Snapchat Marketing Strategy Updates
Oh Snap! Those Images I Posted To Snapchat Didn’t Actually Disappear!
As someone who is a realist when it comes to the Internet and social media, I know that we leave trails and information all over the place. So, when Snapchat first arrived on the scene, and people were in uproars about their photos disappearing, or posting inappropriate photos carelessly because they assumed they disappeared, I knew better. Those pictures are never REALLY gone! And, Snapchat’s new Memories feature has proven that to be true!
For the longest time, Snapchat operated under the premise that you post a “snap” and you can send that specifically to certain connections you have on Snapchat, or post it to your “My Story” section. Unless you specifically remembered to save your image to your device, your photo seemed to disappear after 24 hours.
The other significant restriction Snapchat gave was that you had to take your photo or video directly through the app itself. You couldn’t upload an image from your camera roll like you can on so many other social media channels like Twitter and Facebook.
However, with the recent release of “Memories” on Snapchat, some of these past restrictions are not quite so limiting anymore. Snapchat released Memories this past week and it’s not proving to be quite the contender with Facebook and even Twitter traffic. The Memories section is a feature that allows users to save and share images within the app. The Memories section will pull up images from your camera roll, or from past Snaps.
Aha! Those old snaps never did quite disappear then! We’re now able to use them in this Memories section, as well as pull other images that weren’t originally taken within the Snapchat app. This app is starting to sound more and more like the more common social media experience we’ve come to know.
Before you get all bent out of shape, the same features with filters and taking short videos and photos directly in the app are still there. There’s just now more robust features.
So, will Snapchat be the next replacement for Facebook? This social media strategist thinks not. Yes, Snapchat has some fun, unique features. But, it’s also not easy to navigate. The user experience is not as simple as other social media networks. And, as someone who regular finds herself teaching adults (of all ages) how to use certain features on dear, old Facebook, I know that user adoption to migrate over to a platform like Snapchat would be very difficult to do. Yet for those that don’t appreciate the inundation of ads and promotional content on networks like Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat will continue to grow in popularity. Will it ever be king? My guess is no. But then again, I’ve been known to be wrong about things before.
What are your thoughts? Will Snapchat be strong enough to overtake Facebook? Will it struggle now that more and more adults (AKA parents) are flocking to it, driving more teens away? Will it have the longevity it needs to be a major powerhouse in social media? And, most importantly, what is going to be the next place that teens find as a social media haven that their parents don’t understand (yet)?
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