Are you looking for ways to attract new Snapchat followers?
While Snapchat can be a great way to get your marketing message out, it’s can be a challenge to get discovered by other users.
That’s why we’re put together this handy little guide to get you started.
The Basics:
1: Add friends from your address book.
On the Snapchat home screen, tap the ghost icon and then tap add friends.
Snapchat will crawl through your address book to see if your contacts’ phone numbers are associated with a Snapchat account. If they are, you can add them as a friend, and when you do, they’ll get a prompt to add you back.
As a business owner, if you have a customer database with phone numbers, you can import that data into your address book on your iPhone or Android and follow the same steps.
And you can also import the phone numbers of Facebook friends to your Android or iPhone address book to see which ones are on Snapchat. Just tap settings, then tap Facebook, then tap Update all Contacts.
2: Let your email subscribers know you’re on Snapchat.
Send out an email to your list asking them to add you to Snapchat. Yes, it almost seems too easy, doesn’t it?
While you’re at it, drop your snapcode in your email newsletters. You’ll pick up new followers each time you send out an email.
3: Add Snapchat to your website.
You probably already have a “Like us on Facebook” and “Follow us on Twitter” on your website. So add your snapcode into the same area, linking the logo to your personalized URL which should look like this: snapchat.com/add/yourusername.
Visitors will be able to scan the snapcodes from desktop or mobile to add them.
4: For Traditional Businesses Only
Put your snapcode on the door, using a tool such as Sticker Mule to print the decal of your snapcode. This will let local customers know you’re on Snapchat, which should get you more local followers.
And if you have business cards, don’t forget to put your snapcode on those as well. This can lead to more dialogue with sales prospects on Snapchat, and more sales.
Stepping up your Snapchat Game…
5: Direct Message Your Snapchat URL
Use a service such as SocialOomph to run an auto-DM campaign, sending a direct message to new Twitter followers with a link to your Snapchat URL. Ask them to add you on Snapchat.
You might say something like, “Thanks for the follow! I post a ton of great content on Snapchat, so if you’re on Snapchat too, please follow me at __ or click ___.”
6: Cross Promote on Every Social Media Channel
You’ll want to make your snapcode clearly visible on each social media channel where your business has a presence.
You can really make your snapcode visible by going dark on all of your other social media channels for one day each week. Simply send out calls to action on those other channels, letting people know you’re putting on quite a show on Snapchat today and they should join you over there.
By placing exclusive content on Snapchat, it gives your social media followers on other channels a real reason to find you and friend you on Snapchat.
Advanced Techniques
7: Teaming Up with Influencers
You can team up with influencers in your niche or industry to spread the word about your business and drive followers to add you on Snapchat.
The trick here is to find influencers who have audiences that match up with yours. If your audience is 100 people and theirs is 100,000, it’s probably not something that’s going to interest them.
Try doing Google searches for specific keywords that help you locate people who are already speaking about your niche.
Then team up, doing a cross promotion that builds both your audience and theirs.
8: Let Customers or Influencers Take over Your Account
Well that sounds scary, doesn’t it? But it works really well and done right, there is little to no risk.
Use social listening tools to find your superfans. These folks are also what you might call micro-influencers because they do influence their following. They’re already tweeting about your brand, posting relevant content in your niche and so forth.
Offer them free products in exchange for their reviews, and let them take over your account to tell people how much they love your products.
9: Use Facebook to get Snapchat followers
Deep ad-targeting is easy on Facebook, so try using Facebook ads to get your snapcode in front of fellow Snapchat users.
Optimize your ad for engagement so that Facebook serves the ad to as many people as possible, driving as many clicks, likes and comments as you can.
One $50 ad spend test resulted in over a thousand new Snapchat followers, so this can be a cost effective method of reaching new audiences. Remember to target the exact people you would most like to follow you on Snapchat.
10: Use the Suggest Button
Snapchat added a feature that allows you to ask your followers to suggest your account to others, much like you might ask for a like, retweet or subscription.
You ask your users to suggest your account. Your users then tap on your name and tap on the arrow icon. Then they select who they would like to share your account with.
You can make this even more effective by being specific: “Share me with your favorite marketer,” or “Please tell young moms about me so I can help.”
Growing your Snapchat following isn’t as hard as you might think, once you start using some of these techniques.
But remember, increasing your following is just one part of your Snapchat marketing strategy to grow, engage and convert.
Keep your followers engaged with relevant content and you’ll be well on your way to Snapchat marketing success.