Snapchat adoption among brands is nearly ubiquitous across industries. Of the many social networks that have come to the fore in the past decade, none is enjoying quite the same level of buzz at the moment as Snapchat.
The smartphone-only social network, whose auto-disappearing messages first made it popular as a sexting tool for teens after its launch in 2011, is now used by more than 100 million people every day – and more than a third of Americans ages 18 to 34 on a monthly basis, with a higher engagement rate than Instagram, according to Comscore.
Despite its rampant popularity with such a key consumer demographic, brands – especially high-end fashion and luxury brands – have been slow to embrace the platform relative to older social networks like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
The reasons are manifold, ranging from a scarcity of resources – few of the brands we spoke to for this story had more than two people managing their social media communications across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. — to a lack of even rudimentary analytics, making it difficult for marketing teams to ascertain what, if any, return they’re seeing on an investment in the platform.
The app has other major limitations as well: without a look-up tool, the only way to find a company is to type in its exact username; its aesthetic is naturally less polished, making it a tricky fit for image-conscious luxury brands; and unlike Facebook or Instagram, content creators can’t save assets to upload weeks or even days later.