As much bad press it received through the years, Snapchat remains extremely popular among tons of other social platforms. If you have a business and are looking to engage younger demographics but aren’t sure where to start, then Snapchat might be the answer to all your problems. The level of engagement is impressively high on the platform, especially for businesses (surprisingly). So what do you say, are you ready to learn more about simple ways to reach your target audience?

Let me start by clarifying one thing: Snapchat is not right for every business. Understanding the pros and cons of using the app is necessary in order to reach the appropriate business growth and development you’re on the hunt for. However, if the following points I’ll be going through sound like what you’re looking for, then Snapchat might be the best choice for your business.

Snapchat’s audience is young (it reaches 75 per cent of millennials and gen Zers), and it’s not afraid to use the app—according to Oberlo, over 210 million snaps are created on the platform every day. And its popularity is increasing. In April 2021, Snapchat posted its latest performance update, showing solid increases in both usage and revenue throughout Q1 2021.

Snap has seen particularly strong growth in India, with its Android update, rolled out back in 2019, playing a key role in boosting Indian user uptake (Android is the most popular OS, by far, in the Indian market). Indeed, Snapchat reports that for the first time in Q1, the majority of its daily active users (DAU) were on the Android version of the app. That’s a big switch for a company that long resisted Android, and focused more on aligning with the technical superiority of iOS devices. Snapchat also launched its first Snap Original for the Indian market in the quarter, with a local version of ‘Phone Swap’.

When it comes to advertising on the app, Snapchat Ads are full-screen, immersive and engaging ads that tend to inspire action. Snapchat Ads work for all advertisers, from global brands to small and medium businesses. Advertising on the app has been described as less intrusive than on other big platforms such as Instagram or Facebook. Ads tend to have a more ‘organic feel’.

Using specific Snapchat templates, any brand can successfully tap into the social media’s engaged audience. Furthermore, businesses can go as far as to design customised filters to highlight their brand in a fun and sharable way. Other advertising solutions on the platform can be better tailored to your business.

Snapchat’s full-screen ads allow you to never compete for a viewer’s attention with other content again. Snapchat also provides you with shoppable ad formats that showcase your products, services, or experiences you sell online.

Businesses of all sizes can launch advertising campaigns on Snapchat with as little as £5 a day. How pricing works on Snapchat is determined by a number of factors such as your selected advertiser objective, your selected budget, the duration of your campaign, and your bid goal/amount (if you’re using Snapchat’s goal-based bidding). You can find more info on Snapchat’s website here.

In order to get started on the app, you’ll need to set up your personal account. Once you’ve created your account, you’ll be able to set up your business account within Snapchat’s Ads Manager. Once your business account has been created, you will be prompted to create your first Snapchat Ad within Ads Manager.

Then you’ll either be able to launch ads with Instant Create or Advanced Create. If you use the former, go to Snapchat’s Ads Manager, navigate to the drop-down menu in the top left corner, click on Manage Ads, then select Create Ads. Next, in the centre of the browser, select Instant Create. Choose your advertising goal, enter in your business details, design your ad, select your ad delivery preferences and hit publish to launch.

To get started with Advanced Create, go to Snapchat’s Ads Manager, navigate to the drop-down menu in the top left corner, click on Manage Ads, then select Create Ads. Next, in the centre of the browser, select Advanced Create. Build your campaign by selecting your advertising objective, and build your ad sets by entering in your details, placements, locations, demographics, audiences, devices and delivery information. Next, design your ads to drive your selected campaign objective. Lastly, confirm your campaign setup and hit publish.

Recently, Snapchat has highlighted its rising e-commerce opportunities, with increased investment in AR try-on tools, digital clothing for avatars and advanced opportunities via its evolving full-body scan AR tech. The platform also says that over 75 million Snapchatters watched beauty-related content each month on Discover in Q1, which could point to further marketing opportunities on the platform that play into its advanced AR features. Snapchat launched a new AR try-on experience with Estee Lauder earlier last month.

Snapchat is focused on providing more tools around apparel and accessories, and helping buyers find the right size, fit, in order to reduce friction in online shopping experiences. Snap also acquired FitAnalytics last month, a company that provides tools that help brands facilitate more accurate product matches through AR.