Discovering Snapchat’s Media Channels — So Good, So Under-Appreciated. 👻
Recently, I have started to fall in 💙 with Snapchat Discover. I never really paid much attention to these media channels. In fact, I always thought that Snapchat was stupid and the brands and advertisers that pay hefty amounts to appear in the app are even more stupid. 😏
My reasoning for such thought process has been this — We all know ads are annoying. And they essentially interrupt whatever we were doing and expect us to pay attention to whatever product or service is being promoted. 😡
This piece by Ali Mese does a great job of explaining how much we hate ads and what our coping mechanisms are.
In both Facebook and Twitter, the ads live in our newsfeed. And you can't help but catch a glimpse of some of the ads while scrolling. 😁 Its always involuntarily. If there were ad blockers that worked on news feed, I am sure most of us will install them right away. Now, Snapchat took a very different approach to advertising and monetization. The exact opposite, actually. They make users opt-in to the ad channels and expect them to click on them voluntarily. I can use Snapchat without even getting interrupted by any of the ads. (Click here to tweet)
So, basically, brands bank on the expectation that users will click on those channels. Most of the users I know don't even know what brands have channels on Snapchat. They’re cleverly integrated into the content. And this is why I thought Snapchat was stupid.
Turns out, I was stupid. 😱 And Snapchat is very smart. 😎
I started clicking on these channels for a week. I started with viewing Buzz Feed, Mashable and Wall Street Journal ( which just got onboard recently ). Boy, I was hooked. Never thought I would say this in the context of branding and ads. These channels are AMAZING. So informative, so visual, so easily digestible. I view some of these channels on a daily basis for news and entertainment.
Having visuals really makes content easy to absorb and fun to consume. Native content always wins.
Well, I am was stupid in wrongly judging Snapchat’s strategy.
But….
I am right up to a certain extent. The barrier to entry is very high. No one from the younger demographic wants to see the ads. The conventional mindset around ads is not very appealing. I asked my cousins the other day to look into these channels. They thought I was a weirdo for loving ad channels on a social media platform.
What they fail to realize is that Snapchat has taken ads to a whole new level. It’s very difficult to sell others on this concept verbally just like how hard it is to explain the value of Snapchat itself as a platform. So, until and unless, one discovers this channels world, one is not leveraging Snapchat’s full functionality and potential. It’s both a social and informational medium. I actually learn a lot from these channels.
Once one gets sucked into this high-barrier world of channels, its not very easy to get out of it. Once you step into it, and see its value and the potential of what this mechanism could become, it feels like a no-brainer to actually leverage it daily. I think Snapchat would become a major source of news consumption for me once publications like TechCrunch, Verge, The Information and Economist get onboard.
Wall Street Journal is conventionally thought of as a boring news medium by high schoolers and college students. 🙀 I got one of my friends to explore the WSJ channel on Snapchat. Not only did he loved it but it completely changed his view of WSJ and he even subscribed for their app for daily dose of news. Now, why did this happen? WSJ did not ask viewers to just download their app. Through Snapchat’s channel medium, WSJ added incredible value to my friend’s life in a fun way. And, this compelled my friend to use their product.
( I have become an evangelist of WSJ channel on Snapchat. )
Powerful, isn't it?
Snapchat channels are not conventional, annoying ads. But, rather informative channels and meaningful content marketing tools.
In the above mentioned piece, Ali Mese wrote this —
It [a side project] is to create value for others by creating tools, apps, websites, or a software — a value that is related to our core business that we build on the side without losing our main focus.
And some of those people who like what we create on the side end up willing to learn more about us, so they check out what our core business is about.
Snapchat channels can be thought of as “side projects” that pay it forward to people. WSJ did exactly this.
Snapchat channels have the potential to change consumer behaviors. I know it changed mine. People think I am a freak when I say I consume news on Snapchat. Most of us are visual learners. Snapchat capitalizes on that. Its about time we gave Snapchat some credit and appreciation for that.
Hit me up on Snapchat — sarthak94 👻
