Snapchat Stories have become a popular way for users to share glimpses of their daily lives. For businesses, Snapchat Stories represent a fun marketing opportunity to engage audiences. But with content disappearing in 24 hours, it can be confusing to know how long Snapchat Stories last and how to maximize their temporary nature.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll cover everything small business owners need to know about Snapchat Stories as a social media consultant and Snapchat power user.
A Quick Look at Snapchat‘s Growth
Since launching in 2011, Snapchat has exploded to become one of the world‘s most popular apps with over 293 million daily active users as of Q2 2022.
Snapchat‘s core user base skews young, with 90% of users between the ages of 13 and 24. Still, older demographics are joining the platform too – over 40% of new Snapchatters are over the age of 25.
The Stories feature drives significant engagement, with over 125 million Snapchatters posting to Stories daily in 2019 according to data from a Snap Inc. report. Stories have only continued to grow more central to the Snapchat experience.
What Are Snapchat Stories?
Snapchat Stories allow users to post photos and short videos in chronological order that appear together in a slideshow format. Unlike individual Snaps sent directly to friends, Stories are public and visible to all of your Snapchat friends.
With Stories, Snapchatters can provide glimpses into their daily lives without cluttering friends‘ one-on-one messaging feeds. Stories usually showcase mundane activities or share fun moments with creative filters and effects added.
The key ephemeral nature of Stories is that they only remain visible for 24 hours. Posted Snaps auto-delete from Stories after a day unless you save them to Memories. This creates a sense of urgency to view Stories before they disappear.
Why Stories Disappear After 24 Hours
Snapchat purposefully designed Stories to only last 24 hours for several creative reasons:
- Encourages Frequent Posting: The impermanent design lowers pressure on content quality, encouraging users to post more casual, in-the-moment Snaps rather than overpolished highlights.
- Limits Old Content Buildup: With Stories auto-deleting daily, old photos don‘t pile up forever like other social media. This stops embarrassing old Stories from sticking around permanently.
- Creates Urgency to View: Knowing Snaps will vanish in 24 hours motivates friends to view your Story right away, driving higher engagement.
- Provides Mindful Consumption: Friends don‘t have to constantly catch up on a huge backlog of old Stories. They can focus on enjoying the latest day‘s content.
- Fosters Authentic Interactions: The ephemeral design leads to more authentic engagement between friends commenting on recent Stories.
Leveraging My Story Timer
Snapchat+ subscribers can use the My Story Timer setting to customize how long their Stories are visible beyond the standard 24 hours.
My Story Timer options include:
- 1 hour
- 6 hours
- 12 hours
- 24 hours
- 2 days
- 3 days
- 1 week
Setting a shorter timer than 24 hours creates an even greater sense of urgency and exclusivity to view your Story. This drives higher engagement from your audience.
A longer timer is useful if you want Story Snaps to stick around for a few days, like over a weekend trip. But keep in mind engagement still drops off after 24 hours according to Snapchat‘s research.
Saving Stories You Don‘t Want to Disappear
Despite Stories disappearing from public viewing after 24 hours, you can save any Snaps to your private Memories before time runs out by:
- Pressing and holding the Snap in your Story.
- Tapping the "Save to Memories" icon.
This removes the Snap from your public Story but saves it permanently in your Memories.
You can also enable the "Auto-Save Story Snaps" setting to automatically back up every Snap you post to Stories in Memories.
Who Can View Your Snapchat Stories?
By default, all of your approved Snapchat friends can view your Story. But Snapchat does let you limit Story visibility with different privacy settings:
- Public: All friends can view. The default setting.
- Custom: Only people you add can view. Great for close friends.
- Private: Choose specific friends who can watch your Story.
Custom and private options are useful if you want to trial Story content with a smaller group before going fully public. They also let you target Stories toward certain audiences.
Best Practices for Engaging Snapchat Stories
Based on my consulting experience, here are some tips for small businesses to create compelling Snapchat Stories:
- Post at least daily to build consistent engagement. Frequent Snaps show up higher in friends‘ feeds.
- Respond to replies on your Stories to have authentic conversations.
- Use creative lenses/filters to showcase your brand personality. Geofilters can connect Stories to locations.
- Mix professional and personal Snaps to be relatable. Behind-the-scenes glimpses feel authentic.
- Leverage holidays with themed Stories that tap into public interest moments.
- Cross-promote with your other social channels to maximize reach.
- Analyze performance with Snapchat‘s analytics and continually refine your approach.
How Stories Differ from Snaps and Chats
It‘s important to understand the differences between Snapchat Stories, individual Snaps, and Chat messages:
- Stories disappear after 24 hours and are viewable by your friends list.
- Snaps sent directly to friends disappear after being viewed once.
- Chats/Groups have no expiration and remain in message history until manually deleted.
So Stories and Snaps are inherently ephemeral, while conversations and groups allow permanent messaging more like other social platforms.
Comparing Snapchat and Instagram Stories
Snapchat pioneered ephemeral Stories in 2013, but Instagram copied the format in 2016. So how do Snapchat and Instagram Stories compare now?
- Snapchat Stories showcase mundane daily moments. Instagram Stories tend to feature highlights and polished content.
- Snapchat Stories disappear after 24 hours. Instagram Stories remain visible for longer unless actively deleted.
- Snapchat offers more creative filters, lenses, and Bitmoji options. Instagram focuses more on stickers and text.
- Viewer lists on Snapchat only show who has watched. Instagram shows views and replies.
- Snapchat Stories are full-screen vertical video. Instagram Stories are horizontal.
Overall, Snapchat Stories encourage more authentic, imperfect, and casual content while Instagram Stories showcase polished highlights.
Key Takeaways
- Snapchat Stories last for 24 hours before disappearing. My Story Timer can customize time limits.
- Stories auto-delete but can be saved to Memories if you want to keep them indefinitely.
- Custom and private settings allow limiting Story visibility beyond your full friends list.
- Snapchat Stories encourage casual, in-the-moment content. Instagram Stories are more polished highlights.
- Frequent, creative Stories that respond to replies are proven to drive higher engagement.
For small businesses, Snapchat Stories represent a fun, authentic marketing channel to engage younger demographics. Just be aware that all Stories content will disappear in 24 hours maximum!
