How To Make Money On Snapchat?

By Raja Anjana Kothapalli

Marketing techniques evolve to adapt to the changing trends. People and their changing habits set these trends. They are the potential consumers of all goods and services. Therefore it is no surprise when extensive usage of e-commerce and social media platforms led to the emergence of new marketing techniques. Thereby leading to the emergence of more online spaces for everyone to make money. One such social media platform to gain popularity is Snapchat. 

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is a happening communication app that allows you to exchange videos and photos, called snaps. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, once received these snaps disappear after they are viewed. It is launched as a new type of camera as its main feature is to take a photo or video, add lenses, filters, other pre-designed effects, and share them with friends.

Apart from connecting you with your friends online, Snapchat offers games, entertainment, quizzes, news, and innovative photo- and video-editing tools. Geo filters help you to add fun art to your snaps based on where you are. Then there are lenses which are a cool way to experience the world through a camera.

Snapcode

It is the QR code of your Snapchat profile. It make it easy to add your friends on Snapchat without the need for typing their usernames. Yes, you need to just scan your friends’ Snapcode to add them, isn’t it cool? Your Snapcode is available on your Snapchat account’s Settings menu. You can send and scan Snapcodes that add new friends, unlock numerous Filters and Lenses, connect to websites, and access exclusive content.

Snap Map

Using Snap Map, you can know where your friends are and likewise, they can know where you are. Snapstreaks motivates you to exchange messages with your friends for as long as possible. A streak means you and one of your Snapchat friends have snapped each other a picture or video (text chats do not count as your streak) within 24 hours for at least 3 consecutive days.

Snapchat Discover

It is a page on Snapchat, works like a news feed. You will find content in a story format on Discover from various news publishers, known as publishing partners. These partners include ESPN, The Wall Street Journal, and other content from brands and social influencers.

Snapchat is a great storytelling platform. It created some of the best mobile advertising products on the market for advertisers who like to tell great stories. 

Snapchat Stats

1. Around 210 million snaps are created every day, according to Snapchat.

2. More than 85% of Snapchat users are in the age group of 13 to 34  years.

3. On average 60% of the Snapchat community creates snaps per day.

4. Average Snapchatter visits the app more than 18 times per day. The creative tools of Snapchat are the main reason for it.

5. 41% percent of Snapchat users from the US between the age group of 18 and 32 years use the app for 25 to 20 minutes per day.

6. Female Snapchatters account for almost 60% of the total users.

7. Active Snapchat users use the Snapchat camera to take snaps around 20 times per day.

8. The number of video views on Snapchat every day is 18 billion.

9. Daily active Snapchat users are about 249 million.

10. Monthly active Snapchat users are over 350 million.

11. Average Snapchat users spend over 30 minutes each day on the app.

12. Users interact with Snapchat ads for over 30 seconds on average.

13. There has been a 35% increase in the time spent by users watching Discovery content.

14. Around 50% of Snapchat users watch videos on Discover every week.

15. Over 100 million users had played Snap Games.

16. More than 60 Snapchat Shows receive at least 10 million viewers every month.

17. 200 million users are active on Snap Map.

18. Over the last year, Snapchat was the source of news for around 125 million people.

19. More than 135 million users create Augmented Reality experiences using a Snap camera each day.

20. Every day, around 180 million interact with Snap Lenses.

21. There are currently tens of thousands of Lens creators who contributed to the creation of 1.5 million lenses.

How to make money on Snapchat?

Before building your strategy of money-making on Snapchat, you need to build a strong base of followers. To achieve it, you have to generate creative content that can actively engage your audience. The app appeals to the impulsive nature of the people. So the content you generate should be in sync with the taste of your followers.

Hobo.Video brings to you six ways to make money on Snapchat. Let’s take a look at each one in detail.

1. Snap Ads

Nearly half a million people look through ads every day. Using Snap Ads targeting potential buyers becomes easy. Snapchat Ad Manager is an inbuilt feature of Snapchat that makes advertising on the app an easier experience for its users. However, this feature is not available in all countries. 

Snap Ads

They are full-screen vertical video ads that can be upto 10 seconds in duration. Snap Ads appear in between friends’ stories and Snapchat curated content. There appear between your friends’ stories and Snapchat curated websites. Users can swipe up when a video is playing to gain access to more content such as a longer video, an article, website, etc.

Snapchat Ad Manager

Snapchat Ad Manager is very similar to Facebook Ad Manager. To create a Snape Ad, you create a campaign, an ad set, and then the ad. To create a campaign, you need to choose an objective for your campaign followed by fixing a schedule for your campaign. You can either start a campaign immediately and run for an indefinite time, or you can fix the start and end dates of your campaign. After scheduling, you have to name your campaign.

Work on your campaign

After your campaign is successfully created, you have to create an ad set. Starting with giving a name to your ad set, you then set your target audience. The audience section contains five main filtering subsections (geography, demographics, audiences-based on their interests & content watching habits, placements- either content placement or all Snapchat, and devices- Android/ iOS/ both, etc.) that allow you to narrow down your target audience effectively. After setting your audience, you have set your budget, goals, and bid amount. Then using the schedule section, you can for that particular ad set. You can run multiple ad sets within one ad campaign.

Next, you will have to select your ad type. There are four ad types on Snapchat: Top Snap only, web view, app install, and long-form video. A Top Snap is a 3 to 10-second video ad with no swipe-up call-to-action function. Web view helps you to drive traffic to your website with swipe-up call-to-actions including reading an article, purchasing a product or service, book a tutorial, etc. App install allows you to drive traffic to your app page in Google Play and Apple App Store with a swipe-up call-to-action function of app download. A long-form video is like a trailer video for your actual content.

Once your ad type is set, you can upload your creative as Media File by entering your brand name and headline, and selecting your call-to-action. After you have successfully launched your ad campaign, you can monitor its performance, optimize it by editing the schedule and budget, and/or report your results.

2. Use Geofilters

Geofilters are a fun way to share your location. Snapchat allows you to add a location illustrator specifying where you are by city, neighborhood, or even a store. You can create a personal Geofilter or a business Geofilter. For a business Geofilter, you can add trademarks and logos, whereas, contact information or URLs, or photographs of persons cannot be included. 

Snapchatters enjoy sharing filters including branded filters. For example, you can create a Geofilter for a public place that is important to you and your niche. Creating a Geofilter when you are opening a new store or organizing an exclusive event will boost the visibility of your business or event.

To create a Geofilter, you have to begin by designing your filter. Moreover, Snapchat has a set of templates covering a range of events (weddings, parties, etc.) for its users to select from. Once you design your filter, upload it, set the duration for which the filter needs to run, and finally set the location. Pay for your filter and confirm the order to start using it. 

Snapchat provides basic performance stats- Uses & Views, for your filter once it has expired under the My Orders tab. Uses gives the information on how many people used your filter. Views reveal how many times people viewed your filter.

3. Promote sponsored Lenses and posts

Snapchat Lenses Augmented Reality (AR) experiences transform the way you look and the world around you. Lenses are not the same as Filters. They can be used to add 3D effects, objects, characters, and transformations to your Snaps.

Snapchat sells Sponsored Lenses that you can use for targeting your audience. It comes with a guaranteed number of impressions. The non-selfie version helps brands to augment people’s surroundings.

You can promote your business or profile via branded Lenses. However, its creation is a prerogative of Snapchat. You have to explain your goals and Snapchat will create a design with your logo and/or product. Snapchatters will use your lenses and share them in their circles. Popular brands such as L’Oreal, Starbucks, Pixar, and Universal Studios use their brand Lenses to boost their visibility and sales. 

In December 2020, Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat announced a new 2021 fund of $3.5 million that will be allocated to support Snapchat creators and developers using Snap’s Lens Studio to explore the AR Lenses for the platform.

4. Become an affiliate marketer

Affiliate marketing is essentially where you will be paid a referral fee or a commission for referring signup or a sale of a specific product or service. So when you sign up to be an affiliate, you will be provided with a unique URL that you can use in your content. When people click those links and sign up or register or make a purchase, then you receive your referral fee or commission for helping with that transaction.

“Affiliate marketing has made businesses millions and ordinary people millionaires.”- Bo Bennet

Snapchat is an effective platform for affiliate marketing. Invite a good number of your friends to become your followers on Snapchat. You can become an affiliate marketer and earn money through commissions. Moreover, affiliate marketing allows you to sell a product without needing to have a product of your own. You don’t need to worry about ideation or manufacturing or warehousing or customer support. You will be able to leverage an existing network to facilitate a transaction and add another source of revenue through the Snapchat platform.

It is a common practice for many brands to run their own affiliate programs (for example Amazon Associate). You can approach brands that fall in your niche or you can collab with brands using connecting platforms such as Hobo.Video that connects popular brands and Snapchatters.

5. Become a Snapchat influencer

Become a Snapchatter and find your niche. Exploit it with amazing content to attract as many followers as possible. Original and honest content connects more with people. Actively engage with your followers to build and gain their trust. Once you have a loyal follower base and consistently engaging content, you are all set to become a Snapchat influencer. 

Reach out to brands that inspire you or that are in sync with your niche. When approaching them, it is always good to be prepared. As part of your proposal, have an idea ready to be implemented before asking for collaboration. Collab with brands and make money as an influencer. Influence your followers through your content towards purchasing the product or service of the brand you are associated with. 

For example, if you are an active Snapchatter with engaging content in travel, approach travel agencies, hotels, resorts, travel blogs, etc., to collaborate with brands and use their branded Lenses to generate engaging snaps, thereby, increasing the brand awareness, visibility, and recall. It serves as a great opportunity for both, you as an influencer and the brand as a promoter, to grow mutually.

The entire process of searching for relevant brands, approaching them, and negotiating deals can be accelerated with the help of influencer marketing platforms such as Hobo.Video. These platforms serve as a go-to place for both, influencers and brands. Hobo.Video facilitates a nurturing platform, primarily for micro and nano influencers, to reach a wider audience by giving them ready access to many companies that are looking for potential influencers to promote their brands.

6. Sell merchandise

If you have a business that sells products or you create handmade crafts or art pieces or other items, you can use Snapchat as a platform to promote and sell your products or services. You can showcase your products as snaps to your followers. Use cool Filters and Lenses (with your brand logo and trademark) to attract your followers and direct them to your website to check out your products.

Additionally, you can create videos to showcase your products to your followers, create awareness, and boost your product visibility. Through these videos, you can guide your followers on how and where to make a purchase. This is a great opportunity to increase your customer base, brand recall, and overall sales.

Go make money on Snapchat

If you are a creator looking to increase your income by adding more revenue streams and eyeing Snapchat as a means to this end, all the best, go make some money! Get a huge follower base, select your niche, make awesome content, actively engage with your followers, promote, affiliate, influence, and sell on Snapchat.