Snapping into Snapchat

Have you talked to your communications teams yet about the rise of Snapchat editors? The influential platform is changing what earned media looks like, while boasting stats reaching 41% of all 18- to 34-year olds in the U.S. Publications such as Refinery29, Mashable, Forbes and The Washington Post are investing in teams of editors dedicated to developing content specifically for Snapchat. The growing prioritization of digital and visual content is evolving the way PR professionals and brands communicate with these editors – and with that change, we’ve developed three guiding principles to consider when communicating to this new audience of Snap influencers:

Know your Snap channel
There is a difference between a Snapchat Discover account and a brand account. The best Discover content is a close cousin with online editorial content – highly visual, planned cohesive content that is, dare we say, snappier. Snapchat Discover is unique in that all publisher content is served alongside each other in one place (e.g., Esquire next to Cosmopolitan). Brand accounts on the other hand, are best used to tell living stories – think exclusive behind-the-scenes coverage of events while they’re being experienced. Brand accounts show up similarly to your friends’ accounts in that their stories show up in your “recent updates” section at the top of your screen.
Picture perfect pitch
Because Snapchat is a highly visual platform, tactics like storyboarding can help paint the picture you want these editors to see. As with most PR best practices, one pitch does not fit all, which is especially true when considering either a Discover channel or a brand channel to pitch content to.
Snapchat Discover channels are more editorial than they are live – take advantage of the lead time. These teams have to plan content to fit into their broader daily themes. For example, pitching Mardi Gras-inspired cocktail recipes for Food Network's Mardi Gras-themed story. When it comes to pitching Discover content include visual assets to help land your key messages. For example, if announcing a new product consider giving exclusive photo and video access of the product to tell a compelling editorial story, similar to Mashable’s Discover channel story on Samsung’s new Galaxy S8 smartphone.
On the other hand, if pitching to brand accounts, consider what backgrounds and props these editors can use to tell a visually compelling living story. For example, the Forbes brand account told a visual story about Microsoft’s Steelcase partnership by snapping through five different creative spaces and peppering in key data throughout. Lastly, when considering spokespeople for live content on Snapchat, choose someone that can best translate content to Snap’s younger demographic in a way that’s easy to comprehend.
Experimental measurement
Unlike most other social media platforms, Snapchat channel metrics have not yet been formally developed for brand partnership use. Discover channels are able to track detailed viewership metrics, but aren’t able to publicly divulge numbers. Brand channels on the other hand tend to measure their impact in creative ways with the data they do have access to, by compiling metrics around total unique views or number of screenshots. This means experimenting with measurement expectations and getting creative with a Snap’s ROI. Knowing which audiences these pubs are targeting (beyond just millennials) is imperative to understanding a potential Snap's relevance to an audience.

The social media landscape is fast-paced and always evolving. Finding ways to translate our existing relationships and expertise with traditional and online publications to Snapchat editorial teams, has given us an opportunity to engage with publications in ways never before possible.

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