Social Media is become more and more of a primary marketing tool for smaller, upcoming businesses. Aside from the positives such as reducing costs, stretching audiences and covering more ground, social media also helps validate brand image and builds trust for potential new customers. Not your average brand, BANGS Shoes – run by 29-year old Hannah Davis – gave up traditional advertising solely to concentrate on connecting socially with the most important people to her – her customers. Here are some of her top tips for using one of their most successful channels, Snapchat:
1) Keep it short, but consistent
The fewer snaps in a story, the better. Of course without sacrificing quality or substance. Our rule of thumb is no more than 10 snaps per story with an average 5-7 snaps per story. We also recommend posting enough so people know to expect you, but not too much so your viewers grow bored. Our sweet spot is 3-4 times per week. We do alter these cadences when we have something super interesting to share like a trip to our factory or we’re hyping up for a campaign, ex: our Ambassador program opening or a new product launch.
2) Don’t post for the sake of posting
As with any marketing platform, Snapchat content has to be gold — every. single. time. While we do recommend coming up with a Snapchat strategy to fit in line with the rest of your marketing plan, Snapchat is best done on the fly. Viewers can tell if you’re reading something or if it’s too “staged”. Does the person running the Snapchat understand the platform? Are they consistently posting and getting good feedback on their stories? Are your stories on brand? Is your view count staying high and growing every time you post? Or are people skipping over your name when they open up the Snapchat Application? We recommend making sure each story has a point and bottom line. This should include simple brand building stories.
3) Let your freak flag fly ….within reason of course
If “Let your freak flag fly ….within reason of course” doesn’t resonate with your readers, an alternative is “Be creative”. Snapchat is an entertainment tool. People want to watch entertaining stories they can relate or aspire to. The win for a company is if you’re able to weave information into this platform a humorous, on-brand way. Leverage Snapchat to show some personality. Who are the people behind the company? What is your culture like? Keep your stories diverse. Snapchat offers lots of ways to do this: filters, geotags, stickers. Use these.
Entertain the people!
As with any platform, try not to get stuck with any one Snapchat habit: use, get feedback and then optimize.
About Hannah Davis:
My name is Hannah Davis, and I am the founder and president of BANGS Shoes. BANGS are shoes for your everyday adventure! Our mission statement: Your Adventure Helps Other Find Theirs. To date we have invest in 512 entrepreneurs in 60 countries, including the USA.
