Christine Ward Snapchat may seem like an odd platform for marketing. The popular mobile app allows users to take and send ten-second photo and video messages, which then disappear forever after being viewed.
The whole disappearing act might worry some marketers, but a great Snapchat marketing strategy is a must-have for anyone targeting a young demographic. For nonprofits, it’s a new and different way to show your creative side and engage with supporters.
Let’s take a look at a few of the building blocks of a great Snapchat marketing strategy.
Share Your Story
Since these stories are only available for a day, this is what you’ll be updating the most. Stories are a great way to show Snapchat friends what your nonprofit stands for. There are lots of great options for a nonprofit.
- Post a story leading up to an event to get people excited about it.
- Put together a short series of photos and videos of a volunteer project.
- Provide a peek into your office environment.
Creativity is key with Snapchat, so have fun with it! Adding text, emoji, stickers, filters, geofilters or drawings will appeal to Snapchat’s younger demographic.
Greenpeace does a great job engaging their supporters with stories on Snapchat. Here, they provide quick and easy tips on living green. The photos don’t have to be high quality. Most photos on the app are taken with a mobile phone. The graphics and emoji make it fun and add some creativity. It’s a simple, but effective, method.
Take Events to the Next Level
Snapchat is awesome for events. Give the people what they want. A behind-the-scenes take on the process and set-up leading to an event can increase the hype and encourage supporters to attend. Snaps from the event can allow people unable to attend to still feel like they’re present. Pans of the crowd and quick video clips from speeches and attendees are great places to start.
If you’re willing to pay for it, a custom geofilter can be a fun addition to an event. Attendees will then be able to send snaps with your nonprofit’s personalized filter, spreading the word and their support for your organization.
Directly Engage with Supporters
Individual snaps let you engage with friends one-on-one. Send a thank you snap to volunteers returning from a trip or project. Or a fun reminder to those who RSVPed (or still need to RSVP) for an event.
Snaps are a creative and different way to engage with supporters of your nonprofit. The raw photos and videos don’t take much time, but the personal effect that they have can go a long way. It’s how you make life-long supporters out of young volunteers and donors.
Enable Snapcash
With Snapcash set up, Snapchat could be a new source for donations. Snapchat partnered up with Square in 2014. Now, as long as both sides of the transaction have a debit card linked to their Snapchat account, friends can exchange money through the chat feature. Chat a dollar amount, and bam! It’s transferred into your nonprofit’s account (over the course of 1-2 business days).
If you’re trying to reach young people, then Snapchat is the place to be. A nonprofit Snapchat marketing strategy doesn’t have to be complex or take a lot of time. Fellow snapchatters are really just looking for you to be yourself and have fun with it.
Is your nonprofit on Snapchat? What’s your Snapchat marketing strategy? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
Hi Christine! Great article, this is really helpful.
I’m currently trying to find way to help boost the online presence of the not-for-profit organization I work for. Our aim is to encourage more youth to come to the digital media workshops we provide.
Is there an article on how to attract an audience to our Snapchat account? If not, do you have any tips?
Hello! We don’t yet have a post on growing your audience, but I found this article about growing a Snapchat following helpful. When you’re just getting started on a new social media channel, it’s great to cross promote it with your other social media platforms, let your email list and website visitors know what you’re up to, and start posting engaging content. Snapchat’s snapcode feature is ideal for those promotions as it allows potential followers to scan it as an easy way to add you. Good luck!
Hi Christine! Great article, this is really helpful.
Thanks for commenting! I’m happy you found it helpful.