Snapchat advertising has become a goldmine and, to be honest, quite enjoyable. Our paid acquisition team knows the platform inside and out—they can spot the key elements of a winning six-second swipe-up campaign. We might have initially missed the boat when Snapchat first launched its self-serve advertising platform for SMBs, but we’ve jumped back on board and are riding the wave.

Despite rumors of influencers abandoning ship, Snapchat still holds strong appeal for the 18-24 demographic. In fact, 186 million people use Snapchat every day, creating 3 billion snaps per day. If you’re looking to connect with this younger audience, Snapchat is the place to be.

This comprehensive guide will equip you with everything you need to know about Snapchat ads, covering:

• Setting clear campaign objectives
• Choosing the right Snapchat ad format
• Targeting your desired audience on Snapchat
• Analyzing your campaign’s performance

Establishing Objectives for Your Snapchat Campaign

Snapchat, like other social platforms, offers various advertising options. The best choice depends on your objectives and budget, with different attachment types available to maximize your ROI. Let’s explore the campaign goals that Snapchat can help you achieve.

Building Brand Awareness and Increasing Video Views

This is the most straightforward approach to advertising on Snapchat. You’re simply encouraging users to watch a video – an activity they are already engaged in. Brevity is key! Pro tip: Snapchat advertisers observe higher ad fatigue compared to other platforms. To combat this, create multiple versions of your video ads.

Driving Web Traffic and Conversions

One of the most sought-after advertising goals on this platform is guiding potential customers to your website and ultimately converting them through Snapchat advertising. If you’re a Snapchat user, you’ve undoubtedly encountered ads prompting you to swipe up, delve deeper, or visit a website.

Generating Leads

For those aiming to expand the upper end of their marketing funnel, Snapchat advertising has you covered. Within Ad Manager, you can design ads that encourage users to download content, fill out forms, or register.

Boosting App Installs and Engagement

Snapchat advertising holds a distinct advantage in targeting mobile users compared to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and others. While these platforms can relate, they can’t quite replicate Snapchat’s approach. Leverage this strength when crafting your Snap ad campaign! You know that users are on their phones when they open, view, or swipe up on a snap. Your prospects are just a touchscreen tap away from the app store – or a deep link that seamlessly guides them to your desired in-app location. But more on that in a bit.

It’s worth noting that Snapchat advertising has recently introduced down-funnel event tracking, covering everything from app installs to in-app opens and conversions. Utilize this feature alongside your preferred third-party tracking platform to accurately gauge your campaign’s effectiveness.

Deep Linking Within Snapchat Ads

Deep linking! Remember this game-changer that swept the mobile advertising landscape? It allows users to land directly on a specific section within a mobile app. Snapchat advertising empowers marketers to incorporate deep links within ads, leading users precisely where they need to be. Don’t hesitate to test deep links against your standard links; the results might surprise you.

Enhancing Brand Engagement

Nearly half of college students on Snapchat admit they would open a snap from an unfamiliar brand, and almost three-quarters would do so for a familiar one. The majority are seeking discounts, promotions, and are open to purchasing after viewing a product via Snapchat. The path to brand engagement is wide open – your social media acquisition specialists simply need to step through.

Driving Catalog Sales

Forget the outdated catalogs of the past – Snapchat advertising propels them into the digital age. With the introduction of Collection Ads, Snapchat now enables advertisers to drive catalog sales directly through users’ phone screens. Shoppers officially spend more time on their mobile devices than a desktop. It’s time to embrace the future of catalog shopping!

Exploring Snapchat Ad Formats

Snapchat seamlessly integrates advertising within the app, a testament to its skilled brand designers. After defining your campaign goals, consider which ad formats will resonate best with your target audience and effectively engage them. The good news is that all formats are adaptable! Choose your weapon wisely.

Snap Ads: The Essentials

Snap Ads come in a variety of flavors, however, the terms “Snap Ad” or “Top Snap” typically refer to standard advertisements designed to encourage a swipe-up action. Whether displayed within a snap story or the discover tab, the primary goal of Snapchat advertising is to elicit a swipe. These ads are embedded within stories and can direct users to various destinations, including websites, apps, videos, AR lenses, and the app store.

These ads range from 3 to 10 seconds in length. Make sure to adhere to Snapchat advertising restrictions during setup:

• Upload a 1080 x 1920 px JPEG or PNG image, which will be converted into a 5-second video for a seamless photo-to-video transition.
• Keep in mind that adding an attachment to your Snap Ad will result in Snapchat automatically applying a call to action and a caret at the bottom of the advertisement.
• Always include a brand name that aligns with the paying advertiser and a compelling headline.
• Optimize your ad for full-screen and vertical display.
• Ensure your ad is appropriate for viewers aged 13 and older.

Story Ads

Snapchat Story Ads allow advertisers to place a branded tile within the Discover section of the Snapchat app. Tapping on a tile reveals a collection of ads, with anywhere from three to twenty placements. For this format, Snapchat takes care of the design layout based on the assets you provide. You’ll need to supply:

• A concise headline (up to 34 characters)
• A clear brand name (up to 25 characters)
• Attachments (if you’re aiming for swipe-up engagement)
• Individual files for each Snap Ad within the story Snapchat Story Ads are a branded content experience, similar to playable or rewarded ads. Your top priority is to craft a narrative that instantly captivates users – skip the lengthy introduction and dive straight into the action!

Snapchat Filters

Every Snapchat advertiser likely wishes they were behind the iconic dog-face filter – imagine the brand awareness generated through those countless reposts! While that specific filter is inherent to Snapchat, it serves as an excellent model for advertisers to emulate. Your filters should embody your brand in an engaging and relevant way. When designing and purchasing Snapchat filters, remember to consider your target audience: Where will they use these filters, and why? Adhere to these specifications:

• Image size: 1080 x 2340 pixels
• File size: 300 KB or smaller
• File format: PNG with a transparent background
• Buffer zone: 210-pixel buffer at the top and bottom of the screen to accommodate larger phones
• Send arrow space: 74 pixels
• “Sponsored” designation space: 32 pixels
• Orientation: Portrait
• Screen coverage: Should occupy less than 25% of the screen

Finally, embrace the KISS principle: Keep it Simple, Stupid. Avoid overwhelming your Snapchat filter with overly complex or dense graphics. Give the people what they want – simplicity and clarity!

AR Lenses

Lenses capitalize on a quintessential Snapchat interaction. Users were initially drawn to Snapchat for its fun and flattering filters – who doesn’t enjoy a little digital enhancement? This ad format empowers brands to create immersive experiences through augmented reality. Snapchatters can try on virtual sunglasses, don a dog tongue, or even reveal a robotic alter ego with a simple head shake, all while subtly featuring your brand logo. There are two distinct types of lenses: the Face Lens and World Lens. Face Lenses leverage advanced technology to detect a user’s eyes, mouth, and head, seamlessly transforming them into characters created by your brand. On the other hand, a World Lens utilizes location data to map the user’s surrounding environment, allowing them to experience their world through a new lens using their rear-facing camera.

While some understandable content restrictions are in place for your lens (avoiding profanity, altering a user’s race or skin color, etc.), you have ample creative freedom. Here are some best practices to keep in mind:

• While your lens must incorporate your brand logo or name, ensure it doesn’t obscure the user’s face. Snapchat recommends placing it discreetly in the top right or left corner.
• Snapchat will automatically add a “SPONSORED” tag to the ad, which will appear for two seconds before fading away.

Collection Ads

Snapchat’s latest programmatic offering introduces they rolled out Collection Ads! These ads provide advertisers with a platform to showcase an array of products, offering users an engaging and user-friendly way to explore and make purchases. If you haven’t encountered a Collection Ad yet, picture a standard Snapchat video ad featuring a ribbon of thumbnail-sized products positioned at the bottom. Collection Ads can be generated dynamically using a product catalog, ensuring the featured products remain up-to-date, or they can be manually curated by uploading individual tile images. Due to the added complexity of this ad format compared to a simple Snap Ad, there are more requirements to fulfill within Ads Manager. You’ll need to provide unique links, compelling calls to action, and dedicated swipe-up URLs. Rest assured, Snap will handle the “AD” designation.

Precision Targeting with Snapchat Advertising

With your campaign goals defined and ads in progress, it’s time to configure audience targeting to ensure your ads reach the right prospects. Similar to Facebook, Snapchat allows you to segment users based on a vast number of categories. However, unlike Facebook, Snapchat provides transparency into the source of its data, whether it’s from Comscore, Nielsen, Placed, Datalogix, or other providers. This granular insight empowers you to be incredibly specific with your targeting: you can reach Fox News viewers, mothers with high-school-aged children, recent auto body shop customers, or craft beer enthusiasts – the possibilities are virtually limitless. When it comes to Filter and Lens ads, you’ll be prompted to select a location. You can also layer location targeting onto other Snapchat ad formats. Snapchat Ads Manager grants you the flexibility to target by state, city, zip code, or even define a radius around a specific location. Finally, mirroring its social advertising counterparts, Snapchat enables marketers to create custom audiences and lookalikes. Lookalike audiences can be generated from a file containing your CRM prospects or website visitors. Custom audiences can target these same individuals – visitors or prospects – and even retarget Snapchatters who have previously engaged with your ads.

Measuring Success: Unveiling Snapchat Advertising Insights

While every platform boasts its suite of analytics, Snapchat’s might just be our favorite. Staying true to its branding – everything is awash in yellow! – Snapchat highlights the segments interacting with your ads, even those not specifically included in your campaign targeting. This means you can continuously refine your targeting based on real-time data, enhancing the user experience and maximizing your budget. Essentially, the platform helps you optimize your campaigns while minimizing costs – a win-win-win for advertisers, Snapchat, and its users.

Pay close attention to these valuable insights! In the highlighted campaign above, Snapchat revealed that Shoppers, Liquor & Spirits Drinkers, and Shopping Mall Shoppers (talk about specific targeting!) exhibited the highest likelihood of swiping up on the advertisement. By narrowing our focus to these segments – and strategically scaling back on females and Android users – we successfully reduced our cost-per-swipe-up by a couple of cents. Two pennies might not seem significant, but when multiplied by 600,000 impressions, it makes a substantial impact.

Start Snapping Your Way to Success!

In conclusion, Snapchat offers a robust advertising platform that puts you in the driver’s seat through its intuitive Ads Manager. If you’re a direct-to-consumer brand, give Snapchat advertising a try. It’s budget-friendly, engaging, and who knows – you might just strike gold!