Snapchat Advertising: The Future Has Arrived (Again)

It was less than a year ago that I wrote my first post about Instagram advertising. You can find that here.

In the article, I seemed to be in awe of the idea that Instagram would be launching advertising. However, capitalism is king. Of course they launched ads. And if you’re a user of Instagram, you probably can’t remember the days that Instagram was ad free.

If my intuition is correct, it is an almost certainty that your franchise has not launched Instagram ads to attract new franchisees. (We only started last October!)

Well, today in our weekly FranchiseHelp marketing meeting, I heard a word that I really didn’t expect to hear for quite some time…Snapchat.

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Before we get into the arrival of Snapchat advertising, let’s just level-set about what Snapchat actually is.

Started in 2011, Snapchat is a mobile app that has enables 7 billion daily video views. Users take videos with their phones and then share them either with people directly or to a running feed of their life called a “story.”

Originally, Snapchat gained famed because they enabled videos and photos that disappeared quickly after viewing! However, contemporary use of the app does not center on this type of usage and one of our FH team members even went as far as to say that the fact that the videos disappears is annoying.

Snapchat has made headlines as one of the most valuable tech companies still private. Depending on which sources you believe, Snapchat is valued between 10-20 billion dollars and has no interest in being acquired by bigger companies.

Unsurprisingly, Snapchat is more popular amongst a younger demographic with the company touting it as the way to reach 13 – 34 year olds.

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Well, as I mentioned earlier, Snapchat has begun serving advertising. For a full rundown of what the app is offering click here.

As I began to put down some pros and cons of what this means for franchises I found myself repeating so many of things that struck me about Instagram –

" Pros

[Snapchat]allows you to reach potential franchisees in a manner that you haven’t been able to previously.

Photos and videos may allow people to perceive franchise ownership more concretely than text.

Succeeding as an early adopter means that costs are low and ROI is high

Cons

A new advertising platform means very high risk.

Educating users about franchise ownership doesn’t mesh well with the other content on [Snapchat]

[Snapchat]is focusing on branding and e-commerce, rather than direct response "

In addition to these notes, I’d add that Snapchat is really just creeping into the older audiences. If you’re looking for 65-year-olds, then Snapchat is definitelynot where you want to advertise.

But no need to fear, OF COURSE we’re going full steam with Snapchat ads here at FranchiseHelp. As soon as we have some findings to share, we’ll do just that!

If you’re interested in learning about FranchiseHelp’s lead generation programs, click here.