Everything Brands Need To Know About Snapchat Influencer Marketing

With Instagram and TikTok at the forefront of influencer marketing, there’s one app that gets lost in the shuffle: Snapchat. Misunderstood by many brands, the app beloved by Gen Z is also an underutilized trove of influencer activations. For a better understanding of how to incorporate Snapchat into your influencer marketing strategy, we spoke with freelance marketing consultant Kate Talbot, who’s also the author of, Oh Snap! You Can Use Snapchat For Business, about best practices on scouting Snapchat influencers and measuring campaign success.

What kind of influencer activations should marketers leverage on the platform and what purpose does each activation play in the funnel? 

Marketers should leverage all types of influencer activations from events to product releases and contests. The best type of influencer activations on Snapchat include taking followers behind the scenes on adventures when working with large brands like Disney or at user conferences like those held by IBM. By utilizing Snapchat’s filters and unique tools, and making the content fun and light, influencer activity should target top of the funnel activity, helping brands gain more followers and increase awareness. 

Because Snapchat also allows for shopping and links, you can have influencers talk about products and focus on conversions as well. Ultimately, those activities should come after influencers demonstrate trust and authority and show their human side so followers will want to purchase what they are selling. 

Additionally, with Lens Studio, brands should connect with AR Lens Creators so that they can highlight user-generated content (UGC) and create Snapchat filters that are built by creators. 

Which influencer activations are marketers having the most success with on the platform?

Snapchat differentiates itself with community-built augmented reality (AR) filters that are available to the public. Brands can also work with AR Snapchat influencers to create branded campaigns. An example of a successful influencer leveraging the space is Cyrene Q. She most recently worked with Charlie’s Angels movie and Grubhub. 

In this Snap, you can see how she created a special filter for Grubhub and here is the special QR Code to unlock it.

https://www.facebook.com/cyreneq/videos/10156314429762001/

How do you scout influencers or determine which ones have genuine pull? 

There are many ways to scout influencers depending on your budget and goals. On the “Subscriptions” and “For You” area, Snapchat highlights influencers that you can reach out to. Those are usually more popular, so you might have to work with influencer agencies, marketplaces or find their contact information and email them directly. 

For Lens Studio activity, Snapchat highlights creators on the website and features their QR codes.

How do you measure the success of the activation or campaign?

Each campaign will differ. You might look at views and interactions like screenshots to measure brand awareness, or if you are focusing on conversions or promos, you can see how many purchased through Snapchat communications. 

Should the activation be cross-promoted on a brand’s other channels or social platforms?  

Yes! Right now, many users are more focused on TikTok and Instagram. If you’re creating great content then post across the channels so that it is viewed. However, always create and post content that fits right into the channel itself—be mindful of that. 

Where’s the most potential growth?

The biggest growth potential is creating AR Filters with Lens Studio. Snapchat just had their second Augmented Reality Creator Summit with over 100 attendees. AR is going to be a huge part of their strategy moving forward, and they’ve always been first to market in this aspect because they look at the world through a different lens. Hence, influencers on the space are thinking about content in a different light compared to Instagram or YouTube

How much of their influencer marketing budget should marketers be prepared to spend on Snapchat influencer activations? Are Snap influencers as expensive as Instagram influencers? 

It all really depends on goals and where their followers are. If a company is focused more on Gen Z, Snapchat might be more important. However, as I’ve worked with many influencer agencies and marketplaces, brands are focusing their budgets on Instagram. It’s easier to see data on Instagram and negotiate off of ROI. Additionally, with the rise of Instagram nano-influencers, you can get a larger amount of influencers at reasonable prices.

I would create an influencer budget and then delegate certain amounts to each platform depending on your product and audience. 

How does influencer marketing on Snapchat compare to influencer marketing on TikTok or Instagram Stories? 

Right now, content creators are focused a lot on Instagram and TikTok. Instagram has done a great job creating beneficial relationships with influencers. TikTok is the hottest platform right now, so creators are trying to build their brand and content on the channel.

Snapchat has taken a while to give influencers access, and it has hurt their influencer marketing growth. In my opinion, it will be hard to keep creators producing content on Snapchat if they don’t increase their data analytics and API capabilities so that agencies and marketplaces can better determine the ROI of campaigns.