Snapchat has evolved into a compelling marketing platform for small businesses looking to connect with younger demographics. With over 90% of Snapchat‘s daily active users being between the ages of 13 and 24, the app provides a unique way for small businesses to engage this valuable but often elusive audience.
One of Snapchat‘s most distinctive features that small businesses can capitalize on for marketing purposes are its specialized birthday options. From personalized lenses to cake emojis, Snapchat provides tailored and fun ways for friends and family to celebrate birthdays that small businesses can adapt for promotional campaigns.
As a fellow small business owner who relies heavily on social media marketing, I wanted to provide an in-depth look at how your small business can make the most of Snapchat‘s birthday features this year.
Leveraging Ephemerality and Privacy for Marketing
Unlike other social platforms like Facebook or Instagram, Snaps on Snapchat disappear after being viewed. This sense of ephemerality provides small businesses a way to create hype, urgency, and FOMO (fear of missing out) with time-limited content.
Snapchat also offers more privacy options than other platforms, with users actively choosing who can view their stories versus the open-by-default approach of sites like Facebook.
Small businesses that integrate promotions into birthday Snaps can rest assured that their content will reach only users who have decided to connect with them specifically. The short shelf life also allows small businesses to provide flash sales, limited-time coupons, or other special offers that expire along with the birthday Snaps.
Promotions with Birthday Lenses and Filters
According to a 2021 study by Influencer Marketing Hub, around 30% of Snapchat users utilize the app‘s lenses on a daily basis. For small businesses, creating custom branded lenses or filters with birthday themes can attract substantial engagement from users.
For example, a small bakery could design a birthday lens that lets users blow out virtual candles on a cake. A small toy shop could develop a birthday filter that adds balloons and confetti to photos.
These birthday lenses and filters can be promoted alongside special birthday discounts or freebies to attract shoppers during peak usage times around actual birthdays.
One case study from online tea company FAVF found a 266% increase in traffic from a custom Snapchat birthday lens campaign. The interactive lens let users pop birthday balloons to reveal coupons.
Customer Engagement Opportunities
The personalized nature of Snapchat‘s birthday features also provides small businesses ample opportunities to engage customers in a more meaningful, memorable way.
For example, retailers could use Snapchat‘s birthday stickers in snaps showcasing customized product recommendations for a person‘s special day. Restaurants could send birthday coupons redeemable on a customer‘s chosen date.
According to Snapchat statistics, over 60% of users engage with the app to interact with friends and brands. Capitalizing on birthdays develops more meaningful interactions with small businesses.
Best Practices for Birthday Marketing
When leveraging Snapchat birthday features for marketing, it‘s important to follow best practices to avoid coming off as intrusive or spammy. Here are some top tips:
- Only target users who follow your brand and opt-in to communications
- Personalize content and offers based on user data and preferences
- Use fun, playful creatives like custom lenses over obvious sales pitches
- Focus on special perks rather than discounts to avoid devaluing your brand
- Limit birthday content as a special occasion occurrence, not daily messaging
Weighing Privacy Concerns
While innovative, small businesses need to be aware that Snapchat‘s demographic relies heavily on the app‘s privacy. Avoiding overt data collection and sharing is key.
For example, small businesses shouldn‘t save user data like birthdates without explicit consent. Information should only be used directly in the app as opposed to exported marketing databases.
Transparency around data practices is essential, as 42% of Snapchat users report privacy controls being very important. Handled ethically, however, birthday marketing can still be quite fruitful without being invasive.
Comparing with Other Platforms
Snapchat provides small businesses unique advantages over other platforms when leveraging birthdays for marketing. For example:
- More targeted userbase than Facebook, which skews toward older demographics
- More nuanced analytics than Instagram to gauge campaign performance
- Ephemeral content that‘s missing on permanent platforms like Twitter or Pinterest
Integrating birthday promotions across platforms is great, but Snapchat should be a key component of the strategy based on its differentiating features.
Final Takeaways
Across the industry, marketers are recognizing Snapchat as a promising avenue to reach younger audiences. Their usage of fun, engaging features like custom birthday lenses and filters provides small businesses an opportunity to creatively connect with users in a lighthearted, memorable way.
Small businesses that dedicate some marketing resources to leveraging Snapchat‘s birthday options stand to gain more brand awareness, customer engagement, and loyalty—if done politely and strategically. Just remember to always keep your audience‘s experience and privacy top of mind.
