How Marketers Can Leverage Snapchat’s Recent Updates
Snapchat recently announced two significant updates: the addition of group messaging and an integration with Shazam. Throughout the coverage of these updates, I noticed the majority of interest was focused on the group messaging portion. Group messaging will definitely make communication easier on the ephemeral messaging platform and, in my opinion, will lead to group video chatting in the near future. This addition is important for the average user. However, as a media consumption enthusiast, I was really intrigued by how the future of Snapchat will look with a Shazam integration.
In case you have not tried it yet, Shazam’s proprietary listening technology has already been integrated into Snapchat. If your Snapchat camera is on your smartphone screen and music is playing nearby, press your thumb on the screen and a circle will appear. Within seconds it will identify the song via a small pop up that looks very native to Snapchat. When you click the ‘Song Info’ icon, you are taken to a microsite within Snapchat (powered by Shazam) that houses deep links to Apple Music, Spotify and VEVO. It also includes song lyrics and is a really effective way to transport users to a microsite within Snapchat.
As a marketer I could not help but think that in the future brands may begin using Shazam technology within Snapchat as an extension of TV commercials. Everyone has seen the Shazam icon appear during commercials in the past; however, my belief is the Shazam app is used predominantly in music identification instances, it is not an every hour application like Snapchat. In my opinion, this was the problem Shazam faced with past commercials leveraging their technology. Users had to quickly search their phone to find Shazam, it would not already be open. This is where Snapchat comes into play.
Snapchat is a highly visual-first application, and partnering with Shazam will be an excellent bridge to direct users to mobile from TV. Millennials are much more inclined to be on Snapchat while watching TV and now, with a Shazam integration, if a commercial comes on featuring a product they like, users can hold down the camera and be directed to a microsite within Snapchat to learn more. From there, Snapchat can link out to a purchase website and track all that data. Additionally, TV networks can use this technology as a hook for audiences to watch programs in real-time.
We will see how this all plays out but I’m very excited for this partnership and what the future holds for these two companies.
Matthew Stanton works on the Emerging Media & Technology team for Edelman Digital Global. He is based in Los Angeles.
Originally published at www.edelman.com on January 4, 2017.
