Snapchat Advertising Guide

With 363 million daily active users, Snapchat is still a widely-used app loved by many the world over. This social platform is where millennials and Gen Z hang out, with users spending an average of 30 minutes a day snapping photos and chatting to those closest to them. Keep reading our Snapchat advertising guide to discover this platform and how to advertise on it.

With a growing purchasing power of $4.4 trillion, Snapchatters are the customers every business should be looking to partner with. It’s especially important to reach consumers on mobile, since it’s estimated that over 50% of global ecommerce sales came from mobile devices in 2022.

43% of all Snapchat users admit to using the app to get advice from their friends and contacts on purchase decisions.

A bit about Snapchat

How many streetlight posters do you take note of when commuting every day? Four or five? The average Snapchat user opens the app at least 18 times a day. This largely untapped, highly engaged market holds purchasing power and is not afraid to use it. Our Snapchat advertising guide shows that 43% of all Snapchat users admit to using the app to get advice from their friends and contacts on purchase decisions. Here are six things every business should know about Snapchat:

3.5 billion Snapchat ‘Snaps’ are engaged with every day

Users of Snapchat totalled more than 433 million in 2022

Snapchat is the 3rd most used social platform by influencers

Worldwide global revenue in 2022 was over 4.6bn USD

Snapchat ‘Lenses’ are the app’s most popular feature

Snapchat has 2X more female users than male ones

How to reach Snapchat audiences

Snapchat has identified four broad categories that the users of their app fall into. These are Lifestyles, Shoppers, Viewers and Visitors. In our Snapchat advertising guide we discuss these predefined audiences, but first you need to decide in which locations your ads will show and to which broadly-defined audiences:

Geography & Demographics

Businesses can use Snapchat Geo-targeting to have ads show up in the right place, at the right time, to the right people – with pinpoint accuracy. How specific you want to get is up to you, but keep in mind that over-defined audiences might render ads ineffective. Demographic targeting includes filtering audiences by age, allowing you to select from a few predefined age brackets:

13 – 17 years old
18 – 20 years old
21 – 24 years old
25 – 34 years old
35+ years old

Other filters to use when setting up your Snapchat advertising campaign are gender and language. At this point you can choose to dabble in DLX Advanced Demographics, but it’s advised that you leave this to your digital media agency.

Predefined Audiences

Snapchat’s algorithm is incredibly talented at figuring out a user’s intentions based on the actions they take, and the content they interact with, while on the app. Lifestyles: Audiences found under this heading are built based on Snapchat users’ long-term interests, or the types of things they generally like. Shoppers: Audiences here are built by Snapchat based on observations around what their users purchase in stores, dealerships, restaurants, and other retailers. Viewers: Under this heading Snapchat audiences are constructed based on the types of films, television shows, and video entertainment they watch. Visitors: Audiences under this banner are built based on the types of websites Snapchat users visit while on their mobile devices.

Scheduling & Budget

When setting up your Snapchat ads, you’ll be required to establish a sharing schedule, or when the ads will be active and inactive. You also need to setup a campaign budget for your ads, and it stands to reason that the more you spend – the more exposure your advert will garner. Letting an expert digital media agency optimise and run your Snapchat ads means making the most of your budget with careful campaign setup and management.

7 in 10 consumers are interested in using AR to interact with a product before buying it.

Types of Snapchat advertising

The type of Snapchat advert you execute will depend largely on the specific goals you’ve set for your marketing campaign. Some brands turn to Snapchat to promote their cool new brand. Others take to it for product promotion reasons. Snapchat lets advertisers choose between four goals for the campaign, which will determine the type of advert.

Website Traffic
App Installs
Awareness
Video Views

Website Traffic

Visit our website! Download our eBook! Read our blog! If you want to attract Snapchat users to a website or landing page of some sort, select the “drives traffic to my website” option.

App Installs

Got the world’s newest, greatest, most exciting app you want to promote? Snapchat lets you promote the download of a mobile application through the “drive installs of my app” option.

Awareness

If you’ve just launched a start-up and your future customers spend time on Snapchat, an advertising campaign that simply introduces your brand, product, or services might be the key. Choose the “grow awareness” option.

Video Views

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