Customers are consistently increasing the amount of time spend on consuming digital media as a result of which advertisers continue to increase their ad budgets to gain brand reach and customer engagement. Snapchat recently launched new tools and features that make it easier to run ads on Snapchat.
Snapchat has made it easier to allow brands to buy and track ads via its self-service platform the Ad Manager — it provides a mobile version that allows users to track campaigns on-the-go. There is no minimum spend making it attractive to smaller businesses, which is important for a relatively new entrant like Snapchat in the market.
A browser based tool called the Snap Publisher allows advertisers to create campaigns for Snap’s vertical video format. It helps edit and resize videos for mobile screens and minimizes the time required to make video ads. So, no mobile version currently but Snap Publisher has a huge appeal to smaller businesses that may lack the technology or the expertise to produce ads specifically for Snap’s platform. Snap Publisher is a self-serve design tool of Snapchat that enables advertisers to build creative campaigns on its platform easily making it easier to sell ad inventory.
Here is something that Snapchat is offering to help! Snapchat Certified Partners is a program that will give additional training to its top ad partners that will also get a preferential treatment when referring clients.
Snapchat also made a recent addition of allowing ‘Limitless Snaps’. Originally users had a viewing limit of only 10 seconds for a Snap but now users can remove the 10 second max viewing time limit – as explained by Snapchat:
“We’ve all felt the frustration of not being able to fully enjoy a Snap – even after replaying it – and we wanted to give you the option of allowing the recipient to enjoy your Snap as long as they’d like. After your friend finishes viewing the Snap and taps to close it, it will delete as usual.”
Snapchat’s ad formats are unique and stand out from the rest. Advertisers cannot copy and paste the same format from the web. There are sponsored Geo-filters or Sponsored Lens allowing clients to use branded location-based stickers onto its content. Though Sponsored Lens comes at a premium price; advertisers are happy with the engagement and hence the impact it creates. Since Snapchat appeals to an audience that is younger and may not necessarily be brand loyal, it is something that ‘cool’ and young brands cannot afford to ignore. It is a platform that is very personal and very energetic engaging its audiences far better than other channels like the TV.
With so many social platforms hitting the market every day, it is getting increasingly difficult for marketers to stay on top of these constantly evolving ad formats. Optimizing creative content for multi platforms is often time consuming as well as a costly affair. It is critical to develop creatives that run across all platforms via design tools that will simplify the complex digital landscape. Snapchat represents a new age of cross-platform apps that perform well across multiple devices and is certainly opening a window of opportunity for advertisers.
