Advertising Is Still on the Fence About Pushing the Next Big Social Media Platforms to Clients.

About a month ago, I took a weekend trip back to my Alma Mater for the Longhorn’s season opener against UNT. One of the main reasons I decided to head to Austin, was to attend an annual alumni tailgate organized by the fraternity that I was a part of while an Undergrad. I’m only a little over a year out of college so I’m still close to a lot of active fraternity brothers, and the younger alumni who were present.

After having been there a couple of hours, I started to receive text messages from old friends and others who were also in town. I asked how they found out I was in town, and most friends told me they found out through Snapchat. Some of my fraternity brothers were posting videos and selfies out to close circles of friends and gave away my presence in Austin. I was then able to meet up with more friends and tailgate hop before the game. When I was in college, over a year ago, Snapchat was not yet invented and it was common for friends to tag you on Facebook at different places. This time it was weird because I was still used to people checking me in via Facebook, not really “checking in” via Snapchat .

Lucky for us, the Longhorns won the game and we celebrated the blowout in downtown Austin. That night Snapchat became a place for sharing. We could tell where the hot spots were throughout the night and sent embarrassing pictures to friends and fraternity brothers that were in other areas of downtown. We were able to share pictures and videos in a more care free way than having to share a picture with everyone on Facebook. We all knew that the videos and pictures would eventually go away. I felt comfortable knowing that I wouldn’t have to go through my Facebook tags to see pictures that I did not want to share.

This is the next big thing in social media, it is vast reaching and it seems that all the young people are using and flocking to it. It is not as niche as Vine, where most people follow popular “Viners” but do not add their own content. It is still up in the air how long snapchat will live in the social media timeline, but for now it is where the young people are interacting. They are abandoning the Facebook platform and “Check-In” and instead are updating their followers via a more interactive and in the moment platform, Snapchat. We know that social media posts gain more interaction when they have other media like pics and videos attached to them. Snapchat has made the media that gets the attention, the photos and videos, the main update and not just a part of the update.

Young people are looking for things that can fix their number one problem, their boredom. They want their mobile devices to be a constant stimulant and want to see new things constantly. Another fascinating insight is that they watch everything on snapchat. If it pops up on their feed, they will push it and look at it. Why? Because it is fast, snackable content that changes in a fast pace and does not take a lot of time to access. This thanks to the Story feature that Snapchat has offered to its users. The feature cuts through the bullshit of reciprocation and acknowledgment known as comments and likes. You access Snapchat, get a quick update on friends then close it with no need to respond.

18–25 year olds seem to be adapting to Snapchat at a faster rate than they are updating their Facebook. The problem is people behind the advertising and marketing strategy are still on the fence about pushing the platform to clients.

Recently I was at a Mobile Media Conference where major ad agencies and brands were talking about Snapchat. There were two ad agencies, one that said their specialty was digital, a major music label, and a big brand. The people that were sitting on stage still believe the stigma that Snapchat is just a bunch of teens sending sexual messages back and forth. The agencies/advertisers do not know how successful Snapchat will be, because they do not understand it or where it’s going. They said that it is still in an experimental phase. This because firms can not gain concrete analytics that they can in turn deliver to their client. They are not willing to push the envelope and take the risks with their clients.

For any brand, ad agency, or advertiser that at the moment has any interest in 18–25 year olds, it’s a devastating mentality. It is also bad for those that are looking to innovate in the digital and mobile advertising landscape that we find ourselves in. We may not know how much Snapchat will grow or for how long it will be the next big thing, but we have to be mindful of it and use it. The advertisers, agencies, and brands that are experimenting with the changing social media platforms and putting the content forward for young people are going to be successful in the long run, even after new platforms come forward. Social Media is here to stay and the 18–25 year olds will eventually become 36–50 year old consumers that will still be interacting on social media platforms. It will be in a different way than we do now, but the innovative spirit of those in advertising that master the transitions into new social media platforms are still going to be around when that time comes.