Why is Snapchat so special?
Snapchat is the brainchild of Evan Spiegel and Bob Murthy. It was launched in 2011 as an app where users can share photos, videos and stories with their followers. To make its experience unique and interesting, the duo designed it such that messages sent disappeared after the recipient reads or watches it. Moreover, its stories disappear after a day.
But that’s not all, for those crazy and bold enough to send explicit and audacious images, Snapchat created the option of a Premium account where all that can be shared confidently while maintaining your privacy.
Through Snapchat, you can take cute selfies, use emojis, filters and masks. It also has a video call option and features a Discover section where over 16 social media outlets including BuzzFeed, VOX and MTV can publish content from their websites in a non-standard format.
Why should you care about Snapchat monetization?
Now, Snapchat is only nine years old and its effects have been felt the world over. Currently, it has over 238 million active daily users. But that’s not the most impressive part. As of 2016, Snapchat beat Facebook and Twitter in daily video views and active daily users respectively.
It’s worth noting that Snapchat appeals to people aged between 13 and 29 years. With the Gen Z $44 billion spending power, this is more than impressive. However, the older generation is also catching on. Aside from this, Snapchat’s engagement is high and very few businesses have learnt how to leverage it.
With that said, how do you make these numbers low competition and the tech behind it work for you? Below is a guide on how to make money on Snapchat.
Building a Snapchat audience for beginners
Snapchat has great business potential. But it all counts for nothing without an audience. So before we dive into Snapchat monetization practices, here are some tips on how you can build a lucrative Snapchat audience.
- Use other your connections on other platforms to grow your Snapchat account. Also, offer teasers and snippets of what your audience will benefit from when they follow you.
- Promote other Snapchat accounts and they will follow you back.
- Add your Snapcode in the content you create for blogs and other platforms.
- Post consistently. You share anything related to your brand several times a day. However, be careful not to overdo it.
- Network with other social media users on message boards. You can exchange contact information while you are at it.
- Get shoutouts on the platform from other users with larger audiences. You can talk to influencers to share your account or verbally shout you out. This will send traffic to your account and boost your views/followers.
Best Snapchat Monetization Practices
After you have a decent following, you can now leverage your account to make more money. Below are the tried and tested ways of monetizing Snapchat.
Create and advertise сontent and products
Quality is everything if you want to maintain and earn from social media traffic. Science shows that an average individual has an attention span of 12 seconds. This is how long you have to capture your audience’ interest and get them to take a specific action. The type of relationship you build with your audience will depend on the quality of your content and how engaging it is.
To stand out you’ll have to use the tools Snapchat has availed. But since everyone is using the same tools, you need to think outside the box.
To do this, have your target audience in mind. Make a list of their pain points and then deliver your content or product to solve their problems.
Speaking of products, they don’t have to be tangible products – digital products in line with your brand will work as well. Such products include audio programs, video courses, and ebooks. Moreover, they can be proprietary products or third-party. Whichever the case, provided they solve a problem for your audience your sales will blow through the roof.
Design a Geofilter
Quality is everything if you want to maintain and earn from social media traffic. Science shows that an average individual has an attention span of 12 seconds. This is how long you have to capture your audience’ interest and get them to take a specific action. The type of relationship you build with your audience will depend on the quality of your content and how engaging it is.
To stand out you’ll have to use the tools Snapchat has availed. But since everyone is using the same tools, you need to think outside the box.
To do this, have your target audience in mind. Make a list of their pain points and then deliver your content or product to solve their problems.
Speaking of products, they don’t have to be tangible products – digital products in line with your brand will work as well. Such products include audio programs, video courses, and ebooks. Moreover, they can be proprietary products or third-party. Whichever the case, provided they solve a problem for your audience your sales will blow through the roof.
Gain opportunities through Snap Ads
This is a great way to build awareness for your product, brand and business. Many Snapchat users view ads daily. Sure, they can skip the ads if they please, but it’s an effective and direct way of getting your brand in front of millions of users.
Depending on your location, Snap Ads may not be available to you. But the good news is that there are apps you can use to by-pass this restriction.
Like Facebook, Snapchat has a convenient and effective ad manager. You can use it to create and target users. Below are the advertising formats available on the platform.
- Snap Ad – users can watch or listen to the ad. It will pop up within regular content.
- Story Ad – this pops up on Snapchat’s Discover feed. This ad type is especially useful for individuals looking to do mass advertising and promotions.
- Filters – some images will overlap through a carousel.
After launching a Snap Ad campaign, you can crack the results and performance. The statistics you get will help you to optimize the campaign for greater reach and effectiveness.
Advertise through Sponsored posts and lenses
Aside from Snap Ads and Geofilters, you can also make some money through lenses. With this feature, when a user turns on their camera, the lens has a pre-existing design and snaps through it.
This method of making money on Snapchat is creative and unique. Aside from regular lenses, you can get a sponsored lens. But to use a sponsored lens, you’ll have to contact officials and persons at Snapchat. They will listen to your idea, goal and requirements and create a unique lens design for you.
One lens you might have interacted with was the Coke lens that went viral during the Football World Cup. When your snap lens is shared, it’s like getting recommended to a friend. Because of its direct marketing aspect paying for a custom lens is an exceptional idea.
Alternatively, you can use sponsored posts. These posts are designed specifically for promotion and marketing purposes. If this is what you want, you can open a business page where you share your work and let people into your world. Using a business page also allows you to reach more customers and potentially increase your sales.
Use smart tools to direct traffic outside Snapchat
Like most social media platforms, you can make money through affiliate marketing on Snapchat. Everyone wants to make a sale. So if you can promote other products and brands to your audience through posts and content, you can generate passive income. That’s a tried-and-true strategy that will reward you in time.
As an alternative, you might act like a headhunting affiliate. That is to say, acquire Snapchat traffic and afterwards lead it to your affiliate web page (a lander). These activities pay out well but take a lot of time and handwork, because you need to segment the audience you are driving, create different landers, and test various calls to actions.
With AI-driven tools, you save plenty of time while getting more conversions. One of these tools is Adsterra’s Smart Direct Link. Using the Link is simple but has great returns if you use it well. That’s how it works.
How Adsterra Smart Direct Link works
As a business or brand, you can create a regular or sponsored post/ad that will direct traffic to your landing page. This could be an elementary page with a call to action and a button. Then you simply add the Smart Direct Link. When users led from Snapchat click on the link, Adsterra through its advanced AI optimization picks up on some information about them. These are: the device in use, geographical location, OS, type of internet connection, interests and preferences. After capturing this profile, the Link sends each user to the most relevant ad.
It means, one link carries multiple offers which the AI filters and displays the best one to every user. As an affiliate marketer, you receive payment every time a user views the ad. With the CPM payment model, you can earn big bucks.
When searching for the best-matching offer, Adsterra’s algorithms range CPM bids as well, pushing forward those with highest rates.
Summary on Snapchat monetization
Snapchat is a relatively young platform, but this hasn’t stopped it from growing into a formidable force in the social media space. Over time, its user base has grown and it now appeals even to the older generation. Overall, it is a fun way of socializing, discovering new people, places and businesses.
Above we have listed a couple of ways you can monetize Snapchat traffic. Though we revealed a tool for instant monetization, we should insist on the fact that all affiliate marketing activities demand careful analysis and step-by-step implementation. Also, even though it’s user base is growing, the customer base is 70% millennial. When you are creating content have this figure in mind.
Below is a roundup of the important tips to remember;
- Do not expect to get rich overnight. The process is gradual and depends on how much you put in. If you are dedicated to creating compelling posts with various creatives, you’ll have a great chance to win lots of conversions and get rewarded with high CPMs from advertisers.
- Always find new ways of doing things. Do not be rigid and stick to the old and boring ways of doing things. Instead, evolve with the digital world every day and update your Snapchat money making strategies.
- Never stop building your client base and seek out new methods to earn. Look at what your competition is doing and is working for them and get something going for yourself as well.
Snapchat can turn into a passive money-minting platform for your brand or business. Start getting profit from it by adding Adsterra Smart Direct Link to your armoury.
BONUS: How to start getting money with your Smart Direct Link
Sign up as a publisher. Choose Websites from the left panel, then click the green Add new website button. Enter your website URL, pick Direct link from the Ad Units field. Your website will be sent to approval. Usually it takes several seconds or up to 5 minutes to verify the URL.
If you don’t have the site, just enter your Adsterra login again. You may also rent a domain specifically for monetization purposes and use it for direct link purposes.
