5 Creative Ways to Use Snapchat for Music Marketing

Techniques the music industry can adopt to connect with and engage their audience

Since launching in July 2011 Snapchat has evolved from being perceived merely as a frivolous means for teenagers to communicate to a medium where brands are rapidly pioneering new ways to engage with their audience. Despite the vast potential the app holds for the music industry, so far music marketers seem to have little to no presence on Snapchat.

Before diving into the specific tips, it is worth understanding who uses Snapchat and how they use it. Although the company has not released official numbers, it has been reported that Snapchat’s core audience is 13 — 25 year olds, 70% of which are female.

Business Insider also recently published an infograph about college students using Snapchat and the results are astounding:

77% of college students use the app daily, but more importantly, 73% of the surveyed students said they would open a Snapchat from a brand they knew and 45% would even open a Snapchat from a brand they didn’t know.

But how, you may ask, can I possibly market music using photos/videos that disappear after 10 seconds?

Make an exclusive announcement

Musicians have a long history of making announcements on social media. Recently The Black Keys tried to up the ante by having Mike Tyson tweet an eerie teaser video announcing their new album. It only makes sense for an artist with young fans to use Snapchat for this. Taco Bell, who have been early adopters of the app, used Snapchat to share the newest flavor in their popular Doritos Loco series.

Preview new content

Finding out your favorite band has a new album coming out is certainly exciting, but imagine getting to hear 10 seconds of that album before anyone else?

In March 2013 Daft Punk aired a 15-second clip of their new album in an advertisement during Saturday Night Live, driving fans wild in anticipation. In September 2013 fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff used Snapchat to debut her latest collection shortly before it hit the runway.

One person that has been paying attention is DJ Afrojack, who last month told Rolling Stone that he would be the first person to exclusively debut his album to fans via 10-second Snapchat clips.

Give fans a behind the scenes look with Snapchat Stories

Instagram, Twitter, and Vine are all popular ways for musicians to give fans a peak into their day-to-day personal life but Snapchat is a ripe, untapped medium for a highly personalized version of this connection. Interestingly The New Orleans Saints have beat everyone to the punch by becoming the first NFL team with an official Snapchat. They use the app’s Stories function to show fans new products, reveal their uniforms for the week, and more.

Give out discounts

Last August UK company The Co-Operative Electrical used Snapchat to send students a code for a discount on laptops. While coupons on social media are nothing new, part of the excitement about using Snapchat for such deals is that the code “self-destructs” in a matter of seconds, proving a sense of urgency to the experience.

It isn’t difficult to imagine hordes of Miley Cyrus fans foaming at the mouth upon receiving a Snapchat code that let’s them unlock exclusive music, or get merchandise at a major discount.

Create Contests and Scavenger Hunts

Receiving a coupon is certainly nice but part of what makes Snapchat special is its intimate two-way communication. GrubHub is a brand that realized fan interaction on Snapchat is great tool to create a high level of engagement. Last month the brand launched a weeklong series of daily scavenger hunts. Fans were asked to do things like Snapchat a food doodle to the brand to enter a giveaway for $50 in GrubHub orders.

For a musician, the possibilities are seemingly endless. You can ask fans to pose in unusual locations with a band t-shirt, have them recreate a moment from their favorite music video, have them sing 10 seconds of a song, and so on.

…and don’t forget!

The key to Snapchat is to remember that it was designed as a personal medium, so the tone of marketing as to be personalized and cannot appear to be intrusive in the slightest. As long as this is upheld, and that the content you send is something a fan will genuinely enjoy, then Snapchat can create an organic emotional connection that benefits fans and musicians alike.

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