Why Selling Doesn’t Work On Snapchat

I’ve tried multiple times selling stuff on my Snapchat account, and, I’ve seen many others try to do the same. The result is the same every time — it simply doesn’t work to sell things on Snapchat. Before I explain why, I’m referring to a normal, consumer/brand Snapchat account — not a discover account. There are many reasons why selling doesn’t work on Snapchat, and I’ll tell you why outlined below.

People won’t go to the link you’re promoting

Let’s say you have product X you’re trying to sell on Snapchat. You post the link on your story, ask people to screen-shot it, then expect people to go to the link and hopefully they’ll buy whatever it is you have on that link. Truth is this doesn’t work because you can’t click the link within the story itself, or that deep-linking isn’t an available feature on Snapchat accounts, as of yet.

Let’s say people do screenshot your link, they still have to read what that link is and manually type it into their web browser. You’ve already lost people when they are asked to manually do something outside of Snapchat. In general, people don’t like leaving Snapchat, so the reason to leave has to be ultra-easy, convenient, and very compelling to do so — which is extremely difficult to achieve.

Snapchat isn’t for selling

Until Snapchat allows deep-linking within a story, Snapchat for now, isn’t designed for selling — it’s for building relationships. Establishing a relationship with past, current, or future customers/fans/friends whoever you’re wanting to connect with is what Snapchat is all about. If you’re selling something, stop now — you’re wasting your time and your viewers’.

Sell your personality

Snapchat is great for authentic promotion of one’s personality and for a brand’s image. Compared to a lot of other social media apps, Snapchat is truly a great way to show off who you’re. People do buy into who you’re, as long as you aren’t being fake or pretending to be someone else — unless you’re an actor of sorts and it’s been made apparent to the story.

In essence, save your selling for other platforms that have links that are easily accessible such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Periscope. Snapchat isn’t ready for the selling world, and that’s OK — because a platform is usually ruined once people start selling like their life depends on it.

Thank you for reading and I hope this article helps with your Snapchat endeavors!

For contact info and more, please visit Kyle Coghlan Media