THE SNAPCHAT APPEAL
Just about four years ago, the idea for Snapchat came to a bunch of 20 year olds who wanted to revolutionize the concept of viewing pictures and videos that would disappear with a time limit. Now looking at the app which is currently the third most frequently used among teenagers with 100 million active users every day, one wonders how did it turn out to be so successful.
WHY IS IT POPULAR?
The main appeal for Snapchat is its disappearing pictures and chats. Based on the idea of a 'moment', the pictures and videos stay with you for a brief amount of time before disappearing forever. You can't lie on Snapchat, everything is real and in the now. Moreover this app is mainly for the younger generation, since everyone is on Facebook now, Snapchat targeted the teenagers and made them find solace in Snapchat as the new cool thing. The teens got their own personal space where they freely express themselves and tapping into the younger audience is what skyrocketed the fame of Snapchat and gave it mass appeal. Here are a list of reasons of what made Snapchat the next big thing:
PRIVACY:
Since almost everybody is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram these days, Snapchat gives its users privacy. They can have their own personal group of friends on Snapchat, post pictures and send chats which have a timespan of 24 hours before vanishing. There's less judgment if you post a bad picture or send a risky text as it disappears within a day, it cuts down on the guilt. It's like your own personal space where you can show your choice of friends how your day was like. It takes v-logging into a whole new level.
IN THE MOMENT:
The whole idea that Snapchat is based upon is that everything has to be in the moment, you can't fake anything unlike pictures on Instagram. It's a platform where you can breathe and be yourself. The content you post is 100 percent original and the best part is, the rest of the world doesn’t needs to see that. Only the people in your close circle gets to view your story.
SNAPCHAT STORY:
Snapchat's UI design is rather easy to figure out, it relies on 100% user engagement as the app opens into the camera. The design is simple to understand, tap to add photo, hold on for video, select the time limit and send it to your story. To view a snap, click on the stories of your friends and swipe right to chat. The users spend an average of 25-30 minutes daily on the app, mainly for the fear of missing out on other's stories.
A year back Snapchat introduced its live option where users would take pictures and videos of their city highlighting it as they see it. The Snapchat team then selects the best ones for the world to see live. This again relies heavily on user engagement.
DISCOVER:
The Discover section gives brands opportunity to bring themselves on this new mobile marketing bandwagon, it started out as 12 brands but currently Snapchat has top 16 brands on its discover page creating content that is trending among the users. The rest of the brands were quick to hop on to this new advertising bandwagon and made Snapchat IDs of their brand for the users to follow. These brands also tapped into producing videos for their products since Snapchat's video views increased 400% since last year.
THE FUTURE:
Snapchat is still in what is considered to be its initial developing stage, it has yet to bloom with more opportunities for its users and marketers to make this app reach number one amongst all social media apps. The full potential of this app is yet to be explored by marketers and advertisers as more and more businesses are hopping onto the Snapchat bandwagon. It has definitely revolutionized advertising and now is the best time for marketers and advertisers to bring their brands on Snapchat.
