Snapchat is fun. The etherial social media media app has risen from a simple selfie swapping app to a fully fledged social media channel in it’s own right, allowing users to string together still images and 10sec video clips into mini episodes called Stories. Just like a TV show, these Stories are broadcast for a period of 24 hours, allowing fans and friends to view them for a short time before they vanish.
Love them or hate them, Stories are here to stay. They are now an integrated part of the mobile social media experience, appearing on Instagram, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp as a new and complementary way to share glimpses of what’s going on in your day.
Since the major channels started borrowing features from Snapchat and integrating them in their own platforms, Snapchat too started rolling out new updates. It’s an intuitive app and has a unique user interface, but it’s not so easy for new users to get their head around at first, although that may be changing as other channels become more snapchatty.
So, I created this very short crash course video in How to Get Started with Snapchat. It’s absolutely free and will guide you through installing and navigating the app, it’s various features and how to get snapping and create your very first story, in just over 5 minutes.
Should you be using Snapchat as part of your social media mix? If your target audience is under 30 years old, then absolutely! Millennials have grown up with Snapchat being part of daily life, they know it and use it, and you can engage with them quicker and longer than other channels, if you know how to communicate with them in the right ‘cool’ way.
Lots of people had started Snapchat channels last year and were working hard to build their audience. Then Instagram Stories came out any many went back. When you have thousands of Instagram followers ready to consume your content, why start again building on another channel? One thing is for sure, you should be maximising the opportunities on your existing channels before adding a new one.
You’ll find the principals of Snapchat and Storytelling apply to all social media channel todays, especially those that are run on-the-fly from your mobile device. So if you downloaded Snapchat, got lost and never came back to it (like so many people do) or you want to see some next level Stories or just have fun, then this video is for you.
