Snapchat users want brands to be active on the booming social platform, but only if they play by its rules, influencer marketing agency Social Soup has found.
In a report on Snapchat in Australia, Social Soup surveyed 1,221 users from its panel of more than 165,000 influencers. It found 66% of influencers wanted brands to create geofilters, so they could integrate them into their stories, while less than a quarter (24%) said they would prefer to see no brands using the platform.
Social Soup founder Sharyn Smith says: “Users have made it clear they don’t want them to overtly commercialise the platform with their content which is a warning all should heed.”
Global brands such as McDonald’s and Cadbury have experimented with branded geofilters. Most recently, Australia’s biggest corporate names including Qantas and AAMI have begun to invest in producing Snapchat content.
According to IAB and Nielsen there are more than three million active users of Snapchat in Australia and that figure is predicted to grow, with the social media platform set to open an Australian office soon.
Social Soup’s report found 64% of users recalled a brand they had created a Snapchat story around, illustrating the value of these influencers for brands.
However, brands have been warned they need to follow some rules if they are to achieve cut through and not alienate Snapchatters.
Snapchat announced in June the launch of Snap Ads, which offers advertisers more options on the platform such as including Snap Ads between stories. With advertising on Snapchat previously being sparse, it's critical the types of ads moving forward and their synergy with the platform remain seamless.
Survey participants said brands needed to be relaxed in their tone, noncommercial in messaging and consistent in their use of it.
Last week, The Liberal Party received significant backlash following its filter, which encouraged users to “Vote Liberal” on election day. Users criticised the filter for infiltrating the wrong medium with its message.
"People don’t want brands to upload a promotional message to be pushed and that’s exactly what the Liberal filter did. There was the opportunity for the Liberal’s to have fun with an element of the election such as the sausage sizzle, but instead they did a boring box and it failed for them," Sharyn told AdNews.
Social Soup also found that 95% of those questioned were active on Snapchat more than twice a day, while 68% of 18-24-year olds said they were never off it.
Once considered the preserve of the millennial generation, more than half of those aged 35 and over said they also used it a couple of times a day.
"There are a lot of myths around Snapchat when I speak to brands. There’s still a negative feeling around Snapchat from what it was a few years ago, but I think brands need to look at where it is now and the emergence of the story element," Smith says.
"Snapchat is all about fun and in the moment experiences and as its popularity grows, including with older demographics, then there’s a real opportunity for brands to be exposed to this very engaged audience.”
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