Snapchat Advertising: How Pricey is it to Target Millennials?

It was a late Friday night when I finished a long roundup of WordPress themes and completely forgot that my fridge was empty. I collapsed on the sofa, entered Snapchat, and suddenly my mouth started watering. My neighbor posted a picture of him eating a huge, yummy burger.

The ridiculous tradition to take pics of food and boast of them publicly seems to have migrated from Instagram to Snapchat.

Next what I saw was a ten-second video advertising a local snack bar with a home delivery service. The hunger and no energy to cook did their part. A click on the ad brought me to the snack bar website, where I ordered my favorite pasta with mussels and calamari.

And then it hit me…

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People use Snapchat for the promotion of their businesses. I’ve been using the app for a long time but never looked at it from that angle. Giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram turned out to be not the only stars in the advertising galaxy. To while away the time before getting my pasta, I decided to learn more about Snapchat advertising. I was curious whether the app would do for promoting my handmade wallets. Here’s what I found.

• Snapchat has nearly 160 million active users a day, according to the latest data published on TechCrunch. That’s a big crowd, isn’t it? Promoting my wallets in such a densely populated environment is a great opportunity to increase my brand awareness.
• Two-thirds of Snapchat videos are watched with the sound on. To compare, 85% of video ads are watched with the sound off on Facebook. It means prospects can hear my voice, which is perfect for improving my call-to-action strategy. The voice can be more compelling than the text if I use the right intonation and message.
• Users of the app are mostly young people, particularly 13-17 years (23%), 18-24 (37%), and 25-34 (26%). That's exactly what I need. My wallets with stylish, creative, and somewhat bizarre designs can attract a lot of millennials striving for self-expression.

With these and other curious stats, I quickly understood that Snapchat was the right advertising platform for my youth-oriented business.

But, as you may know, it’s all about the budget you have to spend on ads. So, the next thing I did was searching for Snapchat advertising costs. There are different types of ads you can use to promote your business with this app. Check them out below and how much they’ll cost you.

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Snap Ads

Price: starting at $10,000 per month

Snap ads are ten-second videos that users see in between Stories and in the Discover section. Besides standard Snapchat ads, you can use different variations including:

• Snap Ad + Article (text, animated GIFs, images, galleries, in-line videos with an autoplay option);
• Snap Ad + App Install (opens a page of App Store or Google Play store to install an app in the background);
• Snap Ad + Long Form Video (full-length trailers, short video tutorials, behind-the-scenes footage, etc);
• Snap Ad + Web View (pre-loads a website).

Sponsored Geofilters (Cheapest)

Price: starting at $5

When Snapchat users stay in your geolocation, they can use your geo filters to explain where, when, and why they took a snap.

• Event Campaign is perfect for associating your brand with a large-scale event);
• Shared Spaces Campaign allows Snapchat users to send your brand message to friends when they are in high-traffic social spaces.
• Chain Campaign lets Snapchat users send your brand message when they are at your retail location.
• National Campaign is meant for sharing a message about your product or event with Snapchat users across the country.

Sponsored Lenses (Most Expensive)

Price rumors: starting at $450,000 a day (Sunday through Thursday), $500,000 a day (Friday and Saturday), $700,000+ a day (holidays or special events)

This is the priciest and most effective type of Snapchat advertising. With lenses, users will play with your ads, not just watch them. It’s a huge achievement in media advertising since you can entertain people with your brand. Note that the price depends on the day, campaign length, trends, etc.

Discover Section

Price: starting at $50,000 a day

The Discover section is located at the top of the screen and designed mainly for publishers like CNN and Cosmopolitan. If you have $50,000, you can post your content, and millions of Snapchat users will read it.

Snapisodes

Here’s the newest type of Snapchat ads. Snapisodes are three-minute, influencer-filled episodes that mimic TV. Is there a youngster who still watches that box used for brainwashing? Young people are all on their mobile devices. So, posting an exclusive, high-quality episodic content will draw their attention. Learn more about snapisodes on Mashable.

To conclude, Snapchat is not the cheapest platform for advertising. Unless you use geo filters, Snapchat marketing may cost you thousands of dollars, but that investment will be rewarding in the end. Through funny videos, interactive lenses, and many other gimmicks, you won’t just spread the word about your business. You will engage people with it and keep them loyal. Have you already tried Snapchat advertising? Feel free to share your experience with our readers and us.

P.S.: Wish you great neighbors like mine to inspire and guide you into the right direction.

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