Boutique Travel and Lifestyle PR Agency Showcases Top Snapchat Trends

Snapchat is evolving as a social media platform offering users authenticity, interactivity, and innovation. Lo-fi storytelling, voice-based messages. “These tendencies depict a shift towards anti-perfectionism and into personality—a place where creativity is real, fun, and playful.” (Source: Snapchat Generation Report).

Did you know . . .
 

• “Snapchat has more than 800 million users globally.” (Source: Statista)
• “Snapchat offers marketers direct access to Gen Z and Millennials, two groups with a combined $5 million in spending power.” (Source: Sprout Social)
• “Seventy percent of Gen X and Millennial parents with kids under 18 have made purchases influenced Snapchat (the highest purchase-conversion io).” (Source: Sprout Social)

Now brands are redefining themselves to meet the audiences in the places where they genuinely are: unfiltered, unplanned, and expressive. Allen Marketing Communications, Inc., a boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency based in New York City, spotlights key Snapchat trends to help marketers capture their share of market and share of voice.

Authentic Expression Through Lo-Fi Content

Snapchat is now the arena of lo-fi creativity: content that is crude, flawed, and highly human. “Authenticity, rather than perfection, is becoming popular with people nowadays, and unfiltered and spontaneous are becoming characteristics of the digital self.” (Source: Snapchat Newsroom). Lo-fi storytelling enables people to post real-life snippets of their lives that depict who they are and not how they want to be perceived.

Brands that capture this trend experience increased engagement. “It has been found that behind-the-scenes video on Snapchat that is not polished stimulates up to ten times the attention of conventional advertising pieces.” (Source: The Social Shepherd). Consumers demand transparency, and brands can depict realistic moments, consuming products daily and expressing real feelings.

Audio Messaging: Redefining Connection

Audio messaging is a growing trend on the Snapchat platform.  Voice communication has naturally evolved as a form of self-expression as users want to feel a personal connection in the social environment that is rapidly changing.

Audio messages give it a chance to be subtle: laughter, tone, and emotion—all of which cannot be expressed through text. Snapchats are more authentic and direct. It requires voice ownership to be incorporated even by brands: creating sound-based interactions or product ASMR, or talking to their customers in an informal tone.

“Audio messaging, when built into brand storytelling, can come with a very unique attribute to digital marketing: authentic presence. Users can listen to the voice of a brand, both literally and emotionally, and stronger attachments to it are created.” (Source: QuickFrame).

AR-Powered Discovery: The Interactive Pathway

Snapchat’s AR features have made the application a discovery engine. Instead of passively scrolling, the user now interacts with a piece of content—there is the ability to test the lens, have a look around the products, and even interact with a brand in three dimensions. “More than 250 million users engage in AR features daily, and this is one of the strongest engagement tools.” (Source: Sprout Social).

AR has transformed into interactive narrative storytelling. The brands are now able to develop experiences so consumers can try the product in a virtual world or by playing with animated brand characters prior to purchasing a product.

AR-driven discovery is not something new anymore; it is a requirement to be relevant. Brands can create interactive experiences, making a user invite him or her into a story and not merely consume it, thereby making it an exploration.

Virtual Try-On For Shopping: Where Style Meets Technology

The virtual try-on feature has revolutionized how people make purchase decisions and shop on Snapchat. Research shows more than “64 percent of Snapchat users have purchased due to something they found on the platform.” (Source: Sprout Social).

AR-enabled try-ons can show users the products in real-time, such as sunglasses, shoes, or lipstick, in their camera. Snapchat is transforming into a social shopping platform by facilitating the flow between the discovery and purchase. “Moreover, around 6.4 conversion rates are higher in lens-based shopping experiences than in traditional digital advertisements.” (Source: The Social Shepherd).

To companies, this aspect presents an unprecedented combination of interaction and transactions. Customers have an opportunity to test the suitability of a product in their lives themselves. Through the integration of virtual try-ons into marketing efforts, brands raise their sales figures and also provide a customized shopping experience that builds trust.
 
AI-Driven Lenses: Creativity Powered By Intelligence
 
With the development of AI, Snapchat has made it part of its creative ecosystem. With AI nowadays, it is possible to analyze facial expressions, moods, or environments in real time and provide hyper-personalized experiences. “These intelligent lenses can be used to explore visuals and effects that merge uniquely with an individual user, which in turn allows these brands to develop a dynamic storytelling style.” (Source: QuickFrame).

AI and AR filters create dynamic experiences. AI lenses reshape consumers’ interaction as well as change the world around the user.  The interactivity also leads to creativity, where people will spend more time exploring, experimenting, and sharing their experiences.

AI-driven lenses will be the future of digital storytelling—they enhance engagement metrics and create emotional connections since they enable users to co-create with brands. AI transforms each Snapchat experience into a dynamic conversation.

Brands can develop stronger and more intimate relationships with their participants by combining the art of storytelling by humans and new technology on Snapchat. Our talented team of social media strategists is here to help brands reach new customers on this platform. Contact us today.

​By Joanna Allen, chief executive officer, Allen Marketing Communications, Inc.