Snapchat. You’ve heard about it. You probably thought, at least for a little bit, that it was only for sending racy pictures.
But, now all of your employees are using it. Your mom is using it. Your 10-year-old daughter is using it (under adult supervision.)
So, what the heck is Snapchat and why are so many people using it and how can it help you, the small business owner?
What is Snapchat? It’s a photo and video sharing app with a twist, the photos you share are only viewable by your friends, or the public, for 24 hours. After that, they are gone forever. Unless, of course, you download them (but we’ll get to that in a minute.)
Why are so many people using it? Because it’s a fun and simple way to share with friends, and the world, how your day is going. Snapchat is also full of fun filters that you can decorate your pictures with, or that will make your face look funny.
Okay, so how can businesses use it? You’re probably thinking, “Hmm, if the picture or video “snaps” I share all go away in 24 hours, what’s the point of putting a lot of time and effort into a Snapchat account?” And, that’s not a bad bit of logic. However, by using Snapchat as a launching point, you can get the best of both social media worlds. Here’s how…
- Start a Snapchat account for your business using your business name. Don’t use a personal account for anything you’re doing professionally. This make sure that people know who the snaps are coming from, a business or a person.
- Take snaps of some of the daily activities you might have at your place of business. If you’re a shoe store, show off some of your shoes throughout the day. If you’re a restaurant, it’s pretty easy to take snaps of some of your favorite dishes. If you’re an insurance office, umm.. well… you can share pictures of some fun stuff going on outside your office window.
- Tell a story with your snaps. One of the great things about Snapchat is how people can become storytellers. For example, say you are working on a project at work. You can share pictures of the beginning, middle, and finished product with annotations as you go along. Your followers will be able to follow along and get involved.
- Download your snaps. Here is the part where we get the most out of Snapchat. If you go to your “My Story” section in Snapchat, you can download your snaps to your phone or device. This will allow you to then use those snaps for other social media platforms. Did you take a great picture on Snapchat? Download it and post it on Instagram. Did you have a really funny video from inside the store? Download it and upload it to Facebook. If you download your stories each day, you can build a library of content that you can continue to use well after the original snaps disappear on Snapchat.
Well, there you have it. Be sure to follow us on Snapchat (user name lehighvalley) and get to snapping!
