By Hannah Hambleton, Beambox
Snapchat is a powerful tool for any retailer. In this article, we’ll discuss why, highlighting some great ways to use Snapchat in your retail marketing. The result? Better brand awareness, customer loyalty and ultimately, sales.
Why Should Retailers Look To Use Snapchat In Their Marketing?
The Smartphone app Snapchat allows users to share videos and photos (‘Snaps’) that are automatically erased after a few seconds. Snapchat is a perfect marketing stream for retailers. As well as providing the chance to engage with customers directly, it enables retailers to develop a stand-out retail brand personality. Retail customers want to engage with your brand story, not just your products, and Snapchat gives you the tools to create genuine engagement with strong marketing power.
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It’s Quick And Easy For Retailers To Set Up Snapchat
Snapchat is really easy to set up for any retailer, from a big brand to a small local store. All that’s needed is to download the app and set your retailer name as your Snapchat account name. Then, you need to find your Snapchat ‘friends’ — these are the customers and contacts you’ll market to. To do this, your customers will need to add you using your shareable Snapchat QR code. Share this every single place you can think of — your POS till system, on specific Snapchat ads in your store, on receipts and any packaging. Make sure you cross-promote with other social platforms too, thus increasing brand awareness at every opportunity.
4 Ways To Use Snapchat To Market Your Retail Brand
Here are some great ways to use Snapchat for your retail marketing. It’s important to note that each one has engagement with customers at its core, vital for creating genuine interaction and developing profitable loyalty.
1. Use Snapchat to show off your retail products
Whether you sell books, clothes or high-end goods, make sure you use Snapchat to highlight them with your customers. Get excited about product features, demonstrate how they can be used and even tease clips of new stock additions coming soon. Creating genuine excitement around what you sell will hook your audience, making them buy into your story and want your products. You can add links to your web site to your snaps as well, driving people online or to your brick-and -mortar location.
2. Use Snapchat as a digital retail loyalty card for your retail store
Loyalty cards work really well for retailers as an engagement tool, and Snapchat can be used to create an up-to-date digital version for creating lasting loyalty in your customer base. Use Snapchat to give special offers to your Snapchat audience, create some VIP shopper perks and even offer discount codes or a free item over a certain spend especially for your Snapchat followers. You also can use Snapchat to share limited, 24-hour-only special deals, adding some scarcity power to your marketing. Your customers will love feeling valued, while you’ll love the benefits to your bottom line from repeat customers.
3. Encourage user-generated Snapchat content to boost your retail brand
Demonstrating your brand values and story is essential for brand loyalty, and Snapchat is an important tool for this. As it’s all about sharing, interacting and creating user content, ask your audience to share their experience of your products, stores or online shopping. Sharing selfie snaps with products, tagging your store in a visit or creating video clips of shopping with friends all will supercharge your brand’s visibility. But it will also contribute to that all-important social proof. You can get your customers to submit Snaps to your public ‘Our Story’ to share their images, creating further engagement.
4. Help new retail customers find you with a Geofilter
Geofilters are similar to a normal Snapchat filter, but they can only be used when Snapchat users are in a specific location such as your retail store. Creating a geofilter for a retail store is a cost effective-way for brick-and-mortar retailers to boost and target customers based on their smartphone location. Your customers will then be able to use that filter every time they visit you, adding to that all-important customer engagement again.
Retailers Must Embrace The Marketing Power Of Snapchat
Snapchat is a powerful social marketing platform that helps drive brand visibility, brand loyalty and engagement with customers. Take the time to use Snapchat to create engaging, shareable and dynamic content, and your retail brand will be rewarded with loyal and profitable customers — it’s as simple as that.
Hannah Hambleton is the Content Manager for Beambox.com. She writes about technology, marketing and social media trends for small businesses and retailers, giving them the tools to drive growth with engaged and loyal customers. Beambox is a guest WiFi provider, combining quality WiFi with marketing insight.
