Advertising on Snapchat - Step by Step

Snapchat ads enable you to build brand awareness, strengthen engagement, and boost sales. Let us guide you step-by-step on how to get started with advertising on Snapchat!

Social media is used by more than 53% of the world's population according to the latest survey from Hootsuite. Snapchat is mainly used by a younger audience and offers great opportunities to advertise to a buying-ready target group since 60% make spontaneous purchases in the app. In this post, we'll delve into how to start your Snapchat advertising. Snapchat is a social platform where users can share images and videos with different stickers and filters, have video calls, or chat with others. The app was launched in the USA in 2011. Today, the app is used daily by 238 million internet users worldwide, according to statistics from Hootsuite. The app has active users who on average open the app more than 30 times a day. Snapchat has a young audience compared to other social channels, with 82% of all Snapchat users being under 34. According to a Hootsuite survey, 60% of Snapchat users make spontaneous purchases. Let's dive into how you can start your Snapchat advertising below.

Get Started with Advertising on Snapchat

To start Snapchat advertising, you need to create a business account and gain access to Snapchat’s advertising tool: Snap Ads Manager. Once you reach the stage to create your ad, you must set a goal, depending on who you want to reach through your ads. Then choose the campaign objective; website traffic, app installations, brand awareness, etc. Finally, select a budget and eventually, ad placement.Install a pixel.
To measure your advertising and retarget your existing customers, you need to gather data from your current audiences. You can do this through a pixel installed in the Snapchat Ads Manager.We will dive into details further down in this post.

Strategy – Advertising on Snapchat

You need a purpose for your ads to determine what goal to set for your campaign. This usually depends on where in the customer journey you want to reach your audience. It's common to base goals on these three steps, part of a classic marketing funnel:

• Brand Awareness

• Consideration

• Conversion

• Audiences.

When choosing an audience on Snapchat's ad platform, like other channels, you can target your audience by demographics, interests, and habits. A tip is to create a persona from your existing audience and find out who you want to reach with your ads. This step is crucial for successful advertising – if you don't reach the right people with your campaigns, your advertising won't be profitable.

Content.
On Snapchat, you can use creative content, mostly trendy with moving content such as video. Keep in mind that the content needs to be mobile-compatible to work in the app.

Step-by-Step – Advertising on SnapchatIn

Snapchat Ads Manager, you can start advertising, and here's how you do it step-by-step.Step 1 – Choose a goal As previously mentioned, you must set a goal for your campaign before starting. In Snapchat Ads Manager, you can choose from these goals:

Brand Awareness:

• Build brand familiarity

• Introduce potential customers to your brand

• Show new products or services to current or potential customers

Considerations:

• App installations

• Website trafficTraffic to the app

• Engagement

• Video views

• Lead generation

Conversions:

Conversions on the website Catalog / Sales

Step 2 – BudgetYou can set a daily or lifetime budget. Once you’ve set your goal, your advertising cost is based on goal-based bidding to optimize ads. There are three types of bidding strategies:Automatic bidding – Allows Snapchat to allocate your budget to get as many interactions as possible from the target audience.Max bid – is the highest budget Snapchat can spend to achieve the most cost-effective CPA possible.

Step 3 – FormatIn Snapchat Ads Manager, you can choose from these formats:

Single image or video – Here, you can drive the audience via your image or video to your website, app, video, AR lens, or App store by letting them swipe up your ad.

Story Ad – A collection of 3-20 images appearing in your audience's “discover feed”Collection Ad – A collection of product images leading to website traffic.AR Lens – A filter/lens you create yourself through Snapchat Lens studio.

Sponsored filter – Create your own filter with a graphic element conveying your message, applicable to your audience’s Snapchat video or image.

Dynamic Ads – Dynamic ads are a way to reach already warm audiences, and to customize an ad targeting a product previously reviewed by your audience, increasing conversion chances.Step 4 – AudienceOnce you've selected your format, it’s time to choose your audience. There are four options for segmenting audiences. You can also choose to expand your audience with “Auto Expand Audience” for maximum reach.

Lifestyle – Relevant audience based on previous interactions and consists of subcategories based on interests.

Shoppers – Audience based on purchases in stores, restaurants, arenas, and retailers.

Viewers – Audience based on previous consumption of TV, movie, and video content.

Visitors – Audience based on locations visited during the day like restaurants, shops, entertainment activities, etc.

Step 5 – Measure advertisingOnce a pixel is installed, you can measure ad performance to optimize them toward your previously set campaign goal. Typically, set specific metrics (KPIs).Here are some common KPIs:

Views – How many unique impressions did your ad receive?

Completion Rate– How many people watch your entire video ad in the Snapchat story?

Screenshots – How many take a screenshot of your ad?Cost per click – How much does it cost for each swipe up on your ad?

Cost per mill- What is your cost per 1000 views?

Swipe Ups – The number of times the ad is recorded as a user swipes up.

Through these KPIs, you can track if your campaign reaches the goal you aim for and optimize your ads during the campaign period.

A/B testing
Similar to advertising on Facebook, you can create an A/B test to see what engages your audience. Do this by creating two similar ads, changing small details like color, copy, language, etc. Evaluate what attracts your audience and optimize your ads.Summary.Like all social media advertising, it takes time to get results. Analyzing your audience and ensuring you reach the right one is essential. It's crucial because otherwise, it doesn't matter how visually appealing your ads are or how significant your message is. Focus on understanding your audience and perform an A/B test on your ads. There's no conclusion, just guidelines for how to proceed. Try things, learn by doing, and OPTIMIZE more!

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