The Dawn of a new Snapchat era

In recent news, Snapchat has opened up their API (application programming interface) to all. This may well signal a new era for Snapchat but with influencers like Kylie Jenner around and able to trigger a billion dollar fluctuation in share price with a single tweet, it plays into a larger question for brands and event organisers. Is advertising still where brands should be putting their money or are there more effective ways to achieve your marketing goals?

What consumers want, and how they interact with each other online is an ever-changing dynamic and it’s important to be mindful of that when it comes to marketing your events or products. Best to pinpoint your marketing objectives and work your strategy from there to achieve real value. We break down briefly what Snapchat’s open API means and look at how that ties in with the big marketing trends of 2018.

Snapchat’s open API will allow brands, agencies and developers alike to leverage Snapchat’s automated ad tools and ties in with their push towards automation. It means that ads can be bought and sold automatically, by anyone, and facilitates more experimental advertising and optimisation of Snapchat for everyone. It makes the platform more customisable and broadens its appeal as an ad platform to a wider audience of advertisers. It also allows brands to tap into big data and consumer insights, which is oh so important these days.

Snapchat began their transition towards programmatic advertising in October 2016 when they launched their marketing API. However, at that time it was only available to a limited number of technology companies and partners and only served the needs of the world’s biggest ad players. The opening of its API, makes the toolkit of Snapchat’s marketing smarts available to anyone and levels the playing field.

The internet is a bit of a mindfield, no question about it and figuring what’s going to be impactful in achieving your efforts can feel overwhelming but we’re here to help. A saturated online space means consumers are crying out for more personalised communication and experiences. They are no longer responding to traditional B2C advertising. That’s why we see an uptake in AI, experiential marketing campaigns, events and one on one communication and a downturn in traditional advertising. Consumers are loving live experiences. So while an open API may mean you can now use Snapchat to target your customers with ads, if it is a personal touchpoint from you that your consumers will really thank you for, experiences are going to deliver real value in achieving your marketing efforts. Put your budget in immersive experiences that naturally create exciting, shareable content for your consumers, make them feel heard and understood and they will spread your brand’s message for you. Here at Quander we have a nifty bunch of tools available to help you to just that, drop us a line!