You Will Talk to Yourself… ALOT.

My first story had two views. TWO. T-W-O.

I’ve had more listeners on conference calls.

Less than two weeks later, I had eight views per story. I lost my mind. EIGHT!! OMG!! 4X AUDIENCE GROWTH IN 11 DAYS!!

Snapchat continues to gain users, word of mouth momentum and millions of daily active users. You won’t talk to yourself for long, I guarantee. In fact, the more you talk with your friends, family and colleagues about Snapchat, the more people will want to find out what you have to say.

Initially, people will either think you’re crazy…

“Wait! You’re on the SEXTING app?!”
“Oh! I think my 12-year-old nephew is on that!”
“I’m on it, but not realllly...”
“Are you STILL talking to your phone?”

… or they will develop a serious case of FOMO. For me, it was a touch of both that helped.

As lonely as it may be in the beginning, the more you talk to yourself, the more comfortable and confident you’ll be as more viewers come on board to watch what you have to say. Don’t get frustrated. Practice. KEEP GOING!

It Will Help You Engage on Other Social Networks

I’m a lackadaisical Tweeter, a fairly private Facebooker and a so-so Instagrammer with enough filters to fake it. Snapchat helps you to hop back on that proverbial social media horse.

Want to find other Snapchatters? 
At this time, Snapchat doesn’t have a native search capability. So, instead, go to Twitter and search for those topics or people you want to find on Snapchat. It sounds odd, I know. But, in my case and for my profession specifically, I incessantly searched, ‘Snapchat, Real Estate’; ‘Snapchat, Realtor’, etc. I still do.

Want to have people find your content? 
Download and publish a 10 second portion of your story to Facebook. Tweet a Snapchat teaser, include your username or ‘Add Me’ url. Share a pearl of wisdom from your Snapchat story and publish that to LinkedIn. Cross-promote your content on your other social media sites — you’ll gain Snapchat views and, as a nice side effect, see more engagement and followers on your other channels, as well.

Forget About Followers, Focus on Content

In early January 2016, my Snapchat efforts were focused on followers, some obtuse Snapchat score and algorithm-driven trophies. WHAT HAD BECOME OF MY LIFE?!?! The gamification of the product had me feeling hyper-competitive and supremely self-conscious, all at once. Just prior to self-diagnosed Snapchat stress I realized one crucial nuance…

It’s not about how many followers you have. It’s about creating great content and keeping engaged viewers.

In fact, at the time of this article, Snapchat doesn’t tell you how many followers you have which, quite frankly, is quite refreshing.

By not obviously publishing follower numbers, the Snapchat product folks are telling us that we shouldn’t really care about followers, either. In fact…

I have absolutely no idea how many followers I have.

So, what should we care about? What metrics are they showing us?

Engagement numbers and story views. These are the metrics Snapchat provides insight into. You’ll easily have a sense of who’s coming into the digital room to listen when you have something to say.

For me, the folks consistently watching my stories are Realtors across the country, several past clients, an ex-colleague, my sister-in-law, my favorite barista, a college friend and so on.

Authenticity Wins. Explore. Find Your Niche.

I’m constantly thinking of what to post on Snapchat. Sometime during the Summer of 2015 I started a log of ideas for Instagram posts. That sub-consciously and naturally developed into a log of Snapchat ideas.

Using that list of ideas as a jumping off point, I started offering tips to purchasers, sellers and other agents on home maintenance, the purchase process, the listing process, the day to day of being a real estate agent… whatever came into my world on that given day.

It stuck. People started engaging. I was getting the hang of Snapchat and actually started to have… FUN! In fact, I received a message early on from a Snapchatter I discovered via Twitter — Neil Mathweg. He asked if I had been an on-air TV broadcaster in a previous life. For the record, the answer is, “No.”

Be Authentic. Be Creative. Do You.

In search of content ideas? When it comes to real estate, remember that you’re the market expert. You’ve sat through countless CE credits, attended numerous settlements, shown thousands of properties — you know what works in your market and what doesn’t. Share your knowledge.

Provide tips to first-time home buyers. Provide tips to sellers. Take me on a tour of that unbelievable house down the street. Show me the hidden gems of your city. What’s your “Day in the Life” like? What’s your actual life like?!? Interview an expert. A contest to guess the price of a property? I’m in! The ideas are endless. Show people your work, your play. Settle in and get confident in your corner of the Snapchat world.

The way to win on Snapchat is to consistently produce great content. Period.

All of those ideas will gain momentum. Consistently post great content. Cross post that content. Create. People will look forward to your posts. Whether it’s once a day or once a week, be consistent… even if you have only two viewers.