art of AR. You can create custom lenses (think face filters) or geo filters (location-based overlays) that people can use in their Snaps.
Lenses and filters are interactive and fun, plus they get your audience engaged. It’s one way to spark a viral trend without ever paying for ads.
Leverage Snapchat Spotlight for viral content
Spotlight is to Snapchat what Reels is to TikTok and Instagram. They’re short, vertical videos that live in a public feed.
This is another fun way to go viral without paying for ads. Keep videos relatable and fun, tap into trending topics, and grab your audience’s attention within the first couple of seconds.
Partner with influencers on Snapchat
Influencer marketing collabs work on just about any social media platform, including Snapchat. But Snapchat’s more intimate vibe hits different.
Work with a variety of creators who already speak your audience’s language and let them run wild with your product or service. Think Snap takeovers, product reviews, storytelling, or demos, for example. These formats feel more authentic and natural compared to traditional ads or branded content.
TIP: Download our comprehensive Guide to Influencer Marketing for more tips, including how to find the right influencer partners for your brand and much more.
Run contests and giveaways
Everyone loves free stuff, and Snapchat is perfect for flash giveaways and creative challenges.
Ask followers to snap their best photo using your product, tag you in a Story, or submit a Spotlight video to enter.
Snapchat Advertising: A Deep Dive
Like many social media sites, Snapchat offers brands a paid path to performance. Snapchat Ads can help you reach the right people at the right time. Your job is to create content in a way that doesn’t feel like you’re advertising.
Ads on Snapchat come in several forms:
- Snap Ads: Images or videos that show up in Stories or Spotlight, often with the purpose of brand awareness or getting website visitors.
- Story Ads: A series of images or videos, ideal for driving engagement or promoting special offers.
- Collection Ads: Shoppable ads that make it easy for customers to browse and buy products.
- Commercials: Non-skippable video ads that are designed to build brand awareness.
- AR Filters: Static branded filters that users can add to their Snaps.
- AR Lenses: A Snap-exclusive ad format that uses branded AR.
No matter the ad format you choose, these best practices can help you get the most from your advertising budget:
- Hook fast. You’ve got maybe two seconds to stop the scroll, so lead with your best visual or message.
- Design for vertical. Snapchat is mobile only, so create for a tall format.
- Keep it short and punchy. Aim for under 10 seconds unless you’ve got a seriously good story to tell.
- Use sound. Most users watch with audio on, so use that chance to speak to them directly.
- Add a clear call to action. Tell viewers what to do next.
Here’s a look at some brands that have put these ad formats and best practices to the test.
Fun Learning Store
Learning requires hands-on engagement, which is what made Snapchat a powerful platform for Fun Learning Store. The brand used Snapchat’s interactive Story Ads to bring their products and services to life.
Users could see the brand in action and visualize their children using the company’s products. The campaign resulted in a 610% increase in purchases.
Magic Tavern
In a competitive market like gaming, Magic Tavern needed a clear way to stand out to its audience. It turned to Snap Ads and leveraged its lookalike targeting features and built-in analytics. The brand captured more high-quality paid users at a lower cost per purchase and a higher ROAS.
Laneige
Beauty brand Laneige uses Snapchat to lean into a user-generated content strategy. It trusts its customers to create compelling content that showcases its products’ unique benefits. Bold, colorful static images also help to promote product launches and sales, resulting in a 142% ROAS.
Get inspired by what other brands are doing on Snapchat and see how you can adapt their wins to your goals.
Measuring and Optimizing Performance
If you want real results from Snapchat marketing, you need to benchmark in order to track what’s working and what isn’t, then tweak accordingly.
The good news is that Snapchat gives you the data. And you don’t need to be a data scientist to use it.
Key metrics to track include:
- Views
- Swipe-ups
- Watch time
- Screenshots (since Snaps disappear in 24 hours)
- Conversions
Snapchat Ads Manager is your control center. You can get a breakdown of who’s paying attention (e.g., gender, age, location), how they’re engaging, and which ads are crushing it.
It’s a good idea to A/B test different ad creatives and let the data speak. You might be surprised: Sometimes, a low-quality video outperforms a polished studio spot. Change one thing at a time so you can pinpoint what’s making the difference.
You can also integrate third-party tools like Meltwater for even more insights. For example, Meltwater can help identify trends and topics so you’ll know what your audience is into, then use these insights to form your creative.
TIP: Download our free Social Listening for Benchmarking Guide to see how easy Meltwater makes capturing and leveraging social media insights.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in Snapchat Marketing
Snapchat rewards creativity, but it’s easy to fumble the play if you’re not paying attention. Before you publish your content, make sure you’re not falling into any of these common traps:
- Treating Snapchat like any other social media channel and not embracing its raw, fast, casual vibe.
- Skipping the sound element.
- Posting inconsistently.
- Overcomplicating the message or including too many messages.
- Not having a clear strategy about who you’re targeting and what you want to achieve.
- Ignoring analytics and performance tracking.
- Not optimizing content for mobile users.
Snapchat marketing isn’t hard, but it is different. Avoiding these missteps will put you way ahead of the game.
Improving Snapchat Marketing with Meltwater
Snapchat requires a balance of creativity and smart strategy, and Meltwater can help you with both. The most successful brands aren’t winging it with flashy Stories and fun filters; they’re creating these and other content with purpose.
Meltwater helps you get to know your Snapchat audience on a deeper level, even beyond the way they engage with your brand. Learn about their interests, the influencers they pay attention to, the trends and causes they care about, their content preferences, and when they’re most active on Snapchat. Then, build your strategy around their needs.
With creative energy and data-backed decisions, you have a game plan for serious results. Learn more when you request a demo by filling out the form below!
