Marketers Not Jumping on the Snapchat Bandwagon Yet
A little more than three months after its blockbuster IPO, it has gotten relatively quiet around Snapchat. Even after reporting less than stellar first-quarter earnings last month, the company’s stock price never dropped below the IPO price of $17.
There remains a bit of skepticism regarding its long-term outlook, though, and not everyone is convinced that Snapchat’s popularity among Millennials justifies its parent company’s $20+ billion valuations. Aside from the apparent threat that Facebook (including Instagram) poses to Snap’s long-term success, marketers have yet to embrace Snapchat fully.
According to a recent report by the Social Media Examiner, just 7 percent of marketers used Snapchat in the first quarter of 2017, which is worlds apart from Facebook’s 94 percent adoption rate. However, even Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are used by a significantly more significant portion of the 5,700 marketers taking part in the survey.
Because Snapchat’s user base is relatively small compared to other social media platforms, the messaging app is proving a potential advertising platform for some marketers. Therefore, one would assume that companies could reach Snapchat’s users in other ways, say by advertising on Instagram, which has a much larger audience. However, that might not be as easy as it sounds.
According to data published by App Annie, Snapchat has a unique audience that cannot easily be reached on other platforms. Sticking with the Instagram example, only 54 percent of daily Snapchat users in the U.S. are active on Instagram as well. The same applies to many other platforms, which do not share a broad audience with Snapchat.
For brands, this means that knowing the audience they want to reach is just as important as knowing where to get that group. There is no one-fits-all approach to social media marketing, as different platforms reach different people and require campaigns to be tailored to the specific audience’s preferences.
Where Else Can Brands Reach Millenials?
This chart shows how many of Snapchat’s daily users in the U.S. use other platforms as well.
Snapchat – while shiny and new – is a long way from being a significant player like Twitter, Instagram, and the big dog – Facebook. For strategies on using Snapchat and all the other social media platforms to grow your business – drop us a note at Luce Media.
