Snapchat can confidently be named an excellent marketing tool, and that is an advantage advertisers recognized long ago. Thanks to it, brands are able to reach their fans more effectively while creating the kind of emotional bond with the audience that is so important from a communication standpoint, making them even more engaged in the life of the brand. What is the ideal strategy for operating on Snapchat? It depends! Below you will find examples of activities by well-known brands and fashion houses that may inspire you to create the perfect strategy for your company on this very social channel.
Show your latest collections even before their official premiere
According to an Exane BNP Paribas report, the British fashion house Burberry is a leader in the world of innovative interactive solutions in the luxury goods industry. Its pioneering use of live streaming, 3D projections and the first introduction of a "Buy Now" button on its Twitter account perfectly confirm this fact. In September of this year, just a few days after announcing that Burberry would be the first brand in the fashion industry to present its channel on Apple Music, the fashion house announced the premiere of its spring/summer 2016 collection on Snapchat, where all messages are deleted after a few seconds.
"I love Snapchat's philosophy and the idea that a sent message disappears after a few seconds. I wanted to do this because it seemed to me a perfect way to capture reality, intimacy and exclusive value, because other platforms do not allow for anything similar," commented Christopher Bailey, creative director of the Burberry fashion house. Fans of the brand could see the latest collection 24 hours before the official show during London Fashion Week, straight from the design studio in London. The materials were available only for 24 hours. By deciding to operate on this channel, where users aged 14 to 30 predominate, Burberry built a strategy based on a principle that does not assume current activities will translate immediately into sales, but brings benefits in the future. Why? Because young people demand much more from brands than they have received so far. This means that all brands, even the biggest ones, should take care of relationships with both current and future customers.
Show what the brand's life looks like behind the scenes
Michael Kors is one of the most active fashion companies in social media, already having a total of 25 million fans across all platforms. Due to the brand's popularity, especially among younger consumers, it cannot forget about Snapchat in its marketing strategy either. By offering exclusive content from its snaps taken from the front rows of fashion shows, as well as during preparations with the most popular models such as Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Karlie Kloss, the brand innovatively and very thoughtfully targets its audience, who, even though they are not yet customers of the brand, may become ones in the future.
Report on prestigious closed events
Organizers of fashion shows are increasingly presenting their collections in the most luxurious locations, seeking alternative solutions to traditional shows. In May of this year, Louis Vuitton presented its latest Cruise 2016 collection at Bob Hope's famous house on the edge of Palm Springs in California. Fans of the brand could watch the entire report from the closed event in a prestigious location on Snapchat, from the presentation of the venue, through snaps straight from the runway, to the afterparty with star Selena Gomez. Thanks to the Snapchat channel, customers of the fashion house received something more than a report from the event; they were invited to share personal moments, receiving a luxury message unavailable to anyone else except them and the people gathered at the event location. The decision was a step forward, thereby opening up to a new, younger generation of consumers.
Engage through games!
An interesting use of Snapchat was also found by the H&M store chain, which prepared an urban game using the popular mobile app. The campaign was intended to draw attention to the H&M brand and emphasize its role as a partner in the first BoilerRoom.tv music project in Poland. Given the nature of the event, which always takes place in unusual locations whose address is known only to ticket holders, the entire campaign was conducted on a channel that offers users exactly the same character of transmitted messages. The target group the brand wanted to reach, namely young active people who eagerly use social media while also caring about their privacy, fit perfectly with the app's user base.
The urban game carried out was a chance to win the last tickets to Boiler Room, and to take part it was enough to add the HmxBR account on Snapchat and, following the clues provided in the snaps sent, find the last 20 double tickets to the event. The weekend campaign lasted 48 hours and took place in 5 H&M stores in Krakow and Warsaw. During it, the brand maintained regular communication with fans in real time, thereby sustaining their interest. The goal set before the campaign was carried out was exceeded more than 3-fold, ultimately achieving 943 followers of the account in the app, 200 game participants and an online reach of 3,800,000 users.
At a time when most people express themselves socially, make new acquaintances, shop and simply live online, companies must not only keep up with their customers but constantly stay ahead of them. Fashion shows have ceased to be exclusive closed events only for the elite, and luxury goods are becoming more and more accessible, thereby ceasing to be luxurious. Anyone at present is able to see life behind the scenes of great fashion, and in this way becomes engaged in the life of the company, becoming in a sense part of it. Snapchat's philosophy makes the materials presented on this channel have a much higher value for fans than publications on, for example, Facebook or Instagram, because of their unavailability to everyone at any time.
