Why Snapchat Is A Major Marketing Opportunity In The Music Industry

WWhether or not you like it, whether or not you are willing to accept it, and whether or not you have even figured out how to properly use Twitter and Facebook yet, Snapchat is a quickly evolving social app that is a growing marketing opportunity for the music industry in 2016. But what makes Snapchat different from the long-list of existing apps that artists already use to keep track with fans?

It is a platform that offers a friendlier, more intimate, personal, and direct relationship with fans that is not possible on other platforms. Ultimately, due to its unique opportunities, it has the potential to generate more “word of mouth” and increase the number of people that develop into devoted and dedicated long-term fans. Whether you are a musician or involved in the business side of the industry, it is a platform on which you MUST be a part of in order to effectively market in 2016… and here’s why.

1. It Adds To The Overall Experience

Snapchat

Snapchat

Snapchat is an additional way to create a closer and intimate relationship with fans through a more exclusive and fun platform. The app allows for the sharing of more personal posts, and creates a one-on-one opportunity to interact with people without disruptions. Since the content shared is generally more personal and “behind the scenes”, it creates the opportunity for fans to feel more included in the careers and lives of their favourite artists. Additionally, it is an opportunity to humanize artist brands and emphasize their overall beliefs, goals, and personality.

What to do: Artists can use this platform to enhance the overall fan experience by posting teasers of upcoming announcements and releases, exclusive content such as in recording studios, backstage, and every day events. They should also increase the experience further by responding to fans snapchats. This form of interaction is unique from that on other social sites because Snapchat is thought of as being an app for close friends, which creates a feeling of friendship with the celebrity from whom they receive a Snapchat in return.

2. You Have 100% Of The Consumers Attention

Snapchat posts “self- destruct” after 24 hours, meaning that their content is more valuable, and consumers are more willing to pay attention to it. When a fan opens a Snapchat, they are 100% attentive to the images and videos that an artist or industry professional is sharing with them as there are no factors to distract them. This alone makes the app extremely valuable and unique, especially when comparing it to other social platforms including Twitter and Instagram where individuals spend the majority of their time scrolling past posts without completely absorbing their content. With hundreds of new posts on someone’s feed, its easy for fans to miss important posts.

3. It Hasn’t Been Ruined Yet

When I say ruined, I am referring to two things. Firstly, by parents (sorry mom and dad). When Facebook began being used by parents, teenagers scrambled to find a new social platform to interact on, which then led to Twitter. Now, with even my grandmother having a Facebook account, it is safe to say that it is no longer my go-to platform, and Snapchat is already a preferred form on which the majority of target audiences spend most of their time.

Secondly, since Snapchat is still a fairly new app, the concept of using it as a marketing tool has only recently become popular among businesses, meaning that consumers are still willing to add artists and industry professionals on the app. Unlike other social platforms, there is no external search option available, meaning that in order to interact with people, they must be added by username. Due to the exclusivity of contacts that people add on Snapchat, they are currently less likely to have promotional content being pushed at them, making them more likely to open posts which is an opportunity that will only diminish as the apps potential becomes more evident.

What to do: If you don’t already have one, make a Snapchat account, and if you do have one, start promoting it to fans as soon as possible while its marketing opportunities are still in their prime.

Tip: Try and keep your banding consistent by using the same user name on Snapchat that you are using on other social platforms. Since there is no external search bar or opportunity to view someone’s profile before adding them, its important that fans are confidant that they are adding the right person, and not a creepy impersonator. Keep the username short and simple.

4. It Is Where The Target Audience Is Spending Their Time

If you are a musician, the fans that Snapchat appeals most to are those that spend more time engaging with their favourite artists online, purchasing albums, attending concerts. With over one- hundred million daily active users, 71% of which are under the age of twenty-five, (DMR, By the Numbers: 60 Amazing Snapchat Statistics), it is clear that Snapchat is the platform on which the majority of target audiences are spending their time. However, similar to other social platforms, people will soon move to another, which makes it extremely important to take advantage of its incredible marketing opportunities as soon as possible.

Tip: In order to maximize its potential, use Snapchat daily, and post a collection of several images and pictures a day. However, do not make Snapchat marketing feel like marketing; focus on posting 80% exclusive, behind the scenes, and valuable content that fans will enjoy, while only using 20% of posts to promote releases and announcements. Additionally, determine the length of posts that appeal post to fans before they stop watching your story. With the ability to see who has viewed your story, it also provides the opportunity to determine after how many seconds of content that people stop watching, and when you should probably stop posting. Typically, stories shouldn’t accumulate to being over a few minutes long, or else they will quickly lose their value and fans will be less willing to invest time to watch them.

Snapchat is an extremely valuable platform on which anyone involved in the music industry must be apart of in order to effectively reach target audiences, promote content, create a more exclusive and intimate relationship with fans, and contribute to the overall experience that is offered to them. Despite being categorized as an app exclusively for teenagers and one that most business people do not recognize the benefits of, it is the future of marketing, and those who “don’t get it” will be left behind. Whatever level of success that you are currently at, make an account, google how to properly use it, and take advantage of its current potential.

Alison Perdue is a seventeen-year-old student living in Toronto. She uses her powerful passion for music to help bands effectively grow their careers in 2016. She has studied music management at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and has attended music industry events such as Canadian Music Week in Toronto, the Billboard Touring Conference in New York, and the Ultimate Seminar in London, UK.
Twitter / Instagram @alisonperdue.

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