This has been out in the open air for discussion over the last few months. Everyone knows that Snapchat is the “thing” to be on and that there’s attention there for those who can earn it (and find ways to entertain and consequently keep it).
Now, the only dilemma to figure out is… how the heck do you use it for business!?
Well, maybe it’s not the ONLY dilemma, but you can learn the interface and all the Snapchat secrets and tips in our Snapchat Mastery ecourse. Easy Peasy.
You see the thing is, that you can’t just broadcast your posts or products in Snapchat and expect to gain any sort of traction. It’s just not the culture.
In fact, most social medias don’t do well with businesses just “pushing” their content to their followers.
There’s a native culture and content specific to each social media platform.
Think of it like visiting a foreign country.
To get the most benefit ideally you’d want to know the language (natively) to understand all the cultural implications. This would give you an edge in understanding the culture and providing and gaining value—over non-natives.
Snapchat is a language and has its own culture.
Now, it’s probably not nearly as challenging as learning something like Japanese, but with a great attitude and desire for understanding the platform, you can totally do it, without hassle.
I hear you… “okay, Emelina we get it, but seriously how do we use this ghost thing in business!?”
Gotcha, let me fill ya in on the low down, pronto.
What using Snapchat in business comes down to, is how business is conducted with any platform.
Whether you’re frequenting chamber mixers or doing all your marketing through Facebook groups—success is found in relationships.
Use Snapchat as a mechanism to scale building deep relationships with as many individuals as you can manage.
And yes, it’s all about DEEP relationships over many shallow ones.
Allow me to give you some context. I’ll compare Snapchat to a traditional business scenario to which you’ll probably relate.
In traditional business, the system is this…
- Go to chamber mixers, professional mixers and any other local networking events
- Meet as many people as possible while sipping on a cocktail. I used to get at least 12 business cards (meeting that many people) at every mixer.
- Communicate your message—what you’re here to change, create or a problem that you are solving with your business
- Go home, and send emails to each contact, thanking them for chatting and ask if they want to get coffee sometime to see if you could help each other mutually in business.
- Meet over coffee for an hour, see if you’re “interested” in each other (meaning any sort of personality compatibility where you’d be interested in building a dynamic business relationship
- Exchange relevant leads or referrals and agree to meet again
- Next month, meet again for coffee, discuss any other ways you can help each other in business
- Perhaps actually do business with each other… rinse and repeat
This scenario is definitely effective. But… what if you could scale it?
Instead of investing a few hours every month into ONE person… what if you could scale it to handle TEN people at once?
That’s the beauty of Snapchat. It’s incredibly scalable.
Rather than networking SO MUCH one-on-one (meaning a 3-hour mixer here, a 1-hour coffee meeting there, another 1-hour coffee, a 1-hour consultation, etc) you can carry on short, sweet conversations with multiple people at one time.
It’s kind of like networking on steroids.
Allow me to give you some context. This is what the business or networking system looks like in Snapchat.
In Snapchat, the marketing system looks like this…
- Create fun, authentic and engaging snaps that contribute to someone’s life (this can be relevant business education, motivation, humor, entertainment and more—not sure where to start? Read this article on finding your audience)
- Be visible. Show up on others’ accounts for “Snapchat Takeovers” and in Blabs, other social medias, etc.
- Be consistent with your snaps—snap daily if you can
- Communicate your message—what you’re here to change, create or a problem that you are solving with your business
- Watch peoples’ snaps in the community, comment and show that you care
- Engage with your followers—find out who they are, what they do, and what’s important to them—talk to them! Snapchat is a messaging platform… think of it as a mix of email and voicemail
- Chat back and forth with your followers, and other influencers creating deep relationships
- Plan webinars, Blabs, podcasts, Snapchat phone calls, animated gifs to chat, and online Skype calls to network one-on-one with Snapchatters. The beauty of these interactions is they are often shorter than traditional networking. Five to ten minute Skype calls is not uncommon as opposed to the traditional 60-90 minute in person coffee meeting.
- Find out if you can help others get more exposure, visa verse.
- Perhaps actually do business with many people, to scale… rinse and repeat
Snapchat is a dynamic and creative messaging platform. This makes it a natural marketing platform too!
Marketing is a combination of being visible, knowing your message, and building deep relationships that matter.
Snapchat’s native messaging platform then, is natural for marketing yourself!
Snapchat is an EASY platform to market on—if you know your messaging (what you’re here to share and say), you’re willing to put yourself out there AUTHENTICALLY 150%, and you’re open to making friends and building relationships.
Snapchat is just like any other business platform in that way.
- Know Your Message
- Be Visible
- Make Friends and Relationships
- Have an Awesome Product or Service
- Be REAL (authenticity matters)
- Sell by Proxy
I hope I’ve at least tickled your senses.
Ultimately, Snapchat is an incredibly scalable networking and storytelling platform.
Personally, from my experience, I believe that building relationships and telling authentic stories are the most powerful (and SUSTAINABLE) methods to market yourself or your business.
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